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- Dynamic, closed-ear headphones with up to 32 dB attenuation of outside sound
- Lightweight and comfortable, ergonomic design, Cord Length -3.3 - 9.8 feet Coiled
- Extended frequency response and warm, natural sound reproduction
- Around-the-ear design with padded earcups
- Earpads, headband padding, and audio cord are easily replaceable, ensuring long life
- Collapsible earpieces for compact transport
- Lightweight and comfortable, ergonomic design
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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.
Buy Sennheiser HD-280 PRO Headphones Now
These cans are currently being offered well below MSRP -no, they aren't in danger of being retired any time soon (confirmed with Sennheiser customer service) -and are truly the best bang for the buck. Despite the very positive reviews, I had two reservations about purchasing the 280s: 1) the tight, uncomfortable fit; and 2) cracking in the plastic headband that some have commented on. I have a big ol' head where adjustable ball caps barely fit me. The 280s aren't tight at all, but rather comfortably snug -what do you expect from a closed design? Shooting range ear protection/muffs are 3 times more tighter than these. Secondly Sennheiser claims to never having heard about the cracking issue but will repair/replace your unit with no questions asked under their 2 year warranty.
Although plastic in design, the product has a solid, quality construction (made in Ireland if you care). An advantage, as you may already know, is that most of the components are designed to be replaced due to wear or damage. I like the folding convenience of the 280s, but don't expect them to fit in your coat pocket.
After burning these puppies in for 24 hours, the audio quality truly impresses with details I've never noticed before in my Definitive Technology and Aperion Audio home theatre/stero systems. Initially I thought the bass was a *little* lacking, but the cans have developed a fuller, richer sound with burn-in. I'm tempted to buy a second pair so I don't have to carry mine from home to work all the time.
Read Best Reviews of Sennheiser HD-280 PRO Headphones Here
If you are reading my review to know exactly which headphone you are going to buy, thats a bad idea. There are really only 2 steps to buy a phone that you love.
1. Know What Sound You Like. There are basically 3 types of sounds. A natural sound, colorful/vibrant sound(no so much artificial),and an artificial sound that is very bassy. The first step is find out which of these sounds you like most.
2. Match the headphones to your audio source. If you would use a portable device then make sure you get a low impedance (25-35) headphone. There are also the professional type for studio monitoring. These have higher impedance (60's)
Don't ever go by what somone else says because everyone has very different taste. Make sure you listen to the headphones before making sure they're the ones for you. If you have no clue which headphones to start with to find out what sound you really like I can give you some ideas. If you think you would like natural sound and use headphones for a portable device try out the Sennheiser HD 497. If you like natural soud and you listen to music through a reciever or a high powered audio source try the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro. For colorful sound try the Sony MDR-V6; try the Sony MDR-V600 which are the replacements for the V6. I found the Sonys to be kind of and exception. They are good for both high powered audio sources and mp3 players. They will sound bettter on a high powered source, but they don't sound too shabby on a mp3 player. For plain bassy and artificial sound(ideal for techno) try the Sennheiser HD 212 Pro(portable devices). If you like portability I believe that the Sennheiser PXC 100 have the best sound and are the most convienient to travel with.REMEMBER: Never buy your headphones because of others opinion. The HD 280 Pro are NOT good for portable devices in my opinion. But if you listen to music through a reciever or watch tv with headphones, go for it. These headphones in my opinion are the most natural sounding headphones on the market. Sennheisers I find are the best value for what you get, including the warranty. My biggest complaint with the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro is that it is very uncomfortable.
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Be careful when you order HD-280 these days: Amazon.com ships the HMD-280 instead. It happened twice in a row to me. I was told that shipping is automated. So, since the identical mistake happened twice already, it would likely happened a 3rd time. Therefore, the employee said, better get a refund rather than re-order again! Hard to believe that a human could not supersede the automation when an obvious mistake has been found in the automated shipping process. I refuse to believe it, and I am writing this review in an effort (among others) to get management's attention to fix the problem.
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.
