This page will show you how to turn a $199.95 (Canadian – Suggested Retail) pair of Sennheiser HD 555 headphones into a pair of Sennheiser HD 595‘s that cost $349.95. And all you need is a screwdriver.

Intro

Instead of designing a completely new product to fit a certain price range, large scale manufacturing dictates that it is often cheaper to simply “cripple” an existing high-end product. This way the manufacturer can use existing molds, parts, assembly lines and training, etc. In electronic products, firmware is usually crippled to omit/hide certain features. For example, digital camera companies reserve functions (like RAW output, exposure and white balance bracketing, long exposures, etc.) for their higher priced cameras, even though their cheapest camera has the same capabilities (See the CHDK project for more info).

Comparing HD555 to HD595

Thanks to the people at head-fi.org, I was able to find someone willing to take apart their expensive HD595 headphones so I could compare them to my moderately priced HD 555 headphones. Here are the photos:

What are the differences?

Aside from the aesthetic differences, the only physical difference was an additional piece of foam inside the cheaper HD555 headphones, blocking about 50% of the outside-facing vents. Since both the HD 555 and HD 595 are designed to be “open” headphones, reducing the vent with this foam would alter the frequency response slightly. So to save yourself $150