Sony MDR CD280 Digital Reference Headphones

Sony MDR CD280 Digital Reference Headphones 

DESCRIPTION

- High Quality Closed-Front Open-Back Headphones create a wide and open sound stage and are ideal for use with all digital sound sources, from Sony Walkman personal stereo players to Hi-Fi stereo components.
- 30mm drivers for deep bass, wide dynamic range are larger than many headphones for deep bass, low distortion and wide dynamic range; frequency response extends down to a low 16Hz.
- Aura-Nomic design and virtual shaft mechanism in the headphone housing positions the earpads in accord with angle of the head, for a stable and comfortable fit.
- Frequency response 16Hz-22kHz spans frequencies above the entire audible sound spectrum.
- Self-Adjusting Headband for a customized fit and increased comfort.
- Gold plated stereo mini plug supplied for exceptional corrosion resistance, superb conductivity, low noise.
- Cloth Earpads are comfortable for extended listening sessions.

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-8 of 8  
[Dec 25, 2004]
jburkett
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Very light, attractive, very comfortable.

Weakness:

None. You get what you pay for.

Most of the reviews I have read are pretty accurate. I use them on my Onkyo 601. They sound pretty good at low to medium volume. They do seem to lack a little in the midrange area. They distort when trying to reproduce bass at medium sound levels. They are very comfortable and could easily be worn for hours. In my opinion they would be best suited for someone who wanted to watch tv or listen to music without disturbing the wife or kids. Not for the "audiophile", but good for the casual listener on a budget.

OVERALL
RATING
3
VALUE
RATING
4
[Oct 14, 2002]
grx8
AudioPhile

Strength:

Good sound and comfortable. Cord from only one side.

Weakness:

This are open headphones, so If you´re listen to loud, someone from the other room maybe can hear you.

For the money I paid, the best thing that I could find. I know that the reviews here aren´t that good, but they sound very good, I replaced my old CD180 with this.

Similar Products Used:

Sony CD-180

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jun 09, 2002]
pbirkett
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Firstly, the headphones are attractive looking headphones, with a decent amount of cable, and are very comfortable. They are decent phones to use for average sound quality for movies/tv and games, but...

Weakness:

...The sound quality, or lack of it renders music very unenjoyable. To my ears, my old clapped out V3s seemed to sound much better, despite being closed back designed, and many years old. The CD280's have a muffled, unimpressive sound for music, and definetly dont seem suited particularly to the music I listen to. The bass is there, but it doesnt seem to have any authority or weight. It is now at the stage where I do not listen to music anymore when I have to use the headphones.

I got these as a Christmas present off my folks, as my existing headphones (MDR-V3) were well and truly worn out. Admittedly these Sony's were not the ones I would of chosen if I was buying them for myself, I would probably have chosen (knowing what I now know) some Sennheiser HD-497s. These open backed headphones are used for listening to mainly dance music, watching TV/Movies, and playing the very occaisional game of Quake 3. To boost the volume I am using a cheapo B-Tech BT928 headphone amplifier. My only sources in this setup are my digital satellite receiver and my PC with Videologic Sonic Fury sound card. Most of my music is played back as 192K Mp3s through coolplayer.

Similar Products Used:

Sony MDR-V3

OVERALL
RATING
2
VALUE
RATING
2
[Jun 06, 2002]
ralphhunt
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Light, extremely comfortable.

Weakness:

Horrible sound distortion at low frequencies and/or reverb. Need to turn volume up all the way to sound loud enough.

Maybe it's just my sound set-up, but I found these headphones to be nowhere near as good as advertised or as some reviews let me to believe. Maybe I should describe the test conditions before I get into any detail. I used a Vortex 2 SuperQuad sound card, Winamp with the A3D plugin, and some songs encoded at 192kbps. Overall, the headphones sounded pretty good, until I enabled the reverb engine. In case you're unfamiliar with that reverb is, it is basicly just the echo's you hear everywhere. When you sit in a room and talk, your voices comes back to you after it bounced of the wall, which distorted it somewhat. Good sound cards can emulate this effect to produce some extremely realistic sound effects. During my test I enabled a concert hall preset reverb. This sounds great on my speakers and even my cheap, $8 headphones. The new sony ones however completly died. The slightest base in the song caused them to distort the sound majorly, and deep base sounded so horribly that it became almost impossible to hear anything but the tearing noise of cheap plastic being ripped. This was not on a high volume either, infact, it was impossible to get a high volume. Which would be the next weak point. I can turn the volume on my old headphones up so loud that they can almost be used as speakers. At the same volume, the Sony headphones are still at a comfortable level. On the plus site of thigs, they feel great and are extremely light. I imagine that I could listen to them for hours without them getting uncomfortable. That is, if I were going to keep them longer than until tomorrow.

OVERALL
RATING
2
VALUE
RATING
3
[Apr 06, 2002]
Evil_Messiah
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Good Overall Sound Attractive Price Good upgrade from earbud''s and other "computer" headphones

Weakness:

Foam pads 10ft cable can be a tad long.

I have these headphones hooked up to my computer on a Sound Blaster Live and I am quite impressed, I find the bass breaks up a bit, but only at really high volumes... Even as I write this review I am cranking up the volume way above what I like to consider loud and I do not hear the bass breaking up. For $30 this is a solid upgrade... I like the 10ft cable, however it can become a bit annoying but a twist-tie fixes that. My only complaints are that I prefer the vynil padding over the more foamy padding as it tends to attract the hairs of my cats, and also the treble can be a little over the top but its easily fixed by tuning it down the trebel through software.

Similar Products Used:

Jensen earbud''s, Jensen Computer Headphones w/ Mic, Philips CD-Player Headphones.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[Mar 21, 2002]
twmangrove
Casual Listener

Strength:

Very light and comfortable to listen to for long periods. Handles well at a reasonably high volume, with little leakage.

Weakness:

not very durable. sound is good, but far from great.

I thought the product to be a good low-mid range purchase. The sound is clear, but not crisp. Lows are okay, but will distort at high volume, pending on what you are listening to. Actually, they were recently stolen from me, so I bought $20 pair of Pro-Luxe M5''s, and the sound on these are even better-just not very comfortable. Maybe the 40mm speaker makes a dif? Still, far better than standard walkman style earphones.

Similar Products Used:

numerous sony walkman style headphones. Pro-Luxe M5''s, and numerous vintage monitor headsets.

OVERALL
RATING
3
VALUE
RATING
2
[Feb 21, 2002]
Deron
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

look nice, soft earpads, decent bass response. comes with 1/8" to 1/4" adapter.

Weakness:

very little midrange, way too much treble, feel cheap. overpriced.

Bought these headphones and returned them the very next day. They worked fine, but are extremely lacking when it comes to any kind of midrange. The treble is overemphasized. I believe that there are much, much better headphones in this price range. ($30 - $50)

Similar Products Used:

various other Sony, AKG, Sennheiser, Fostex headphones.

OVERALL
RATING
2
VALUE
RATING
2
[Nov 30, 2001]
Matt
Casual Listener

Strength:

VERY comfortable, look nice, long cord, pretty good sound.

Weakness:

Long cord can get in the way-- covering on cord is somewhat weak. Bass and low end is a bit lacking

Very nice headphone. The self-adjusting headband is nice and always gives a good fit. Fits tightly to the ear, yet is comfortable. The sound is nice and clear, with a little low end bass absent, or not too strong. Can get VERY loud before they distort, but by then, it is bad for your ears, anyway. Good quality, good value!

Similar Products Used:

Sony MDR-CD180

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
Showing 1-8 of 8  

(C) Copyright 1996-2018. All Rights Reserved.

audioreview.com and the ConsumerReview Network are business units of Invenda Corporation

Other Web Sites in the ConsumerReview Network:

mtbr.com | roadbikereview.com | carreview.com | photographyreview.com | audioreview.com