The Sennheiser HD 280 Pro are decent for neutral listening. They have a well-balanced sound with a good bass, mid, and treble range. Instruments and vocals sounded sufficiently forward if a little lacking in detail and clarity compared to some other neutral listening models like the DT 770 and the...

Decent build quality., Moderately comfortable.

Poor isolation., Mid-range heavy audio reproduction., Bulky, unstable design., Bass delivery varies significantly across users. Sensitive to glasses.

Sennheiser's HD 280s are a perennial favorite among budget-minded audiophiles. And listening to their balanced, flat tonal presentation you can see why. If there's any hint of coloration (anywhere), I certainly couldn't find it. That's great if you happen to be mixing an album.

Extreme clamping force, very poor quality earpads, suckout in upper bass and lower mids (requires several minutes to seal to get better bass and mids and reduce hollow sound), and a bit too much highs around 7 and 9 khz making a slight zingy sound.

While there are some diamonds in the rough of the sub-$100 price point, the HD 280 Pros are not one of them. With significant issues in audio performance, the Sennheiser HD 280 Pros are a strange outlier in the Sennheiser lineup.

I have an older pair of AKG headphones with great, flat frequency response. But those are semi-open, so there's noise bleed from the outside when I'm trying to mix. I bought these Sennheiser phones because of consistently high reviews and their closed-back design.

We saw some complaints at Amazon.com that the plastic headband is vulnerable to cracking, but if this happens, the damage is covered under Sennheiser's two-year warranty. Aside from this problem, durability is excellent; one owner who claims to be "pretty rough with my equipment" says they're still...

Good sound quality; Passive noise blocking; Durable build

Uncomfortable for some users; Bulky

These are very well-made and most comfortable headphones I have ever worn and can wear them for hours while twiddling and tweaking parameters in wee hours of night without neighbors thinking aliens have landed.

It is rare when, as a studio owner, a new headphone comes along that provides enough value and quality to make you consider ditching your current collection. Sennheiser's new HD 280 Professional headphone ($199) may do just that..

Still, though, if you'd like some packable, wearable, isolating, good-sounding 'phones for the office, LAN party, crèche, server room or long train trip, you could do a lot worse than check the HD 280 Pro out.

I must concede that I am a bit of audiophile. Earphones/headphones don't cut it for me unless and until I can hear almost every background instrument as well. Previously, I had Beats by Dr. Dre, which I have reviewed earlier.