Sennheiser HD 505 Review: affordable open-back headphones that make sense for home use

I’ve been using the Sennheiser HD 505 Copper Edition for a few weeks now, mostly at my desk for music, some light gaming, and a bit of video editing. I bought them because I wanted something more serious than cheap closed-back gaming headsets, but I didn’t want to spend HD 600 money. On paper, they tick a lot of boxes: open-back, wired, big over-ear pads, and the usual Sennheiser tuning with controlled bass rather than a huge boom.

In practice, the main thing to know is that these are clearly tuned for people who care more about clarity than bass impact. If you’re used to Beats or bass-heavy gaming headsets, your first reaction will probably be “where’s the bass?”. It’s there, just more controlled and less in-your-face. For rock, acoustic, jazz, podcasts, they do a good job. For EDM or hip-hop, you might feel they lack punch unless you tweak EQ.

I used them with a laptop and phone (with a dongle) and also through a small USB DAC/amp. They work directly out of a laptop jack, but they clearly sound cleaner and a bit more dynamic with a DAC. I wouldn’t say you absolutely need an amp, but if your laptop output is weak or noisy, it helps. They’re easy enough to drive though, so no need for a big hi-fi setup.

Overall, the first impression is: good sound for the price, but clearly focused on home/desk listening. The open-back design leaks a lot of sound and doesn’t block outside noise at all, so they’re not great for commuting or noisy offices, despite the marketing mentioning traveling and students. For quiet rooms, they make sense. For anything mobile or loud environments, I’d look at something else.

On the value side, the HD 505 sits in that mid-low price range where a lot of people are upgrading from basic gaming headsets or cheap Bluetooth cans. For what you pay, you get genuinely better clarity and a more open sound than most closed-back headsets in the same bracket. If you care about hearing details in music or having good positional audio in games, it feels like money well spent. You’re not paying for wireless, ANC, or flashy design; almost everything goes into the drivers and basic comfort.

Compared to typical “gaming headsets” at a similar price, you lose the built-in mic and maybe some bass impact, but you gain better imaging and a more natural sound. If you already own a USB mic or don’t care about voice chat, that’s a fair trade. If you don’t, you’ll have to factor in the cost of a separate mic, which changes the value equation a bit. Also, if you mainly listen in noisy places, the open-back design is basically wasted, and you’d be better off with a closed-back model.

Where the value is less convincing is for people who want one headphone to do everything: commute, gym, office, home. This is not that product. It’s wired, open, and not water resistant. It’s clearly for stationary listening in a quiet spot. If that’s your use case, the price feels fair, especially considering the replaceable cable and the fact that the sound signature is closer to entry-level audiophile gear than to boomy consumer stuff.

So in plain terms: if you’re okay with the limitations (no mic, no isolation, wired only), the HD 505 gives you a lot of sound quality for the money. If you want convenience and portability, the value drops, because you’re paying for things you can’t really use in those situations. It really comes down to how and where you listen.

Design-wise, the HD 505 looks like a typical modern Sennheiser from the HD 500 line. Lots of plastic, but the good kind: it doesn’t creak much when you twist it, and it doesn’t feel like it’ll snap if you accidentally drop it. The Copper Edition adds some copper-colored accents that make it look slightly less generic than plain black, but it’s still a pretty low-key headset. No RGB, no chrome, no flashy gamer look. If you want something discreet for video calls or office use, that’s actually a plus.

The open-back grills are visible on the cups, so you instantly know they’re not closed. The cups swivel enough to sit flat around your ears, but they don’t fold like portable headphones. The headband has a simple padded strip with enough adjustment for larger heads. At 558 grams on paper it sounds heavy, but on the head it doesn’t feel that heavy, probably because the weight is well balanced and the clamping force is moderate. I wore them for 3–4 hours at a stretch without feeling like my head was in a vise.

The detachable cable plugs into one side (single entry), which is convenient at a desk. The 1.8 m length is decent: long enough to reach a PC under the desk, not so long that you’re constantly rolling over it with your chair. The 3.5 mm jack plus screw-on 6.35 mm adapter is standard studio-style gear. If you plug into an audio interface or hi-fi amp, the adapter is handy. It threads on securely, so it doesn’t fall off like those loose push-on adapters.

My only real complaint with the design is that it’s clearly not meant to be thrown into a backpack every day. The plastic is solid but not tank-like, the included bag is just a soft pouch, and the open-back grills feel like they could get scratched or dented if you’re rough. For home use, it’s fine. For daily commuting, I’d be more careful. Overall, the design is functional, a bit plain, but sensible for the price bracket.

Comfort is usually where Sennheiser does well, and the HD 505 follows that pattern. The pads are plush velour, which I generally prefer over fake leather. They don’t stick to your skin, and they let your ears breathe a bit more. After a few hours of listening, my ears felt warm but not sweaty, which is about as good as it gets for over-ear headphones. The ear cups are large enough to fully cover my ears without pressing directly on them, so no sore spots on the cartilage like you get with some smaller on-ear designs.

The clamping force out of the box is moderate. When you first put them on, you feel a bit of pressure on the sides of your head, but it’s not painful. After 20–30 minutes, I just forgot about it. If you have a wider head, you might feel it more at the beginning; like most headphones, the clamp usually loosens a bit after a week or two of use. The headband padding is basic but does the job. I didn’t get a hotspot on the top of my head, even during a 3-hour gaming session.

One thing to keep in mind: because they’re open-back, you don’t get that closed, sealed feeling, which actually helps with long-term comfort. Your ears don’t build up pressure and you don’t hear your own breathing or footsteps as loudly. But the trade-off is that if your room is noisy, you’ll hear everything around you, which can be tiring in a different way. So they’re physically comfortable, but the environment still matters a lot.

Compared to cheap gaming headsets I’ve used, the HD 505 sits in a good spot: lighter and less sweaty than faux-leather pads, but bulkier than small portable headphones. If you mainly sit at a desk, they’re easy to wear for most of the day. If you like lying on a couch with your head on a pillow, the big cups and non-folding design are less ideal; they dig into the pillow and shift around. Not a deal-breaker, but worth mentioning if you listen a lot while lying down.

In terms of durability, after a few weeks they still feel solid, but you can tell they’re mostly plastic. The headband adjusts smoothly without cracking sounds, and the yokes holding the cups don’t feel flimsy. I twisted them a bit (within reason) and there was no scary creaking. The velour pads feel decent quality; they don’t flatten immediately and the stitching looks clean. Long term, like most velour pads, they’ll probably wear and collect dust, but the advantage is you can usually find replacement pads for Sennheiser HD 500 series without too much trouble.

The cable is a big plus here. It’s detachable and uses Sennheiser’s standard connection for this range, so if you snag it on a chair or your cat chews it, you’re not throwing away the whole headphone. You just buy another cable. The included 1.8 m cable is thick enough without being a rope, and the strain relief at both ends looks decent. I’ve yanked it a couple of times by accident when standing up, and nothing broke or cut out.

Where I wouldn’t trust them too much is in rough travel or being tossed daily into a backpack without protection. The included drawstring bag is basically dust protection, not real impact protection. The open-back grills are exposed, so if you shove them into a bag with books or a laptop, they can get scratched or pushed. If you really want to move around with them, I’d buy a cheap semi-hard case to avoid surprises.

For a mostly-at-home headphone, I think the durability is good enough. They’re not built like studio tanks but also don’t feel like disposable budget gear. Just don’t treat them like beaters you’d throw on the gym floor or stuff into a jacket pocket. Used reasonably, they should last several years, especially since the two parts that usually fail first (cable and pads) are replaceable.

Let’s talk sound, because that’s the main point here. The HD 505 has a clear, fairly neutral tuning with controlled bass. That means you hear vocals, guitars, and details really well, but you don’t get the heavy low-end thump you might expect from typical consumer or gaming headphones. On rock and metal (I tried bands like Muse, Evanescence, and some classic rock), guitars come through clean, cymbals are present without being painful, and the bass guitar is audible but not chest-rattling. If you like to actually hear what each instrument is doing, it’s pretty satisfying.

For acoustic and classical tracks, they do even better. The open-back design gives a decent sense of space: instruments don’t feel stuck in the middle of your head, and you can place them left-right fairly easily. It’s not on the level of much more expensive open-backs, but for this price, the soundstage and imaging are pretty solid. That also helps a lot in games. In shooters, footsteps and directional cues are easy to place. You can tell if something is behind you or to the side more clearly than with closed, bass-heavy headsets that smear everything together.

On the downside, if you’re into EDM, hip-hop, or just like a lot of bass, you’ll probably find them a bit flat out of the box. The bass is tight but doesn’t slam. With a bit of EQ (a low-shelf boost around 50–80 Hz), they wake up nicely without falling apart, so they can handle more bass if you’re willing to tweak. But if you hate messing with EQ and just want plug-and-play thump, these are not the best match.

Power-wise, they run fine from a phone with a dongle or a laptop, but they sound cleaner and a bit more dynamic through a small DAC/amp. You don’t need a crazy expensive amp, just something better than a noisy laptop jack. Overall, the performance is geared more towards people who care about clarity, separation, and positional audio than people who want nightclub-level bass. For the price bracket, I’d call the sound quality very good, as long as your taste lines up with this type of tuning.

Out of the box, the Sennheiser HD 505 package is pretty basic but functional. You get the headphones, a 1.8 m cable with a 3.5 mm jack, a screw-on 6.35 mm adapter, and a simple drawstring bag. That’s it. No hard case, no extra pads, no second cable with inline mic. The cable is detachable and uses the same system as other HD 500 series models, so you can swap it later if it breaks or if you want a shorter or longer one. That’s handy, because a lot of budget headphones have fixed cables that die after a year.

These are clearly meant for home and office use. The open-back design means sound leaks out and external noise gets in. If you sit in a quiet room, that’s great because the sound feels more spacious and you don’t get that closed, boxed-in feeling. But if you’re near other people, they’ll hear what you’re listening to at moderate volume, and you’ll hear their conversations. So the whole "traveling" angle in the description is a bit of a stretch. I wouldn’t use these on a train or plane; it’s just not what they’re built for.

Use cases that make sense: listening to music at your desk, working from home, some light mixing or editing, and gaming where positional audio matters. They don’t have a mic, so for gaming you’ll need a separate USB mic or tabletop mic. If you already have that, it’s fine. If not, factor in the cost. For students working in a dorm or shared flat, they’re good only if you have a quiet corner and don’t care about sound leaking out.

So in short, the HD 505 is a wired, open-back, desktop-focused headphone. If you want Bluetooth, noise cancelling, or a built-in mic, this is not it. If you’re okay being tethered by a cable and mainly listen in a quiet place, the package is pretty reasonable for the price point, even if it’s a bit no-frills.