Senn HD25 from B.A. Concord airplane.. different from regular HD25?

[qda]

I found someone online who's selling Sennheiser HD25 BA (SP) headphones, that were (im assuming) bought to be given out on concorde flights by british airways.. they seem to only come in a clear plasic wrapper.. does anyone know what the difference is between these and regular senn hd25, like are there accessories missing, or are the pads different, or anything like that?

thanks
matija

ps. also, are they 300 ohm? cause that would mean they're no good with a portable player and no amp...

 

[BushGuy]

Yes, they are different. Yes, they were constructed to the different British Airways specifications for distribution to Concorde customers (because avionics/electrical system requirements). The differences are A) 300 ohms B) 1.5 steel-cored miniplug cable C)unpadded headband. I've played them (unamped) with my Nano at 75-80% of volume. But, when you amp them - they are soo much better than SP (rather similar to the magnitude of improvement between Ety er-6i unamped vs. amped). I only added the velour earpads as I hate pleather on any and all headphones,and I did not find steel-core vs copper-core cable made a worthwhile difference, so I didn't make that change. As background ref. - also own HD-25-1, therefore I was able to check the differences......and no, there are no accessories to be found missing.

 

[qda]

ah ok, so for use with an ipod shuffle, and NO amp, i better go for the regular SP due to their lower 85 ohm impedence?

 

[BushGuy]

I'd suggest you regularly check the For Sale section here and also utilize ebay for US, UK, and also Germany for HD25-1. They have sold, pretty consistantly at $125-130 on the used market it will be worth the search.........but be aware the cable (steel-cored to withstand DJ abuse) is 3 meters long....so for portable use you would either cut it and have a new plug put on, or use it with the excess cable (and many of us like to replace the cable with copper-cored cut to the proper length - Senn. does not make a copper-cored cable with the correct connectors [for these models] in a 1.5 meter length............or go for the BA version with the idea of adding an amp in the future (I use a Xin Supermini banded to a Nano) as it already has the right length cable...................or simply go with the SP version which is not as good as the other options but still worth the price and better than almost anything else for portable/closed use - and I fail to understand why anyone would walk around listening to extraneous outside noises mixed in with their music (eg. open headphones).

 

[Chri5peed]

There are always a fair few lurking about on the UK eBay. I'm tempted to get a pair and leave them wrapped. I bet with their discontinuation along with Concorde will make them very rare in the future.

 

[BushGuy]

Chri5speed - you've probably noticed there is a fairly wide spread in the prices that eBay sellers obtain for them. when I first noticed them I saw sales for 34-37GBP - then when I started bidding for a pair got mine @38.2GBP they had already started selling upwards 50GBP and above. There have since been fairly wide swings in actual selling prices..........but sellers have all sorts of other things from the Concorde and are selling them as collectibles. I think it may also be that some people want to say or suggest that they flew on the Concorde and therefore purchase an item or two.
As an afterthought I clicked onto your image and want to mention that you may want to hold things together with Polybands (only assuming you haven't because of loose Cardas cable) - much better than rubberbands or velcro.

 

[Chri5peed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BushGuy As an afterthought I clicked onto your image and want to mention that you may want to hold things together with Polybands (only assuming you haven't because of loose Cardas cable) - much better than rubberbands or velcro.

I took that picture naked.

I have a white leather Noreve case on my Zen, I use velcro because the way the face of the Touch is doesn't allow a band without obstructing buttons or the screen.

 

[qda]

i like how, on head-fi, when a thread goes off topic, it is still useful