A thing of beauty...

These are my first dive into the world of hi-fi audio, and let me tell you, what a dive it was. The difference between these (or any quality headphones, I would imagine) and the stock ones bundled with PDCP's is amazing. I strongly recommend to anyone that they blow $100 on some Grado's, or Sennheisers, or something better than the stocks... [shudder]

First, these headphones definitely need to be burned in. This means that you plug them into a source, put it on repeat, and stick it somewhere where it won't bother anyone. Leave it for about 48 hours. I would recommend you change music styles every 12 hours or so. I used symphony, hard rock, oldies, and rap/rock. But just so you can be amazed, listen to a couple CD's when you first get these. The bass will be anemic, the midrange slightly muddy, and the treble a bit piercing. After burn-in, however, the bass is there, (more on that later) the mids lose their muddiness, and the treble smooths out.

These are sealed, circumaural headphones. Sealed means the backs of them aren't open, so sound doesn't escape. Sennheiser claims 32dB of sound isolation. Myself, (and others) believe it to be closer to 15dB or so. Still, if you're listening at moderate volume levels, no one will be wiser as to your music tastes. Note this can be a downside, as people get mad when they repeatedly call your name and you don't respond.


Circumaural means the pads go around your ear, not sitting on it. (Supra-aural) This results in much higher comfort.

The impedance on these headphones is higher than the normal 32 ohms, (double that, in fact, 64 ohms) which means that while PCDP's and other portables shouldn't have a problem driving these, they will most assuredly benefit from an amp. I am currently in the process of building a homemade amplifier for these cans.

If you're a bass-head, or if you're used to listening to music with dual 12" subs in your car, you're looking at the wrong set of cans. I would recommend banging your head against the wall several times, and then buy some Koss, or maybe Grado cans. With any luck they'll satisfy you. Sennheiser is not known for their large amounts of bass. The HD600's (top of the line model) have been said to have some of the highest, but it's still nothing that you'll get from a subwoofer. With headphones, you never will. However, if you can detach yourself from that world, you may learn to appreciate tight, punchy bass. Which is exactly what you'll find with the HD 280's.

These headphones do fold up into smaller configurations for traveling, but I still wouldn't call them portable. The long cord also deters you from using them in public. And finally, the headphones themselves are quite large. I personally don't care if I'm seen in full Dork King status, with huge cans atop my head, but most normal people seem too:-)

Build quality on these is quite high, which seems to be normal with Sennheiser. It has a coiled, single-sided cord. The cord only comes out of one side of the headphones (left) instead of both, which means it doesn't catch on everything as easily. The coiled is also nice as you aren't suddenly jerked if you try walking away. It's a slow tugging, instead. Fully un-coiled, Sennheiser claims 3 meters. The most I've ever had it out to was about 2 meters, and had no problems with anything threatening to break, or stretch too much.

The cord terminates in a 1/8" gold-plated plug. It comes with a 1/4" adapter, (which screws on, rather than simply plugging into. Yet another example of the meticulous craftsmanship you get with Sennheiser) which is handy for stereo receivers and the like, which usually use 1/4".