Sennheiser HD400S Foldable Headphones

Sennheiser are well known for excellent sound quality, and while I've never owned a pair of Sennheiser headphones before, I have to say that when comparing the sound quality to all my cheaper headphones the Sennheiser HD400S are better. These are one of the cheapest pairs of Sennheiser I believe, but still, I can tell the difference with both bass and treble. It's clearer. I make music using music software, and these headphones are quite good for picking up certain nuances, including resonance that's too high, and parts of the song that are too loud or overpowering that may need turning down a little. I sometimes miss these when wearing my other headphones. Which at the moment is a pair of Betrons.

Other than the sound quality, here's what else I like

The foldable design is quite good. But I'm not sure how that will fair over time with someone like me, who is quite clumsy and unintentionally heavy handed. Time will tell.

Noise containment is really good. The headphones are like bins, they have a very deep, thick and well fitted ear pad cushions that really do a good job of cancelling out a lot of outside noise, and keeping the sound within where it should be without much leakage. This changes though once they are taken off if the sound from the headphones is still running / playing. Then they are just as loud as any other pair of headphones in terms of noise leakage.

What's Just OK

The microphone. It's just okay. If you're a gamer, and you want to talk to people online while playing a game, I wouldn't really recommend these headphones for that. It's not terrible, but there are much better gaming headphones available that offer much higher, clearer sound mic quality when communicating online through gaming servers. Then again, the majority of purchasers don't buy these headphones for the mic, so most people will probably never use it anyway.

What I don't like

The headphone jack. As in the actual part that goes into the external device. I say this because the Sennheiser HD400S also have a jack connection that attaches to the headphone cup itself [see the pic below], albeit a smaller one than the usual 3.5mm. See the first picture below. This smaller jack is used for attaching the connecting wires / cable to the headphones themselves, and it can be replaced but the design is not as generic as the average jack connection. It has a little groove cut out on the side that twists and locks into place. 

So some people are not aware that the smaller jack that attaches to the actual headphone cup needs to be inserted and twisted / locked into place. If it isn't locked in, the headphones will only work through one ear, and some new users may think they are broken. But its just the design. This isn't good though, to have a specialised jack like this. 

I would imagine a replacement would have to either be purchased directly from Sennheiser themselves, or you may be able to find someone selling these jacks with a side groove. I don't know how popular this design is. The headphones really should have been hard wired to the cups to avoid annoyance and confusion.

I know someone who recently sold a pair of these headphones on eBay, and this exact issue popped up. Headphones were sold and all seemed well. Then, the buyer contacted the seller and said they only worked in one ear. The seller explained that it was just the design and the headphone worked perfectly, but the buyer didn't want to listen, and the explanations what needed to be done to lock them into place fell on deaf ears. Pardon the pun. 

He had become concerned because they appeared to only work through one ear. That spooked him and he didn't want the headphones anymore. All he really had to do was twist / lock the smaller jack into place and they would have been perfect. But no, he wouldn't or couldn't seem to figure it out despite the seller even sending him a review video which showed the exact silly "feature" being talked about and demonstrated. 

The headphones were sent back and the buyer received a refund. The buyer later apologised, acknowledging that he was wrong about them being faulty and it was the design.

But back to the normal 3.5mm jack that attaches to an external device [last picture below]. For most things the headphone jack seems to work fine, but with a smartphone it does not appear to fit well. Maybe its just the smartphone I was trying to use them with, I don't know.

Not the best fit when used in a smartphone

Panasonic RP-HT225 Headphones Review

The Panasonic RP-HT225 are over the ear headphones that have a volume control on the wire. They produce nice sound quality overall, although it does take a bit of getting used to. That's because the sound is very deep. They lack a bit of treble clarity, but they do provide a lot of bass. So, if that's what you're looking for they are a good pair of headphones for the price.

Yes, the low price. Due to them being so low in price should I really complain about how they have basically fell apart over the space of 6 - 8 months. Well, yes, I should. Despite being cheap to buy, I did expect them to last longer than 6 months.

Didn't last long, despite me being very careful with them

I wasn't expecting this from a Panasonic branded product. I own quite a few Panasonic products, including 3 older Panasonic digital cameras, and all of them have been great, very reliable. So it has been quite disappointing owning these RP-HT225 headphones.

I'm not sure if mine are the normal 225, or the 225E-K model. I don't know the difference between the two models. However, mine just say RP-HT225, so I guess they are the normal ones.

My pair have had the following problems. One of the speakers, like the whole thing, is constantly falling out of its joint / connector, and both sides have had to be stuck with superglue to prevent the one side just falling off my ear and dangling while in use.

Totally Snapped

And then today I pick them up to put them on, and the plastic has bent and cracked. So now one side has snapped off from the arch that goes over the head. I'll see if I can also superglue that. But I'm not sure if it will stick properly due to the plastic being quite thin, and because it's snapped in the location that takes the brunt of the force / stretch as the headphones are pulled slightly apart and placed over my ears.

So it will always be vulnerable to breaking again. Not impressed. The Panasonic RP-HT225 certainly look the part, have very good reviews, and do sound pretty good, but for overall quality I would say give these headphones a miss. I'm now using a pair of Crabot headphones that I had stored away as a backup, and they seem better made than the Panasonic RP-HT225. The Crabot headphones are now sold out, but take a look at these, as they are very similar (more sturdy design than the Panasonics) and have great reviews.