Sennheiser HD205 II, Closed over ear headphone with rotatable earcup

Product Information

If you are a DJ with a pair of HD 205s, and you're considering upgrading to the HD 215, I would wholeheartedly recommend doing so. While it does fall short of DJ-headphone greatness, it is light-years ahead of the HD 205 in comfort, features & sound quality. The HD 215 isolates well for what it is. Like all closed circumaurals, it does a reasonable job attenuating most external sounds. However, both low frequency machinery hum and co-workers' mid-range pencil tapping still found their way in. They were muted to be sure, but I wasn't about to pretend that I didn't hear them as I gave them that scornful stare. The lows are a bit to be desired when paired with any media player/mp3 player (iPod, iPhone, etc.), but the mids and highs BTW, this happens to be the first full review I've ever posted to Head-Fi. If I've been a clot and made a complete hash of it, please feel free to let me know, along with your suggestions for improvement(s). Thanks to HiFiGuy528, bowei006, deadlylover, JK1, ZorgDK, GL1TCH3D, and Akabeth for the excellent advice and kind words of encouragement. Not wanting to be less than thorough, I fired up the old tone generator to give it a good listening to. Running a standard sine wave showed sub-bass levels dropping off significantly starting at ~45Hz. By the time I got down to 32Hz, there was negligible auditory and vibratory output. Yeah, I know I'm a bit of a freak for listening to tone generators, but don't we all do that from time to time?

Whereas the HD 212 Pro's mids are dark, recessed, and somewhat muddy - the HD 215's mids are smooth and even with good presence and clarity. The mids aren't very forward, but they do achieve a well-defined presence, and are rendered with both clarity and detail so as to not sound muddy or recessed. In addition, they exhibit just a touch of delicate smoothness so as not to be to cold or sterile. In terms of sound quality, the HD 215 is clearly a superior and more sophisiticated unit compared to its little brother, the HD 205.Then for comfort, yes, it is a little early. on the other hand, after a few days, the headphone was "relaxed" and it is much less: it is so good. The pads are harder than on other headphones, but we do not feel like a marshmallow on the ears ... especially it is very light.

Most of the differences in function, usability and comfort have already been covered in the main review above (where the HD 215 won hands down), so this comparison will concentrate largely on SQ. I think the sound is nice - don't get me wrong - but it is a bit of a stretch from Sennheiser's reference-quality headphones. I feel that the mids come out somewhat suppressed with these cans, but the quality of sound seems to have greatly improved since I've started using an E17 with WASAPI from my laptop playing lossless audio files. Between these two models, the HD 25-1 II seems to have more of a following here on Head-Fi. If you're interested in either of these, do a thread search or ask around. I'm sure you'll get a number of responses that should answer most if not all of your questions.Unsurprisingly, the HD 215 again bests the HD 205 rather easily in this area. The HD 205 had a habit of being right up in my business, all the time. With the HD 215, I can breathe again. Like many of it's Sennheiser bretheren (and unlike many V-shaped DJ cans available today) the HD 215 offers a favorable mid-range presentation. The HD 215 is even-tempered, well-balanced, and (dare I say it?) flat with little coloration, leaning just a tad towards the bright side. In simplisitic terms, the HD 205 is going to sound like it has more bass. But the devil is in the details here...

To facilitate DJ usage, the HD 215 features a swing-away right ear cup for one-eared monitoring/cueing. This is essentially the same swing-away mechanism that the HD 205 employed. However, this time around Sennheiser made it much better (and a little worse).So if you've always liked the HD 428's sound signature, but wished that it had deeper bass and brighter highs, then the HD 215 might just be what you've been looking for. It's not as comfortable as the HD 428, but hey we can't have everything we want.

There is very little variation between the HD 205 and the HD 215 in their mid-range presentations. Both have smooth, clear, and slightly-forward mids, though the HD 205's sounded slightly warmer IMO. Would it be a disappointment and wind up being nothing more than just a marginal improvement? Or is it a worthwhile upgrade and thus totally deserving of it's place on Sennheiser's totem? Let's find out. Highs are textured with a certain amount of body and weight as to not be too thin. Only the tendency towards sibilance scores it a markdown here. The HD 215's speed, precision, and excellent PRaT are welcome and noteworthy attributes that contribute to the HD 215's usefulness as a working DJs tool.

Sennheiser HD 205 - Pros & Cons

These headphones are built great with a nifty rotating/swinging right ear cup. The 10ft cable- and screw on 1/4" adapter make this a great studio/DJ monitor set.