Customer Reviews

Sennheiser HD 215 Extreme DJ Sound Headphones with Swivel Earcup

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I am not a huge fan of excessive bass in headphones. For me many of the sealed cans offer a less than desirable listening experience. I own a pair of EH-250's and like them for a few songs then suddenly listening fatigue sets due to the overpowering bass. My EH350's are better but I absolutely need a sealed set of cans. My perceptions about sealed cans changed the minute I put the HD215's over my ears.

Sound Quality:
I immediately noticed how great the soundstage is on these phones. They provide a very expanded sense of spatial placement, especially for sealed cans. This was the first drastic improvement over the midsized cans I own.

The next thing I noticed is how well presented all the mid and high frequencies are. These phones provide vocals and acoustic arrangments very desireable traits such as great detail and transient repsonse often missing from cheaper phones.

Having said all that, I do have to point out the bass is ever so slightly shy. Litterally a 2db parametric bass adjustment makes it perfect for me and improves the linearity of the phones. Honestly the rated frequency response for my Iriver H320 is 20...20,000hz +/- 2db and usually amps shy the bass away when the volume is turned up because it is the most demanding part of the music. So the adjustment may be for the phones and maybe for the MP3 player either way 2db is perfect.

A breif note on the bass; although less pesent than many phone out there, the extreme amount of detail in the bass reproduction makes some of my other aforementioned phones almost seem muddy. These babies are clean sounding and responsive to very deep bass notes. I love hearing all the hidden detail in the bass and these phones provide me with the deepest growls and transient response for this price range.

Construction:
These babies are top notch. Designed with professional use in mind they are built tough. I have heard poeple complain about plastic exteriors but honestly plastics are fast becoming superior to metal products in durability, tensile strenghth, and price. I don't use the swivel on the right earpiece but it does function as stated.

Comfort:
I place listening fatigue over pressure and weight at all times because I have phones I can keep on my head for hours but I am forced to take breaks due to listening fatigue. Next I consider how comfortable they are when properly adjusted for headsize and seal. I have to say these phones shine in both areas. Well designed lightweight and circumural design does wonders for these phones. I often listen for 4 hours or more at a time.

Efficiency:
Yes they are 32 ohm and they do have a 112db sensitivity rating but they do like a little extra power than other similarly rated pones. If you have a power saving (lasts more than 10 hours on two AA bateries or worse yet a single AAA) cd or mp3 player you will not get the sound these babies can provide and should look elsewhere. Besides why pay more for the cans than the source which is a common mistake in the marketplace.

Remember processing comes from the device NOT the phones, they simply reproduce the signal that is fed into them. Bad source always equals bad sound. A reveiwer below obviosly fell into the misconseption that better phones always provide better sound.

Summary:
Great dynamics and transient response win out over slightly soft but extremely well defined bass. No listening or comfort fatigue. Great sound attenuation. Exception spatialization and great construction make these phones a very good value.

Don't buy if:
You want the overemphasized bass other cheaper options will provide. Like the EH250's or the HD212's.

You don't need a sealed can. there are far more options in open aire full sized designs from Sennheiser that can sound better.

You have a cheap portable source. Get an Iriver Hxxx series or the slighly less good sounding Ipod or Creative Labs for a portable unit. Something that can truly supply a good 10-12mW at 32ohms.

Final thoughts:
These cans take about 15-20 hours to break in properly so expect them to sound slightly bright and lacking in the bass at first. Once they break in they are warmer sounding and much better balanced.

These headphones have an excellent sound stage, they hit crisp highs, clear mids and detailed lows. A note on the low range: if you are looking for Sony's style of overblown (Inaccurate) bass, then look on. Sennheiser is known for overall sound clarity, not EQ'ed bass as is the case with cheaper phones. They will, however, reproduce bass just fine with any proper amp/preamp/mixer. Since these are mainly geared toward DJ use, it isn't that necessary to have heavy bass in your phones, your PAs or Sub should be primarily taking care of that freq range. It frees the phones up for hearing the songs and their cues. I also use them for Monitoring while producing songs, and mixing with them is very accurate. They accurately reproduce the tone and texture of lower bass notes (down to 12hz), something phones with EQ'ed bass have trouble doing. When playing back through my studio monitors(EMU PM5s) and my alternates (Logitech 5500s) there is almost no difference, the only one being through the 5500s, you get the sub "feel".

Bottom line: If you're looking for near dead accurate phones on a budget, these will definitely serve that need.

You know when motoring journalists talk about the on about the Porsche Boxter? Basically, why buy one when you can have a 911?

Well these bins are in the same category. It's a case of German engineers 'detuning' something mid-numbingly good to fit into the 'mid-range' of the market.

I've been using them for a few weeks, and I have to say that they are excellent. I've had some Sennheiser 'phones before just as back-ups for practice they were the cheapie HD202's which have survived two years loyal service. That's why I've been keen to get more well engineered Sennheiser product.

The construction gives me confidence that these 'phones will last many years, the quality is fantastic. But I have to say that only the right cup swivels not both. Although there seems no difference which way round you wear them. The single replacable coiled lead is great.

The sound is where I have to mark these bins down, but hardly. At first when they were new I have to say I thought they were a bit bassless, but as the padding has softened and they have worn-in the bass as increased in the mix, so don't judge them to quickly. They don't have the bass that can make the bins dance on your ears like 1210's or V700's but these are mid-range cups.

Basically these are great value headphones for the money, but you can get better by buying top of the range. You don't need to as these are perfectly good in a club environment as I use them four times a week as a pro DJ.

Closed-back + circumaural + accurate sound = Heck yes! or Quit good, sir.

HD 215s are solid both at home and in noisy environments such as trains, coffee houses, massage-parlor police raids and Civil War amputation tents.

They are closed-back so they cut a good amount of ambiant-noise but they do so without sounding closed-in or canned.

Circumaural? They go around the ear, man, not on them. So they're comfortable for the entire ride, man.
And they're light-weight to boot. So there's no need to work out the neck prior to purchase.

Rock on or keep groovin' or relax into the full spectrum of audio pleasures...whichever you like.

I guess Sennheiser assumed that only DJs would use these phones, in bass-heavy dance club environments, because they completely neglected the low-end response from the phones themselves. The mid-range (vocals, etc) sounds excellent, the highs are a tad bright, and the bass response is non-existent. If you listen to rock, dance, hip-hop (basically, any type of music with pronounced bass), you will hate these phones.
On the plus side, I guess they are comfortable. Sennheiser should take the headband from these and use it to replace the horrible headband on the 280 Pros, which sound great but are horribly uncomfortable.

Bought these headphones in March '07, and I couldn't be happier. The frequency response of these babies is impressive and are very durable during heavy playback (I mean 15-20 hours playing). An absolute gem in all respects. A bonus is that the headphones have an adjustable right-ear cup that can twist around so then you don't waste time taking them off when someone is talking to you or you are busy mixing away in a club.

The 3m cable is extremely useful if you need to move around and reach for other things without having to leave your headphones down. The screw-on adaptor is a nice safety feature that ensures that the headphones are secured properly to any deck without risking the jack popping out of the adaptor (as it has happened several times with other headphones models before).

Absolute respect for this product.

I'm already a big Sennheiser fan. I own the HD-580's, the 555's, the 265's and of course the 215's. i bought a pair of these 215's for a DJ buddy of mine a little while ago. He loves them. ME?...I do ALOT of gaming on the PC, and while the 580's are probably the best headphone hands down anywhere, their attributes are best appreciated listening to music, as are the other aforementioned models. I bought the 215's after I listened to them on my bud's system and was amazed at the sound they produced and noise cancelling qualities they had.. The phones are very comfy, after hours of gaming I hardly notice I'm wearing them. They are well built. They sound great. Cord is heavy duty, detachable and replaceable. It is a shame this model has been discontinued. I would suggest getting a pair of these if you still can. These are a GREAT-BANG-FOR-THE-BUCK set of phones!!

Quality is number 1 with Sennheiser HD 215. Comfortable and pleasing for as long as they are on your head. Superb at the computer during games. Outstanding for listening to vinyl or the CD. I would not lone these to my best friend -much less let someone breath on them. However, a Bedroom DJ should purchase the $200.00 Cans for that special sound proof affect.

I'd first like to say that, I'm not an audiophile. Although I would consider myself a discerning customer who can sense distinct difference in sound, I do not feel I have the so-called "golden ears".

I have had these headphones for about 4 months now, and I would like to say that Sennheiser is still keeping up their reputation for producing good headphones, but these particular cans, while good and very interesting, failed to completely wow me.

Sound: I have to concur with everyone who has been saying that the sound stage on these headphones is great, especially for closed cans. The sound feels extremely open and gives a great sense of the sound emanating from a more pleasant, distant source. The sound detail must also be praised as these phones definitely can give your music a sense of enhanced detail the way one may consider looking at higher resolution images or videos. If you've ever used new audio equipment to listen to familiar songs only for you to say, "Hey I never heard that subtle background piece" or "I can hear so much more subtlety in that instrument's piece", you'll know what I mean. As for the overall sound, I'd say that the headphones are definitely weighted towards the higher end of the spectrum, and are by no means bass heavy. The bass comes in clear and detailed if you listen for it specifically, but they are more underrepresented in my opinion. I'm no DJ, but I would assume that a noisy club scene would not require bass heavy headphones anyway, if that is your intended use. The subjective sound quality, I would say comes off as being more bright and less warm. This is ok depending on the kind of music that you like to listen to. For vocals that have a naturally high and pure sound, the headphones suits them perfectly. Again, for vocals that feature more deep and warm tones, I would perhaps reconsider. Regardless, I would still reiterate that this is merely the headphone's bias.

Durability: These things are built to last, and you can tell. They're light but the plastic feels extremely durable. The headband will certainly not snap, as I have read some reviews of the Sennheiser HD280s that state the HD280's have such a tendency. The cord feels nice and strong, again heavy duty. Not much really to say here. The headphones will take some real punishment, I don't think anyone will deny that.

Comfort: This is where the whole deal started to go just a bit sour for me. Remember a few sentences ago when I stated that the headphones were durable. That is certainly true, and it seems to me that comfort has taken a bit of a hit at least in my opinion. The headphones, while still quite large, always seem to feel like they're pressing fairly hard on my ears and the side of my head. When they were new, before I had broken them in, I used to get minor headaches from wearing them just due to the sense of pressure that the phones physically exerted on my head. The problem is that the top head band is just a bit too durable and has no give to it to accommodate a person's individual head shape. They will eventually break in and give over time, but if you don't wear them for any length of time, you'll have to endure some pressure on your ears for about half an hour or so. Again, your mileage may vary. Perhaps I just have a grotesquely misshapen head that was not meant to see the light of day.

Extras: The left ear cup can be swiveled up and back in case the listener needs to hear ambient noise, a feature presumably to please the DJs to which the headphones are geared towards. It's pretty neat even if you aren't a DJ, and it definitely helps in one of those situations where your attention may be required elsewhere. Again, it's not extremely comfortable to keep the left ear cup raised for any long period of time, but it's completely passable. The headphones also feature a 8th inch to quarter inch adapter which screws on. I haven't had the opportunity to use the adapter, but both the 8th and quarter inch plugs are gold plated, if that actually makes any difference to you. The cord winds up into a nice little telephone cord style form factor which gives a good amount of added length without the need for clutter. Lastly, there's a pleather bag that you can stuff the headphones in, but they're really durable enough to not need them.

Conclusion: I have to say I still consider them above average and in keeping with Sennheiser's reputation. To me they just weren't the perfect fit. They are a bit too bulky for me to take out onto the street, and they are slightly uncomfortable until you manage to break them in (I stretched them around a basketball, go ahead try it, but be careful). The bass is not really as punchy as I'd like it, but I'm not as much of a stickler for that as other people. I'm no bass nut, but even so, I was a bit underwhelmed. The sound quality really gives a nice open bright and airy feel, but I personally was hoping to find a deeper and warmer sound than the one I was given. No question though, the HD 215s are great for some kinds music, but just not all of them.

In the end, I really kind of wish I had gone for the Sennheiser HD-280 Professional Headphones. I got these headphones for about 60$, and if I had compromised on price and a slightly less durable build quality (which the hd 215s have more than enough of), then I think I would be a bit more satisfied. The HD-280s are really a old standby for budget audiophiles looking for anything from good home listening headphones to studio headphones, maybe DJs even use them too, I don't know. I don't have a pair of hd 280s but I have listened to them briefly and I can say that the sound quality feels much richer than the airier feel of the 215s. So if you're a real klutz who loves wearing full sized headphones around but keeps dropping them on the pavement or stepping on them when you've left them on the floor, get the 215s. If you want to spend 20-30$ extra on a pair of headphones that are well known for their great sound quality (given the price), and are not finicky about durability, then I'd go for the Hd280s.

I did a bunch of research before selecting these headphones and overall I'm pleased with my purchase. They are not going to give you an audible orgasm but they sound good, are comfortable to wear for several hours without getting a headache and they do a pretty decent job of cutting down background noise while not distracting those working nearby. The swivel on the right cup is an interesting feature targeted primarily at DJs, which I am not, that is actually quite comfortable. These certainly aren't the kind of phones you're going to stroll down the block with while rockin out to your ipod (i.e. they are bulky and rather gaudy), but if you are looking for some rather large, over-the-ear headphones for some desktop privacy, they are worth the $65 or so that I paid for them.