Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Headphone, Black

I did a lot of research to find headphones that would deliver what I wanted. I'm fairly picky about sound and am very easily bothered if parts of the sound range are artificially boosted or otherwise out of balance. Which describes most of the common headphones that are out there these days with their amplified bass, muddy notes and uneven middles and/or upper notes.Just as a point of comparison, I looked closely at Audio Technica because I had gotten the chance to try two of their models. The sound was a lot better than most, fairly clear and defined overall. Nice. Seemed slightly muddy though on the finer details. And somewhere in the middle range felt a little 'off' to me in ways I don't know how to describe. And parts of the sound profile sounded farther away than other parts. Subtle but it was there. So they were nice in many ways but not quite satisfying for me the longer I listened to them. Additionally, the m50s (the more popular of the two models I tried) had a noticeable amp on the bass which also wasn't quite my speed. Though that's pretty common knowledge about the m50s, so hardly a surprise.I also seriously considered the Sennheiser HD 598 headphones. The reviews are tempting but I just can't have open-back headphones in my current living arrangements. I need at least some ability to shut out noise because of bad neighbors, etc. Even though the 280's are not noise reduction headphones, they do an amazing job of dampening outside noise without any fancy technology. Not only is my music nearly unhearable to anyone sitting in the same room with me, but noises in the room around me are partially blocked out even when I'm wearing my 280's without any sound playing in them. Something to do with how closely they fit I think, seems to automatically dampen some of the noise around me. So they fall somewhere inbetween actual "noise reduction" headphones and normal on-ear headphones which block out nothing at all. Seems to be a little more so than other over-ear headphones as well. Overall, that's been nice.I was concerned at first about the 280's since many reviews noted they have a decent clamping fit on the head. I have had huge problems in the past with various on-ear headphones which clamp too hard against my ears and cause physical pain. I knew these were cupping around the ears instead of directly on-ear, but I was still more than a little concerned that this "clamping" might be too tight to be comfortable. Thankfully this has proved to fine. When I first put them on, there was a noticeable sense of "pressure" on the sides of my head, but not bad enough to be outright uncomfortable or anywhere close to painful. Thankfully within the first 12 hours of use, they seem to have relaxed a bit and now are plenty comfortable to wear for long hours without issue. Occasionally if I don't have them adjusted right, one of the ear pads can end up resting slightly onto of the edge of one ear, which can become uncomfortable hours later. But it's simple to adjust them on my head. Usually happens if I was in a hurry in putting them on and since they are comfortable enough I won't notice for awhile that it wasn't on quite perfectly.As for sound, they've been pretty much exactly what I was looking for. The sound is natural, pretty much like real life. No artificial boosts or drops in parts of the range going from high to low. Sound is nicely crisp and defined, no muddy areas. Holds up when listening to a wide range of genres, from rap to classical, pop to country, acoustic to electronic. Watching movies works fine. The lack of bass boosting is more noticeable on genres that overly rely on the bass being boosted and didn't actually balance their music enough without it. So some rap, some dance, some action movies will have a little less 'umph' to them than you might expect or than they seem to have intended. I count that as a mistake on the original mixer's part though and still prefer to hear what is actually there rather than an overly beefed up version of it which a bass boosting amplified headphone would give me. Plenty of rap and dance music holds up though, so it's really down to whether or not the people who mixed it in the studio did their job correctly or if they had cut corners in the production thinking it wouldn't be noticed. I suspect if I had a portable amp to plug them into, I could get the best of both worlds for those songs and movies where production fell a little short. For me, it doesn't really bother enough to sweat it.The sound on these headphones do feel like it comes from the room around me (even though it isn't actually) rather than the pads on my ears or inside of my head. Again, this headphones have a more natural feel to their sound than anything I've tried before. Some say "flat" but I say "real" in a way that feels more true to the sound it should be.There is one minor and subtle thing I did notice with these: sometimes I have to fiddle the volume up or down just a slightest hair to get a song to sound at its best balance-wise. I suspect that this is where the fact that these are only a $99 pair and not something higher grade shows. Still, it really isn't bothersome, only just barely noticeable and more than acceptable for a $99 dollar set of headphones. So for a newbie audiophile, these do the job and keep me satisfied. I am sure I will eventually explore higher grade audiophile headphones at higher price points. But for now these are hands down the most satisfying I have found for around $100 with closed backs. Not for bassheads though. If you love a decent sound but still love a bit of bass amp, you should probably choose the Audio Technica m50 over these. If you like an even and more natural sound at this price point, these Sennheiser HD 280 Pro's are worth it and a solid choice. They are exactly what I was looking for and the only ones in this bracket which don't actively bother me. In fact, I can forget it's through headphones and just focus on what I'm doing instead. So just in case any of this helps anyone else who may be pouring over hundreds of reviews trying to imagine what these vs other headphones would be like, just like I was a few months ago. Best of luck on your quest!

Bought these for a dopy open office conversion done in the worse possible way. These along with worlds finest ear plugs and the Rain app on my iPad playing under music, the extremely disruptive office sounds disappeared.By itself, the office sounds still came in but it was better than most.Its over the ear so you will find it comfortable for longer.The substantial cord is coiled and unless you harness it, you will hear it rub against say the edge of your desk. Not hard to do, just need to plan a bit and you can achieve that without a physical harness. At first I though it was part of the disruptive office noise, but soon learned it was the cord and with adjustments, that went away.Items like ear covers and head sleeve are replaceable so if you are rough with it say in a studio or where you are constantly taking on and off, you can replace those.I am not a sound expert but I did notice what they say about it getting better after use.I like its comfort.I also have a big head (always have those caps with the adjuster on the last fastener or millimeter of strap) so that was a factor in buying. Fits nicely with room to spare and can be adjusted to fit smaller heads.It is ostentatious so it looks like you are an audio engineer. But who cares as it does a good job.I since left the open office because of it and working in a better environment. I plan to use this with computer video and audio editing because it is better. Also I will definitely take them on airplanes. With these babies and the worlds finest ear plugs, a crying baby next to you may very likely not be heard if you have some decent background sound.Finally the price for what you get is a deal for what you get. Look at Bowes headphone prices and reviews and you will be out another $100 or so for something less comfortable and not doing much different or even less so of acheive the holy grail of external noise suppression.[Update 1/22/14]Warning if you need to replace the cord, you can easily break the internal soldered wires. Cheap wires and even cheaper solder. Get the manual first and there is a guide on how to do it which I will give a grade of C-. But the key item there is only take out one screw nearest to where the cord comes in after you remove the ear muff. And then still be careful. I removed both screws because my first internet searches failed to find directions and the replacement cord comes without them. Leave the old cord connected until you get the replacement so you can see how it goes back together. The diagrams are useless in that regard. Basically you will be connecting to a circuit board the size of a 1/2 postage stamp and becomes loose once the necessary screw is removed to get the cover off to see it. The circuit board has delicate wires to each ear phone and there is not much wiggle room to get the heavy duty pins to the cord out and in without providing a lot of stress on those wires. For near $35 for the replacement cord, might as well get a new set for $89. But if you want to try to replace it, search in Google "Sennheiser Replacement Connection Cable for HD 280" and look for the pdf which has the instructions as well as suppliers. Amazon does not have a supplier of the replacement cord when I looked.Second warning: I slightly bent the jack on a plane ride. Stupid airlines have the jack perpendicular to the arm where your leg touches it. Never the less it still worked in my iPad for the remainder of my trip but inserting and removing lost its clean feel. But when I went to plug into my Mac it was a bit more rough going in and I did not want to stress the Mac audio port. Probably should have left it alone, but I tried careful to straighten it out. Well the jack head basically came apart like cheap tin foil wrapper. So the two warnings are telling you this cord although heavy duty has some fragility to it.