Sennheiser HD 280 Pros or Audio Technica M40x?

yourdad165 · October 25, 2015

I'm finally going to be upgrading my current audio / mic setup (Razer Kraken Pros) - They had a good run and are still working fine

Anyway, so I'm going to get a blue yeti for the mic but I'm stuck on headphone choices. I don't think I've ever really owned superb sounding headphones. I've used my Bose on ears for a while and they sound great but they broke so I'm going to be exchanging them.

So I'm wondering, do I stick with my Bose when I get them exchanged or should I get HD 280 Pros or an M40x? I'm looking for a good amount of noise cancellation (I know full cancellation costs like around $400 - $500 CAD) and I want them to sound great. I'm willing to pay around $250 for the full mic / audio setup (I'm at $150 for the blue yeti) so I want to spend around like $120 if possible on the headphones.

Here's what is important to me

- Comfort (I'm going to be wearing them for gaming / producing and mixing music)

- Sound quality (has to sound good because I do a lot of things with music and FL Studio)

- Price / performance (For example, the M50x's are not too much more expensive than the 40's but apparently there's not a huge difference in quality) -- So I want something that is really good for the money

- Noise cancellation (Within reason of the price of course because I know my budget is not crazy high)

Thanks everybody!

EDIT: Does the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro have a detachable cable? This is also important to me in case it tears.

spwath · October 26, 2015

Don't get m40(s/x)/m50(s/x)

October 26, 2015

Interesting topic. I had the Sennheiser 280 Pro for 7 years before getting the M40x. It is hard to compare, but the 280 Pro are more comfortable. I have the M40x since Christmas and already changed the pads to something more comfortable. Added extra padding to the head band as well. I never had to do any sort of mods on my 280 Pro.

Sound quality...they are quite different. The M40x sounds more clear to my ears (more highs/mids) while the 280 Pro sounds more bassy/muffed. I think I prefer the Audio Technica ones, but I'm not sure. They sounds different.

Also, the Sennheiser seems robust and will last for years. The Audio Technica are a bit flimsy and cheap plastic. Nothing has break yet, but they are always plugged in my computer. I'm not using them outside.

Noise cancellation, I would say it is about the same. I have kids and my computer is in the living room. While it does not suppress all the noise coming from the living room, it does a fair bit. Probably the same as the Sennheiser.

After about 1h of gaming, my ears would become wet in the Sennheiser. They don't breath that much and this was causing some kind of discomfort after 2-3H of gaming. Never had this issue with the ATH-M40x.

Unless they released a new revision of the 280 Pro, it does NOT have detachable cable. The cable will never break unless you want it to.

To sum it up...they are different and I couldn't tell you which one to buy. I loved my Sennheiser, but prefer the sound of the M40x. It is not ideal for gaming. I believe open headphones are best for gaming, but I can't because of the noisy environment around me. The Sennheiser felt good and solid however. I still have them, but the pads are shredded after 7 years.

Are you able to go in a store and listen to both of them ? Or order both and keep only the one that you like. Headphones are very difficult to recommend due to head size and audio preference.

Ellargo333 · November 4, 2015

I had been using the HD 280 pro for 2 years... best headphones ever!

Very comfortable... excellent sound quality... I love that they are closed, so nobody can hear what I am listening to..

Also the cable is excellent, and if you have problems with it (no single time in 2 years), you can change it, it's very easy to fix them..

Are you going to use them in the pc?... I recommend you Equalizer APO... you can normalize the audio signal, using the frequency response graphic... so they doesn't feel so "bassy"...

If you use them in an android phone.. use Viper4Android app... it has an option to normalize the audio also