My Sennheiser HD201 headphones review

My search for headphones Story

When I bought an MP3 player 3 months ago (a Creative Zen 30 gigs) I was pretty disappointed by the basic creative earphones include with the player. They sound awful (just like the ipod earphones). It was impossible to enjoy my music with these cheap earbuds. The only solution for me was to shop for a good pair of cans.

Easy? no... so many brands to choose from, and since I'm not rich, I've decided to find something between 20$ and 80$. I've read many reviews on the net, but I don't trust 'expert' reviews because they are paid to say that this is good, this is shit, etc. some weeks later, I was at a party at my friend's house and I saw that he had a pair of Sennheiser headphones on his computer desk. I asked him if I could try them a bit and he said yes. I was immediately blown away by the performance of these headphones. I said to myself: 'wow, this shit should cost at least 200 or 300$ When he told me that he paid 12.99$ on Ebay for the HD201, I couldn't believe it! The next day, I've ordered these Sennheiser from Ebay and never regret it since then!

My Sennheiser HD201 Review in details

First of all, one of the most important thing I like about the HD201, is how lightweight and comfortable to wear they are (leatherette ear pads keep your ears very comfortable) . I can use it for 4-5 hours a day without headaches. You can barely feel that they are on your head when listening to music or movies at home ( I forgot to mention that I use them a lot at home when watching TVwith my home theater system).

What is great about close ear headphones is that you get good attenuation of ambient noise (and people near you can't hear your music even if you crank up the volume :P )

Sound Quality of the Sennheiser HD201

Like I said earlier, I was really impressed by the sound quality of the HD201 the first time I tried them. They produce a rich and crisp bass response, even if the bass could be more powerful (maybe not good news for hiphop music lovers). They sound so good that if you're listening to shitty low bitrate MP3 (128k) you'll hear all the imperfections :P so I suggest to re-encode your mp3 to at least 192k (I use 256K).

On the other side, one of the problem of this pair of cans is it's very low sensitivity: it takes a lot of volume/power to bring them to satisfactory or normal loudness levels. On my home theater system, it's not a problem but since mp3 players has volume limits, it can be frustrating if you like to listen to your music at a very high volume level.

Final Thoughts

In the last 5 years, I tried many close ear headphones but none of them can beat the Sennheiser HD201. Honestly, I believe that this is the best sounding headphones under 100$. If you're still using shitty basic mp3 player earhphones, please put 15$ (I found them for 12.99$ on Ebay :P) on HD201 and you will never look back again. If you know better headphones at this price, let me know, I don't think it's possible if you ask me...

Pros:
- Rich, crisp bass response
- Awsome sound quality, well balanced
- Very Confortable
- Lightweight
- Ridiculous low price

Cons:
- Looks cheap (plastic 'a la' Toys'N'Rus)
- 50 to 100 hours breakin period necessary to sound at their best.
- Big