Digital Trends

Sennheiser HD435 May 17th, 2006 | by Brandon King

Testing and Performance

So, we're happy with the design, comfort, and price point. What about sound quality? We conducted a general battery of music, movie, and gaming tests using the following:

Sources:

-          SoundBlaster Audigy 2 Platinum (for DVD-Audio, CD, and MP3)

-          Apple iPod photo (MP3)

-          Creative Nano Plus (MP3)

-          Sony Playstation portable (MP3)

Music:

-          Bjork's “Vespertine” (DVD-Audio and MP3)

-          Mahler Symphony 10 (Berliner Philharmoniker — DVD-Audio)

-          The Cure's “Disintegration” (Audio CD + MP3)

-          Gary Numan's “Exile” (CD and MP3)

-          Delerium's “Karma” (CD and MP3)

-          Assemblage 23 - “Storm” (Audio CD and MP3)

-          VNV Nation - “Matter and Form” (Audio CD and MP3)

-          Louis Armstrong - “All Time Greatest Hits” (Audio CD and MP3)

Movies:

-          Spider-Man (DVD)

-          The Matrix (DVD)

-          Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (DVD)

Games:

-          Doom 3 (PC)

-          City of Villains (PC)

-          Lumines (PSP)

-          Wipeout: Pure (PSP)

Before getting to the sound quality tests, it should be noted that we used these headphones for a month straight. The initial sound signature was very different between our first audition and after 2 days of constant burn-in, and again between the post burn-in test and after a month of regular use. The initial sound signature was extremely bass-driven, with very weak mids and a tight sound-stage. Over time, the mids emerged, the bass backed off slightly, and the sound stage opened up significantly.

Music results were very satisfactory. In music tests the sound stage was simply excellent. Sound was not too dispersed or too distant, and the overall spatial acoustic experience was delightful. Bass felt very expansive and omnidirectional and highs were very dynamic, but mids seemed somewhat constrained to the center of the stage. One thing that can be said without question is that the bass is very strong. It doesn't come across as booming, but smooth and atmospheric (much like many Sennheiser headphones).

Louis Armstrong was particularly fun to listen to, as the mid- to low-end-style music shined for the HD435's. The Cure and Delerium sounded good, but the high-toned mids seemed to get pushed too far back, and sounded overpowered by the songs' bass lines. Techno and industrial fared well, which is somewhat counterintuitive. We thought the strange gap in the mid-level sounds might mean vocals from these selections would get lost, but instead they came across very clearly. Was it the age of the recordings? After all, the recording level of music has steadily increased over the past 30 years, due to the perception that louder is better (even though it leaves less bandwidth for actual acoustic quality). But that wouldn't explain the great performance for Armstrong and Mahler. While listening to Gary Numan, however, it became more clear; it appears that mids—which are softened to provide a more continuous tone (“atmospheric voices”)—fared worse than vocals meant to stand out strongly from the background.