Hello.
These are my impressions regarding the Sennheiser HD280pro closed headphones. They belong to my dad and we have had them for about 3 years now. A quick check at bhphoto.com shows they sell for 80$us.
My impressions are based off listening I have done using a Mhdt labs Paradisea+ NOS dac with WE396A and WooAudio WA6 headphone amp with 274B.
Sound quality
For a closed headphone these are rather neutral. The bass is there with a little weight, though quite rolled off from the mids. The mids aren’t particularly special, for better or for worse. The good news is that there is almost no coloration going on, which is pretty good for an 80$ closed headphone. Vocals do not sound dry, but they do not sound full bodied either. The highs also sound fairly rolled off and not very present. For closed headphones they do not seem terribly detailed, which was surprising.
The one thing that I was very surprised with is the lack of soundstage being presented. I am not getting much depth to the presentation, and almost no vertical separation. Sounds seem smeared in space, not focused. I am shocked at this because these are closed headphones, and that is usually one of the things closed headphones do decently. The 20$ HD201 do a better job here. This is pretty disappointing for me.
Build quality
Build quality is utter rubbish. These headphones are defective by design. Countless people have had the headband crack on them just under normal usage. My dad’s pair is no different (see pictures). The fake leather on the top of the headband pretty much disintegrated after 3 years and is why it is not shown in the pictures (my dad threw it out).
These have an MSRP of 200$, which is a joke. I don’t even think I would spend 80$ after knowing that they are prone to breaking under normal usage. Very disappointing.
They can fold up to about half their normal size. When you fold them up though, it puts pressure on the headband, which is not advisable since the headband is prone to breaking.
The ear cups can swivel 90 degrees, so you can hold one cup up to your ear for DJ work. However, the way these are designed the drive enclosure is attached by what appears to be a very flimsy plastic rod. Coupled with the weight of these headphones, this could put a lot of torque on such a small plastic rod. Because of this I would not feel comfortable using these for DJ work without the risk of snapping one of the drives right off.
Comfort
The comfort on these is not good. They have a very high clamping force which gives me a headache after about 30 minutes of using them. They don’t move around on my head a lot though due to the high clamping force. The ear pads go around my ears. The ear pads get very warm after a few minutes of using them, and the inside chambers get quite warm after 15 minutes or so. This makes my ears warm and sweaty, which causes discomfort after about 30 minutes. After using these for 30 minutes, taking them off is like a breath of fresh air for my ears.
Misc
They don’t require an excessive amount of volume out of my amp. About on par with my HD580, if not a little less.
The HD280pro do attenuate a fair amount of outside sound. These could be used in noisy environments.
The coiled cable started off quite stiff, but over time it has gone limp, so to speak. Not really a bad thing, but something to note. The cable itself is very heavy, and can put a lot of weight on the left side of your head if you just have it hanging down and not resting on something like a desk.
Conclusions
These are closed headphones with a lot of isolation. They have a pretty neutral sound, with rolled off highs and lows. The detail is not spectacular and the soundstage leaves a lot to be desired. They are neither dry nor musical sounding.
They are defective by design and prone to breaking. I find them to be very uncomfortable to boot.
I personally wouldn’t recommend these. Sennheiser recently released the HD380pro and I am not sure if this is intended to be a replacement for the HD280pro or if the two will coexist. The fact that Sennheiser still sells a headphone which is known to be defective is disappointing to say the least, even at its current price of 80$us. Sadly, the HD380pro is selling for 200$us new at the moment so it is not in the HD280pro price range yet.
Some pics
As always, please feel free to post any questions or comments.
I hope this was helpful,
~Drew
Sennheiser HD280pro impressions
