Excellent sound, but . . ., February 4, 2003

the folks at Sennheiser must not have large heads. As with about every pair of headphones that I try on, I had to extend these all the way to fit. After a few months of daily use, the plastic headband began to develop small cracks. Now the cracks are growing and I fear that the whole thing will just snap one day. Unfortunately, that is one of the parts that isn’t listed as replaceable.

That said, people who look at this headphone are looking for: a) quality sound synonymous with the name Sennheiser b) excellent noise reduction.

a) The sound from these phones is excellent. The standard criteria are there. The signal is very clean, thanks in part to the oxygen free copper cabling used. Bass is controlled and precise so a timpani doesn’t sound muffled. Higher frequencies do not hiss and the phones are able to drive high frequency sounds and pull out details lost by consumer grade headphones. Soundstage is fairly narrow as some have said, but much better than…

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All I can say is, WOW, June 19, 2003

These cans are currently being offered well below MSRP — no, they aren’t in danger of being retired any time soon (confirmed with Sennheiser customer service) — and are truly the best bang for the buck. Despite the very positive reviews, I had two reservations about purchasing the 280s: 1) the tight, uncomfortable fit; and 2) cracking in the plastic headband that some have commented on. I have a big ol’ head where adjustable ball caps barely fit me. The 280s aren’t tight at all, but rather comfortably snug — what do you expect from a closed design? Shooting range ear protection/muffs are 3 times more tighter than these. Secondly Sennheiser claims to never having heard about the cracking issue but will repair/replace your unit with no questions asked under their 2 year warranty.

Although plastic in design, the product has a solid, quality construction (made in Ireland if you care). An advantage, as you may already know, is that most of the components are designed to be replaced…

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GRADE: B+, March 21, 2006

These aren’t phones for casual listening; choose them only if you need them for noise attenuation and you are not planning on wearing them for more than an hour or two at a time. If comfort is high on your list, these are not going to be the phones for you. They begin causing pain after an hour or two of use. However, customers looking for noise attenuation who don’t mind some extra pressure around the ears should consider them. They do a good job of keeping sound in as well as out of the earcups. I bought them because there’s a noisy air conditioning unit just outside my window, and the 280s do a good job keeping the noise out. As for build quality, they are plastic but very well made (in Ireland.) The pleather muffs do peel, but you can replace them.

So how do they sound? Initially, I didn’t hear that much of a difference between the 280 and my old twenty dollar pair, but gradually my opinion changed as I switched back and forth between them. Because some of the Amazon…

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