The Sennheiser HD280 that I'm reviewing do not belong to me, they're presumably a couple years old (I didn't ask) and in good condition aside from a couple scratches on the earcups. I was curious to how they sounded, especially in comparison to the HA-RX900/700, ATH-M35 and M-Audio Q40 (all of which I don't presently have but definitely remember quite well). I do have Sony XB90EX, Fostex T50rp II (modded to be flat aside from a spike at around 8 - 10 khz) and MDR MA900. All very different headphones, but yeah on to the review.
Build Quality: 4/5
These are solid feeling headphones, the cable seems nice but I suspect it's on the cheaper side due to the fact these insensitive headphones have an audible whining similar to the Q40's stock cable, which I know for a fact is awfully cheap. I like the way the earcups swivel, all the moveable parts seem durable. (the 4/5 is because the cable quality, most certainly).
Comfort: 3/5
These are light headphones with poor weight distribution and strong clamp. I get a mild headache-like feeling from wearing them for about a minute, and I'm used to ridiculous clamps (hint hint, Q40). The earpads are deep, however they're not well padded and don't feel that great with the strong clamp, but I'm not very sensitive to this kind of thing so it's fine for me. I know a lot of people would find these dreadful to wear, but I suspect the clamp helps with the isolation which is decent. At a lesser price, both the RX700/900 and M35 are much more comfortable, though the RX700/900 has a somewhat awkward fit and the M35 has weird pressure points, neither are as uncomfortable as the HD280.
Price-to-Performance Soundwise:
The HD280 is a mixed bag of nuts, for sure. I've been listening to them for a few hours and have adjusted to their signature pretty well (all my headphones have pretty different signatures, so this is no problem for me). Plugged into my Sansa clip+ these sound almost exactly like an RX300/500. (15$ headphones with very mediocre sounds, but acceptable at their price). The cable noise isn't at all present with the Clip+, but the headphones sound thin and slightly less refined in the lower frequencies with an oddly out of place and thumpy subbass which seems to come from nowhere. I think it's more accurate to say they're an inbetween of the RX500 and 700, leaning closer towards the 500.
My source and amp is the Schiit stack Magni/Modi, and with it the 280 sounds a tad better, but the cable creates a background hiss which is quite annoying. For a proclaimed 'monitor' headphone, the subbass is a bit too pronounced and a tad uncontrolled, but not as bad as you'd expect.The bass lacks texture big time, but it gives the headphone an illusion of a fuller sound. The treble is rolled off quite a bit after 10khz but before that there's a noticeable peak that makes it sound bright/harsh. The upper midrange is very recessed too, making vocals sound muffled and murky in comparison to the lowest midrange and upper bass. The soundstage is oddly wide, but it sounds almost as though it's artificial, like encased by a plasticky sounding barrier. Soundstage lacks depth and height, being purely left to right and wide. Pleasant lack of midbass hump, which the M35 have but not extremely so --- however the subbass emphasis is more distracting in a way. The overall clarity and imaging of this headphone is mediocre, even if the soundstage is big I have trouble picking out details. The M35 has a smaller soundstage, but it outdoes the HD280 easily with detail delivery and imaging. Comparison to my MA900 isn't necessary, as the difference in quality is just that large. While the HD280 doesn't sound awful, it should NOT be used in any kind of studio. It's not flat by any means, recessed upper mids, big treble-roll off and some subbass emphasis make it a poorly coloured and undetailed headphone. Both the M35 and RX700/900 sound better, objectively and subjectively. RX700 is actually the superior of all three, even though it's priced at a mere 30 - 40$ about half the price of the HD280 and the M35.
Direct comparison with my T50rp II (modded) (a large amount of fiberglass, a little cotton and clay loaded baffle plate with 3mm ports on the vents. Also, I use Alpha Pads with it and I've covered the 'reflex dot' or whatever it's called (pardon me if I'm wrong)). Ten songs:
Bassotronics: Bass, I Love You
HD280: Bass is audible, doesn't go very deep.
T50rp II: Bass is more subtle, can't really tell how deep it goes because it's hard to hear over the rest of the song.
Bonobo: Jets
HD280: I kind of like the way it reproduces the female vocales in this, but the imaging gets a little blurry when the background instruments play alongside it. It's hard to hear the details in the background, and the harp sounds a little dull. The synths sound pretty good, though --- the subbass has a bit of authority behind them that doesn't blurr with their midrange frequencies, probably due to lack of midbass emphasis.
T50rp II: A little bright sounding in comparison, bass isn't too different but it lacks a sense of bloat. The synths in this sound similar to the HD280, but lack the subbass boost and sound a lot cleaner as a result. Details are very easily picked out, though the soundstage isn't that big (it's at least bigger than the 280's) everything is there and easily defined albeit a bit on the bright side.
The Dirty Heads: Stand Tall
HD280: The overall sound is a bit dull, but wide. Guitars have a rounded quality, almost as if they're a beginner guitar you got at a pawnstore for a 20$. Imaging isn't that bad in this song, but the background singers can sound really blurry. Treble sounds etchy, almost like the song is of a really low bitrate (such as an 240p youtube version) and the drums sound off in this song. Vocals sound alright though.
T50rp II: Immediately I noticed the huge difference with the bass guitar, much more texture and it blurs a lot less. Vocals sound good, less thick than the HD280 and a bit more realistic. Drums are excellent, sharp and natural sounding -- I can almost hear the acoustics of the room it was recorded in in the way the drums sound. Background singers don't blend in with the other instruments, so that's good.
Excision: 8 Bit Superhero (Eptic remix)
HD280: I can't say the HD280s belong here. Soundstage is really small and the general sound is very bland, the only thing the HD280 does right here is the subbass. Everything sounds muffled.
T50rp II: Switching to the T50rp II I immediately notice all the sounds that sort of blended together. You can hear the electronic sound and all it's texture with the T50rp II, but it sounds a little thin. The bass is less quantiful but extension is better and it also transitions to the midrange a lot less strangely than the 280.
Flux Pavilion: Hold Me Close
HD280: I like the way the HD280 sounds here. Soundstage is about right, good sense of wideness without much blurring into the middle like it usually does with other songs. The subbass quantity goes well with this song, but it sounds kind of funky considering the hollowness of the rest of the spectrum. I notice that the HD280 seems to have pretty bad decay, this song makes it easy to tell.
T50rp II: At first the sound is a tad on the brightside, but the midrange sounds excellent with the synths here. Vocal samples are really smooth and realistic, well as realistic as they can be in this kind of song. Bass is good as always, a little shy in quantity but good nonetheless. Overall clarity is top-notch, but the treble sounds a little too smooth, but it's probably just the way the song is.
Jack Johnson: Crying Shame
HD280: The 280 trashes the vocals here. This kind of sound just makes me feel like I'm listening to 20$ headphones, and not very good ones. Treble is a bit grainy, also is kind of similar to sifting sand. The drums sound really dull, like someone covered the heads with cloth or something. Bass guitar sounds relatively good, has plenty of authority and sounded and sounded well controlled, still not much texture though.
T50rp II: Wow, just wow. This isn't the same song, ist it? Vocals are super smooth, though you can easily pick out the artificial reverb-ish effect added to it. Drums are tad bright, but they have a nice clean sound with good impact. The bass guitar is a lot less pronounced, but it's got excellent tonality.
La Roux: Tigerlily
HD280: The vocals sound alright, but everything else seems to lack dynamics and sounds really flat. The various sounds kind of blend together and overall this song is muffled sounding. The bass has a nice impact and visceral quality in this song.
T50rp II: The vocals sound really close to being thin, but it's more like they're very neutral sounding. They sound a tad further back then the HD280s, which seemed to place them really close to you. The song itself has an interesting crispness, bass is a lot subtler and lacks impact but when it hits it makes you feel like it's really low.
Pink Floyd: When the Tigers Broke Free
HD280: The 280 portrays the large sound of Pink Floyd quite well in this song. Vocals sound somewhat raspy/nasally(?), but don't sound muffled. The subbass emphasis makes the drums sound huge and powerful in this, but the sense of space is ruined by the higher drums sounding so unnatural. Things get a tad congested towards the end of the song, but not horribly so.
T50rp II: You can hear the quieter details more easily here, the main vocals are a touch too bright for my likings. The big drum in the background doesn't sound as big as it does on the 280 but you can hear the springiness it has after impact, the background singers are also more easily heard and you can almost pick out different voices. I also noticed a couple instruments in the background than I did with the 280, and the sense of space here is huge for a closed headphone.
Kanako Itou: Space Engineers / 宇宙エンジニア(uchuu engineers) (orchestral version)
HD280: Kanakou Itou's voice sounds a bit muffled here, as well as the instruments but not as bad. Compared to other songs, the soundstage and dynamics are really squashed sounding. I could try, but I don't think I could ever enjoy this song through these headphones.
T50rp II: Instruments sound a tad tinny but the sense of space is huge and the stringed instruments have a crazy amount of texture. Kanako Itou's voice is rendered really well, not as realistically as the MA900 (woops, didn't mean to throw that in but it is my standard for naturalness) can portray it but good nonetheless. The instruments in this have a really nice attack and the dynamics are compared very well in comparison to the HD280. This song is hard to get to sound right, neither headphone sounded natural here.
Michael Jackson: Leave Me Alone
HD280: The 280s lack of treble is pretty clear on this song, it sounds a lot like an old car stereo here. There's a decent sense of space, not much detail blurring. Bass is probably the best the 280 does in this song, probably because there's not a notable amount of subbass and the 280 is pretty modest with it's midbass. At this point, I can't really say much that hasn't already said about the 280 in all the other songs.
T50rp II: I expected the T50rp II to be really bright here, but surprisingly it was only a little bright. Michael's voice seems about right, the soundstage in this song is pretty small so it sounds a little closed in. Something about the T50rp II bass has a subtle impact and speed which makes this song oddly engaging. Like the 280, not much else to say at this point.
Summary of HD280 vs T50rp II (modded) comparison:
My T50rp II is a good bit brigther than the 280 and lacks the severe rolloff the 280 has, making is a little harder on the ears. The 280 is extremely unresolving in comparison, and despite not being bright and a little bass oriented it still sounds like a very dull and lacking headphone, especially at the price of 80$. A modded T20rp II would be a much, much better value than an HD280. I honestly don't think I could ever seriously recommend the HD280 to anyone, it's most positively feature is it's build and that can only get you so far.. the JVC HA-RX700 is a far better alternative at a far lower price, for those who're concerned. For those deciding between the HD280, the M35 and the V6/7506 I'd very seriously recommend either of the two latter, even without hearing the V6 I know it's at least slightly more detailed than the M35 which ultimately makes it very clear in comparison the the HD280. I'm sorry owners of the HD280 who enjoy it, it's a very poor headphone at it's pricepoint and I wouldn't pay even 30$ for it. I didn't really mention the XB90EX much, but despite it's elevated sub, mid and upper bass (by 6 decibels) it still manages to deliver more clarity than the HD280, costing only 20$ more and being a bass oriented IEM I think that's just ridiculous. ---- disclaimer, I don't believe in physical burn-in much, but mental burn-in is a big factor so I made sure to give the HD280 a good few hours of listening time before deciding to review it. At first listen I literally thought it was identical sounding the the RX300, with added subbass. After a few hours it got closer to the RX700, but that's a generous thing to say. I'm dissappointed, this is the 2nd sennheiser product I've tried and I don't think I can appreciate a company that places no value in it's lower priced products and don't think I'm interesting in buying any of their other headphones, --- which generally have a reputation for being overpriced anyway.