CNET Editor's rating: 8.4 out of 10
Reviewed by
Steve Guttenberg
Review date: 06/22/04
Release date: 11/01/01
The good: Lightweight and comfortable design; sealed ear cups isolate wearer from ambient noise; headphones fold for compact storage.
The bad: Pricey.
The bottom line: Sennheiser's versatile headphones sound great on DVDs and all kinds of music.
Editor's note: We have changed the rating in this review to reflect recent changes in our rating scale. Click here to find out more.
Sennheiser's ruggedly constructed HD 280 Pro high-performance headphones feature comfortable leatherette ear cushions, a headband, and a foldable design for compact storage. Weighing a relatively lightweight 10 ounces, this $199 model has a 10-foot coiled cable fitted with a 1/8-inch miniplug. Sennheiser also includes a 1/4-inch adapter for use with a home stereo.
Our listening tests started in our living room. The naval battle scenes sprinkled throughout the Master and Commander DVD amply demonstrated the HD 280s' power and glory. These 'phones can play loud, and their bass definition was quite good, though not the equal of Ultrasone's mighty HFI-650s. But this well-recorded DVD sounded crisp and clear on the HD 280 Pros, with the sort of detail you hear only from high-end speakers.
The Sennheiser HD 280 Pros also brought out the details in rock-and-roll CDs such as the White Stripes' Elephant. Oh boy, Jack White's buzz-saw guitar sounded gloriously distorted, and Meg White's heavyweight drumming kicked butt. And since the ear cups are sealed, you can crank your music as loud as you want and never disturb other people in the room.
These headphones are a lot of fun yet still have enough suave refinement to sound right with classical music. The delicate interplay of harpsichord and strings on Vivaldi's The Four Seasons CD was utterly beautiful, demonstrating the HD 280 Pros' versatility with all sorts of music--a rare feat.
If you're thinking of using the HD 280 Pros with an iPod, you won't be disappointed. The headphones' resolution came through loud and clear with ours. That said, Sennheiser's HD 555 headphones sounded bigger and richer, so if portable use is a priority, we'd go with them.
7 out of 10 - Very good OK, depending on your needs
The best thing about these phones is the isolation (I believe they say 32 db). This is both coming and ...
The best thing about these phones is the isolation (I believe they say 32 db). This is both coming and going - it keeps the headphone sound in and the outside sound out. This is great, for example, in our small studio when recording exposed vocals. But the sound reproduction itself is only good. Bass is suprisingly weak; mids and highs lack clarity. Sony's MDR-7506 is our reference point for $100 headphones. The Sony's don't have any bass either (and don't give nearly the isolation). But the 7506's are noticibly crisper on mids and highs - a much more plesant listen if you don't need the isolation.
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by martinn (see profile) -
April 10, 2005
26 out of 28 users found this user opinion helpful.
8 out of 10 - Excellent Linear range, lightweight, screw-on adapter
I work in an R&D office adjacent to an automotive/fabrication shop. These HD 280 Pros isolate the ...
I work in an R&D office adjacent to an automotive/fabrication shop. These HD 280 Pros isolate the air impact sounds wonderfully. Largely listening to trance/techno/house, I found these to be accurate, clear, and responsive to all frequencies. The sound is linear at all but the highest levels. I sampled the Eagles and Norah Jones to get a feel for the fidelity and was impressed at the audible nuances that I was missing. The design is basic but well-built. The headband is comfortable, albeit an adjustable tensioner would be nice. Faux leather ear cups are supple and my big ears don't hit the inner linings whatsoever. Coiled cord length is great for PC or MP3 player use. The screw-on adapter is a nice finishing touch on an excellent pair of closed ear headphones.
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by gumbyracer (see profile) -
May 6, 2005
15 out of 15 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular Really good cans!
These are some great headphones! The sound is just amazing. At first it seems like the bass is too low, ...
These are some great headphones! The sound is just amazing. At first it seems like the bass is too low, but after a while you learn to hear the way these cans reproduce the bass and then they just rock! I love the extremely tight bass they have. But they ain't the most pretty headphones I've seen. In fact they are pretty ugly and you look kind a stupid with them on, but on the other hand they sit very nice. You can wear them for hours! Buy these headphones for the sound, not for the looks.
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by maliklund87 (see profile) -
May 17, 2005
10 out of 10 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular Worth every penny if you want to really enjoy your new MP3 player!
Please please listen to people when they say give them 24 hours or so of high volume break in before ...
Please please listen to people when they say give them 24 hours or so of high volume break in before you judge them. I just plugged them into my Zen Touch and let it play at full blast for about 24 hours. I put them on every so often to listen and I could hear a huge difference in the sound as the 24 hours progressed. Give them time, you'll be amazed at the diference! I have a big head and they fit very well, since there seems to be some question about this. Sound is unreal! I have listened to them on my laptop with movies as well as my Zen Touch and iRiver 790 (both highly recomended MP3 players buy the way). Just like everyone else says, you here things in your music and movies that you were never aware were even there. Well worth every penny. X10.com has them for $84 right now with free shipping. Best deal I could find. They are of course a little big, but hey what do you expect? They are full size headphones...duh! They are not going to be as portable as earbuds or smaller headphones. They do fold up quite nice, but are still not going to fit in your pocket. They seem to be made out of a lot of plastic, which may be a downside, that remains to be seen over time. I prefer things to be solid, but obviously that adds weight. I highly recomend these headphones
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by iflyskyhigh (see profile) -
March 9, 2005
10 out of 10 users found this user opinion helpful.
4 out of 10 - Mediocre Love the sound...BUT serious issues with the headband
I'm not a serious audiophile, so I bought these thinking that if they were good enough for an application ...
I'm not a serious audiophile, so I bought these thinking that if they were good enough for an application like DJing they'd be good enough for me. Plus I liked the design, especially the way they collapsed. And I've been happy with the sound they put out, particularily their ability to cut out ambient noise - they're as good as a set of ear plugs on a flight.
My main issue is the band. I had to send them back within the first 8 months to have the band replaced after cracks showed up and pieces of plastic started to fall off. Not good. But since it was under warranty, I got them fixed. I'm now just a few months into the new band, and even with the great care I've treated them with since getting them back, cracks are showing up again. All I'm doing is putting them on and taking them off - using two hands, not taking them off with one which can lead to problems, so I've been told. If they needed to be used in a more serious manner for something like DJing, they wouldn't stand up.
I will admit that I'm a larger than average guy with head to match, but nothing freakish so I don't think it's too much to expect that these should last longer than a few months before going in for repairs or once out of warranty, in the bin. I'd only recommend them if you are prepared to treat them gently and are toting a smaller cranial unit.
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by brrrooock (see profile) -
January 24, 2006
4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular Beats any noise-cancelling headset at this price!
For this price, it is better to go with this headset than to get a noise-cancelling version. The excellent isolation ...
For this price, it is better to go with this headset than to get a noise-cancelling version. The excellent isolation ensures very good listening experience in noisy environment. I've used it on the plane, and its great.
Comparing to the Sony noise cancelling headset, this sounds twice as good, both in noisy and quiet environment.
8 out of 10 - Excellent A Universal set of Cans for almost anyone
First off, if your looking for a pair of Sound isolation headphones, then these should be top of your list. ...
First off, if your looking for a pair of Sound isolation headphones, then these should be top of your list. Good linear sound curve, tight bass, and awesome reproduction of Dvd's and music.
Now for the people looking for headphones and dont really care about sound isolation. While the specs say 32db of isolation ( which by the way means you hear nothing around you with even mild sounds playing ), thats pretty much the best part of the phones. The bass, while tight, is a little weak. the mids and highs are balanced, but the highs and extreme highs arent as crisp as they could be. I play music professionally, and to see where these phones fell, i used them against several hundred-dollar pairs of select grados and sonys, and these are far from what some others were. The lack of bass in these are more pronounced as you pump up the volume and the power into the drivers. Of course, these phones werent made for that type of situation, but it was a good test, and made its shortcomings easier to diagnose. For most, the bass outta these will be enough in most situations, and i do love their accuracy in dvds, but be careful how much power you put to them, a good headphone amp in a pro stereo will bring these to a hault.
They are quite comfortable, and ive used them for almost 8 hours straight and found them to be better than most in terms of comfort. If you've ever worn headphones for an extended period of time, then you know how much most can hurt after a period of time, and these are no different, but it is better than most. Sennheiser even says the headband and drivers are replacable, which i cant attest to, but that along with the screw on 1/4" adapter give it a few points in the pro headphone dept.
Overall, a very worthy set of cans for most people who want to watch dvds of listen to music. since thats 99% of us, these will perform great. if you tend to like alot of bass, then there may be better choices, but the HD280s strengths may even win over that crowd.
One word of advice, however, do NOT use these for a studio, monitoring, mixing, or any other super acurate situation. the bass out of these at that level are not accurate and sound like complete crap when compared to studio monitors or a PA.
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by usb123 (see profile) -
March 20, 2006
3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular Definitely agree with Cnet on this one...
Ok, if you're a music lover, but don't feel like spending a fortune, these are the headphones for ...
Ok, if you're a music lover, but don't feel like spending a fortune, these are the headphones for you. The highs and mids are extremely clear and crisp. I find the bass response to be just right, though some may find it to be lacking slightly. Again, it is needs-dependent. For a good comparison of the lows to highs, I recommend listening to Jesse Cook's album "Gravity" all the way through.
The noise-cancelling ability is second to none, for the price. I can turn the headphones almost all the way up (which is extremely loud, by the way) without anyone else either hearing or complaining about my music being audible to them. I was considering the Sennheiser HD-555's as well, but I decided I needed the better bass response instead of the open-air design. I tested both, listening to different types of audio (music, movie, radio), and found the HD 280 Pros to be much more suited to my needs.
If you have any circuit-building skills, I highly recommend building a pocket amp for these babies. The sound coming out of your portable sound source (iPod, cd-player, etc) will be much clearer and also have better bass response (dedicated capacitors for sudden, unexpected sounds like big bass drum hits).
To conclude, I highly recommend the HD 280 Pros to anyone who is picky about sound quality, but doesn't want to blow a huge wad of cash on getting it. They are worth every penny of the money I paid for them.
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by ScironTheBandit (see profile) -
March 4, 2006
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