I've got hundreds upon hundreds of hours on my 280's and they sound pretty close to perfect as far as tonal balance is concerned. They are also extreamly comfortable, much like a well fitting pair of gloves. The only complaint I have is that I wish they were able to produce the level of detial that the HD600's produce. If they did, they would be perfect in my opinion.
Originally posted by Jasper994 I wish they were able to produce the level of detial that the HD600's produce. If they did, they would be perfect in my opinion.
I think that many who have not heard these headphones have difficulty in understanding this statement when it is often said that the Sennheiser HD-280 allows you to hear everything.
To try to explain, the HD-280 is like reading glasses for your ears. With it you can hear everything just like with reading glasses on you see everything in order to pull a tiny splinter out with tweezers. When you jump to a higher end headphone you still can hear everything but you also get the added benefit of DETAIL. With the high-end headphone it is like you have your glasses on but you also have something like a microscope beyond the eyeglasses. You can then make out the details of the splinter.
So if you are thinking of jumping to higher end headphones from the Sennheiser HD-280 you may want to know what some of those details are. One of the details that are most noticeable to me (and probably to most others) is the subtle reverberation often found in the high treble regions. With high-end headphones you can begin to hear this reverberation clearly and its subtle decay. Like what you would hear from the slowly fading sound from the clang of a bell. Hence comments are often made regarding soundstage, realism, and etcetera. What these comments have in common are that they are related to spatial effects that rely on realistic reverberation cues. These cues are necessary to achieve a convincing result.
Tyson-
So what's the final verdict on the HD280's? I've gone back and bought another pair since they seemed to mate very well with the Rotel integrated amp I got last week (a much better match than the AKG K240S, which sounds flabby and oddly enough, harder to drive then the HD280's.... probably because the HD280's are a closer impedance match with the Rotel's headphone jack).
Anyway, mine have been burning in for about 25 hours currently.
I ended up selling them and my Ety's to finance a Shure E5 purchase. I still like them after modding, but the sibilance on my pair never went completely away. The Shure's isolate better and sound better to boot.
Do you think that the sibilance not going away was due to the fact that they weren't as broken in as the pair you got from your friend? I'm digging that intimate presentation, even at the expense of some soundstage....
I was wondering if any of you guys experienced a bit of distortion in the bass drivers during burn-in and if it went away later?im talking around 50hz ish
Originally Posted by hottyson /img/forum/go_quote.gif I agree that the Sennheiser HD-280 does lack something. It doesn't sound very musical. Perhaps this is by and large due to the absence of a decent sound stage. Closed headphones often get a bad rap for having a poor soundstage. This is not always the case with closed headphones but unfortunately the HD-280 is one that is plagued with this weakness.
On the positive side, the Sennheiser HD-280 does give the ability to hear every detail from a recording. This makes it useful for computer gaming and for movie watching. For music, ordinarily I prefer my Sony or Beyerdynamic Headphones.
I just don't get this. How can a reasonably detailed and flat headphone not sound musical? You don't want any colourations right? Just let the music be heard as it is?
But then I'm biased, I feel the music flows through just fine from mine!
Originally Posted by porschemad911 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just don't get this. How can a reasonably detailed and flat headphone not sound musical? You don't want any colourations right? Just let the music be heard as it is?
But then I'm biased, I feel the music flows through just fine from mine!
No, cans that are detailed with a relatively flat frequency response and lacking of coloration are no guarantee that they will be perceived to be musical or not. Likewise, cans lacking in detail with less than a stellar FR and with coloration can be perceived to be musical or not.
That said, I found my HD280 Pro to be impressively musical, but only after extensive burn in (and use) at high volumes with bass heavy music.
Originally Posted by porschemad911 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just don't get this. How can a reasonably detailed and flat headphone not sound musical? You don't want any colourations right? Just let the music be heard as it is?
But then I'm biased, I feel the music flows through just fine from mine!
Don't get me wrong, I wrote that three years ago and I still use the Sennheiser HD-280 more than any of my other headphones. I don't mind coloration as long as it is pleasing. Bottom line - Sound stage is simply not there, detail is.
After an extensive burn-in period (~200 hours using pink noise), the 280s have really come alive for me. I'm listening to them now, and I'm impressed! Maybe its because I'm a bit drunk. Final appraisal to be conducted in the morn.
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