Sennheiser HD555 / 280PRO Headphones

[Soylent Joe]

I've been looking around for some new headphones since my Plantronics pair is getting pretty ragged out. Has anyone tried out the HD555's or 280PRO's? If so, are they worth the money? I'll be gaming, listening to music, tinkering with FL Studio, and watching movies with them. Also, would I need a sound card in order to take full advantage of them or any other good pair?

I'd also be up for any suggestions off of this list, they all seem pretty good.

 

[Soylent Joe]

I don't really like the curly cord on the 280PRO's, but they seems like a better buy than the HD555's.

 

[Kursah]

Also consider the JVC HARX 700 or 900's, I have the 700's and they kick some serious ass...especially for the $35 I paid for them. I did a lotta research months ago, almost with with one of the pairs you are considering, and I'm extremely content with my decision. Sennheiser makes some good stuff but is far from the only option you should consider imo. Check out my headphone/headset thread (link in sig), I have a few reviews I donated and there are plenty of user reviews throughout the pages. Definitely check it out.

A sound card does really help, using onboard in comparison to my old X-Fi xtreme music was a big difference, and then upgrading to the Auzen X-fi forte w/integrated headphone amp made a huge difference, not necessary...but the higher the resistance, the more volume you'll need from a weaker source to attain acceptable levels. That was the nice thing about the 700's their lower resistance also made them tolerable with onboard audio...especially compared to my higher resistance JVC DX3's which were 3X as expensive and I prefer way less than the 700's. Just some food for thought.

 

[Wile E]

I have listened to the HD555's and the JVC RX900's, the 555's blow them out of the water once both are fully broken in. The JVC's do offer incredible bang for the buck tho.

Problem tho, the HD555's are 120ohm. Your on-board will have a hell of a time trying to drive them.

I would lean towards the 280's if I wanted an over the ear headphone in the $100 range from Newegg. I lean towards headphones that prefer accuracy over trying to make a more "pleasant" sound. I can color the sound myself with effects and eq's if I wanted that.

 

[Derek]

I use Sennheiser 555 HD headphones and they are awesome for gaming and listening to music. If you don't mind an open ear headphone then these are perfect. I've had mine for a couple of months and I really enjoy them.

 

[King Wookie]

We use the HD 280's in out tv studios. Really balanced and quite rugged. Very accurate headphones. Never a bad buy honestly. But they do really cut out outside noises, so you don't hear someone screaming at you.

 

[heky]

I use the 3rd and 4th of your list, both are sensational. They are also 32 and 50 Ohm, so you shouldnt have trouble driving them. But i cant be sure, becouse i drive them of a AV Reciever. But the sound on both is top notch.

 

[pentastar111]

HD555's for the win.

 

[Frederik S]

The impedance of the HD555s is 120 but they are really efficient 103 dB / mW so any ordinary half decent sound card is capable of driving them. Impedance is not a good indicator of how hard the headphones are to drive. db / mW rating is usually much more indicative.

The HD555s sound much better than the HD280s so I would go for those if you do not need a closed set.

 

[cadaveca]

I don't really like the curly cord on the 280PRO's, but they seems like a better buy than the HD555's.

Curly cord is that way for a reason. It truly affects how audio travels through the cable. The magnetic field ends up affecting audio further down the cable, closer to the output.


Many guitar players, myself included, specifically use curled cables for thier sonic effects.

 

[Frederik S]

Curly cable distorts the sound if not shielded correctly, which could be why some guitarist use it.

Spiraled cables are often used for headphones used for mixing consoles because it is "variable" length and does not clutter the console area as much.

 

[cadaveca]

Many cans that claim sheilding don't actually connect it to ground, which makes the sheilding useless. Not jsut cans though...any audio/electrical cable claiming sheilding should be tested before assuming that the sheilding is actually functional. You tend to learn this stuff playing electric guitar, as ground loops and such, or ungrounded equipment, can be very problematic at least, and deadly at worst.


you make a very good point about the cable clutter though...yet another reason to have a curly cable.

 

[WhiteNoise]

I love my Sony V6 cans.

 

[Frederik S]

Many cans that claim sheilding don't actually connect it to ground, which makes the sheilding useless. Not jsut cans though...any audio/electrical cable claiming sheilding should be tested before assuming that the sheilding is actually functional. You tend to learn this stuff playing electric guitar, as ground loops and such, or ungrounded equipment, can be very problematic at least, and deadly at worst.


you make a very good point about the cable clutter though...yet another reason to have a curly cable.

I know fitted my les paul with cooper inside the cavities and grounded it otherwise the combination was too noisy I am using P90s and the hum was a bit annoying.

In headphones the main goal of the cable is to carry the signal from the amp to the headphones without changing the tonal characteristics. A good quality cable can make a big difference in headphones recabled several headphones with mogami quality cable, and in one case it almost completely alleviated a sibilance problem.