[cscottrun4it]

Hey all,

First-time caller. Long-time listener. Would love some thoughts and help with the HD-425s.

THE STORY: My wife bought a pair of new-in-box Sennheiser HD-425s for my birthday, out of self interest, I suspect. She's tired of my audio at 10:30 PM, apparently. Little does she know what 600 Ohms means. And to that point, neither do I, really.

THE HEADPHONES: Back in the early 1990s, I owned a pair of Sennheiser HD-435s. The dog ate them in 1996. I loved the sound of those cans. Plus, they were feather light - you hardly knew you had them on. The 425s look very similar. The ear pads look more substantial, however, and will probably need replacing, new or not. It also looks like the audio cables are easily replaceable? It appears several upgrades are available from artician sources as well as Chinese sources. (This blows me away, given that the phones are from 1985, and I can find nothing about them on the internet.)

Does anyone know how the HD-425s sound? How open is open in the actual drivers? If you've owned a pair, did you mess around with different audio cables? Any thoughts would be great!

THE CAR: Well, not an actual car but the engine... Since the phones are 600 Ohms, I'm guessing they need about 100 mW at high gain on a single headed amp to drive them with enough overhead? I have no idea what the sensitivity is for the HD-425s, but I'm guessing I'm looking for a low impedance amp? Solid state would be best? I'd like to spend no more that $250 on a headphone amp, if possible.

I really appreciate any information/thoughts anyone has.

 

[cscottrun4it]

Not even help on the amp?

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

I remember that Sennheiser from back when I was a little kid. I clearly remember listening to them but that was also way before I started thinking about sound quality. I do however remember them being incredibly comfortable.
My guess is that it is such a rare headphone nowadays that it might take a while before someone in the know will drop by with a few words of wisdom.
My advice for amping these badboys is pretty simple: get a Schiit Magni (standard or Heresy) for a 100 bucks. It’s a headphone amp that will power all and anything you care to throw at it. Use the rest of your dough on an HD58X and see what Sennheiser has been up to since 1985

 

[ChillToMusic]

Hello. I have just bought a pair of HD 425 as I own the HD 430 and love the sound from them and I am curious as to how the HD 425 compare. I will let you know my thoughts on them once i've spent some time with them.

 

[scarecrown]

Hey ChillToMusic, I also recently got a HD 425 with the box. You should definitely let us know how they compare.

I think the HD 425 has a great sound, and great bass for an open back. They have a lot less Sennheiser veil which is great.
Much better than the modern Sennheiser in ways other than resolution.

According to 20chead, they should have the same driver, but the construction on the HD 430 looks alot better.


You should try and look for the HD 230, which was the Sennheiser closed back 2 way speaker TOTL headphone. Very very good.