Sennheiser HD 559

When I spoke to Sennheiser's legendary headphone designer Axel Grell , he told me that the company uses their super-premium models (like the flagship HD 800 S headphones ) to inform the design of all of their headphones. You can certainly hear it with the HD 559 open-back headphones. They deliver the company's familiar wide-open soundstage and detailed, yet-smooth mids and highs. There's also quite a bit of bass for a set of open-back headphones — a category that Sennheiser popularized decades ago, and an area where they continue to innovate.