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Sennheiser HD 201 Headphones

  1. EddieE
    Good for the price, but you get what you pay for
    Written by EddieE
    Published Aug 20, 2010
    Pros - Cheap, comfortable enough, treble is quite accurate, separation actually pretty good
    Cons - Everything else. No bass, metallic artificial sounding, un-salvagable by modding
    It's funny to remember that when I bought these I thought they were good headphones, at the time all I had was CX300 and the fact that they weren't muffled, had good separation and had nice crisp highs that bought out drums nicely seemed enough to win me over. They aren't uncomfortable either. Let's face it for the price you have nothing to lose, I got mine for £12.
    But now, with some real headphones under my belt, they sound god awful. There is really nothing good about these. That's being unfair. There is no bloating or distorting across the spectrum and separation is actually very good. But the whole sound is artificial from the weedy almost non-existant bass through to the metalic, robotic mids. The treble does the best but who cares about a nice snappy drum track when the rest of the sound is so unnatural?
    What has frustrated me the most is that nothing can save these. My girlfriend has an awful pair of low end Sony fart cannons, but I was able to open them up, add some dampening, tape up the vents and bring them under control a bit. With these phones nothing seemed to improve them and nothing bought any bass out of them. It's not an issue of a good driver in a cheap case with no dampening - it's a case of a bad driver.
    Frustrated, I finally binned these. 
    But if you have £12 to spend and you want something better than the stock buds on your DAP, they are certainly worth the asking price. My advice is to bite the bullet and up your budget.
  2. BotByte
    Cheap OverHead headphones
    Written by BotByte
    Published Dec 14, 2010
    Pros - Cheap, over ear, cord length
    Cons - Sound, cord, fit, size, material, plug, adjustable
    I have to say this, these are one of the worst headphones I have ever had.
    To start the comfort is horrible. I have long hair, curly so it all bundles together. Older headphones slid through my hair, these grab every single lock and tear it off my skull. They are not slanted, to they can slid behind you head all the time. The cushions are cheap and won't last very long. They do not adjust easily, I have two clicks on one side and three on the other side. They will irritate your ears because of the non-slant in the design. The top pad is soft, yet because of the design, causes the sides to dig into your head anyways.
    The cord is long 3 meters, 3 yards, 9 feet. That's abotu the only good thing. The cord doesn't wear out of that packaging crimps ever, the connections are cheap and the plug is cheap.
    The sound took me a while to figure out. You need to boost your bass (I use a great soundcard on my desktop) and it took me a while to figure that out. The bass is simulated (fake BOOM) and the treble is low. Music starts to sound chippy and grainy at higher volumes. Sound leaks not too badly.
    If you work with your soundcard and audio driver, you can make these things actually work well.
    Realtek HD Audio Driver set to Underwater environment with Powerful set in Eualizer worked out the bass problems
    They are nothing to walk around with.
    Currently I have then handing by a line in my room that i can drop anytime and pop into my desktop to listen to at any moment with the long cord.
    Personal Amp much needed
    Through I hate them so much, I still use them for the cord length and price
    If you want something you can throw away later without regrets or give to someone, these would be it.
    Not sure why these were recommended
    Published Jun 16, 2011
    Pros - Cheap, kind of comfortable, good "soundstaging?"
    Cons - Bass is at a negative level, incredibly cheap materials
    This is going to be a short review.
    -When I took them out of the box they felt like crap, like the smallest amount of pressure would snap the headband in two or more pieces.
    -Upon first wearing they weren't nearly as tight or sweat inducing as the Skullcandy T.I.'s I had at the time.
    The sound was nasty. I do not know if this "burn in" thing you people talk about counts with these things or not, but I didn't even want to try.
    If you can't get them for less than twenty bucks then keep your money.
  4. deadhead
    Good Value
    Written by deadhead
    Published Oct 9, 2010
    Pros - Durability, Cheap, Decent Sound, Comfortable, Light Weight
    Cons - Low Volume, Bright
    Good, Cheap, Durable, Comfortable head phones with decent sound, can't turn them up very loud without an amp, still good for computer use.
  5. Cobaltius
    Good for the price (I'm actually enjoying them for some odd reason)
    Written by Cobaltius
    Published Dec 10, 2014
    Pros - Plenty of detail, decent soundstaging, Dark sound signature that offers little to no edge, smooth, balanced bass response
    Cons - somewhat honky, colored sound, unrealistic sound, somewhat veiled, lacks some air, muddiness at times
    I don't actually own these headphones, but funny thing is they are actually part of my schools media art computer lab for each computer. My teacher allows us to do anything we want during this class while working on projects or assignments, so this means listening to music in class with these. 
    These headphones are actually not too bad for the price, and actually find them soothing sometimes. They of course aren't the best sound headphones in the world no doubt but I would really consider this as headphones for people who are looking for headphones along the $30 range because these do get the job done.
    They are comfortable no aches pains or anything, but do kind of get sweaty around my ears using it for to long.
    Sound Isolation: They're okay
    Sound leakage isn't an issue but there still is some but not enough to bother people around you and I'm sure the ambient noise around will overpower the sound leakage from headphones anyways...
    The Sound
    Treble: These are more of a darker sounding headphones to the point where the treble does lack just a tiny bit. There is some muddiness in certain tracks at time due to the weaker emphasis on the highs. Some tracks I actually think the treble fits well on more aggressive and brighter tracks. I notice smoothness and perfect balance between the frequency spectrum. The treble can also be pretty detailed sometimes I've noticed as well. Because of the lower emphasis on the treble I believe these headphones lack some air; cymbals kind of sound smeared in the background with most of my rock based tracks. 
    Mids: Umm.... Colored murky, bloated and muddy depending on music style. 
    Bass: Bass has great balance to the frequency response of these headphones and isn't over the top or anything. It isn't to thin or to big its just perfect where its at. Bass does sound bloated sometimes but not all the time (again depending on music style). It delivers a slight punch, but not to the point where you'll be getting severe hearing loss or brain damage. Bass seems to be more emphasized more on mid bass, bass doesn't, really run that deep.
    Sub-bass: No
    Honestly if you just give these headphones some EQ from a graphic equalizer they will sound great. Maybe just bump of the high frequency's a bit, lower the muddy spectrum of the mids which is the lower mids and if you want boost dat bass up.
    Well all in all, pretty decent pair for the price, they are a bit muddy sometimes but It doesn't really make me cringe so thats good I guess. They do offer pretty decent detail and sound for the price I'd EQ though If I were you, I wouldn't be able to live with only these headphones.
  6. Gnomeplay
    Not Recommended
    Written by Gnomeplay
    Published Oct 23, 2012
    Pros - Cost effective, Reasonable sound quality
    Cons - Very uncomfortable, Poor fit
    I suppose it's unfair to give these headphones a completely bad wrap considering how low of a price that they retail for, and you can get them for even cheaper than that most of the time. The main issue I find with the Sennheiser HD201 is the complete lack of a proper fit or seal no matter how I try to position them on my head, this causes obvious issues with comfort coupled with the fact that the ultra-thin compressed pads barely keep the hard plastic drivers off of your ears.
    Sound quality is reasonable for the cost, however better can be found - I've taken a liking to the Monoprice lineup in this price range. The HD201 actually seem to respond quite well with amplification and equalization, surprisingly well; the issue here is you'd have spent three times the price of your headphones into the source piece(s) required for you to capitalize on that.
    1. nikkojames15
      Have you tried amping it? It sounds way better with an amp, especially if you use it with an iPod.
      nikkojames15, Oct 24, 2012
    2. ggyy
      I must have a different shape head because I find them comfortable enough, maybe it's my lack of hair?
      ggyy, May 23, 2015
  7. 1eye1derweasil
    Change drastically with more power
    Written by 1eye1derweasil
    Published Dec 17, 2010
    Pros - Sound with a little extra juice
    Cons - You're going to need a little extra juice
    Straight out of an mp3 player or pc these won't be that good. Coming out of something with more power however they really change and become fun.

    Emphasis of the upper mids, which makes them slightly fatiguing, tight bass with decent extension (45hz before a dropoff). 

    With extra power these are neutral with a bit of life to them. Without any extra power they are tinny and surgical, a poor combination. 
  8. releaseme88
    Great value. Good entry level cans.
    Written by releaseme88
    Published Jul 16, 2010
    Pros - Balanced, light, ipod compatible.
    Cons - Uncomfortable, ugly, weak structual point
    First off, these Sennheisers are super value. I paid £12 and for that price, you can't get a brand new pair of on-ear headphones that can beat this. The highs and lows, treble and bass is well balanced. The clarity far surpasses anything in the same price range. Clearly not Sennheiser's masterpeice, but they seem to be aimed at the infrequent user, who is simply looking to go one up from the poor stock earphones that came with their mp3 player (mp3/ipod compatible, very low impedance @ 24ohms).
    HD 201's become uncomfortable and it gets hot under the pads after about 30mins of use, though this will keep you warm in the colder outside air..
    For myself, comfort means alot. What's the point in a great set of headphones if listening to your music after half an hour become unbearable. Other than that, these would be a highly recommended bargain.
  9. pakualam
    Best Value (Balanced) Headphone under $50
    Written by pakualam
    Published Jul 8, 2014
    Pros - Balanced sound, cheap, long cables (3m), well built, thick cable, 2 years warranty
    Cons - Pleathered pads make your ears sweaty, uncomfortable after 90', long cable may be frustated, not portable
    This is my first headphone, I bought it almost 2 years ago for $24. For the price, this is the best balanced headphone you can get under $50.
    It's well built, but the cables is quite long (~3m) and sometime tangled. I don't like the plethered pads, it gets my ears sweaty.
    Things to consider to buy this headphone:
    - The sound is very good balanced and it's cheap.
    - You got 2 years warranty, and for just ~$25, that's awesome
    After 9 months from purchased date, one of the speaker dead, and got replaced :)
  10. AlfredKeppler
    Good bang for the buck beginner headphone
    Written by AlfredKeppler
    Published May 19, 2014
    Pros - Excellent value, good clearity, solid build quality (for a 20$ headphone), right amount of bass, not inconsencities in sound signature
    Cons - Fatigueing because it's overly bright, earpads are uncomfortable, lack of sound stage, may sound 'plasticy' with some genres of music, thin cable
    The Sennheiser HD201 are a surprise in the lower echolon of headphones, as they offer great sound quality for a very low price and they are a very good extention into the low end price range for the Sennheiser product sortiment, in that regards
    However, because of the cheap price, they do lack in design and comfort and overall build quality. This pair of headphones is made out of plastics entirely, the cable has too much length for me and is thin and flimsy. The cushions on the headband feel good and  comfortable, but the earpads itself are a pain in the ass because they are too stiff, not breathable and overall uncomfortable - they irritate my ears in under 20 minutes.The plastic construction of the entire headphones feel cheap overall - but the headband itself doesn't break when it's overly bend, which is a strong point. It's very light weight as well - but the clamping force is a bit on the heavy side, maybe it breaks in after a while.
    One last surprise on the build side was the gold plated connector - that's weird in this price range.
    The sound signature and presence of small details on this headphone is amazing, especially for a headphone for under 30$.The sound curve doesn't have the typical flaws of cheap headphones like bloated basss/lower mids and non-presence of mids and higher mids. Instead, the sound signature seems very bright - even more than my Beyerdynamic DT990s, which are famous for their strong treble - to the point of being fatigueing, especially with very drum set intensive music. However, it's not a unnatural brightness, but you may be EQing these cans - -2db treble seems just right on my FiiO E17 with these. On the lower end, they deliver enough bass for me to be fun headphones - with the downside that they don't extend into the lower bass sections and that they don't have quite the bass quantity reserve in hand that you would expect from a pair of closed back head phone (The DT990s deliver more). The bass loses texture compared to other headphones, too, but that is to be expected from small plastic enclosed drivers.
    For a 24 ohms headphone, they need quite a lot of power - they are quiter than my 32 ohms pair of Philips Fidelio L1.

    As a final verdict: they are nice headphones for their price, I would recommend them to enyone who wants to take a  low-priced look at how amazing Sennheiser headphones are.
    I personally use them at home, the cable is too long for convenient mobile use and I wouln't want to be seen with a cheap plasticy headphone outside of my house. It's a good headphone for Classical, if you can live with the small sound stage, as it makes that sort of music really airy. I prefer warmer headphones for Jazz. It's inadequate for electronic genres (lack of low bass) and I find it a bit too bright for Metal and Rock .
    1. Achmedisdead
      You are right about them needing a lot of power....when I had mine I almost wondered if the listed 24 ohms was a mistake! When I got mine they were a nice step up from Sansa earbuds, but I don't miss them now. :)
      Achmedisdead, May 19, 2014