212's: - Bass - Noise reduction - Full sound - Lightweight - Inexpensive - Replacement parts available for any model 280's - Comfort - Even more noise reduction - Full sound, albeit less on Bass - Relatively inexpensive - Folding design

212's - A little tight - Maybe too much bass? - They are warm - like wearing ear-muffs indoors - Not much else 280's - Little light on bass - Don't seem to want to stay on - A bit heavy - Also warm on the ear

Summary: I have a pair of the 212's and I recently bought a pair of the 280's. I use them almost exclusively for listening to either ipod or dvd's on a plane. The reason I bought the 280's in the first place was that the cord on the 212's broke, the replacement (yes - they sell one) was out of stock for two months, and I figured if I liked the 212's I'd love the 280's. I bought the 212's after listening to a bunch of different phones. They are for DJ's, not sure what that means... but they work incredibly well with portables. Truth is they are both excellent, great natural noise reduction (closed cell), very good range, response, low distortion. Better than any Sony or Bose set that I heard. Even up, I prefer the 212's. MUCH better bass, almost too much - which is a nice luxury to have on an ipod. Part of it has to do with the way the phones fit. The 212's are tighter on the ear, sometimes a little uncomfortable after a couple hours, but putting it that close keeps the sound tighter. The 280's have a bigger, more comfortable earpiece, but it sits farther away and takes more to drive. They are also heavier and don't seem to want to stay on my head as well. The 212's are lighter and about half the price. Either one makes a great set, and I suspect that the 280's are better with a home stereo that has more bass and more power than a portable. I can't imagine a better set of phones for portables than the 212's.

OK sound

Uncomfortable, sweat inducing, vise like

Have just started messing with headphones again after a 25 year hiatus. Wore Koss Pro4aa and 4aaa for years and years including a stint at a radio station for 4 years. These are the only other closed cans I have heard other than the Koss's. I own the Senn HD555 and find it to be a very comfortable mellow set of cans. The 280pro is whole nuther story, more suited to torture than pleasure. Very uncomfortable and not at all visually appealing on your noggin'. Sound was just OK and I found it not to seal all that well as my ears aren't round. Also found it not to isolate that well in the cabin of an SUV with the windows cracked a bit. These get rave reviews elsewhere and I see that Koss is making the Pro4aa again. IF i was going to be behind a radio console or mixing board, I would have to do a bit more auditioning. There is no way I could wear these on a 4 hour radio shift.

Similar Products Used:

Koss Pro 4aa, Pro4aaa, Senn PX100, Senn HD 555

Bass galore - probably the best you'll hear in most or even any headphones. Great "across the board" sounds. Well balanced sound too. They simply sound great...

I have seen better looking headphones. They are a little tight on your head - not your ears...

I have owned (or "do" own) some reasonably impressive home user quality headphones, including Sennheisers own HD-590 and I can say without a doubt that the HD-280 Pro is the nicest all-round headpones set that I have ever had the good fortune to purchase. I just finished reading an article (not on this site) that said the the HD 280 has a distinct lack of bass which is quite noticable when you compare them to the HD 590. I am wondering what planet these guys live on. I actually have a set of 590's as well and in my own humble opinion, the 280's have a stronger bass at the low end than the 590's. I think the guys who perform tests on some audio gear must rely too much on laboratory test equipment much more than the human ear - which is what the item in question is actually destined to please... There is no way on earth that my HD-590's have a better/stronger bass representation that the 280's - No way...!!! The two things I do not like about the 280's are their robotic like look and the tight-ish feel on your head and ears. They look like the Cybermen from Dr Who (remember them..!!!) as they jut out like buffalo horns on your head and they squeeze the blood from your head after a while but I can live with both of those unpleasantries because of the great sound that they produce...

Amazing sound, amazing volume, amazing accuracy across the entire range. Very comfortable on the ears, possible to wear all day with glasses.

Minor comfort issues due to pressure on the top of your head. This can be fixed by bending the bridge a little bit. After a couple weeks they're just fine. Also the bass is almost too strong when listening to bass-heavy trance. Sometimes I have to use the eq to turn it down for fear of high pitch hearing loss ;)

These are excellent headphones. After being dissapointed to the point of rage with Aiwas from Best Buy, I did some reasearch online and asked some musician friends. Both pointed me in the direction of these headphones, for which I am quite grateful. If you are here because of a recomendation, you got some great advice! I'm a fan of high quality trance, misc electronica and indierock. These phones suit me well for both ends of the spectrum.

Accurate reproduction of music Clear highs Perfect bass

Absolutely none as far as I am concerned

Extremely comfortable and durable. Complete isolates listener from the outside world. Just the right amount of bass. No distortion. Clean highs. Every sound is superbly reproduced. A real pleasure to listen to.

Similar Products Used:

Grado 80 and 125 Sennheiser HD-580

-Comfort -Ability to seal off the outside world, and the reverse as well -Build quality (SOLID) -Coiled cable on one side, stays out of your way -Well balanced for all types of music -Tight, fast bass -Weakest of sources will drive these -Rap/Hip-Hop, Metal, Industrial, Rock... anything sounds good

-Not for detailed music listening -Advertised 32dB attenuation probably not true -Kind of heavy, but still comfortable

Though they are a studio can, they work beautifully for general listening. Nice pair of headphones, for the price, these cans are on the money. The bass is perfect: tight, not to boomy, and very clear. These cans will make your ears bleed! Just an excellent pair of all around headphones. Worth the price! If you are looking for an upgrade of what you can get at 'Best-Buy' this is it.

Similar Products Used:

Grado SR-125 Sennheiser HD-500, HD-590

Beautiful sound, sturdy build. Pads, head band pad and even the cord are user replaceable.

Can get a little hot after long periods of wear.

Absolutely suberb! Very tight bass, clear mids and shimmering highs. Best headphones I have used to date. Headphones completely seal off the outside world and are reasonable comfortable. List is $199. A real steal at $100 and an outright give away at $85. I have read reviews complaining about the HD280 being cheaply made. Nothing cheap here. Very well constructed. Nothing better in the under $150 price range.

Similar Products Used:

Sony MDR-V600, Sennheiser HD570, Grado SR60, 80 and 125.

Very full sound. Nice crystaline highs. Extremely full bass reproduction. They work great as a near studio flat reference in the field. They're also very, very comfortable. True closed ear design. Once they're on, they successfully block out a lot of the outside world. When you're in a loud environment, that's good because just putting them on gives you a drop in volume. With an open-ear design, you'd have to crank them much higher to hear them over your surroundings.

They're not as robust as I'd like. I let another engineer use them during a show when he forgot his headphones. Running monitors for the pros is a fast paced business. You put them on, pull them off, and put them back on constantly and quickly. When he gave them back to me they had cracked in three places. One crack in the front on each side, between the earphone and the padded top. A third crack in the same spot on the back of one side. This seems to be a structural design flaw from Sennheiser. They still sound great though. It's just that now, they have parts that pop out if you pull them too wide when you're taking them off. If you're careful with them though, I don't think you can beat them.

I am a professional audio engineer. I'm used to studio headphones like the AKG K240s. They're just not efficient enough though since I began doing live sound for national acts about seven years ago. I tried several pairs out in the $100 range. The HD 280 Pro headphones sounded better than any other set of cans in the price range. If you're looking for a perfectly flat set of phones, be aware that these headphones have a bit of a bass boost built into them, but this is actually pretty nice, and once you get used to it, you can even mix with them. My favorite thing about them is the extreme volume they will give you from a normal old headphone output. They are very low impedance headphones at just 64 ohms. Compare that to the AKGs which are about 600 ohms. This means the 280s are frikin' loud if you want them to be. Sound is crystal clear. I absolutely love them.

Similar Products Used:

AKG K240s, Sony - Typical studio models that you see everywhere.

Comftrable even if I wear them for 6 hours or more. Sound is totaly clear untill you turn them up all the way, don't do that though they will hurt your ears they get real loud before you hear any distortion at all. if you swith from cheap headphones to these ones you will notice new little sounds in songs that you have heard before. Under normal or loud listening these are great. Extreemly clear bass and mid range. they fold up nice and the ear peices swivle and rotate, perfect length cord. list price is only $200

people will stare at you if you walk around town with them on but that doesnt matter

I got tired of having cheap small incomftrable headphones that put out scatered sounds that don't do the recording justus. I also did not want to buy half ars headphones that would break or loose sound quality. I looked around and decided on the hd280s, found them half off the list price at Guitar center for $100. That was the one of the best $100 I have ever spent. I'm totaly happy with the hd 280s. I was amazed the first time I put them on and will never use anything less, I'm actualy wearing them right now. I definatly recomend hd 280s over every other headphone that Ive used in this price range

Similar Products Used:

HD 457, bose $300closed ear can't remember modle name