[BodiesOfLight]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Illah HD280's are monitor phones. The reason some people are ripping on them is because they're not really made for music - they're super detailed, flat, and accurate. They're more for recording (hence the super-isolation) and that type of thing. If you listen to electronica or hip hop you'll love these cans - especially electronica. Super deep bass, accurate treble, etc. If you think about it electronica is probably the only music often mastered on headphones and not speakers, and producers & DJ's all use monitor phones. For organic music like acoustic rock, classical, etc. there are other options out there that would be a better fit. These aren't bad cans though, check out Headphone Reviews' impression of them. This place only takes reviews from people who've heard tons of high end cans (and while the 6.3/10 might sound like a bad rating, the HD650 only gets 7.3/10 - they're harsh on that site!): http://headphonereviews.org/headphon...&headphoneId=5 --Illah

I agree. My friend has a pair of these which he hooks up to his two turn tables through the mixer. I finally got to hear this headphone and what I heard I liked. I was listening to hip-hop, mashing two records together (which is a lot of fun), but the bass was nuts. I didn't get to hear them with metal or rock though, so I'm not sure how they sound with those genres, but he listens to a lot of metal/rock/etc as well and he's never said they sound bad.

 

[Illah]

Just wanted to chime in again since I hadn't listened to my 280's in a while. Since my reference system is at home right now (usually at work) I brought the 280's to work. Right now they're unamped out of a blackgate modded AV710.

1. They work surprisingly well unamped! I've actually never listened to them unamped before. However, the bass does get much weaker without an amp. It's still there and audible, but an amp just fills it out and can turn the 280's into subwoofers on your head if you wanted to.

2. Very clear and accurate, not the typical laid back Sennheiser sound at all. My 650's are more smooth and whatnot, these are pretty forward. Detail is really great too - with Damian Marley you can hear as his DJ fades the beat of 'Jamrock' in and out because the record crackle stops when he fades out and the FX and samples take over.

3. These fold up and hide in my backpack easily. The A500 is probably a better more musical can, but it is HUGE. Like really big, the earcups are nearly as big as CD's. Not only could I not easily bring them to work, I wouldn't wear them in public

--Illah