HD201 - Rediscovering a Great and Inexpensive Closed Headphone

[donunus]

My brother has had a pair of these and I know they disintegrate after a while but just heard a pair again at the local Istore here and thought they were awesome for the price!

These hd201s are very musical, very balanced in fact the balance is so great that I would say that its hard to find a headphone at any price with a better bass to mids to highs ratio than these. Refinement levels are not that high though since they are a cheap headphone but the balance again is unbelievable! I bought one on the spot. they almost sound like a slightly more balanced hd600 except for the cheapness in refinement. All genres sound nice on these cans because of their balance, even Metal!

Does anyone know if Sennheiser makes a headphone that refines the sound sig of the hd201? That would be the ultimate closed can for me.



By the way, I suspect that the bass levels on these are slightly more than the original bass shy version. Or maybe my tastes have changed. I'm not sure but these are not lacking any bass anymore to me. The packaging has changed since the older version though so maybe there is a change.



old box



and heres the new box

[MonJovi]

Don, how are these compared to the 202?

[donunus]

They sound much better than the hd202 to me. The 202s are too bassy for me while these 201s have the perfect combination of snap and boom for my taste.

[Maniacal71]

They sound much better than the hd202 to me. The 202s are too bassy for me while these 201s have the perfect combination of snap and boom for my taste.

Wait till you hear the J-Sta's I've been raving about, lol

[donunus]

hmm then include one for me

[MonJovi]

I've tried the 201 several times, trying to convince myself but always turned off by the lack of bass. If this indeed is improved then I think its worth trying again for the nth time. 
I need something closed, light and cheap HP for traveling. 

[donunus]

I find no lack of bass here whatsoever. Maybe its my taste or just being used to the shure srh940 and the dt48e-25 being much less bassier than these. Whatever it is, they are not lacking in bass at all. They are perfect in this regard for me.

[HK-47]

I didn't find the HD201 lacking in bass either (with the old box). That said, it doesn't really isolate that much. And the cable, as well as the pleather on the earcups and headband padding completely disintegrated after 2 years. For the price (IIRC around P1,400 from Listening Room), I can't really complain though.

[Boymasskara]

I loved mine but the little lack of bass made me give it to my cousin, which he is enjoying up to now

[donunus]

hmm i thought it lacked a little bass before too. it really is possible that the bass on these improved on the newer units. As for the cable disintegrating, I was wondering if anyone has tried opening one of these. I might just as well recable them when the wire disintegrates.

[flash_19]

wow. i remember these as one of my first headphones. overall good performance for the price range. i think i got mine for P1200 at mac center but that was 2+ years ago and i remember i got the one with the black box. only downside for this is that the pads tend to tear and that the cables are so darn long. but man oh man this thing is really light on the head and on the wallet. 

[donunus]

Out of the FiiO E7/E9 combo these are great!

[flash_19]

i remember pairing these with the P4 amp but i dont remember how they sound.

[HK-47]

About the cable on my old HD201 -- it still works, but the insulation has turned brittle and is coming off everywhere, so yeah, it's disintegrating. There's also a problem with the cable at the stress relief on the jack, which causes the sound to cut off sometimes (but rarely).

But then again, my HD201 ended up in this condition after more than 2 years of (ab)use as my primary headphones. I thought about having it recabled, but I also ended up giving it to my cousin.

[Peorth]

If the cables are disintegrating after 2 years then the HD201's cables are probably worse than the HD202's. I have an HD202 that's maybe 8 or 9 years old and the only thing I re-cabled were the wires going into the earcups. The long cable is still very much intact.