HD280 pros not sounding as expected

[SecretImbecile]

Hi there, I thought this forum would be the best place to ask this, hope this is posted in the right place.

I recently purchased a pair of Sennheiser HD 280 pros as a sort-of sidegrade after the frame broke on my previous pair of headphones, an Audio Technica ATH-M50X. I've been trying to get used to them for the past day or so but I'm honestly really dissapointed with how they sound.

Everything I read online prior to purchasing them suggested that the 280's would be closer to reference than the M50X's, with higher mid-range response, but comparing them side-by-side with each other it sounds closer to the opposite case to my ears, with vocals especially on the 280's sounding really muffled.

Am I missing anything obvious here? I doubt I recieved a faulty product, but the sound is so different to what other reports had led me to believe.

 

[GREQ]

I thought the general consensus on the HD280 pro was that it's pretty much outdated and not a great sounding headphone.
The strengths of the HD280 pro are the passive isolation which is higher than average, and the frequency response which is fairly close to 'neutral', which makes it ideal for live monitoring purposes.

There's no way I would ever use it for music listening. It's got crazy strong clamping pressure and has no finesse in the audio presentation.
It's definitely a tool fit for purpose, and little else.

If you need studio monitors, there are plenty of better options.