Sennheiser HD-280 Professional Headphones

These were my first pair of cans and since no one else has yet to submit a review for them I thought I would go ahead and write one.

First Glance:
These were made primarily for studio use and the have a very classic look to them. Nothing fancy. They come with a coiled cable that terminates with a 3.5mm jack with threads for the supplied ¼in adapter.

Build Quality:
The headband is made of kind of plastic along with the rest of the headphones. They have a leather-like pad on the headband and around the ear cups. There have been reports of the plastic headband cracking but my pair has seen no such damage. Overall the build quality is acceptable for a pair of headphones in this price range.

Comfort:
They are not particularly uncomfortable headphones but after an hour or so of listening they might begin to become uncomfortable. They are quite light feeling on your head compared to my AKG 271MKII's and feel almost like a pair of Grado’s expect a little heavier. They don’t have a really strong clamp on your head so that is not uncomfortable either. Overall they are pretty comfortable but there are more comfortable cans out there.

Sound:
Now for the important part: How do they sound? I have probably put around 50 hours into these headphones and this review is based upon that experience in addition to the specific testing that I did. Here is my signal chain: Sony DVP-NC80V -> Gary’s PA2V2 -> Sennheiser HD 280 Pro. To me they seem to have an kind of neutral sound probably due the fact that they were meant to be used in the studio which makes me feel that are not great for enjoying music as they have an almost cold sound and at times the high frequencies can get fatiguing. The low end is present but it not very punchy, it is just neutral. Acoustic guitars and cymbals cut right through and stand out but at times are a too sharp and require you to turn down the volume. Since they are sort of cold they are also quite transparent and individual instruments usually stand out. The mids seemed to be recessed and vocals never really seem to jump out at you. Overall this causes a less than satisfactory listening experience because they never really bring the music to life. That doesn’t mean they aren’t good headphones. They are great in the studio for someone looking for budget mixing/mastering headphones because, like I said, they are transparent. They are great for monitoring due to their isolation which is quite good even when no music is playing.

Conclusion:
These headphones are a great backup in the studio or for giving to performing musicians or just for the home recordist on a tight budget. Although I would not recommend them to a fellow Head-Fier who wants to use them to listen to music collection. In the $99 price range there are better headphones for enjoying music, maybe something like the Grado 60i’s. I hope this review is helpful.