Sennheiser HD 215 - Review

I bought a new pair of headphones, they have arrived. Sennheiser HD 215, from Amazon for 69$ after taxes. Normal price was 149$: good sale.

Very solid weight about the headset, 280g. The earpieces are rather larger than I expected. The “rotatable ear cup for one-ear listening” feature is fairly senseless: I would have expected the earpiece to flip face outward instead. Not a big deal though, as I was not inclined to use this feature.

The pressure against the head is not uncomfortable, but firm. It could stand to fit a little tighter, but the headset stays in place through some harsh head shaking. The set is designed to accommodate a much larger head; I’ve got it set to the smallest setting. Muffs are very soft, and provide excellent passive noise cancellation.

Audio cord is single-sided, so it won’t get in the way. It’s four feet coiled, which can be stretched out to at least 10 feet. This is more than enough cable for my purposes. The coil’s elasticity is very soft, does not pull hard when stretched. Cord detaches at the headset for easy replacement. The connector is standard 3.5mm phono, but slightly recessed; I am concerned that a replacement cord could be a little difficult to find. It is a very tight fit. The other end has a 6.3mm screw-on adapter. Both are gold.

Plugged them into my Macbook. Damn.

Paul Simon’s The Boy in the Middle sounds amazing. I can’t hear any distortion at full volume, and that’s much too loud for listening. Crystal Method’s Comin Back never had quite this much power in the low frequencies. I can’t hear some of this on my laptop speakers at all. The subtle bass tones are reproduced well.

Came with a soft faux leather drawstring pouch, seemingly for transport. I doubt it would provide much protection to the headphones. Could be useful.

After listening to DI.fm for several hours, my ears are a little sweaty, but not sore. The muffs don’t breathe very well.

Overall, this was a good purchase.