Leaves your ears ringing...sweet
Written: Aug 13 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Crisp, clean, clear sound for many genres
Cons: Bass overdone for some tastes, needs lots of umph from whatever's driving them
The Bottom Line: The price is right, and the performance is out of this world. I love these headphones :-D
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| dirwin's Full Review: Sennheiser EH-2270 Professional Headphones |
I must admit that I was skeptical of my new Sennheiser headphones when I opened the package. The reviews seem to be mixed on the 2200, and despite the exquisite Sennheiser name, the packaging seemed mundane. In addition, when I plugged the phones into my on-board (AC-97 class) Yamaha sound card from my Dell PC, I was unimpressed. So I took the phones, plugged them into my JVC RX-8010 receiver, and set up a burn-in. 16 hours later and with the receiver as the source, the headphones had sprung to life. Firstly, I must urge that these are high grade electronics and thus require a burn-in period. Do not take this warning lightly, as before the burn-in, these phones sounded as flat and uninspiring as my stock Panasonic headphones from my 6 year old portable CD player.
I decided that in order to write a truly helpful (or very helpful :-) ) review, I would need to perform an actual test on these headphones. I chose 3 DVDs, 4 Audio CDs, 1 Audio DVD, and a handful of Mp3 files (all are 160kbps). I used a direct line into my Creative SoundBlaster Audigy OEM, my JVC RX-8010 receiver with a USB Feed from my PC, and my AVC Soul DMP-01 Mp3-CD Player (running on batteries). I watched Fight Club, Hackers, and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon on DVD, & Dave Matthews's Music Video DVD. In addition, I listened to the Lord of the Rings Soundtrack, 311's self titled album, Eminem's The Eminem Show, and Brian Setzer's Dirty Boogie album on CD. My mp3 library covers most genres of rock, pop, punk, rap, and alternative. I used a wide sample of this as well. So now that I've bored you with the details, on to my results:
My complaints about these headphones:
1. As you will find written all over the internet, the 2270 is bass heavy. This is quite true. After burn-in, the bass is not boomy, but it is very present. If you like bass, this will be a very good thing for you. The Eminem Show performed very well coming from my receiver. In fact, it made even Eminem's singing tolerable. However, several songs on the LOTR Soundtrack were drowned out. Enya's "May It Be" was lackluster on my AVC Soul Player.
2. Need a lot of power to be driven properly. The AVC Soul in general is only adequate in terms of driving these headphones. With any portable, these phones seem to lose some of the flat frequency response that Sennheiser is so proud of for all of their products. However, I will discuss the noise canceling later, and that is a huge plus of using these phones with a portable.
...What you came here for: Reasons to open your wallet and buy these gadgets.
1. They actually can produce a balanced bass/treble mix. I went into the settings and equalizer on my receiver. I turned the highest region to +4, the middle 2 to +2, and left the rest at 0db. I set the receiver's special effects off and left the bass boost off. Brian Setzer's horn sounded perfect. Switchblade 327 came to life in a way it never had before. Mp3s of Dave Matthews's Say Goodbye and Cry Freedom made me want to cry. I listened to Dave's entire music video DVD like this and just marveled at the magnificent ambience emanating from the plastic around my ears.
2. The bass is there if you want it (and can control it properly.)
In my humble opinion, Fight Club is one of the premiere subwoofer tests. "What is Fight Club" by the Dust Brothers will make even many mid-fi systems beg for mercy. However, with the receiver set to line-direct with a flat equalizer and a bass boost, the phones again answered the call with near perfection. At the deepest moments with the receiver turned (admittedly) too loud to be good for my hearing I noticed distortion at the low end. The same was true with Eminem's "Business" from my portable with the Equalizer on "Rock" or "Full Bass". Bottom line: the bass is plentiful and generally high quality, but it has a limit. I recommend pushing these cans right up to that limit in order to get the most out of them.
3. Amazing noise canceling.
On July 5, I boarded United flight 1033 on a Boeing 757 fully expecting to be disappointed with the supposed 30 dB noise canceling capabilities of these phones. To my delightment, I was seated just about 3 seats back of the engine. In fact, conversation became nearly impossible due to plane noise. So I fired up my AVC Soul, plugged in my old Sennheiser MX-500 earbuds, and turned the volume up. I was disappointed (as I usually am on planes) with the engine noise vs. CD sound ratio. So I pulled out the eH2270 and plugged those in. The annoying noise was gone. I turned the volume down from the full 40 to 35 and fell asleep. This was a wonderful experience. Then I decided to get creative. I pulled out a Radio Shack Stereo 1/8" Y-Splitter and plugged it into the Soul Player. Then, I plugged both the eH2270 and the MX-500 into the splitter. I put the earbuds in first, followed by the large headphones on top. I started with the earbud control at low volume, and pushed it up until I got a perfect balance. Indeed, all outside noise was drowned out. I was thoroughly impressed. However, these headphones by themselves will drown out a lot of noise, allowing you to turn down your volume. Either way it's great.
Overall, I really liked these headphones. Dave Matthews never sounded so good. Eve 6 springs to life with guitar parts that you may have missed with even a 5.1 sound system. Fight Club and Hackers both take a great benefit from the deep, powerful, yet flat-frequency bass. Even Eminem sounds great (if you can tolerate his rapping/singing.) Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (IMHO) sounds better with a subwoofer and true surround sound, and I preferred 311 and Brian Setzer with my large system as well. However, all of my tests exceeded my expectation of these headphones. With a bottom line of under $50 with shipping from uBid.com, you really can't go wrong with the Sennheiser eH2270.
A quick note explaining my rating of 4 for "Sound"--I do not consider these to be quite "Professional" quality headphones. I suppose a DJ or a studio could use them, but they are targeted to the home use, and thus I choose "4--Good; more than sufficient for all average users". High end home users looking for a high-end headphone at the entry level will be pleased. True headphone aficionados and true audiophiles will most likely need to get better phones to be really satisfied.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
dirwin
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Location: Latrobe, PA, USA
Reviews written: 11
Trusted by: 4 members
About Me:
21-year-old male college student. Computer guru. Geek/Gadget lover for life. Audiophile. AMD Fanatic.
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