[MorpheusZero]

Hey guys, I'm somewhat of a noob, although I'm educated well beyond the point where I automatically scoff at anyone who even says "Bose."

Now, for the past year or so I've been using a pair of EX71s, mostly with a 4g ipod. Naturally, I ran them through the washer a few weeks ago, naturally they still worked, and naturally I lost them shortly thereafter. I went around, read some reviews and ordered some Sennheiser CX300s which will be coming next week. I'm excited for this.

That's more of just a background story. After I lost my EX71s I was taking my 7 or 8 year old trusty MDR-CD380s to work. Of course, I rolled over the uncoiled wire and yanked the cord loose, and now they work... intermittantly. While I'll eventually crack 'em open and do some soldering, I figured it's a good time to upgrade. I was looking for a closed-ear headphone specifically, for obvious reasons (I know, the CD380s are open-ear) and I came upon the HD280Pro. I wound up buying it after trying it for a bit. As of right now I'm just running it straight off of my ipod/PC/laptop, but I also have a Panasonic SA-HE200 receiver that I hope to fix soon (blown fuse somewhere) that I hook up to my desktop using a toslink cable. I've only had about 20 hours of burn-in time.

Now, that's... uh... that's actually just more background info (sorry).

My main complaint is, I can't for the life of me notice a great difference between the two cans. Yes, the bass is tighter and better defined in the HD280 (although there is not as much of it), and obviously it isolates you much better, and there seems to be a slight difference in staging, but besides that I can't hear much. The thing is, I really DO want to like the HD280s... I like the design, I like how they feel, I like ze churman engineering... but I'm considering returning them and getting something different.

My listening primarily consists of many kinds of metal (Dream Theater, In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, Soilwork) but I also listen to pretty much everything else under the sun (mostly high energy music though). Most of my music is >224kbps MP3.

Should I be able to tell more of a difference here? If I fix my HT amp and use that, will I be able to tell more of a difference? Should I be returning my Senns and looking for other closed-ear cans?

Any opinions greatly appreciated. Again, sorry for the uneccessarily long post.

Nathan

 

[Esidarap]

It sounds like the Senns are way too close to the sound signature of your old headphones to give you any "Wow, these really are better!" impression. On the other hand the HD280 is supposed to have a slow burn-in process... so you could try sitting it out to see if they'll open up and be more to your liking once fully burned in.

 

[audioneophyte]

I can only comment on the 280s because I own them.

I think the source is very important for them. They sound poor/mediocre straight out of a portable mp3 player, clearer but still not "there" from an X-Fi sound card, and pretty decent from my Zhaolu D2 DAC.

That being said, the differences between those sources are not immediately evident, but they become so after a few minutes of listening. The clarity and "tightness" of bass are some of the things I liked about the 280s and I see you have noticed them too.

But going back to sources, these headphones behave vastly different with some. I have a cheapo RCA (RT2350? It's in my profile) receiver which turns these into bass monsters, it's very intense and very fatiguing, but definitely strange considering how bass deficient these same headphones can sound from a different source.

My suggestion is to try them with different sources and see if you find something you like.

I listen to quite a bit of metal too and have found these adequate for the purpose, but again very dependent on the source.

Out of curiosity, you didn't mention anything about the death grip of a brand new set of 280s, the tightness of the headband didn't bother you at all?

 

[MorpheusZero]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audioneophyte I can only comment on the 280s because I own them. I think the source is very important for them. They sound poor/mediocre straight out of a portable mp3 player, clearer but still not "there" from an X-Fi sound card, and pretty decent from my Zhaolu D2 DAC. That being said, the differences between those sources are not immediately evident, but they become so after a few minutes of listening. The clarity and "tightness" of bass are some of the things I liked about the 280s and I see you have noticed them too. But going back to sources, these headphones behave vastly different with some. I have a cheapo RCA (RT2350? It's in my profile) receiver which turns these into bass monsters, it's very intense and very fatiguing, but definitely strange considering how bass deficient these same headphones can sound from a different source. My suggestion is to try them with different sources and see if you find something you like. I listen to quite a bit of metal too and have found these adequate for the purpose, but again very dependent on the source. Out of curiosity, you didn't mention anything about the death grip of a brand new set of 280s, the tightness of the headband didn't bother you at all?

Hey, thanks for the reply (and thanks too, Esidarap). I didn't mention it because I've already read a bunch of reviews stating that it's there. It's not horrible, nor as bad as I initially expected, as I can still relax and sit back for an hour or so with them on (haven't tried much longer), but to be honest the claustrophobia of having your ears sealed like that gets to me more than the pressure they put on the ol' kopf.

But you've definitely noticed a difference when playing them through better sources... hmm. I'd really really like to get my receiver up and running--my PC has an integrated sound card, although it's an nForce4 mobo, so it's a 24-bit, 7.1 etc Sound Blaster--decent. Unfortunately I don't seem to notice much of a difference between my desktop and laptop though...

Anyway, I'll finish letting them burn in, crack open my receiver and hope that I can find that damn fuse, and then we'll be talking. Anyone else with an opinion or words of wisdom feel free to comment.

 

[Zommaz]

Regarding onboard computer sound cards; they are usually, generally, not very good to say the least, so you probably haven't heard your headphones at their best. But the changes going through sources might appear to be subtle, and the general sound signature of the 'phones might not change much.

 

[MorpheusZero]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zommaz Regarding onboard computer sound cards; they are usually, generally, not very good to say the least, so you probably haven't heard your headphones at their best. But the changes going through sources might appear to be subtle, and the general sound signature of the 'phones might not change much.

I know this... but:
a) like I said, nForce4 with a SB 24-bit onboard card should give better sound than most onboards
and b) with the PC (toslink) -> SA-HE 200 -> HD280 I should notice a difference.

Correct?

 

[MorpheusZero]

Bump for any more insight... =)

 

[F107plus5]

If source is a problem, as is sealed cans after an hour or so, perhaps an open set which is quite efficient may be an option?