I got these second hand to use when traveling. I have owned a bunch of other headphones like the Grado RS225 D2000, DT880 and still own a HD650 (just so you know my point of reference).
THE GOOD:
- I think they look good in a geeky sense, they are not stylish at all.
- The construction seems very solid as one would expect form Sennheiser at this price level.
- The headphones sound pretty good straight out of the headphone jack of my macbook pro (equalized) as they are quite efficient (this is one area in which they improve upon the HD25).
- They are designed in a way so that you can fix them if they break!
- Velvet ear pads that feel way better than plastic types.
- They are punchy, good for base driven music (electronic, rock, reggae).
- The sound is very clean.
- Overall well tonally balanced i.e. not dark or bright.
- Decent isolation.
- Not too analytical while still retaining a good level of detail.
THE BAD:
- These are definitely not the most conferrable headphones you can buy due to excessive headband clamping force.
- I am not too much of a fan of the split headband although some (drummers) might find it useful.
- Complete lack of soundstage, the music is in my head not happening in front of me.
- They are not as portable as they could be, you cannot fold them up.
- They lack musicality, this is not a Grado.
- They sound a bit congested but they are small and closed so this is not really a criticism.
Conclusion:
It it is good at what it does well. Buy it if you are not satisfied with the level of fidelity provided by a HD25 and want a portable headphone that is good at bass driven music. I would not buy it if you listen to a lot of classical music.
THE GOOD:
- I think they look good in a geeky sense, they are not stylish at all.
- The construction seems very solid as one would expect form Sennheiser at this price level.
- The headphones sound pretty good straight out of the headphone jack of my macbook pro (equalized) as they are quite efficient (this is one area in which they improve upon the HD25).
- They are designed in a way so that you can fix them if they break!
- Velvet ear pads that feel way better than plastic types.
- They are punchy, good for base driven music (electronic, rock, reggae).
- The sound is very clean.
- Overall well tonally balanced i.e. not dark or bright.
- Decent isolation.
- Not too analytical while still retaining a good level of detail.
THE BAD:
- These are definitely not the most conferrable headphones you can buy due to excessive headband clamping force.
- I am not too much of a fan of the split headband although some (drummers) might find it useful.
- Complete lack of soundstage, the music is in my head not happening in front of me.
- They are not as portable as they could be, you cannot fold them up.
- They lack musicality, this is not a Grado.
- They sound a bit congested but they are small and closed so this is not really a criticism.
Conclusion:
It it is good at what it does well. Buy it if you are not satisfied with the level of fidelity provided by a HD25 and want a portable headphone that is good at bass driven music. I would not buy it if you listen to a lot of classical music.
