Sony MDR-CD280 CD Series Headphones with Self-Adjusting Headband

 (12 customer reviews)

I'm not an audiophile par excellence, but I do know a thing or two about comfort. I bought the less expensive Sony MDR-V150 headphones for a song, and returned them after a couple of weeks because the darned things were very tight and uncomfortable. I would say that this MDR-CD280 is about the same in terms of quality, but leaps and bounds better in terms of comfort. I can wear these all day long and not even know they are on. And music sounds great. If you don't want to spend too much, and you want comfort, you've found the right product.

The sound from these headphones is excellent most of the way up the range -- it just falls apart near the top. Bass is comfortable and rich, esp. considering the 30mm drivers. Midrange is fairly well balanced (which is to say, there's not an unnatural amount of it). Everything comes apart at the top of the midrange, though -- somewhere near 1100Hz, the sound gets very bright, and so sharp that it almost felt painful. The sound of a nylon pick on a steel-strung (jazz) guitar was sharp enough to stand out and clash with the strings themselves. Tonal quality was quite warm most of the way up, but got very cold and bright up top. Might be okay for classical, vocal or rock music, but not good for jazz or industrial/EBM.The fit is light and comfortable, but to my irritation I found that the "self-adjusting" headband kept pulling the earpieces off my ears and up the side of my head. Probably could have been fixed with some adhesive tape, but still. It's a misguided feature I'd...Read more

These are no $250 headphones; in fact, they're not even $50 headphones. They don't have fancy Sennheiser foils, or Neodymium magnets. And they are a little bit colored. But that said, they're nice, they're closed, they're comfortable, and they've got 30mm drivers. Bass notes come out as clear tones, not indistinct rumbling or horrible vibrating plastic. They fit on my head nicely, and the cord is more than long enough. If you're looking for something better than those crappy headphones that came with your portable player, but you don't have a lot to spend, give these a try.