Customer Reviews

Sennheiser EH 350 Professional Open-Aire Dynamic HiFi Stereo Headphones

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

These are great headphones. They reproduce sound very naturally and have an extremely flat frequency response found typically in headphones costing far more money. The best part of these headphones is that they are very easy to drive at only 32 ohms. That means you can plug them into your portable and achieve blistering sound pressure levels. These headphones are articulate and a pleasure to own. The open air design allows the music to extend beyond the cans and expands the music, granted not as well as Sennheiser's high end phones like the hd-600 or 650's.

The headphones are easily adjustable and comfortable for more than an couple of hours. They feature replaceable pads and wires which is a great advantage.

Who should buy these headphones:
-People who want faithful music reproduction that extends from low bass to high treble.

-People who listen to clasical and jazz music (although I love them for all my music listening)

-Audiophiles on a budget and who don't want to buy the headphone amp to power their HD-600's on a portable device.

Who shouldn't buy them:
-People who want that extra crazy bass boom for their rap, dance,etc.

-Here's a tip if you want the same great performance with the extra bass boom go for the 212pro model or the better sounding EH250 model.

I studied the headphone specs and reviews until my eyes watered and I'm quite happy to have settled on these.

FORM - Nice, simple physical design. Replaceable cable and ear cups are nice features, 10' straight cable is longer than necessary for most uses, and the 1/8" connector with obligatory 1/4" adapter is the way to go unless you are working from extremely high end source equipment, in which case, you're probably not reading this review.

FIT - As of the time of this review the Sennheiser website lists these headphones as "circumaural" (around the ears) in the 'Features' section but on the 'Technical Specs' page they list them as "Supra-aural" (on the ears). No wonder people are confused. In reality, the way the ear cups fit will depend primarily on the size of your ears. On my reasonably average sized 40-year old ears, they are circumaural, but barely. Unfortunately fit is a critical aspect of headphones - it doesn't matter how good they sound if you can't stand to have them on your head. Obviously this is an inherent risk in on-line buying, so just be aware that the ear cups on this model are definitely on the small side of the circumaural offerings. That said, they fit me (and many others based on reviewer comments) just perfect. They do keep my ears warm but not nearly to the point of sweating thanks to the "open-aire" design. Note also that the cups only adjust up and down so if you've got a really giant noggin (to house your enormous brain) they may be on the tight side. For me, they're just tight enough to be snug. I'd have to be doing some serious head-banging to shake these things loose. These are also VERY light so that helps quite a lot in the comfort department.

FUNCTION - I have to say these were just a little harsh sounding initially but they seemed to smooth out after a couple of hours of use. I suppose this improvement is due to the initial speaker break-in. Now they are quite nice - warm, full, and entirely pleasant. The bottom line is that these headphones sound great - nice separation, tight crisp bass, plenty of high end detail, etc, blah, blah... essentially, everything you would expect. Just keep in mind, they are marketed as suitable for "monitoring" applications. This means that they are designed to deliver an absolutely flat, accurate representation of the source signal. I don't have the equipment necessary to measure this level of accuracy, but that's how they sound to me - exactly like the original recording was meant to sound, with plenty of highs and lows and no unnatural boost on either end. The open back design won't block much ambient sound, but as others have mentioned, there are benefits to open 'phones in terms of overall sound quality. In terms of source, I've been getting acquainted with these headphones by way of a variety of music on CD (Bill Frisell, Godsmack, Stone Sour, Robert Earl Keen, 'Maiden, Willie) played by Windows Media Player on an IBM T42 laptop with a standard issue SoundMax integrated soundcard. Just a side note on source, if you're shopping for higher end headphones, consider the quality of your source format. Nicer headphones may make mp3 files sound better but they will also highlight any shortcomings in the compressed format.

IN SHORT: Well, they are Sennheisers after all, and those folks know a thing or two about headphones. If these are comfortable on your ears and you're anything short of a full-blown audiophile, you'll definitely like them. I won't say they sound great "for the price" because at well under $100, they actually sound great despite the price. Of course if money is no object then you can surely do better, but I don't think you can do worlds better unless you are starting with high end source equipment. For most of us listening to good quality recordings in lossless formats on portable cd players, laptops, and the like, the eH350's are more than adequate, they're perfect.

i was in the market for a portable, lightweight, enclosed and cheap headphone when my steady but old senn 540 II reference went dead.

the eh-350 is very lightweight and surprisingly comfortable (after about 15 minutes i completely forgot i had them on) and comes with a 10ft. cable just long enough to feel less contrained...

for the money, this has to be one, if not the best, of the best sounding headphone in the market. my girlfriend uses a sony can that pushes a lot of bass but feels uncomfortable to the ears after 30 minutes. a friend uses the grado series but those are quite more costly and sound "cold" and leaning towards the high frequencies, to my ears... the grado may be better suited for metal or hard rock...

the eh-350 on initial listening sounded a bit dull or flat but after breaking it in, for about 10 hrs., the headphone drivers blossom and it opens up a warm, almost velvety range of sound, though not as expansive as the hd-600 i use for home listening. if you listen to mostly vocal, adult contemporary or acoustic music in certain rock genre, classical, jazz and folk this headphone is the way to go.

oh, did i mention how lighweight and comfy these gems are?

If you have the Sennheiser folding PX-100 headphones, then you basically have the eH350 headphones -- they are very similar sounding. The eH350 is decent sounding, but have a typical lower-end Sennheiser sound signature: strong in the bass response (but loose and not well-defined), weak in the treble response and fair in the midrange response. On the plus side, they are comfortable to wear.

Well, it took me a week of researching customer and tech reviews, but I finally settled on the Sennheiser EH 350s and I have been exceptionally happy with my choice.

The primary point of purchasing new headphones is because I play a bass guitar and I wanted a pair in order to hear the nuances of the music I am playing. Also, I own a couple MP3 players and I wanted some headphones to use with them as well.

The first pair I bought, just willy-nilly really, was the Skullcandy Skullcrusher "subwoofer" headphones. Big mistake, it was the worst $45 I ever spent. Their mids and highs were lackluster, and the so-called "bass" was really just vibration with little really true bass frequency. Sure I could "feel" the vibration of the bass, but it was impossible to pick out individual notes because it drowned everything out. Then my dog chewed them up because he was disgusted as I was, and although I share his enthusiasm I was sad to see I couldn't return them :)

Anyway, the EH 350 is like night and day with the Skullcandy's. The Sennheiser's really try to reproduce the original studio sound, hence why they are called monitor headphones, and they do an excellent job of it. The sound is flat, as the sound is not artificially boosted, which also means that music that comes out of it will sound slightly quiet. But I found that if I just jack up the volume on my preamp or mp3 player the sound comes out strong and loud. I use a 30GB Zune, and it has plenty of power to blast out a sound that is just tolerable at highest volume. This is good because some headphones out there have troubles producing a good volume with mobile devices. Now onto the sound quality.

The mids and especially the highs are very well defined with these headphones. They shine through with exceptional quality and precision, and although the highs are a bit stronger they actually balance well with each other. The highs were a little too high upon first purchase, but after a couple days it mellowed out nicely without losing any of the previous power. After only a two hour burn in, you will notice an appreciable improvement in sound quality. I am excited to think how these will feel a month from now.

Of course, I really bought them for the bass. Upon first purchase the bass was a little too quiet for me, or perhaps it might be better to say that the highs drowned it out too much. Actually I think it was a mix of both, but now that a few days have passed the bass has become excellent. Some reviews listed this product had a bass that was slightly too quiet. The fact is, that is how bass usually sounds in the studio. The key with bass is that you train your ear to hear it, rather then just try to buy headphones that artificially boost the bass. If you want to hear a tight, true bass sound that has the power to blow your mind away, go out and buy a pair of $1000 dollar monitor speakers and feel the love. Otherwise, you wont be able to beat the well balanced richness of the EH 350's bass.

The end effect? Although the sound of monitor headphones can tend to be flat, the EH 350 sound comes out exceptionally well balanced. Although I couldn't call them "golden with richness", they will however produce a sound that is so accurate to original studio that you will pick up hidden nuances and stylizations that you will have never heard before. With these headphones, you can hear each of the individual instruments and voices of your favorite music instead of them all muddled together like other headphones who might sound more rich. I would highly recommend these headphones to any musicians who are looking for monitor headphones on a budget but who don't want to sacrifice sound quality. I also recommend these headphones to anyone who has ever wanted to play an instrument or sing, these headphones make it easy to tune your ear to individual instruments and puts forth and incredibly accurate note and pitch.

Note however that the EH 350s, like most monitor headphones, are open ear. That means that sound is allowed to pass freely out of the headphones. This allows the sound to extend past the headphones and makes it so that the shape of the headphone cup does not distort the sound like a lot of closed-ear headphones will do, and it has the additional benefit of keeping airflow within the cups, so your ears never sweat or become uncomfortable. On the other hand, although the EH 350s are pretty good at keeping at least moderate noise levels out, other people around will be able to hear what you are listening, especially in quiet or small quarters. These might not be the best headphones for you if you are wanting to take them on the bus or be in crowds. Some headphones are large and noticeable. I have noticed that the Sennheiser's are small and stylish enough to at least go largely unnoticed, but I wouldn't call them attractive.

But how do they fit? It is true that Sennheiser's are slightly tight as many reviewers have stated. But this is how they are designed. I am a male with a reasonably sized head. I wont say I have the biggest head out there, but I have been known to have a sizeable noggin. Although the EH 350s sit tight, they do not sit uncomfortably so. In fact, the tight fit is actually a necessity to the open ear system of the headphones and improves sound quality, and as I stated previously this makes them able to reasonably block out moderate external sounds without losing the benefit of open ear headphones. They also are slightly too bulky to take jogging and undoubtably would be uncomfortable if you took them running with you.

One other point before I move on, the cups on these headphones are slightly small. I would say I have slightly smaller then average sized ears for a man and they go around my ear and sit on my skull, but people with large ears might find the cushions lying on the ears instead of around them. It is also very important to note that the leather cushion on the top of the headphones should rest firmly upon the top of your head as to hold some of the weight. If you over adjust these headphones the weight will fall on the cups and your ears will begin to rest on the hard plastic within. After about an hour, this will cause discomfort. This is, of course, easily alleviated by simply properly adjusting them to fit your head.

What about value? At prices well under $100 dollars, these headphones are easily worth twice their price. I don't think any headphones at any price will be able to beat the 350s precision. You will have to begin looking at the $200 dollar price range if you want headphones that will have the precision of the 350s and have a more full bodied richness. I hear the 595s might be what your looking for if you have dough to spend.

Overall, the Sennheiser EH 350s get a five star, 9 out of 10. With a perfect balance of precision and value, you can't beat these headphones if you have less then a hundred dollars to spend.

Oh, and thankfully, my dog has decided to spare these headphones... for now...

Being the top model of the EH series, the 350 are a light semi-circumaural open headphones, at a right price for the sound. As they lay on the ears, they may seem to press a bit at first, but they lay firmly on the head and ears don't heat up very much, pads are comfortable and it is lightweight.

The sound is well spaced and gives good detail, with a wide range. Highs are clear and bass is present too. They offer a good sound for modern, jazz, and rock music. For classical they sound a little dry for mid frequencies and limited for the 'warm' reproduction of an orchestra, for example.

They have a low impedance of 32 ohm and can be driven by portable players, radios, with good sound aswell as with PC-outs or even
amplifiers. I like their natural sound for jazz and pop rock and I use to reduce the highs and bass to fully appreciate a flat response because they are always present in these headphones! Recommended and right for the price.

I've been recently using a pair of Koss UR21's for my home system. Now, I won't hate on them, they actually sound pretty darn good for the low price, but they sound very average compared to the Sennheisers I had before them. I tried some headphones and was left a bit disappointed until I looked at these. Someone had recommended them to me, and I read some online reviews and no one had anything bad to say about these cans. And not to mention on here (for some reason) they're offered way below MSRP. I've been burning them in a bit, and have to say these are some good headphones--great detail, ridiculous value, and good looks make me give these a good four stars.

Now, first sound, you must understand, when I rate headphones I rate them on a "value", which means if they're $5, I'm not going to say they flat out suck. I'm going to say they're good for the price. And for the MSRP, these are good, actually excellent for the price. Very neutral bass, which makes these sound very decent on detailed music. The bass isn't offensively muddy, though some hip-hop fans will be disappointed in the neutral bass. I know any hip-hop fan loves to explode the bass, if so look up the HD555's instead. Anyhow, even when I turn on my bass booster, they don't sound bass-light, just neutral. Which is a good thing, right? The mids are well represented, and don't sound overpowered one bit, even at higher volumes. They sound slightly dry, but I actually like this type of sound, which is again why after reading some reviews on some headphones sites I was highly interested in these. The upper mids sound very similar to the lower mids, not overpowered, and a bit dry sounding. The treble is like most Sennheisers, not bright like the Grados, but detailed. They lack in 14-16k treble, but sound great above that range. They release some new things to songs and sound a bit fuzzy on 128 kbps MP3s (be honest, you're excited now). With a slight EQ adjustment, these can possibly sound completely flat. Again, these are not suited for those who want extra extra bass explosion, and are really different from the 150's and 250's of this line, but are very detailed and flatter-sounding cans. If you enjoy that sound you should be pleased with these. The soundstage is also a bit more open than most other headphones.

As far as comfort, these are fairly comfortable, but feel a bit tight at first. The earcups are comfy, but the headband is a little tight for my head. But I suppose this is trivial. They don't look adjustable from the photo, but they are. I got a little confused by the photo as well, I thought these were blue/silver. I think I might upload a picture of mine, the Amazon photo is small. They are silver, but the earcups are actually gray. And I had to take a laugh, on the headband theyy have a trash can with a big X on it. Who would actually throw these away? Even if you didn't like the sound, I'm sure you'd return them or sell them. Back to the headphones, they have a 10-foot cord, which is good because I no longer have to use my extension for my only 4-foot Koss. The cord might bother the portable crowd a bit, otherwise they provide a ton of room from your source. Speaking of portable sources, these have 32 Ohms, so they power fine on basically anything you throw at them. Portability-wise, these don't fold up, but are a bit smaller than what some others claim, even though I'll still be using my earbuds for that cause.

Overall, a solid set of headphones for the home user in mind. They could be a bit more comfortable, but the sound is very good, they look well crafted, and have a roomy 10-foot cord. For the cost, these are definitely worth it. I'd also recommend these if you want to enter the audiophile world. 4 stars.

This is the second pair of headphones I've purchased in the last 2-3 years. The first set was a pair of Sony MDR-605s. I bought them because they were around the ear type, meaning the set didn't rest on your ears, rather the area around your ear. This was to help with listening fatigue and tired/sweaty ears. They were also "open" so as to allow air into the area between your ear and the speaker. They worked really well and I enjoyed them, the problem is that the ear pad wore out and became uncomfortable. Of course they weren't replaceable. And sound reproduction, when compared to the EH-350s, is tinny and lifeless.

After doing some research, it seems no one makes headphones like the MDR-605 for a decent (sub $100) price. So I resorted to looking for something similar and thought I found it in these headphones.

I was wrong. After extended periods of use, say 2+ hours, your ears sweat and it becomes uncomfortable. With smaller ears this may not be a problem. It seems like they were designed to be around the ear, but my ears are probably too big. The other issue is that they are closed, so there is no air flow between your ear and the speakers, so your ears sweat.

The sound quality however is fantastic. Deep, accurate bass and accurate highs. Some say the highs are too high, but I believe this is actually what the producers have in mind when mixing their music. I hear things in the music that the MDR-605s never let me hear. I am thoroughly impressed with the sound quality, so much so that the ear sweat and listening fatigue are issues I will just work around.

If you are looking for over powering bass, shop elsewhere. The music is represented at the levels it was supposed to be heard, not with any enhanced bass included.

I use these on a portable MP3 player and am completely satisfied. The one issue however with MP3s is the amount of compression. I'm finding that depending on the music type, even at 256 bit encoding, some compression problems, that I never heard on the MDR-605s, are apparent. This isn't the headphones fault but the fault of the compression. Guess I may need to look into a higher rate in the future.

I've also used them and will use them, when playing on the PC and also when listening to music. I'm sure you can find better headphones than these at higher a price, but for $60 they are a bargain and probably better than most other offerings in this price range.

I shopped around quite a bit for all types of headphones, and landed on these. They have excellent spatial separation and crystal clear sound. Bass respone is very good.

I use them for personal music composition, so I need a headphone that can handle a fairly intense dynamic range. The sound will flatten out at high volume and will distort. However you would normally never listen at the volumes that this will occur at.

I've had them for 4 months, chuck them in my bag when travelling and they look and work like they did the day I took them out of the package. For the money this is the best bang for your buck. You would probably need to break the $150-200 range to find anything comparable over all.

Enjoy1

I think the sound in excellent with these, but am uncomfortable wearing them. I don't know if it's me or the headphones.