[spinali]

I like good sound quality, and the ES7 (which I gave away) have pleasing detail (which is important to me) and decent bass. It's also eminently portable; the cups rotate to make the phones nearly flat and perfect for transport.

I hear nothing but good things about the HD25-1 soundwise. But from what I can see, they don't appear all the portable.

Are these phones portable? If so, in what way, and how would they fare in a backpack or against the ES7?

 

[renugaid]

They are a lot smaller than they look. They wouldn't be much bigger than the ES7.

 

[arteom]

They are very portable. The speakers are attached in such a way that they have some free-motion so that if dropped they don't stress the [simple] mechanism which holds them to the headband. These phones are virtually indestructible, you don't have to be fragile with these cans! The headband itself expands as pictured, this is great as if done so they will never fall of your head no matter how hard you try. They are smaller than full size cans in size and are fairly lightweight, they will easily go around your neck when you don't want them on your ears. They do not need amplification to sound great, amping them will improve them as any can, but these will do just fine off your dap. They have a simple look to them, which can be good as you really aren't advertising what these phones really are. They aren't uncomfortable... just not the most comfortable headphones, but this greatly improves if using the velour ear pads.

I can see myself selling some other cans when one beats another in SQ, but these have so much going for them in the sense of portability that I don't ever see myself selling these.

 

[krmathis]

Their size I would assume.
..and the fact that its equipped with a 3.5mm plug.

 

[ak40ozKevin]

Everything arteom said. They aren't the nicest sounding headphones. Similar to a Grado as far as soundstage and punchiness goes but lacking the liquid mids and speed.

I wouldn't consider them hi-fi but they are so versatile. Compared to the ES7 I think the most important difference is that the HD25s isolate really well. A full sized alternative to IEMs and probably sound better than most of them anyways.

 

[Navyblue]

Apart from most electrostatic headphones that requires a non portable energiser, all headphones are technically portable.

But on the grand scheme of things, HD25 is some where in the middle in term of size. It's smaller than full sized headphone, though not the smallest around. Btw I recently bought a circumaural headphone for portable use.

 

[charonme]

When I first held them in my hands I was very surprised by their size. From the pics I've seen until then I assumed they were much bigger. Check this (3:50 - 5:05) and this

 

[Oya?]

As has been said they are quite small.

It would've been even nicer if they could fold up but this would sacrifice durability; they're not even designed to be portable phones per se. Hang them around your neck or toss them in your bag.