Sennheiser HD-280 PRO Headphones
by Sennheiser
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sennheiser HD-280 PRO Headphones
Customer Review: The best headphones I have ever tried.
Summary: 5 Stars
I have owned these phones for over a year now, and I love them so much, it has prompted me to write my first Amazon review!
As a basis for this review, the following helps set the context:
1. I listen to music mostly using Windows Media Player from my computer, with absolutely none of the special effects - no SRS, no equalizer, nothing. Just direct playback.
2. I listen approximately 5 hours every day.
I have organized this review into various sections that I particularly care for in a set of headphones.
1. Channel separation: This hasn't been mentioned in any of the other reviews, so I am unsure if it is just me. But I have never observed such accurate channel separation in any set of headphones I have tried before (see down the review for a list of my headphones)! It is truly a concert feeling - every distinct note, vocal or beat seems come from a specific place, pure left, pure right, somewhere deep, etc - exactly where it is meant to come from, almost like I was listening to true 5.1 channel music! It is not all bundled up in the center of the head. For instance, listen to "Wish you were here" by Pink Floyd. I never knew before putting these phones on that almost the entire 1st minute of the music (the background tv, the muffled guitaring) is entirely on the right channel, and only the breaths, coughs etc are on both channels! Listen to "Mrs. Robinson" by Simon & Garfunkel. The base guitar is on the right channel. The lead guitar starts on the left and slowly moves towards center. It is amazing! I notice this of so many songs, I want to listen to them all over again!
2. Fidelity: This is truly a killer. The artist's breath, every stretch or pluck of the guitar string, every hiss or static in old jazz recordings, pretty much everything can be heard! Some may say why would I want to hear the static/hiss/breath etc? Well, I like to! It makes me feel I am sitting right there where the music is being performed. And if the music contains these sounds, I like it that these headphones can reproduce them faithfully. Artificial noise level is practically absent, even when the volume is turned up.
3. Frequency range: These sets do loose a bit of audio detail at both ends - very low and very high. However, it is not significant enough to bother me. The thing that I really like is that the response is even across most of the range. To help explain what I am saying, if you play the entire octave from lower C to higher C with the same intensity, the loudness of each of the notes would be fairly similar. Not just the evenness of the range, the tones across the entire frequency range are accurate. The thing that I didn't like about the Bose Quiet Comfort headphones is that they seem to artificially boost the amplitude at the lower end, seemingly to compensate for the active noise-cancelling eating away some of the actual audio detail. That made them sound with more "bass effect" than actually present in the music. If I need more bass, I'll use equalizers, I don't want my headphones to make that decision.
4. Noise suppression: If you want numbers, these sets reduce noise by 32dB without using any active noise-cancellation circuitry! And that is really, really good! I personally have tried noise-cancelling headphones and don't like them because they some how can't get the low frequencies right. But try these on and you really understand what noise suppression these have! In office, my door is open and I don't hear any ambient noise when the music is playing. My colleagues knock and I don't hear them! Many times they literally have had to come and tap my shoulder! And being sealed headphones, they don't leak too much music outside the cups, so you can comfortably share the room with someone without disturbing the person.
5. Comfort: When I first started using these headphones, they did seem a bit tight around my big head. Every hour or so, I would take them off and rest my head a bit. However, over time they have loosened up a bit. Now I can go for hours without taking them off. And Sennheiser did a wise thing by putting soft and cushy leather pads on the cups, which not only help with comfort, but also help with noise suppression.
The best part of these headphones is that they get better over time! This was truly a discovery, and the main reason I was prompted to write this review! I don't know what it is, but the phones have actually gotten better over time. May be the diaphragms have opened up a bit to reproduce even the finest detail. And maybe the comfort has increased since they have become a bit looser. But after approximately putting 2000 hours on these headphones, they sound better than new!
Other things to consider:
Portability: Yes these headphones fold, but I wouldn't classify them as fully portable. If you care for portability, you might be interested in the Etymotic 6 series - slightly pricier than these but similar features (including great passive noise suppression), and they are ear-bud design and hence completely portable.
Case: These headphones don't come with a case. If you plan to move around with them a lot, you would definitely want to invest in a sturdy case for it. I chanced upon the Lowepro Ex 120 Camera Bag, which seems perfect for these. The folded phones fit snugly, and it has a small pouch in front for my pocket pc (which doubles up as my music player). Being a camera bag, it has enough padding on it to protect both the PDA and headphone.
To sum it up:
At under $100, these headphones simply can't be beat. I am getting another one for myself for home so that I don't have to haul my current one around.
Other headphones I have tried/own:
Bose Quiet Comfort 2 noise-cancelling set
Sennheiser PXC 250 noise-cancelling set
Some Sony stuff not worth mentioning in polite company!
Customer Review: Quite Literally Euphoric
Summary: 5 Stars
First of all let me say that I bought these for my mp3 player to get the most out of it. It sounds sort of ridiculous because the mp3 player is like 1/10th the size of the headphones, nonetheless that was my purpose for them. Personally I don't care how big the headphones are within reason and these are definitely within reason. Basically when I listen to my music I want to be getting the most out of it whenever I listen to it. I guess you could call me an audiophile even though I had never even heard of the term until a few months ago. These headphones were bought to replace a cheaper version of some Sennheiser's that worked fine, but were just annoying to wear and were giving me headaches. In any case, let me start with that. I find these to be much more comfortable and better built than the ones I had. The actual size of the head phones changes instead of just the position of the earpieces. Also, the cups completely encompass the ear which not only are more comfortable but create a much richer sound. The padding is definitely more on the professional size and feel.
When you look at these headphones the first thing you notice is they have a professional fit and finish to them. For obvious reasons this happens, these are the pro model. They are more like contortionist headphones than any other I have ever seen. There are something like twelve different positions they can be folded into, which allows for storage because they can be bulky. The cord is very nice and thick and coiled so you don't have to worry about it having to be rolled up. It is also pretty much tangle proof. The piece that covers the head is wide and seems very sturdy. From what I can tell so far they are built to last.
Now to talk about the sound. When you first put them on there is a eureka sense that you get if you have sensitive ears. Its like, "What have I been missing?" sort of feeling. It is as if you were looking through a dirty cracked window before, but now it is crystal clear. All ranges can be heard-lows, mids, and highs. To demystify one thing I noticed in other reviews that have been said about these headphones; they do not have any lack of bass-period. In fact I find the bass to be even better than the other cheaper headphones that are bass oriented. This is because you get more out of the bass. You don't just get booming noises, you get the bass guitar, deep sounds, different voice tones and brilliant music. In other words, I would say the bass is not weak, but multidimensional. One way to describe the sound that comes from these headphones is that when you listen on a pair of normal headphones you hear maybe 2 or 3 dynamic parts of the song (bass, vocals and maybe background instruments) On these when they are tuned correctly you will hear all of them-bass, vocals, acoustics, three dimensional sound, other instruments and clarity. This is what I would call a truly high definition sound and is dynamic.
Just purely listening to the headphones is a great experience, but I use two different equalizers on my computer. This ensures THE best possible sound can be attained in my opinion. Sennheiser went to great lengths to engineer these headphones to be replicators, in the sense that they replicate exactly how the music sounded when heard in real life if not better. Everything is crystal clear and these being my first professional set of headphones I am thoroughly impressed. I would consider myself to be a pretty multi-faceted music listener, so I had a chance to test it with rock music, classical, softer music, vocals and music with just a considerable amount of components. Not once would one think that one single genre sounds better than another and I find the equalizer setup I have excellent with any of the music I listen to. Because these are studio quality headphones you would expect them to block out sound. While listening to music they are pretty much impervious to outside sound. Just using them as noise-blockers however I would say they only block maybe 40-60 decibels of sound.
The only real qualm I have with these headphones is the size. This was taken into account when I went searching for a new pair however. I don't plan on using them while running on a treadmill.
The real question is whether or not you should buy it. If you are an audiophile, a person with sensitive hearing who enjoys quality music, a musician or just a purist, then I really think these are a superb value. With an original price of $200 they have really come down to just an enthusiast's price level. Were you a studio employed sound technician, demanded the best of the best quality or are just plain rich then these would not serve your purpose because of course there are better ones out there which can run into the hundreds and thousands even. On the other hand the majority of people are: iPod/mp3 player owners, can't tell the difference between a $20 pair and a $100 pair, plain old music listeners, not wanting to spend the extra money or dont want a couple of princess Leia headphones attached to their head in the gym or walking around. Unfortunately many will not come to know the sublime sounds of the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro because of these very reasons. However, I think that the value is unbeatable. For those who are in that class with me try these out and I doubt you will be dissapointed.
Customer Review: Excellent sound, but . . .
Summary: 5 Stars
the folks at Sennheiser must not have large heads. As with about every pair of headphones that I try on, I had to extend these all the way to fit. After a few months of daily use, the plastic headband began to develop small cracks. Now the cracks are growing and I fear that the whole thing will just snap one day. Unfortunately, that is one of the parts that isn't listed as replaceable.
That said, people who look at this headphone are looking for: a) quality sound synonymous with the name Sennheiser b) excellent noise reduction.
a) The sound from these phones is excellent. The standard criteria are there. The signal is very clean, thanks in part to the oxygen free copper cabling used. Bass is controlled and precise so a timpani doesn't sound muffled. Higher frequencies do not hiss and the phones are able to drive high frequency sounds and pull out details lost by consumer grade headphones. Soundstage is fairly narrow as some have said, but much better than consumer sets that sound like the sound source is inside your head. Of course, a DSP solution for soundstage expansion could help if someone didn't like the soundstage.
What people should realise is that most music is optimised for listening on a stereo system and not headphones. A search for "binaural music" will yield samples that show how music should be sampled for headphones. Anyways, the HD-280 Pros also have 64 Ohms of resistance so an amplifier isn't needed.
b) The biggest impression I got from these phones is silence. Not total silence, since with the headphones on I could still hear outside noise. Once the music starts playing, however, music is much clearer because background noises have been attenuated so effectively.
That was the biggest attraction of these headphones. For my sound processing work, ambient noise from my computer and the outside world are suppressed admirably. 32 decibels is a lot of sound attenuation, far more than the Active Noise Reduction sets from Bose or even Sennheiser. The HD-280 Pros use passive noise attenuation. This means that for the phones to supress outside noise effectively, they have to be tight. They are very tight in fact. Four Newtons of force are applied, a number significantly larger than most headphones. If it weren't for the thoughtful padding, they would feel as uncomfortable as firing range headsets. Passive noise attenuation also means there is no artifacting from electronic noise that is usually the case in Active Noise Reduction sets.
If you have a very large head, a solution is to find in-ear phones (the expensive Etymotics sets have even better sound quality and noise reduction). If you are sensitive to tight headphones, a solution might be the Active Noise Reduction sets (although they aren't as good sonically). If you listen to sound in a very very quiet environment, Grados or some other Sennheisers would probably get you that better soundstage for the money.
If none of these situations applies to you, then these phones will provide better sound through their native excellent quality and their superior noise attenuation. After all, the listening experience with Sennheiser 600's on an Audigy 2 card or a tube amplifier is diminished with that noisy computer fan in the background.
All in all, these phones are HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
*** UPDATE, October 20, 2009 ***
Wow, well these headphones are still ticking after over six years and I'm pretty rough with my equipment! Cheap headphones break after six weeks for me because the cable gets pulled or I mess up the speaker so these Sennheisers are pretty solid.
Just as I feared though, the plastic HAS cracked and you can see the thin wires (covered in plastic or rubber) exposed. Now that most of the plastic on the headband has broken off, the fit is quite a bit looser though the headband is still held together by a wide piece of metal. I just wish they would just make a nice metal headband to avoid the plastic cracking issue.
While I like the fact that they aren't so tight, I don't like the fact that richness (low-end midrange and bass) suffers because of it. You can simulate this when listening by pulling the headphones slightly apart. It isn't noticeable on light music though and might not be an issue with newer versions of the HD-280 Pro.
The ear cushions on my 6+ year headphones are worn past the leatherette, past the foam and to the foam backing layer. The top is looking ratty as well. Replacement ear cushions are around $20.00 which isn't cheap. I'll probably skip that in favor of a new pair of HD-280s - especially if they've been redesigned for larger heads as some people are indicating. I'll keep this pair around as beaters until they quit on me. However, now that I've quieted my working area, sound isolation isn't as critical to me as it was before so I might take a look at other Sennheisers.
Customer Review: GRADE: B+
Summary: 4 Stars
These aren't phones for casual listening; choose them only if you need them for noise attenuation and you are not planning on wearing them for more than an hour or two at a time. If comfort is high on your list, these are not going to be the phones for you. They begin causing pain after an hour or two of use. However, customers looking for noise attenuation who don't mind some extra pressure around the ears should consider them. They do a good job of keeping sound in as well as out of the earcups. I bought them because there's a noisy air conditioning unit just outside my window, and the 280s do a good job keeping the noise out. As for build quality, they are plastic but very well made (in Ireland.) The pleather muffs do peel, but you can replace them.
So how do they sound? Initially, I didn't hear that much of a difference between the 280 and my old twenty dollar pair, but gradually my opinion changed as I switched back and forth between them. Because some of the Amazon reviews led me to believe that the bass on these phones was less than adequate, I was concerned the 280 would sound excessively bright, tinny, or anemic. The bass is actually rich and clear, although the 280 is definitely on the bright side (as opposed to "dark" sounding phones). The bass is punchy without being boomy. Because they are on the trebly end of the spectrum, playing them too loud can be killer on the ears.
Instruments sound distinct and well articulated. I started perceiving how pure--if a little analytical--the music sounded compared to all the headphones I'd used in the past. As I switched back and forth between my old pairs and the 280, I noticed that, without adjusting the volume, the volume level on all my old pairs seemed significantly diminished when I put them on directly after listening to the 280. One reason for this speaks to the benefit of closed headphones: with the sealed 280 I could listen to music at a much lower volume and still catch every detail, which protects me from the potential hearing damage that results from listening at high volumes. When you listen to open phones, you tend to crank them up to drown out whatever noise there might be in your environment (and even inconsequential noise can make you do this). The highs on these phones can make your ears ring after a while if you listen too loudly. At any rate, the sound is just more vibrant on the 280 than on any of my cheaper phones. I'm amazed at how well I can hear the music right now considering that the phones are about fifteen feet away. They sound almost like mini shelf speakers. Even at this distance, I can hear details distinctly, and the music sounds strong and robust. This is what finally convinced me--at this distance, at the same volume, I cannot hear the same amount of detail from any of my other headphones (I checked). Also, the 280s are excellent at reproducing the human voice. There is no artificially boosted or diffuse bass.
The soundstage on the 280 is compressed. Rather than breadth, you get an intimate, cozy soundstage.
In short, except for the excessive tightness, I'm very satisfied with my purchase.
Update: Over time, some idiosyncrasies have become apparent, nothing that changes my recommendation, but just certain minor quirks you might want to know about. The cable is a mixed blessing. It comes out only from the left side and, when you move away from your source (if it's stationary), you can feel tension pulling on the left earcup. The cable also hangs awkwardly and heavily when you walk around, and swings back and forth like a pendulum. The cable sometimes causes contact noise. While external noise IS attenuated quite nicely, the cable is pretty sensitive, which in one way is very good, but in another it's a small drawback because of contact noise. Whenever the cable (which is curled like a telephone cord) rubs or hits something you hear it inside the phones. For instance, if you rub the cable with your finger, you hear it. It just sounds like a low rub and doesn't distort the music at all. I don't want to overemphasize this because it really isn't that big of a deal, but it is something you should keep in mind if you tend to move around a lot while listening to music. These are definitely not dancing or excercise phones. If you are going to be bouncing around or walking a lot, you probably would be better served by another model. Too much tapping or rubbing anywhere on the phones, not just on the cable, reverberate in the earpiece. But it's a trade-off if you want to attenuate external noise.
Not all music sounds great on the 280, as they are somewhat analytical-sounding. These phones are much too polite for harder-edged rock. But if your aim is to dampen external noise these might just be the phones for you no matter what you listen to.
Customer Review: the real skinny
Summary: 4 Stars
These are great if you are not used to reference quality headphones. When I got these I couldn't even conceive of there being better sounding headphones out there. I thought I had the most amazing headphones on the planet. They are rich and present, and fit comfortably.
My sales rep at Sweetwater talked me into investing in pair of Beyerdynamics DT 770 pros. He recommended the 770Ms for my front of house mixing (They have better sound isolation than the DT770 Pros and are equivalent to the Sennheiser HD 280s for sound isolation) but I went with the DT 770Pro 250 ohm.
Check out the spec sheet on the HD 280s at [...]
You'll see that on these cans they don't show you the low end of their frequency response curve because in reality they drop off significantly under 80hz; they have a 5db variation throughout the rest of the sound spectrum. The high lows around 100 hz are accentuated as well as the voices around 1K and the very highs around 10k. Until you listen to headphones that have a really flat frequency response and are truly clear, like the DT770s you don't notice that the HD 280s lack clear low bass response and have really accentuated frequencies throughout the rest of the sound spectrum. What you notice most when comparing side by side is the presence and clarity of the low bass in the DT 770s... which you never realized wasn't there in Sennheisers until you listened to the better cans. The DTs are much clearer, much flatter. After listening through the reference cans the HD 280s don't sound clear, and the gain in the 100 and 1K areas is really, really evident.
but we're not comparing apples with apples. The DT770 Pros cost about 3 times as much.
Here is why you would buy the HD 280s: They are amazingly versatile and a great DJ or front of house headphone. Because of how they fold and articulate you can grab them by the right can, swivel it outwards and put it to your ear in one sweep... that means if you need to monitor a channel in your mix NOW you can with one hand in under a second. They are great for this. You don't need to use both hands and place them over your head to monitor with them. I leave them plugged into my soundboard always when I am mixing live because they are so quick to grab and monitor with.
You would buy these if you are a drummer. Our drummers love them. They isolate very good and play loud. They are comfortable and stay put. I never see our drummers fussing with them or adjusting them. They put them on and play. And these headphones are very, very, very durable and tough. Our drummers are animals with equipment. The cord on these has been stretched out for all it's worth, the headphones have been abused terribly and played extremely hard, a lot! After a year or so the pads are still in excellent condition, the head band works like new and they play perfectly. And they just keep going like the day we got them.
You would buy these if you only had limited funds and have never listened to studio grade headphones and don't plan to in the near future. I was skeptical of a salesman trying to sell me an expensive set of cans when he recommended the Beyerdynamics. This isn't to say the Beyerdynamics are better than Sennheisers, I haven't tried the high end Sennheisers to compare. But, my salesman said very sincerely that the DT770s were worth the money. They are. I like the 250 ohm DT770 Pros a lot. They are almost too clear to mix with... everything sounds good in them. Using an optical link between my computer and stereo listening with the DT770s is an incredible experience.
If I was a drummer I would buy these and never need another pair of anything.
I would buy them if I was a DJ. They isolate great and are plenty loud, and the things you need to hear stand out perfectly in a noisy environment.
For front of house monitoring I would definitely recommend them. I've let other sound guys use these for mixing live and they are in love with these headphones!
But, being a sound engineer who records and edits music... even if I had unlimited funds to spend on a set of cans, though I would buy these first for their versatility, I couldn't own just them for their sound quality because of the fact that I master with my headphones. I don't even listen to HD280s if the DT770s are within reach. Truthfully, compared to the DT770s they sound terrible. But compared to nothing... they do sound great.