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My several year-old Cowon M3 mp3 player did not have enough power to drive these headphones very well. The sound doesn't feel like it's being driven directly into your ears, so they don't hurt your ears after extended periods of use.I've been able to sample many headphones including Sennheiser's higher-end models and they are well worth the money if you're in the market for something on the professional end. The sound was murky and too quiet. But for those of us that don't need or want to spend $500+ for a great listening experience, these sub $100 headphones are a great buy.Pros: -Great Sound quality-Replaceable cord. But my LG Voyager surprising drove these with amazing sound quality and the volume was on par.Obviously, these are an open headphones, so you'll be letting everyone nearby in on your loud listening habits. That being said, being open, they allow you to feel like you're surrounded by the sound. The Sennheiser HD 485's are a tremendous quality headphone for the cost.
But up-front quality is extremely high.I noticed a lot of subtleties in music that I've listened to for years on low-end and mediocre quality equipment.If you're looking at headphones for a portable music player, you'd better test them out with your player and make sure it can drive your headphones. I was blown away by the sound quality of these headphones, compared to similarly priced headphones I've owned. As others have mentioned, these headphones do warm up with use and it's well worth the short time wait for that. Pops right off and you can replace with longer/shorter/better quality cord.-Very comfortable fit.-Ear cups are big enough to fit the entire ear in, and not put pressure on your earlobes.-Low priceCons (very subjective):-very large size (not really for the iPod crowd).-Plastic construction is solid, but may not be great for those who are rough with their equipment-Open design leaks sound to those around you
I don't know what caused that problem and haven't tried to solve it. I think part of what makes the inferior treble so noticeable was the contrast with the terrifically delivered bass - on cheaper mass market headphone I've used, everything sounds lackluster so nothing really stands out as bad.The detail is especially good for 1-5 instruments/voices, but orchestral music from my small CD collection sounds more muddled. Other headphones do not have this same issue with my Dell e510.* Like most headphones of this sort, these are pretty big and bulky. And there are many other faults you can hear on poorly recorded CDs as well.
That is the main reason I chose to try these first over the Grado SR80.* These headphones work terrifically with mp3 players, GPS units, cell phones (including my Blackberry Curve 8320 cell phone), etc. It is not possible to put them in your pocket. If you want high quality listening for music that features treble (violins, soprano singers, etc). I have owned these for 7 months and I still get blown away by the quality of recorded music that is heavy on bass (most jazz, world music, etc).; the music sounds so alive and vibrant as if I'm really there.Best applications: TV, movies, bass heavy music (jazz, pop, world music)Worst applications: treble-intensive music, orchestra, chamber music - violins are the worst.Other comments:* These headphones are incredibly comfortable despite pressing against my ear (supra-aural), and despite my wearing glasses.
After some research, I decided to try the HD 485 first, though I think experiments with other sub $100 headphones such as the Grado SR80 and the Sennheiser HD 555 are in my future.Initial Impressions (first month):I was blown away by the great detail (you can hear coughs, fingers sliding on strings, etc)., very crisp/deep/realistic bass, and with eyes closed - the sense of being 10 to 15 feet back from the performance stage. The worst is that some CDs have poor sound staging, so it can feel very odd like you're actually on the stage with a guitarist playing a few feet to your right, a singer a few feet to your left, a drummer 20 feet diagonally behind you and to your left, etc. But then someone told me you could get really good headphones for less than $100 from Grado or Sennheiser. you'll be happier with a different pair of headphones. These headphones have 32 Ohm resistance so not much power is needed to drive them (with most headphones costing over $100, you'll need more power than an mp3 player or cell phone can deliver in order to fully appreciate the headphones).* These headphones worked well with several Windows XP computers and one iMac I've used them with, but my Dell e510 (which has a Sound Blaster® Audigy® ADVANCED HD Audio sound card) causes these head phones to have a low level crackling/hiss that is distracting and unpleasant during pauses or quiet passages. You won't want to use these while walking on hot summer days as your ears will get hot and sweaty - but on sub 60 degree days they're fine.* I sometimes watch TV or DVDs using these headphones (on PCs) and they are spectacular for that purpose, as it seems many TV programs and movies have bass heavy background music.Conclusion:After 7 months with the Sennheiser HD 485, I have to say that I'm very impressed with what I got for the price: Great detail, strong on bass, reasonable on middle frequencies, and weakest on treble. For many applications - TV, DVDs, bass heavy music - these are ideal.
The overall sound has also integrated better and sounds more "natural." However, these headphones continue to be better for bass-heavy music than those with lots of treble; it is very easy for me to imagine improvement in treble but I have no desire for improvement on bass.
But I do I sometimes use them with my Blackberry to play mp3's while walking dogs on cool days, and to do that I have to stuff a lot of the 10' cord in my jacket pocket.
Introduction:For those who have never owned a decent pair of headphones, this set is a great introduction and you're not likely to regret this relatively low cost experiment in high quality sound.
As time wore on, the treble much improved (no longer tinny, and no longer standing out as being vastly lower quality than bass).
Despite serious music training and a love of music, I have not much enjoyed listening to music over the years because I didn't like the quality of low cost radios, sound systems, and mass market headphones and I didn't want to put a lot of effort and expense to getting a really good sound system.
So one result of having a higher quality headphone like this is that I refuse to listen to most of my CDs now because most of them have recording faults.Later (months 2-7):Conventional wisdom has it that headphones with higher quality take something like 20-40 hours to break in - and that is what I experienced with these headphones.
At the same time, the middle frequencies were okay, while the treble was weird - kind of tinny and not like the instruments really sound - violins were especially bad.
However I suspect this may be due to my orchestra CDs mostly being old recordings ported onto the CD format.
Given the price of these headphones, and the way I'm using them, I am completely satisfied.
They are worse the Sennheiser HD497, and they are far, far worse than AKG 701. The mids and highs are very muddy. In fact, my cheap Logitech Z5500 speakers sound far better.3. I purchased Sennheiser HD485 headphones to replace by old Sennheiser HD497 headphones. The bass is very good, punchy and clear.2. The HD485s are easy to drive and reach very good volume (much better then AKG 701).4. I am running them off Logitech Z5500 speaker system (using a PC with Audigy 2 sound card).After seeing all the positive reviews on Amazon, I was convinced that these would be great headphones for me.My previous headphones were AKG 701, which I sold because they lacked bass and my setup (without a headphone amp) is not sufficient to properly drive AKG 701s.My general comments on Sennheiser HD 485 are as follows:1. I feel that my older Sennheiser HD 497s are overall better than HD 485s.These headphones may be acceptable for rock or bass-heavy music, but they are terrible for vocal or acoustic music.
However, one thing is for certain- these headphones are good enough so that you can really distinguish the difference between CD quality sound and mp3 sound. I also noticed, that unlike other open headphones, these seem to be more immune to outside noise leaking in.As far as fidelity goes, I can't tell the difference between these and much more expensive Sennheisers. I use headphones for dual purposes, listening to CD's etc, and then use in radio communications. The radio communications application requires long hours of use, and the non-circumaural type like the HD-485 are the best for this purpose. With mp3's you can hear the distortion that originates from the compression process.
This headphone is a non-noise cancelling design meaning that you can hear that going on around you, bad in noise environments. The bass is warm and rich. This is headphone is excellent. The sound is smooth, light and airy thanks to the open back design. However, in a quiet room these headphones sweet.
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