[bindibadgi]

OK I've been reading frantically.

I'm a bit worried at the number of people who seem to have had the 280's headband crack on them. Sennheiser's great reputation for warranty support notwithstanding, I would like to have confidence that my cans will last for a long time (read many years). Should I be worried?

I seem to be down to choosing between the 280 and the a500, since the more I think about IEMS the more I am not convinced I'll be happy (could be wrong about that, but I don't think I want to take the risk at this time).

So does anybody have any experience with the a500? Can you say whether the quality is good? Will they last? I can sacrifice some isolation for quality here, just like I said I'd sacrifice it for comfort (hey, maybe my thread name is getting to be misleading), but I will try out the 280 on Monday so I'll see about comfort, and my first impression of quality. I have no way of testing the a500 though, although reviews seem to say it's pretty good quality.

Hot off the press: it seems that I could possibly stretch to the cost of the a700. Does that open up a whole new world of cans? Or can of worms?

 

[scompton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bindibadgi /img/forum/go_quote.gif OK I've been reading frantically. I'm a bit worried at the number of people who seem to have had the 280's headband crack on them. Sennheiser's great reputation for warranty support notwithstanding, I would like to have confidence that my cans will last for a long time (read many years). Should I be worried?

There is metal under the plastic. The broken plastic is just cosmetic, makes an ugly headphone even uglier, but they still work fine.

 

[captainzoli]

I've never had the a500, but the a700 is nice with a good build quality.

 

[BrookR1]

The HD280s sound fine out of an iPod, but they are pretty bulky. The cord is long and coiled and the headphones are rather large. The one thing they have going for them is you can fold them up when not using them. The sound is OK, but nothing exciting. Unfortunately, I can't give you any real recommendations, but I think you can do better than the 280s. Perhaps save up a little more and give the HD-25s a shot. They have a very loyal following here and they are closed and very portable. If you decide to really get into head-fi, you may be disappointed with the 280s down the road.

 

[ChaseD13]

iems are the way to go for portable isolation.

 

[EX-S]

plus 1

Hd280 and akg 271s cant fit well with protable device... output is too
week to drive these headphone~~~

yeah, you still can hear something, but maybe lack most of detail.

 

[Crazy88]

Quote:

Originally Posted by feh1325 /img/forum/go_quote.gif isolation of a500 is slim to none, hd280 offers pretty high isolation, but can't compete with the er6i... ...a500 just don't cut it in the isolation department for your needs

Is that really true? I never owned the a500, but I know that there is a closed and open version of the a500, so are we still talking about the closed version? Also, if the isolation is really crappy, how about the sound leak?