Sennheiser HD201 Lightweight Over-Ear Binaural Headphones
by Sennheiser
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List Price: Our Price: $18.75 You Save: $11.20 (37%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $5.88 (click here) Category: Speakers See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sennheiser HD201 Lightweight Over-Ear Binaural Headphones
Customer Review: I May Not Know Much, But I Know I Love These!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm not an audio expert by any means, but I know what I like and I have owned many, many pairs of headphones in the past. Noise-cancelling, non-noise-cancelling, earbuds, headphones, in-ear, out-of-ear, surround-ear, you name it. It seems like headphones and headsets are kind of an obsession of mine.
I use larger headhpones such as these Sennheisers primarily for playing video games on my computer after my toddler has gone to bed, and occasionally for listening to music (also on one of my computers). (When it comes to my iPod, I generally use something smaller and more portable, such as earbuds.)
When I took the HD201 headphones out of the box, I was first amazed at light they are. They seem to weigh almost nothing, though they don't feel flimsy by any means. I tried them on, and they were immediately very comfortable. They surrounded my ears comfortably, and the adjustable length on each side allowed for a perfect fit. I also noticed that the cord on these is nice and long, which is a plus. So far, so good. So I plugged them in for the real test.
WOW.
These sound GREAT! It's really kind of amazing to me that Amazon can offer these for under $20. I read the other reviews and paid attention when some reviewers said that they weren't loud enough, or sounded funny on "s" sounds. I did not find that to be the case for me. They sound just fine on all types of sounds and music, at various levels, and the volume is not a problem.
Pros: light-weight, comfortable, great sound, amazing price
Cons: too big for my taste to travel with, since they don't fold
I kind of wish they had an attached microphone, because then I'd never need another headset for gaming! However, for listening only, these are top-notch and I was very pleasantly surprised by the terrific quality at such a low price.
Customer Review: I thought they were good until I actually used them...
Summary: 3 Stars
I almost never ever review items unless I am really surprised with their quality. And that can go both ways. Unfortunately it is not in a good way this time around.
I bought these when I needed a second pair of headphones because I took my first pair (Philips SBC HP170) to use at work and wanted to leave a pair at home. Well, I ended up rarely using them at home until recently I decided to give them a shot.
I took them to work and have been listening to them every day for the last 3 days, about 6 hours on average (I'm a software developer).
At first I thought that something was wrong with my sound output because I had to crank up the volume to FULL on the system and take it down a notch from there. They have very poor sensitivity it seems. Now I understand why I could never get strong enough sound from my laptop either a while back. I just ignored it that time.
Secondly, I turned up the bass in WinAmp's equalizer because these headphones barely have any bass response. However, all that did was muddy up the sound, didn't really do much with the bass. No matter how I played with the equalizer I couldn't get these to work right. Now it got to the point where I'm listening to music that I used to listen to on my old headphones and I HAD to stop what I was doing because the poor quality of these headphones made me so frustrated that I couldn't focus on work!
I unplugged the HD201s and plugged back in my old cheap, (I think they cost me 17 bucks at RiteAid a few years ago), Philips HP170s. Wow, I'm back to normal now!
Overall I would definitely agree with the review named "Not loud enough, sibilant, slightly bright." It's rare that I get frustrated (or happy) enough with a product to take the time to review it but this is one of those times.
Good luck!
Customer Review: Good for the discounted price
Summary: 5 Stars
I have bought it during the thanksgiving discounts of Amazon. It was really cheap. Now, I am listening to music or watch animations using it and I am satisfied with the headphones. It doesn't give an extraordinary bass sound. Nor does it increase the volume level that comes out of my laptop. But, of course my laptop has a limited volume capacity.
It fits to my head and mine is not big. I have a normal or maybe a narrow head and I am comfortable with it.
And surprisingly, it does isolate the listener from outside sounds to some extent. So, it has another plus.
I would recommend it to customers who don't want to spend much on a circumaural listening device, but still expect some quality. It gives a general satisfaction. But, it is not something for pros or music-men. Because the frequency span of it is relatively limited to its Sennheiser big brothers.
Edit: After using it nearly for one year, I had the need to give some more feedback.
I want to clearly emphasize that for the price I paid for this thing, it is a great device. Yes, I agree to others saying that it hurts the ears after using it many hours. True, not the most comfy headphones. But hey, know this: I dropped it from about 1 meter height to carpet floor several times. I have accidentally pulled the cord too much. None of them effected its functioning. Still the same quality, which is not the best maybe, but enough for me. I would definitely buy another one, if I had to. I clearly recommend it to everyone who doesn't want to spend many bucks on a premium equipment but would like to listen to music and do other stuff like watching DVDs and playing games. Again, not for professionals or hard-core gamers or enthusiasts. But definitely for regular usage! More durable than I have expected!
Customer Review: Decent phones.Not great!
Summary: 3 Stars
Considering that you can get these for under $20.00 I'd rate them as a good buy.However ,I'm used to phones in the $100 price range (AKG,Beyer & Sennheiser).As I'm on a tight budget these days I decided to give these a try as I like Sennheiser phones a lot and I needed a new set.The HD 201's are not audiophile phones.If you are an audiophile look elsewhere & spend more.The HD 201's are decent & non offending sounding.They were kind of nasal and spitty sounding in the highs & midrange out of the box but that went away a bit after breaking them in( phones & speakers do need a burn in period.I left these plugged into a receiver's headphone jack for 8 hours with an FM station playing softly).The bass is decent & tight but not boomy or powerful.Hiphop/Rap & reggae fans may not be happy.These are not good Hard rock phones either.Headbangers may not be able to get them loud enough.They do play loud enough for me.The HD 201's seem to sound best on acoustic ,Jazz,classical & new age music.They aren't bad for rock but they mush out if you crank them.They sound great with acapella vocal stuff(Anonymous 4 sounds really good on these).I do find they have a nasal tone that I hope smooths out more as I break them in.I found the low sensitivity not to be too much of a problem. They play plenty loud enough for me even with an iphone.Perhaps with a bit of EQ they will sound a lot better.A lot of folks are excited about these cans because their price/performance ratio is very good indeed! They are musical & won't burn you out.They are far superior to the phones you get with your average device & much better then the average brand name phone in this price range.They are not $50-100 quality cans however.As long as you don't expect too much you will probably be quite happy with them.Customer Review: less than 3 hours & drooling
Summary: 5 Stars
Yeah, I've had these phones now for about 2 and 1/2 hours. They are far and away the best purchase I have made in a long long time.
In my dorm I listen to a good deal of music, mostly because I hate my roommate's choice of television shows and I have about 1,000 times more work than him (being a pre-med major). So yeah, this year I have gone through 4 pairs of phones, these Sennis being #5. I've had a pair of Sony Digital, 2 pairs of Coby (one was CV-H42) and, an in-ear Panasonic version, and nothing at all even compares to the clarity and rich tones that the Sennis have.
I have listened to a lot of music in the 18 years I have been alive, and my music listening habits are quite varied (from techno, to alternative, to classical) and I promise you whatever music you listen to will sound better and clearer with these phones.
Now for the only drawback I have noticed, I have now had the phones on for 2 1/2 hours straight and they are starting to press just a bit on my ears. But the pressure is ever so slight-just starting to get a little uncomfortable.
OK, that's the review, if you are seriously considering these phones and want to talk to someone who owns 'em, hit me up at wuzup716@gmail.com (title the email 'amazon headphones', I will not respond to\and legal action will be taken on people emailing for purposes other than questions about the phones. DO NOT contact me with other offers or anything outside the regards of this review).
Hope this review was helpful and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Now, off to cook ultimate nachos.
Sincerely,
j.gib
Currently listening to: `Carmina Burana o Fortuna' by Carl Orff (a classical piece, drooling over the sound)