Review: Denon AH-C560R Mobile In-Ear Headphones with 3-Button Remote and Microphone

Name: Denon AH-C560R In-ear Headphones| Price: $99 [Buy it] | Rating: 4.5/5

Denon is one of those house-hold brands that slip into your mind as soon as you think of good audio. Therefore, when we were contacted by Denon to review a pair of their Denon AH-C560R in-ear headphones, naturally we jumped at the opportunity. Read our thoughts on the headphones after the break!

The packaging that the Denon AH-C560R headphones came in was smaller than I expected, after seeing photos of it on the internet. It is your classic cardboard box, but included inside is a great pair of headphones. To compliment the headphones, Denon have included 3 sizes of ear tips (S, M, L) and 1 set of Comply foam tips, which we will talk about later, as well as a hard travel case and cable clip.

Design

To put it simply, the Denon AH-C560R headphones are a very stylish looking pair of headphones. They are made from shiny black plastic with a metal accent around the end of the ear-pieces. The nozzle of the ear-piece comes off at an angle from the housing which ensures they fit to the shape of your ear, and are supported by your ear, as they are rather large earphones.

Cable up (left)- Cable down (right) (in photo Denon AH-C710)

The Denon ear-phones can be worn both cable up or cable down (see above photo). Personally, I prefer cable-up with these headphones as I find it more comfortable, but that is a personal preference. They work either way. Cable up means you wrap the cable of the ear-piece around the top of your ear (see above picture) rather than letting it hang loose downwards. The cable itself is thicker than your average earphone cable (thicker than the stock Apple earphones) which makes them less-tangle prone. The cable doesn’t produce any microphonics and is pretty long, 1.3m.

The ‘mobile’ word in the title of these headphones refers to the microphone and 3-button remote control. The buttons feel solid when pressed and the quality of the microphone is decent enough.

Comfort

As we mentioned, the Denon headphones come with a wide variety of ear-tips to ensure comfort no matter what the shape or size of your ear canal is. Included are 3 sets of different sized silicon tips in your classic dome shape. However, a big plus about the AH-C560R headphones is that they also come with a pair of Comply foam tips which, in my opinion, should be the pair you go for. These are ear-tips that are made from foam, which expand within your ear-canal to create a perfect seal to give great sound & noise isolation. They are the pinnacle of comfort and I would recommend them thoroughly.

The housing of the headphone rests gently within your outer-ear.Each ear-piece weights a mere 5.2g so you quickly forget they are even in your ear.

Sound Quality

Onto the most important section of any headphone review, the sound quality. After having listened to these headphones, it was clear they needed some burn in time as at the beginning, the highs were shrill and the bass was a little washed out. However, I played ‘pink noise‘ through the headphones for a full night to burn them in, and now are able to appreciate the high quality of sound these headphones produce. The bass tightened up and the highs become crisp and clearer.

Moving onto the first song, I turned on ‘Barbara Streisand by Duck Sauce’ and was pleasantly surprised by the bass response on these headphones. The bass packed a strong punch, was tight and potent in the music. Perhaps not as tight as the Klipsch S4 Image headphones, but great none the less. The vocals in the song came out clear, whilst the highs in the song did still sound a little shrill, but still a big improved from when they were straight out of the box.

I then switched to something to really test the low-end of these headphones, ‘Woo Boost by Rusko’. I was thoroughly impressed. The headphones handle Dubstep very well, as the bass remained potent, powerful, tight and handled the lowest lows with ease.

Moving on to ‘Money for Nothing by Dire Straits’. The drums sounded great (especially the bass drum), as well as the guitar which sounded full of life, and were colourful and clear. The vocals weren’t drowned out by the rest of the music and altogether, it sounded balanced and natural. If I were to be a little picky, I would say the mids were a little over-come by the powerful lows and ever-so-slightly shrill highs. However, it seemed that this mainly occurred when listening to rock songs, rather than the Rap and Electronica genres that I enjoy the most.

Overall, bass is the most impressive attribute to these headphones in my opinion, however, it isn’t it’s only one. The sound does sound natural, but in my opinion is more tweaked for bass heavy music genres like RnB, Rap and Electronic music.

Other Notes

These headphones do leak quite badly as far as in-ear headphones go. People sitting next to you will be able to tell what song you are listening to. As far as noise isolation goes, these headphones are ace. When using the Comply Foam Tips, almost no noise from the outside world will disturb you from your music listening.

The 3 button remote control does all the necessary functions that mean you never really need to take your iPod out of your pocket. It has volume buttons and play/pause button, but by clicking multiple times on the buttons allow you to skip to the next and the previous song.

Specifications

Ratings

Design: 5/5 The Denon AH-C560R headphones are an impressive looking pair of headphones which, despite the housing being made of plastic, still feel and look like a premium pair of headphones.
Comfort: 5/5 The generous variety of ear-tips included with the headphones ensure they will fit perfectly no matter what the shape or size of your ear-canal is. A big bonus is the inclusion of Comply foam tips.
Sound Quality: 4(4.5)/5 These headphone have great a low end, but their high end is sometimes a little shrill. In Rock music, the mids may feel like they are being lost between the powerful bass and clear highs. The headphones seem to be tweaked towards bass heavy genres of music.