HELP! My Sennheiser HD280s have NO bass!

[teej]

I bought a set of Sennheiser HD280s (as an "upgrade" from some Sony MDR-V150s), but much to my dissapointment, the Sennies have almost no bass, whatsoever. And I'm not being picky, either -- there is literally no bass, unless I press the cups to my ears. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm trying really hard to like these, but right now my V150s are sounding 20x better than the HD280s.

 

[thehurlatron]

HHMMMM... My 280's sound great with nice rich bass them. And as far as having to press the cans to your ears for bass.....DANG. These things feel to me like I put a vice on my head...Some serious clamping power IMO/IME

Maybe you got a bum set?

 

[emblymouse]

I agree, this may be a bad set. I got mine specifically for the bass response, they go way down there. And self clamping! Maybe you can try another to compare?

 

[funkybassplayer]

I am with the other two guys. i love my 280's. I use them daily as a recording engineer

 

[teej]

That's why I got these -- I've heard and read all the reviews about how great they sound. If they ARE defective, do you think Sennheiser would fix or replace them, even though I'm not the original owner (purchased from a TBer)?

 

[thehurlatron]

That's why I got these -- I've heard and read all the reviews about how great they sound. If they ARE defective, do you think Sennheiser would fix or replace them, even though I'm not the original owner (purchased from a TBer)?

The only way to find out is to ask.

Give them a call, explain your situation, and see what they have to say.

Good luck!

 

[teej]

I thought maybe it was an impedance issue, so I tried them out on just about everything I had with a headphone jack -- desktop speakers (this is where I first used the cans; no bass whatsoever), stereo receiver (sounded MUCH better), MP3 player (still better), and then I took them to the studio and plugged them into the mixer.

They sounded killer.

Very rich AND AUDIBLE bass -- so I'm guessing it was an impedance issue. Anyway, I'm much relieved and now thoroughly impressed by the sound.

 

[Foamy]

Raise the pickups. You'd be surprised how sometimes they can be way too low. Also, check the wires! Maybe they're backwards!!

Wait! That was another thread.
Check the obvious.
Plug them into a couple different sources to be sure you haven't set the bass too low by accident, or somehow maybe the device is not putting out bass.