Price Paid:  $70.00 from online

Summary:
I'm not lost in the world of audio -- I'm a teenager that doesn't have unlimited funds and I'd like to think of myself as a smart buyer. I put about $1200 into stereo equipment for my room and was very pleased. I am not quite an audiophile, but quality is extremely important to me. I wanted to get some good headphones for college, "basement studio" recording (computer, microphone, audio software), and for those times when I can't blast the stereo in my room.

I heard that Sennheiser made some great headphones and started looking into their product line and reading reviews all over the internet, comparing Sennheiser models. The HD-580's would be ideal for me, but for only 70 bucks I could get a very very nice pair. I have little experience with headphones, but a lot of experience with quality sound.

Basically, I love the headphones that I bought. I was shocked at the frequencies that these cans could reproduce, accurately. You can get a very clear sound with great highs and very low bass. One thing is crucial though: what you're using to run the headphones. They have a 64 ohm rating which means they need a fair amount of juice to run. If you are using these for portable electronics, you'll need to invest in a headphone amp if you really care about quality. If you're hooking these up to a decent receiver, you'll love them. Just make sure you don't have a weak source. They are pretty good in the computer with my crappy integrated sound card, but work wonderfully in my Sony STRDE945 receiver.

If you're an audiophile you should be spending more on headphones, but if you're an average guy that wants to be impressed by a set of cans and not blow a bunch of money, you should look into investing in these.

Also, I thought the yellow labels on them in the pictures were nasty. The look much better in real life, I promise.

Strengths:
Great sound, excellent fit, light, real long cord. :)

Weaknesses:
It is possible to buy better headphones.

Similar Products Used:
Cheap headphones.

Price Paid:  $59.00 from JandR

Summary:
Nice headphone if you want some degree of noise isolation. If you do not need any noise isolation you should buy an open type headphone such as HD500 (which i also own). This headphone has a relatively neutral presentation (which is good), for my taste it is a little light/airy sounding but most people will consider this neutral. (i have 1000 watt subwoofer in my car, so i am rarely satisfied with bass performance of electronics) if you want killer bass get HD500.

Thats about it, i use these cans to listen to music on the subway on the way to and from college, i originally bought EH2200 for this purpose (picked EH2200 first because they were smaller and would not look as funny on the train) but those did not provide any noise isolataion at all so i upgraded to HD270. no regrets.

Strengths:
Really Comfortable, Rather light, Detachable cord, Actually blocks some noise, unlike EH2200 which claim that they do, but in reality don't

Weaknesses:
Not as efficient as one may wish for use with portables (still useable, but have to turn the volume up)

Similar Products Used:
Sennheiser HD500, Sennheiser EH2200, Technics RP-F20 (discontinued $150 headphone)