I've tried various closed-back full-size headphones that cost up to $200 from mass-market brands such as Sony, and I was almost universally disappointed in them. So I went to a Virgin Megastore and plopped down $99.95 plus tax for a pair of Sennheiser HD 280 Pro headphones. Sure, Virgin also carried the EH 2200 headphones ($89.95), which cost only $10 less than the HD 280 Pro - and sound mediocre for the price, to boot.

When I first listened to the HD 280 Pro headphones, they sounded a bit thin - but after more than 40 hours of break-in, they sound sweet. The bass goes down very low and deep, with only a very slight hint of boominess; the mids are clear and not muddled; the highs are smooth and clear but a little recessed.

The HD 280 Pro headphones have sufficient efficiency for portable use - they're rated at 64 ohms impedance and 102 dB @ 1mW sensitivity (equivalent to 113 dB @ 1 Vrms). Though they are certainly not portable-sized, they fold up for easy carrying. Moreover, they do benefit from the addition of a dedicated headphone amp, such as Headroom's Total Airhead [now available in 4.5V (which uses three AAA batteries) and 9V (one 9V transistor battery) versions].

The HD 280 Pro has circumaural (around-the-ear) pads made of pleather. That means that I can wear these headphones for hours at a time with only the usual sweating that one gets from wearing around-the-ear pleather pads. And the drivers don't touch my ears, unlike my 12-year-old Sony MDR-V6 headphones (the best closed headphones that I've owned prior to my purchase of the HD 280 Pros; the MDR-V6 is currently sold as the MDR-7506. Don't confuse the MDR-V6 with the far inferior MDR-V600.)

The HD 280 Pro's rugged plastic construction and DJ-headphone-like swiveling feature allows the headphones to lie flat for easier storage if one puts them in a briefcase. That feature also allows for easy one-sided monitoring, to cue up the next track. The single-entry coiled cord is detachable, but the left earpiece must be disassembled in order to detach the cord. The cord is terminated to a 1/8" gold-plated mini-plug with a screw-on 1/4" adaptor.

Recommended: Yes