After much research I settled on these as a durable "mid-fi" headphone that could survive my daily subway commute and some tossing around. I considered several others that are on everyone's short list for best ~$200 headphones: ATH M50, Onkyo ES-HF300, Senn Momentum, V-Moda M80, etc. Ultimately I decided on these since I know and love the Sennheiser sound and figured if the same model has been in production for 25 years they must be doing something right.
I'm pleased to say I have not been disappointed. These absolutely live up to their reputation and it's easy to see why they are so well loved.
First off, the looks. In these days of headphones as fashion, these are the anti-Beats. They're not even "retro cool" along the lines of something like Grados. They're just plain old boring looking, all black, and unapologetically utilitarian. They have very few parts and what is there is all user replaceable. These were meant to last a long time and I'm quite fond of the function over form aesthetic on display here. No purple or green or red polished to a high sheen with gaudy logos here. If you're into broadcaster-booth-chic then these may be right up your alley. They don't stand out but you will not look like a goofball wearing them either. Nobody will notice your headphone choice at all, unless they spend a lot of time on Head-Fi, and that's just fine by me.
There's a lot of back and forth on how these are so tight on the head. I haven't found that to be an issue at all on my average size skull. They clamp enough to provide excellent isolation and loosen up enough after a few hours of wear to be barely noticeable. I use these daily on the subway and they do a very good job of blocking out the noise. A very impressive feat considering these are supra-aural rather than over-ear. If they can stand up to an NYC subway commute I expect they'll isolate well enough for most purposes. There is no sound leak from these at moderate volume so they are also very office friendly. You won't hear your coworkers and they won't hear you. Perfect.
The real measure of a headphone is obviously the sound. I guess these are technically "pro-audio" or "studio" headphones. I'm not using them for that. I'm playing 320kbps MP3s unamped, straight from my iPhone. Aside from doing some A/B testing when I first got these against my HD650s and an 8 year old pair of Bose Triports I'm not doing any critical listening on them. I just want something that sounds good for my "real life" purposes.
So how do they sound? Amazing to my ears. These lean towards the neutral/balanced side but have emphasis in all the right spots which makes them very lively. The bass is punchy and pronounced and never flubby. Some of the best I've heard reallly. I actually like the bass on these more than theway more expensive HD650s. Its perfect for most genres but if you're looking for deep sub bass you should look elsewhere. I'm listening to everything from minimal electronic, drone/doom, acoustic folk, gore grind, no-wave-goth-pop, etc. I may have made up that last genre but the point is, unless you're listening primarily to hip-hop you will find these phones make a wide range of genres sound really, really good.
The mid bass and treble is where these really shine. Mids are cut just the right amount to make everything stand out. That said, if you're listening to a really cluttered track these lose some of their punchiness and sparkle but that's to be expected. If there's a little breathing room in the track these headphones really come alive. They don't have the widest sound stage in the world but they are closed back headphones so that comes with the territory. They do have great instrument separation and things rarely get muddy. The sound is tight and lively and balanced just right. Even right out of the box with very little burn in I was impressed. Theykeep sounding better with time.
My opinion is that these venerable old ugly ducklings are a perfect all around, daily listening headphone. They can be driven fine right from your mobile device without an amp and they're colored enough so as not to expose all of the flaws in your music files but to emphasize all the right parts. You can throw them in your bag and not worry about them, and most of all, they sound great.
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