Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Let me preface this review by saying this: I've been a long time Sennheiser fanatic. I love seeing what new things they come out with, and always dream about getting stuff from them I could never afford. My background of Sennheiser consists of HD 280 Pro's, HD 380 Pros, HD 558's, and HD 569. I've absolutely loved every one of them, and a need for some good wireless cans for shop use arose. Research beyond research led me to these for their comfort, sound quality, and overall being good headphones. This is where my story begins. The good: Sound Quality/battery life: OK, let me get this out of the way first. They sound fantastic, just like every other Sennheiser's I've owned. The sound is clear, full, and never harsh. It is the sound I've grown to love as being able to listen to it all day long and never get fatigued. Bluetooth quality with aptX is good, though regular bluetooth is just as bad as always. Battery life also got me through a full 8 hour workday while pumping out the volume. By these two standards alone, they met my expectation...but.... The bad: Everything else: Comfort, noise isolation, build quality.... First, by biggest gripe, the comfort. Compared to all the other Sennheiser's I've owned, these are NO WHERE near the same level. On the top of the head where the band rests, there is NO padding, and with the way the headphones are designed, that leaves a very narrow contact area with the top of your head. This is a very bad thing, as it acts as a pressure point, and quickly becomes sore. On top of that, the actual ear cups are WAY smaller than the rest of the line I've tried, and act more of on-the-ear headphones that are incorrectly sized. Compared to the other HD series where the openings are large enough to only touch your head with no contact to your ear, these are much smaller are make contact with the outside of your ear, again creating pressure points that quickly get sore. Everyone I gave them to that tried them on had the exact same complaints, and did not want to wear them that long because of how uncomfortable they were. While I had no complaints with the clamping force, what surprised me was how LITTLE noise these blocked out. Now I know, they are not noise canceling headphones like the HD 4.50's, but again, compared to my HD 280 Pro's and HD 380's which have NO noise cancellation, these seem to do a VERY poor job of blocking outside noise. Even the HD 569's, which have a fabric-type of ear-muff and very low clamping force, blocked out more noise than these. It actually was almost laughable how BAD these were in comparison. Finally..build quality. Oh Sennheiser, how you have fallen. Now, obviously coming from my previous cans, I have no problem with plastic, but these were REALLY cheaply made. The adjustable band that literally holds the headphones together is REALLY thin, at maybe less than half the thickness of the bands of the other HD series. You could literally feel how thin the plastic was, and I actually started to get worried about them breaking very quickly. Everything about them just scream cheaply made, and I honestly believe you would be better off buying something off Monoprice for less than half the cost, and would get a better quality headphone. It actually breaks my heart a little to say that, but it sadly is the truth. Seriously, if you want Sennheiser quality, need to block out the noise, and don't mind a cable, get the HD 380 Pro's. If you want affordable Bluetooth, you are better off with Monoprice. If you want quality, then spend the extra money for the Sennheiser PXC 550, Bose QC35, or Sony MDR1000X.