Sennheiser HD 201 > Reviews (24)

Sennheiser HD 201 Headphones
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

I purchased these headphones from Amazon for £14.99 (priced at £15.90 at the time of writing) so that I could play my keyboard without annoying everyone in earshot. I had previously being using a cheap set of earphones but being appalled at the sound quality and the complete lack of comfort after an hour or so playing, I decided I should invest in a proper pair of headphones. After looking at several products in the £10-£20 price range I thought that with a quality make like Sennheiser and for just £15, I couldn't go far wrong.

==== Sound Quality ====

Firstly, what good are a set of headphones if they don't convey sound very well. Fortunately, these are nothing short of excellent in my opinion and far exceeded my expectations. There is a huge scale of improvement from my cheap and nasty set of earphones (which I believe were free with something - go figure!). Every key I hit on my keyboard sounded as if it originated from the (high-quality) speakers on the keyboard itself. There was no obvious medium through which the sound quality suffered any deterioration. I especially noticed the difference with the lowest keys. My previous earphones barely recognised said keys and I often had the impression that I hadn't actually hit the key at all! Only when listening carefully did I notice the faint muffled sound which told me that I had indeed made the connection between finger and key. Not ideal when trying to learn Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata!

The high notes are also brilliantly conveyed by these headphones and are as clear and true as I could possibly have hoped for. I often forget that I am listening through my headphones with the only clue being the absence of any background noise. This leads me onto the excellent noise reduction quality of these phones. The padded ear surround fits snuggly round my ears and thus forms a pretty good physical barrier against the many background noises that exist in and around my front room. Gone is the low monotonous hum from the rather worryingly loud fridge in the kitchen. Gone also is the sound of traffic driving by the window. This allows for complete escapism with no minor annoyances to distract me from focusing on my playing. Obviously, if someone comes in the front room shouting at the top of their voice and auditioning for town crier then my bubble of quietude will be burst. This is unavoidable even with the best headphones and so I won't drop any marks for this.

==== Comfort ====

The next requirement I desired from a set of headphones was that were comfortable to wear for several hours. After an hour or so with the old cheapo earphones, I was under no illusion that I had something in my ears. So uncomfortable they were that I had to unplug them and resort back to subjecting everyone around me to my rather clumsy early attempts at playing Fur Elise. This simply couldn't go on - I feared a good beating unless I either improved quickly or once again limited my musical exploits to my own ears.

Knowing full well that I was some time away from becoming a concert pianist I decided I needed some comfy headphones.

Disappointed I am not. These are remarkably comfortably and fit my head and ears perfectly. They earphones adjust up and down so that you can fit them perfectly to your head and ear height and they also swivel round so that you can place them flat on your ears. The comfy padding as I have previously touched upon is very soft and spongy so you don't have any hard element of the phones in contact with your ears. Therefore the pressure of wearing these headphones over an extended period of time is negligible. I can wear these for upwards of two hours nonstop without being in the slightest bit of discomfort. The headband is flexible enough so that these will comfortably fit even the widest head without being too loose on those of us with narrower heads. I'd say I'm in the middle somewhere and these fit me perfectly. Not too tight, not too loose. The headband is also cushioned so that the top of your head needn't suffer either. This is a nice touch often missing from other headphones in the same price range. You won't have to perch these so that the headband levitates above your head - you can wear these as they are intended to be worn.

==== Quality ====

The headphones are very light - remarkably so that this was the first thing I noticed when I took these out of the box. This is most definitely a good thing though and I have no doubt that their light weight adds to the comfort of wearing them for extended periods of time. They don't feel low quality as a result of their weight which can sometimes happen. Often the weightier something is the more I tend to trust that it won't fall apart in my hands. Despite this, they still feel solid and not cheap or brittle in any way.

I've had these now for several months and they are still in the same pristine and undamaged condition that they were when I first opened the box. A lot of this is probably down to me taking good care of them but they have withstood constant living room travel/misplacement and general day to day usage. The adjustable headband and ears have not worked loose or broken and feel sturdy enough to sustain general use. That said, I wouldn't go swinging them about and would suggest you handle them with more than a modicum of care to ensure the extension of their life.

The wire seems to be firmly fitted in to each earphone and doesn't look like it will work loose anytime soon. The soft padding has also stayed attached to the earphones and headband and hasn't started to come away from the plastic. They look brand new in this respect and are likely to last for some time before general wear affects them in this way. The padding itself, although it looks delicate (like a sort of very thin leather), is actually very withstanding of general wear. It has not split or worn in the slightest, even with me using these for several hours a week.

I would feel confident in saying that these will last me well over a year in terms of their physical condition.

The only nagging doubt I have is that the internals may suddenly stop working. This is nothing to do with the headphones themselves, but is a result of my paranoia creeping in after many bad experiences in the past. I can't tell you how many apparently healthy looking ear/headphones have suddenly decided to give up the ghost and stop working - usually in one ear first then the other. However, the fact that these are made by Sennheiser goes some way towards quelling my fears. I am confident that being of a high quality make they will last for a good couple of years without suffering this same fate. They come with a Sennheiser 2-year guarantee which is a further reassurance of their quality.

==== Practicality ====

The wire length on these headphones is 3 metres. That is long enough for most uses I think and if not then you can always buy a headphone extension cable. As I am mainly using these for my keyboard I don't require a wire length that will span my house. Unfortunately 3m is a little too long to use these fully unwound at the keyboard. To combat this, I simply unwind about a metre of the cable and leave the included cable tie around the unused length of wire. That seems to solve the problem and lessens the risk of unfortunate injury as I get up quickly to answer the door only to get my feet tangled up in a mass of cord and fall inevitable into the coffee table.

As is standard with every set of ear/headphones I have ever bought, these come with one of those 6.3mm adaptor plugs which for the first time ever was actually useful to me. This is because my keyboard will only accept this size plug. The adaptor itself is gold and boasts a high quality connection.

==== Summary ====

If you're looking for a set of headphones for under £20 then I can't see you finding a set much better than these. They have the look and feel of much more expensive headphones and the sound quality is amazing. As a result of the good quality padding they are very comfortable on your ears and don't start to hurt even after a couple of hours nonstop use. They feel as though they are built to last and being Sennheiser you will be confident that they will do just that. I would definitely recommend these for anyone looking for a high quality, comfortable set of headphones that won't break the bank. I have already ordered a pair for my Dad and will definitely be recommending these to anyone who even whispers the word headphones near me. That's as long as I haven't got these on at the time...because I won't hear them.

Thanks for reading. I hope you found this review helpful :)

[review also posted on dooyoo under my same username]