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Sennheiser HD 280 Pro
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Sennheiser HD 280 Pro

Studio headphone from Sennheiser belonging to the HD series

chrislieck chrislieck

« Buy AKG 240s instead »

Published on 09/25/12 at 20:47
These are over rated. I don't like any headphones that you can't do a basic mix down on. These type of headphone have a great deal of misrepresentation on the low end. I think that they boost the lows more than you really hear. They are not flat and that is what you need. I would get a pair of AKG 240's instead. There was no headroom in these headphones and that does not bode well for feeding hot levels or strong low levels at 40 to 60 hz. I don't pay attention to headphone specs, who does, they all claim to be flat from 20hz to 20kz but that is not saying much. Consider that with any headphones you have to consider what you are feeding them as far as signal and as far as what you are using them on. If you are feeding bass and drums to these headphones you fill find that they break up at the 40hz range. I don't get that from lets say a pair of AKG 240's. I live the fact that some of the new styles of headphones are cheap but if I am buying any phones that are near the 70-$100 range I again will move to the AKG's to be safe. You have to remember that there is no real consolidated view of what someone likes in a headphone.

I prefer a set that you can hit hard and not have any distortion. Headroom and clarity are a must. These cans are clean and I don't have a problem with the cleanliness just the fact that they don't take a great deal of level for drums and bass. Use them for vocals and you will be fine. Many of our recording students get these phones and are into HIP HOP and even mix on these headphones. I notice that the bass on their mixes is not placed correctly and that is common on headphone mixing but in these phones your really not getting a full representation of even the basics of the mix. I at least use phones to hear the vocal placement or vocal compression just as a basic quick reference and not on all mixes. But, if i want to just cut vocals these will do for a quick vocal session. Not enough isolation for drummers and I would not use any headphone but the Vic Firth on or for drummers that need click isolation. I like headphones in this price range to at least have a flat frequency sound. To check headphones I always pump singers and kick drum at high levels and if the low mid like at 220 is distorting with about 5 db of gain I will only use them for simple vocal or voice overdubs.

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