[Distroyed]

Can anyone tell me what the differences between the Sennheiser HD 201 and 202's are? Is the latter a later revision of the 201 which has now been discontinued? Are the 202's superior in every way?

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Distroyed Can anyone tell me what the differences between the Sennheiser HD 201 and 202's are? Is the latter a later revision of the 201 which has now been discontinued? Are the 202's superior in every way?

Actually, the HD201 is a brand new model - and it sounds surprisingly good for a cheap full-sized closed headphone. Balanced sound, neither too dark nor too bright (though slightly nasal compared to higher-priced headphones). The HD202 (which remains in production for now) is smaller, less comfy, and a bit on the thick-sounding side - the upper bass and lower mids are a bit bloated, and the highs are a bit recessed.

Therefore, the 201 and the 202 are both completely different designs, where the 201 is circumaural on most people, and the 202 is supraaural on many people.

By the way, you may have confused the HD201 with the HD210. The HD210 (now discontinued) was a Bionetic-era budget closed Sennheiser which doesn't sound anywhere near as good as the HD201 and the HD202.

 

[Distroyed]

Thanks Eagle, your response was most helpful. So the newness of the 201 is the reason for its lack of availability....

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Distroyed Thanks Eagle, your response was most helpful. So the newness of the 201 is the reason for its lack of availability....

Yep. Sennheiser has had a history of taking longer than most companies to ship their newest headphones in significant quantities to large resellers.

Besides, many of Sennheiser's authorized resellers still have significant stock of old models -- many of which are crappy-sounding -- that they needed to clear out before they could even receive the new models.

Thus, the situation of the HD201 is the fault of both Sennheiser and the resellers -- Sennheiser for being too leisurely; the resellers for not moving (selling) enough Sennheisers.

 

[delenda est Sony]

Yup, to second Mr. Driver, the 201s are amazingly good headphones for $20. To my ears, better than both the Senn 202s and 212s, and beating the Sony V6 in most ways. Even the Senn 280s though more neutral are considerably less fun of a listen than the 201 IMO...

The Senn nomenclature system is quite baffling though as one would logically think the 202s and 212s were newer and better sounding variants of the 201, but the newer and cheaper 201 is superior to it's older, costlier, and higher numbered relatives.

Anyway, I heartily recommend spending $20 on the 201s. Hard to go wrong with this purchase!