Customer Reviews
To bad discontinued 
2008-03-21
I have owned my 580's now for a little over 3 years and love them the same as the day I got them. It is a real shame though that Sennheiser discontinued making them. You can still get your hands on them thru forums like Head-Fi for around $150 or a little less. The problem is however that now it is becoming more difficult as they are truly prized by thier owners and less and less people are willing to part with them.
These cans do truly hold thier own against some of the best I have heard. I currently own these and AKG K701's as well as a pair of Grado SR225's. I have to say though that I can not compare these to my other cans as they all have thier own character. These however are my go to cans for in the evening when I want to relax and enjoy some Jazz or Classical. Yes, I would have to say compared to my others they have a more "laid back" presentation, but all of the details and soundstage are there. I do listen to Rock and other geners and enjoy them just as well, so don't let anyone tell you that they are not good all around cans. My pair is very well broken in so the comfort level is supurb and they have just the right amount of clamping force. Just be careful if you get a new pair and attempt to streach them out as you can easly snap the headband. This is not to say that they are built flimsy, quite the contrary I think they are very durable. Then again I baby my cans and my pair has not a single blemish on them. One thing that I find myself doing however is taking a tape lint rollar and cleaning the ear pads. The black velour has a tendancy to pick up lint and show it very easy. Like I said though this is very easy to clean. Also one advantage that the 580/600/650 series has is that they are a very modular headphone. The cord, drivers, grills and pads are very easy to take apart and replace. Having a detachable cable is a nice touch as you have a broad spectrum of options if you ever want to upgrade it. From a simple HD650 ($14) cable replacement all the way up to a Equinox ($300) cable.
I guess the only advice I can give is that if you are sitting on the fence about these cans is get them now while you can. Also don't worry about not having the ability to fix them down the road if needed. Sennheiser has a good customer service and it really easy to look up and find your own parts on there site. If you take care of them I think you are in a long road of enjoyment.
Are these the best dynamic headphones out there? 2008-02-08
These use the same drivers as the HD600, which I and many other people prefer to the top of the line HD650. I prefer the 580 to Beyer 880s and AKG 701s. A really fantastic headphone regardless of price.
Great Sound But... 
2007-09-14
The sound of this is fabulous as others have stated. But I cannot give this 5 stars because of these issues:
1. You *need* a headphone amp if you want to listen to this out of a computer or ipod. Therefore, these are not very portable.
2. Anyone around you can hear what you are listening to, and you can hear anything around you. These cans block no sound either in or out. You absolutely cannot use these in a cubicle environment. For moderate volume levels, someone standing next to you would hear the sound as if it was coming out of a typical laptop speaker; it is that loud.
3. They are not very comfortable in my opinion. Granted, they are not uncomfortable, but I have worn more comfortable cans.
4. They are very ugly looking if you care about such things (I don't, but I got teased by my wife).
With these negatives I am still giving this 4/5 stars. The sound quality is just so unbelievable with my headphone amp that it makes up for everything else. I bought a set of Sony MDR-V6s for the office (which does a great job of blocking sound in and out, and doesn't need a headphone amp). The MDR-V6s are great sounding too, but they are not in the same league with the HD580s + headphone amp for classical and opera. If you don't care about the limitations and are willing to get a headphone amp, the sound quality on this is absolutely unreal for the price.
Fantastic 2007-05-26
To listen to movies or play games on these - the difference is amazing.
Classical music sounds like you're in a concert hall, although they're not that good for heavy metal or loud amps/reverb type stuff. Girlfriend loves playing her electric piano while using them. Makes me happy I got them.
Spoil yourself 2007-04-17
If you have the money to enjoy not only the headphones, but the other investments you will likely make because of them, then spoil yourself with a high quality set of Sennheisers. If you have never listened to $100 headphones before and you buy these, plan on giving or throwing away all your other headphones.
Unlike the Sony studio cans I've listened to, these have almost no adjustment period. That's right, after listening to junk all these years your ears will actually have to adjust to real, accurate and often times never before heard music. With any high quality headphones you will hear things you've never heard before and they will sound better than you could ever imagine. That is of course unless your media is corrupted (or has compression artifacts) :( which brings me back to the other likely investments you will likely make because of these cans (a few new cds and hours spent backing up your collection).
Why Sennheiser and why the HD580? I selected Sennheiser for their reputation; not only for quality but for their unmistakable natural, almost sweet, sound. If you are an accuracy freak and can deal with harsh accurate unbelievably flat response curves, go with Sony studio cans like the 7506. If you want to enjoy the majority of your music for an extended period of time without spending a fortune on more expensive cans or several different cans for the plethora of genre's you listen to, then the HD580s are for you.
So, anything bad to report from Sennheiser's new poster boy? Just like any speaker, there are certain frequencies where the response is not perfectly accurate. For instance the 7506 clearly reproduces some of the double bass drum hits in one particular Metallica song but the 580 muddles them a bit. Don't take that to indicate that only Grados or Sony's can give you bass, unless you're already going tone deaf in which case you'le never hear the double base hit anyway. So save your ears and buy a Sennheiser!
At this price you can't lose 2007-04-06
Creates a new benchmark in dynamic headphone performance Velvet-soft ear pads Ultra-wide dynamic range for pure sonic clarity Bass-tube venting for authentically deep bass Kevlar reinforced cable Unprecedented frequency response that is comparable to electrostatic performance
What a bargain 2007-04-03
Bought this with a couple of CD's and it took a month to arrive ?? Well I bought this HD580 for $130 and today I see they back up to around $180. WOW !!!!!
Been reading a lot of reviews between this model and the newer ones but got this for its price and it appeared to be easy to drive. Had it on for 10 minutes and I am very impressed with them. Reviews about its bass and detail are too true.
Great Value and Outstanding Sound 2007-03-20
According to the Sennheiser website, these cans are discontinued. Get them while you are able as the $130 price is an outstanding value. The sound is detailed and open. I have them connected to a Creative X-Fi card; plenty of power.
Great Price/Value for the Price Surperb Sound 2007-03-19
Great for the price and /or for any price for that matter. They have superb presence and mid to high dynamic. They really bring to life the music you have in any media/source and with old tapes for instance they have a way of highlighting music/sound you want to hear. In other words they don't use that surperb quality to make an inferior recording sound rough/bad. It's like they almost have dolby without the high end clipping dolby does. The high end is bright, clear & balanced, you'll hear many nuances you often missed listening to you music. No real break-in time is needed but you would do well to play them a little while before listening to them if you haven't listen to them for awhile. Because they sort-of "reset-up" from non-use, but again this is remedied from only about 20/30 mins. of playing them. They are very comfortable esp. after you have them for awhile. And don't need any pre-amp for use with any decent stereo or PC. The cord is straight not coiled and plenty long. They come with a small jack and 1/4" adapter.
However:
I recently upgraded though to the 595's because they had a deeper and quick bass response. I listen to all types of music and I wanted my newer techno stuff etc... to have a better deeper response. This was my only complaint for the 580's (which for most people will be great) that they were a little weak in this regard. I thought about the Grados (in this price range) but they didn't offer much more bass and not as sharp and balanced high-end as the Senn's.
Great buy 2007-03-16
While I was work I decided to listen to the Bose triport headphones we had on display. I was blown away by what I was missing. When I got home I immediately went online to look at reviews for the headphones, and found out that they were actually pretty bad as far as design and sound and whatnot. I poked around some more and found these Sennheiser HD580s. Every place I checked gave them almost a perfect score. For $130, what was there to lose?
Right now I'm just using them with my computer. I have a Soundblaster x-fi extreme music sound card, which seems to work pretty well with the headphones. I have no complaint with the sound that they put out. I actually plug the headphones into the volume control of my desktop speakers (creative i-trigue L3500), and am able to listen to the headphones fine with the sound cards volume set at 50%. I'm sure getting a headphone amp would improve the sound quality as everyone says, but without one the phones still sound really great, and the volume is fine.
So as far as sound quality, it is everyone else says. The Sennheiser perfectly replicates how the songs are recorded on the CD, so theres no extra booming bass that I noticed the Bose headphones had. If you're one of those people who for some reason enjoy having your music drowned out by booming bass, then you should think about getting a different pair of headphones.
There's really not much here I can cover that hasn't been gone over before. If you're not really an audiophile, but still like to have really good quality sound, I'd still recommend these headphones, good source/headphone amp or not. After all, you're only putting down $130 for a pair of headphones that have a lot of potential that can be unlocked in the future. If 15 years from now (I'm quite sure these will last that long) you end up getting a really awesome sound system or decide to buy a headphone amplifier, these headphones will still be top of the line. They're really the one and only phones you'll ever need to buy, unless something even better is released for $130.
