HD 560S

The HD 560S is the right entry to the Sennheiser open-back ladder for readers who haven't bought a headphone amp yet. The 120Ω driver — vs the 300Ω HD 600 above it and the 300Ω HD 800 S above that — drives properly from a basic DAC, a phone DAC dongle, even directly from a competent laptop. The amp chain isn't the barrier it is further up the line.

Sennheiser's tuning brief here is Diffuse Field — a measurement-target attempt at neutrality, where the headphone's response is shaped to match what your ears would receive in a properly diffuse acoustic field. Most £179 headphones don't bother; they go V-shape because that sells. The HD 560S does the harder thing. Out of the box the tonal balance is recognisably neutral: bass is present without lift, mids are uncoloured, treble is extended without spike.

Where it sits between the HD 600 and HD 800 S is by design. Less veiled than the HD 600 — the upper midrange resolves more cleanly without a proper amp behind it. Less analytical than the HD 800 S — the soundstage is smaller, the imaging less surgical, the resolution merely good rather than reference. That's what £179 buys.

Build is plastic where the HD 600 is metal — felt under the hands, and a fair giveaway of the price tier. What the HD 600 sounds like for readers who haven't bought a headphone amp yet, and the right call until they do.