[trellus]

Have to say, their isolation is very very good although ironically their claims of new technology to make them even more comfy for long use are kind of moribund due to the tight squeeze on the head! (and I have a small head)

The HD 280 Pro also had a monster clamp on my noggin, so their design similarities + your impressions of the sound so far make me think of these HD 300 Pro as more of an update to the HD 280 Pro - perhaps just as its model number suggests! - rather than as a modern take on the HD 250 as Sennheiser claims.

 

[jon parker]

The HD 280 Pro also had a monster clamp on my noggin, so their design similarities + your impressions of the sound so far make me think of these HD 300 Pro as more of an update to the HD 280 Pro - perhaps just as its model number suggests! - rather than as a modern take on the HD 250 as Sennheiser claims.

I suspect you are right
IF they were half their price and they simply said 'they are for content creators' that would be fair.
If this were the case I think they could probably claim that they are indeed an upgrade from the HD 280?
I would actually rate them moderately favourably if this were the case

BUT as to the claims superb linearity / Tuned to match the HD 250 etc etc, I take great offence at this.

Anyway mine have had somewhere around 100 hours burn in now so I need to go back and re-compare them to the HD 250's again
I experienced a big change in reduction of the bass at the 60 hour hour mark so we will see.

The drivers seemed easily screwed in to the cup so modding will be an interesting avenue

 

[jon parker]

Mine are for sale if anyone is interested!

 

[Monsterzero]

Mine are for sale if anyone is interested!

That bad huh?!

I guess burning them in didnt turn them into what they were supposed to be.
Very disappointing!

 

[redria]

I actually returned mine, that's how bad they are.

 

[jon parker]

That bad huh?!

I guess burning them in didnt turn them into what they were supposed to be.
Very disappointing!

Its hard to be 100% as different ear pads make a huge difference in sound with the HD 250 so I cant be scientific about the actual sound difference BUT
a modern HD 250 they aint. They are like a good drag act. There are times when you might think Hmmm, that's not a bad looking woman . . . until a real
scantily clad lady dances for you and have that Ahhh moment !!

I found some aspects of the mids and highs to be similar. The soundstage was impressive but as Ive said before what really pisses me off is the promises
they made about it being almost the same as the HD 250. I suspect on paper they might have seen that to the case ?

Ive now sent mine back - £170 is also just a ridiculously disrespectful price for them

There was a man, forget his name who started work at Sennheiser in the late 80's. He listened to the HD 540 and thought they were dry and flat
AND BASED ON THAT decided to change the direction of Sennheiser's tuning until today where we have a HD800S with a plastic dome over the end
selling for $3400 ?!?? OR you can buy a multitude of headphones created for 'content creators'
Ever since that moron took over, Sennheiser has been going down hill.
I don't mean to be offensive but to call one of the finest sounding headphones ever made dry and flat is like calling a Lamborghini 'a little bit too close
to the ground' and then designing a Hummer!?!
Sorry, but I wish these companies would stop taking the piss....There was a time when engineers created headphones for the love and experience of music

 

[Monsterzero]

They are like a good drag act. There are times when you might think Hmmm, that's not a bad looking woman . . . until a real
scantily clad lady dances for you and have that Ahhh moment !!

LMAO!!!

Quote of the day!!!!

 

[god-bluff]

!?!
Sorry, but I wish these companies would stop taking the piss....There was a time when engineers created headphones for the love and experience of music

I'd go further. I sometimes wish some companies no longer existed at all. I just wish we could remember them as they were.

[Sennheiser should have packed it in 20years ago. A few exceptions: IE800 and maybe HD630 excepted. So many models, so little quality and integrity. So much tat. The HD2 series for example no replacement for the old PX series. So many unnecessary variations of the HD5XX series. Even Beyer the last bastion of sound first purity are joining in with lifestyle headphones.

Sorry end of mad rant

 

[sennsay]

Its hard to be 100% as different ear pads make a huge difference in sound with the HD 250 so I cant be scientific about the actual sound difference BUT
a modern HD 250 they aint. They are like a good drag act. There are times when you might think Hmmm, that's not a bad looking woman . . . until a real
scantily clad lady dances for you and have that Ahhh moment !!

I found some aspects of the mids and highs to be similar. The soundstage was impressive but as Ive said before what really pisses me off is the promises
they made about it being almost the same as the HD 250. I suspect on paper they might have seen that to the case ?

Ive now sent mine back - £170 is also just a ridiculously disrespectful price for them

There was a man, forget his name who started work at Sennheiser in the late 80's. He listened to the HD 540 and thought they were dry and flat
AND BASED ON THAT decided to change the direction of Sennheiser's tuning until today where we have a HD800S with a plastic dome over the end
selling for $3400 ?!?? OR you can buy a multitude of headphones created for 'content creators'
Ever since that moron took over, Sennheiser has been going down hill.
I don't mean to be offensive but to call one of the finest sounding headphones ever made dry and flat is like calling a Lamborghini 'a little bit too close
to the ground' and then designing a Hummer!?!
Sorry, but I wish these companies would stop taking the piss....There was a time when engineers created headphones for the love and experience of music

HD540s dry and flat, eh? Yes ... I remember watching that video clip .. what he was describing is far from what I'm hearing, maybe he needed better electronics, dry and flat is the sound of many 1980's transistor amps.
Good rant, jon parker, I don't know whether I would go so far as to call the man a moron, but I most certainly take your point I won't be rushing out to hear a pair of the "new" HD250s. By the sound of it, my own HD540 Ref1s in current guise are far more 'linear' than the HD300s.
I gave my HD250 Linear 1s a good work out a couple of nights ago, good, but no Ref1s, which I went back to and directly into the organic and alive open space I much prefer over all others.

 

[jon parker]

HD540s dry and flat, eh? Yes ... I remember watching that video clip .. what he was describing is far from what I'm hearing, maybe he needed better electronics, dry and flat is the sound of many 1980's transistor amps.
Good rant, jon parker, I don't know whether I would go so far as to call the man a moron, but I most certainly take your point I won't be rushing out to hear a pair of the "new" HD250s. By the sound of it, my own HD540 Ref1s in current guise are far more 'linear' than the HD300s.
I gave my HD250 Linear 1s a good work out a couple of nights ago, good, but no Ref1s, which I went back to and directly into the organic and alive open space I much prefer over all others.

Yes...perhaps a tad harsh...dozzy old twot
Joking apart though its been surprising me more and more just how much difference even small changes can make. I have maybe 5 or 6 different pads I can use with the HD 540 and each one makes it sounds VERY different!
Probably more so with the HD 250
Add into that cables, your source material, solid state / tubes etc etc and Im finding more and more how difficult it is actually to report anything with full authority.
there is certainly a generality we can usually agree on but Im enjoying the humility this phenomenon brings !
Also Im finding my state of mind plays a huge part in how much I enjoy and get the most of my music. Late at night Ive had some wonderful eargasms and sometimes in the afternoons in days off
but other times just sounds . . .meh
Why I love this hobby so much

 

[pietcux]

How would the NOS AKG K501 fit in here. Does it sound anything like the old HD 250?

 

[jon parker]

How would the NOS AKG K501 fit in here. Does it sound anything like the old HD 250?

Not much point even discussing TBH. They are tuned completely differently. You could say the 501's are the epitome of the beautifully tuned mid centric AKG vintage sound where as the HD300 are
a sad attempt at a true classic but just sound slightly better than most of the modern 'mp3 phone listening tuned' garbage that Headphones companies are spewing out these days

 

[ProLoL]

I've sold my HD250 linear 1 and deeply regret it, although it's slower than the linear 2 it's still beautiful sounding.

 

[Mark Up]

They are an extra bass version of the HD280 period. Slightly deeper ear cups with better seal, and despite having less inner foam between the driver and ears they've a touch less treble as well. That said, what is there is great. Very linear mids to highs, not peaky. You keep wanting to turn them up to hear it better but the bass just overwhelms it. I have those doing a very long burn in I hope will change that. It rarely does, though when it does, burn-ins usually tighten the bass, in my experience. Hopefully these will. The bass that is there is actually really good. Not distorting, well defined, reaches incredibly low. Just way too much, from 100 hz down. Like a giant 2 - 4 db low shelf EQ boost at 120 hz. If they took 100 hz in these down 2-4 db they'd be quite amazing except the clamp. I guess I have to continue trying to bend them without breaking them to fix it. They also barely reach down to my ears to fully cover them fully extended. My bending them outwards, sadly will shorten that reach. Add one extra click travel on each side, reduce the clamp 10-20% and above bass cutting and they'd have a monster value. I thought about swapping ear pads. Not sure that is possible but if it is I doubt I'd find a pair of more comfortable than their stock pads are. Might try such a cut in software, but prefer cans correct without EQ. I don't like to depend on it - EQ always does something with phase. I'll report how it goes if I try it after burn in.

UPDATE: These are going back. You simply can't lighten the clamp and because they don't reach down quite far enough on each side it's painful all over. The booming bass is clearly due to pad seal being improved. Just the slightest break from my reading glasses and it collapses. Other pads I attempted to use (wrapping them around the outside, as these click / snap in and out like other Sennheisers vs. wrap around) had the same issue, no bass. These lack spaciousness and treble detail, and overall quantity above 8 khz. These are utilitarian cans for recording studios or beat makers who love a lot of bass and need such good isolation in that scenario. They have no place in audiophile collection.

 

[ShumDizzle]

A couple of weeks into owning these, I can understand their mixed/lackluster reception here, though I think I will hold onto them for now. I don't think the problem is that they sound bad or that no one could enjoy them—it's that there seems to be a bit of a disconnect between the way they're marketed and what I'm hearing. They're advertised as having "linear"/"monitoring" sound, even up to 123 dB SPL! Problem is, if you turn up music that high, the low bass will become boomy and overwhelming.

On the other hand, if you listen to genres of music that typically don't have a huge subbass component, as I do, preferring classical music, there's a nice sweet spot when I get the volume just right, where the bass, while prominent, maintains definition and control, and the mids and treble, while still delicate and laid back, have enough shimmer to keep things interesting. At that level, the soundstage takes nice shape, instrumental timbre takes on organic qualities, and the resolution of complicated/busy passages is very good.

Fortunately, isolation and comfort are both quite nice, at least on my head, so I never have to compete with outside sounds, so I'm okay with the moderate listening levels at which these headphones seem to shine.