Sennheiser HD428 Closed Circumaural Hi-Fi Headphone (Black)

I've been pretty displeased with the sounds coming out of my lower-range headphones and picked this up at the local big box store. Most people will recommend the Sennheiser 280's on Amazon, which are about the same price, and apparently do a better job.

Not having the other pair I can heartily recommend this set. Build quality seems quite good (all plastic construction), and it's extremely comfortable to wear for long periods of time. There's a nice foam padding for the ear cups and a nice foam padding where it rests on your head. The cord should be long enough for most activities, and it includes a stereo adapter as well.

For sound quality, these are 'closed cans' and don't really suffer from the tin can effect of some other similar headphones. Additionally, because it's basically sealing out the outside world, there's very little 'leakage' both in and out of the headphones. This has the positive effect of not annoying your neighbors at the library, and of making the sounds reproduced that much crisper. For lack of a better term, you can 'hear' the silence in a good way - no hiss or blending of sounds from other instruments or vocals. Now, sound quality and range are quite subjective to the listener. But for my part, sounds are generally well represented and well reproduced throughout the entire range, and it is slightly tuned to the bass end of things, but not overpoweringly so. Simply put you will hear sounds on this that you did not hear on your $50 headphones.

Additionally, for portable players, I've found that, due to the impedance and ability to block outside sounds, you can basically listen at the same level from less volume or 'output' from your ipod or such.

I bought the used (refurbished at the factory) Sennheiser HD428 Around the Ear Headphones. It was my best buy of the year. For $19.00 I got what seems to be a new set of headphones. And they sound great. I put on a recording of an opera and almost started to cry, it sounded so good.

I am used to Audio Technica ATH-A700 headphones, which I like. But I have to say these sounded even better. They have a very smooth sound. The only thing I think they are a little weak in is comfort, as the Audio Technica cans are astoundingly comfortable. The Sennheiser HD428s are not quite as comfortable, so I don't wear them for countless hours like I do my other headphones.

If you are considering buying the used, refurbished model of Sennheisers which I found available on Amazon, don't hesitate.

Knowing nothing about headphones at first but wanting to learn through experience, I picked up a set of HD-428's and set of Sony MDR-NC60's costing about 3x what the Senn's cost. Went on vacation for a week and alternated between both to get an idea how they were (the audition).

At first, I was more impressed with the Sony's - they had noise cancellation which I didn't bother to use, but their tonality was softer and more balanced then the Senn's (using an Ipod and a Nintendo DS). When I got home however and plugged both into a decent receiver, I was shocked at how limp the Sony's were compared to the Senn's which really started to perform. The Sony's went back to the big box store after that.

As far as these go -

1) They need some time to break in. Out of the box they sound shrill and bass heavy, but proper break in smooths out the high end (maybe 20-50 hours, I don't remember... but these sound better the more you use them).

2) The over the ear approach is good, but the foam does sit right on my ears and they're not the *most* comfortable set that I own.

3) The cord is short - not an issue when you've got the Ipod or DS right in front of you, but it's hard to use these in conjunction with a TV / receiver / game console.

4) These are closed cans (headphones with closed backs - puts a bit more pressure on the ear than open backed headphones) and makes music sound a little more forward. This also means they dampen a lot of external noise which open headphones wouldn't. This can be a perk or a drawback depending on the situation.

5) Even after a decent break in period, they sound bass heavy. Again - perk or drawback.

Those are the gotchas, but these sound good for cans in this price range. I've got another set of headphones costing more than these which are much more comfortable and sound better (AKG headphones rock btw)... but the quality vs the price make this a good set of cans to take on a trip.