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My Senn HD280 pros are completely falling apart ... replacement suggestions?

pfschim

pfschim

Just a Skeleton with a Jazz bass
Supporting Member
Apr 26, 2006
9,359
10,962
SF Bay Area
#1
Title pretty much says it all.

My well worn and well used Senn HD280 pros are pretty much coming to end of life. They still sound good but the physical part of the headphones is just about dead. I always liked them. They are pretty honest, fairly neutral over the ear phones and have served me well for about 20 years.

any suggestions for replacements ?

thanks
 
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#8
socialleper said:
You can replace the pads. They are a pain, but I did that for mine.

Failing that, I like my Neumann NDH 20. Good closed back, good detail retrieval, but a little subdued in the highs. A touch warm, but so are the HD280.
Click to expand...
thanks, I'll check into replacing the pads as I have been perfectly happy with the HD280 pro's for a long time.

As far as the Neumann's go, I'm sure they sound good .... hopefully they do at more than 5x the price of the perfectly good Senn 280Pro's ;)
 
#9
pfschim said:
thanks, I'll check into replacing the pads as I have been perfectly happy with the HD280 pro's for a long time.

As far as the Neumann's go, I'm sure they sound good .... hopefully they do at more than 5x the price of the perfectly good Senn 280Pro's ;)
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They do.
They are better constructed, have a removable cable, nicer pads, and much better bass response. Because they are closed back, they still aren't very open sounding, but that how it goes. Beyer Dynamic has some good closed back headphones, but they are known for a "house sound" that isn't very neutral. If you are mixing and want something linear, they aren't the best option.
I hate to break it to you, but the Neumann headphones are only mid tier. Big Boy headphones start at $1k.
 
#10
socialleper said:
They do.
They are better constructed, have a removable cable, nicer pads, and much better bass response. Because they are closed back, they still aren't very open sounding, but that how it goes. Beyer Dynamic has some good closed back headphones, but they are known for a "house sound" that isn't very neutral. If you are mixing and want something linear, they aren't the best option.
I hate to break it to you, but the Neumann headphones are only mid tier. Big Boy headphones start at $1k.
Click to expand...
it's all good man, my Senns are just used in my solid, but modest home studio when I'm doing tracks for others. They have always worked well for me in this capacity.
When I get hired to track in a studio I use their "big boy" phones ... or whatever they offer ;)
 
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#11
I bought my first pair of Senn HD280 pros more than 20 years ago and used them regularly for recording, mixing and mastering, and also practicing.

They started getting kind of rough after about ten years so I bought another pair. Eventually, the first pair fell apart completely (the metal holding everything together internally snapped and the plastic completely broke apart).

Now, the 2nd pair is all cracked and I'm holding them together with duct tape.

I can't really complain about the build quality because both pairs had literally thousands of hours on them before falling apart and I didn't exactly baby them. For $100, I'm not expecting them to be indestructible.

I do have several other phones of different brands that I use for pleasure listening that have a more "colored" tone (including a couple that cost over $500), but for an affordable set of cans with flat, neutral listening and a clean and accurate bass response, I just prefer the sound of the HD 280s.

I'll be ordering another pair soon and I expect them to last at least 10 years.
 
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#12
I bought a new set of HD 280 PROs several months ago to replace my old Tascam that literally disintegrated on my head, then self destructed like an old crashmobile. First thing I did was to wrap the headband with several layers of cloth - at least when it does begin to crumble it won't make too much of a mess. Many thanks to @sacreddog717 for putting up a Sweetwater link for Sennheiser band and earpiece replacements:bassist:
 
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#13
pfschim said:
Title pretty much says it all.

My well worn and well used Senn HD280 pros are pretty much coming to end of life. They still sound good but the physical part of the headphones is just about dead. I always liked them. They are pretty honest, fairly neutral over the ear phones and have served me well for about 20 years.

any suggestions for replacements ?

thanks
Click to expand...
i only dropped in to mention... that about 23 years ago I bought a set of audio tech headphones that I liked a lot. they were about $150 back in 99ish, so they were decent (athm40?). They got beat up pretty good over the years and glued back together several times (madden football). About 7 or 8 yrs ago, they still sounded great, so I bought a set of behringer headphones and gutted them, put the at drivers inside and they worked great for another 5 years. Now I have a set of Q701, and another set of DT990s, and compared this old set to both of them. All 3 sound pretty good to me but each has a personality. the 701s have super crystal clear highs. The old at had quite a bit of emphasis on the lows (sounded great but def not flat). The 990s are pretty even across the board and the highs are (compared to the 701s) somewhat muted but I find they are easier to listen to for extended periods.
Long story long... I wouldn't toss the old ones... it's nice to have something to compare if only to get an idea of what you might want to mentally compensate for in terms of difference between each set of phones. (I am aware there is software plugins that can offset this too... but can't be bothered!)
 
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#14
Geez! So I went ahead and ordered the very reasonably priced Senn OEM replacement ear cups (and head band cushion). So far, so good.

How the Ef are these things supposed to go on ? is there some kind of trick that I'm missing. Just spent the better part of a very frustrating hour trying to get the flexible vinyl skirt part into the earpiece groove on these things. Impossible! I see where they go, and I can get one side started in the slot, but then it just pulls out as I move around the rim of the earpiece.

A new set of phones may be in my future after all.
 
#15
so, I cooled my jets a bit to lower my frustration, and while I was doing that, I looked up some helpful videos about how to replace the ear pads. I even found a Sennheiser support vid for replacing the ear pads on the HD280 pros specifically.

Unfortunately, it looks like it's just not going to work for me. I just can't stretch the new pad out to even come close to getting the vinyl skirt/flange into the slot on the headphones. The Senn support vid makes it look like it's pretty easy, but it ain't. :rollno: I get it in on one side of the cup, then in the process of trying to do the other side, the first side slips out. Grrrr. In the process of wrestling with the replacement I seemed to have perhaps pushed in part of the headphone diaphragm on one side.

So, thanks to those who suggested the ear pad replacement, but that appears to be a dead end for me.

oh well, new phones are now my focus.
 
#18
The DT-770's arrived and they sound fine. Maybe a bit more voiced than the Sennheisers, but still they will work for my purposes.
I guess I will just keep the old Sennheisers and the ear cup replacement kit and perhaps I'll be able to put those suckers on there some day :laugh:
 

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