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Sennheiser HD 485 Explore New Sound Dimensions in Headphones | 
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| Brand: Sennheiser
Category: CE
List Price: $99.95
Buy New: $69.79
You Save: $30.16 (30%)
New (38) Used (1) from $81.88
Rating:  40 reviews
Color: Black and Silver
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Fragile: No
Number Of Items: 1
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 9 x 10 x 4
nv: Model: HD485
Frequency Response: 1624,500 Hz
Transducer Principle: Dynamic
Ear Coupling: Supraural
Distortion: 0.2
Nominal Impedance: 32 Ohm
Connector: 3.5 mm stereo jack plug with adaptor to 14 6.3 mm
Weight without cable: 220 gram
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
MPN: HD 485
Model: HD 485
UPC: 015104102161
EAN: 0015104102161
ASIN: B0007QN18K
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Brand New , We ship every business day. APO/FPO/PO BOX are welcome.
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| Features:
| • | Open headphones that provide detailed stereo sound | | • | Uses high-grade voice coils and diaphragm geometry for superior sound | | • | Gold-plated adaptor ensures high-quality connections | | • | Headphone holder provided for easy storage | | • | Comes with manufacturer's 2-year warranty |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The HD 485 are open, circumaural stereo headphones with exceptional sound characteristics and outstanding comfort. The HD 485 include a headphone holder that easily attaches to a table or shelf, making certain that the headphones are always at hand.
Amazon.com Product Description
The Sennheiser HD 485 Headphones are open, circumaural stereo headphones with exceptional sound characteristics and outstanding comfort. The HD 485 uses the latest diaphragm geometry for detailed stereo sound, lightweight aluminum voice coils for excellent dynamics and high efficiency, and a gold-plated adapter for superior connections. The HD 485 comes with a headphone holder that you can attach to a table or shelf, as well as a three-meter single-sided cable.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 35 more reviews...
 Great value for bass-heavy music November 7, 2008
Introduction:
For those who have never owned a decent pair of headphones, this set is a great introduction and you're not likely to regret this relatively low cost experiment in high quality sound. Despite serious music training and a love of music, I have not much enjoyed listening to music over the years because I didn't like the quality of low cost radios, sound systems, and mass market headphones and I didn't want to put a lot of effort and expense to getting a really good sound system. But then someone told me you could get really good headphones for less than $100 from Grado or Sennheiser. After some research, I decided to try the HD 485 first, though I think experiments with other sub $100 headphones such as the Grado SR80 and the Sennheiser HD 555 are in my future.
Initial Impressions (first month):
I was blown away by the great detail (you can hear coughs, fingers sliding on strings, etc.), very crisp/deep/realistic bass, and with eyes closed - the sense of being 10 to 15 feet back from the performance stage. At the same time, the middle frequencies were okay, while the treble was weird - kind of tinny and not like the instruments really sound - violins were especially bad. I think part of what makes the inferior treble so noticeable was the contrast with the terrifically delivered bass - on cheaper mass market headphone I've used, everything sounds lackluster so nothing really stands out as bad.
The detail is especially good for 1-5 instruments/voices, but orchestral music from my small CD collection sounds more muddled. However I suspect this may be due to my orchestra CDs mostly being old recordings ported onto the CD format. And there are many other faults you can hear on poorly recorded CDs as well. The worst is that some CDs have poor sound staging, so it can feel very odd like you're actually on the stage with a guitarist playing a few feet to your right, a singer a few feet to your left, a drummer 20 feet diagonally behind you and to your left, etc. So one result of having a higher quality headphone like this is that I refuse to listen to most of my CDs now because most of them have recording faults.
Later (months 2-7):
Conventional wisdom has it that headphones with higher quality take something like 20-40 hours to break in - and that is what I experienced with these headphones. As time wore on, the treble much improved (no longer tinny, and no longer standing out as being vastly lower quality than bass). The overall sound has also integrated better and sounds more "natural." However, these headphones continue to be better for bass-heavy music than those with lots of treble; it is very easy for me to imagine improvement in treble but I have no desire for improvement on bass. I have owned these for 7 months and I still get blown away by the quality of recorded music that is heavy on bass (most jazz, world music, etc.); the music sounds so alive and vibrant as if I'm really there.
Best applications: TV, movies, bass heavy music (jazz, pop, world music)
Worst applications: treble-intensive music, orchestra, chamber music - violins are the worst.
Other comments:
* These headphones are incredibly comfortable despite pressing against my ear (supra-aural), and despite my wearing glasses. That is the main reason I chose to try these first over the Grado SR80.
* These headphones work terrifically with mp3 players, GPS units, cell phones (including my Blackberry Curve 8320 cell phone), etc. These headphones have 32 Ohm resistance so not much power is needed to drive them (with most headphones costing over $100, you'll need more power than an mp3 player or cell phone can deliver in order to fully appreciate the headphones).
* These headphones worked well with several Windows XP computers and one iMac I've used them with, but my Dell e510 (which has a Sound Blaster Audigy ADVANCED HD Audio sound card) causes these head phones to have a low level crackling/hiss that is distracting and unpleasant during pauses or quiet passages. I don't know what caused that problem and haven't tried to solve it. Other headphones do not have this same issue with my Dell e510.
* Like most headphones of this sort, these are pretty big and bulky. It is not possible to put them in your pocket. But I do I sometimes use them with my Blackberry to play mp3's while walking dogs on cool days, and to do that I have to stuff a lot of the 10' cord in my jacket pocket. You won't want to use these while walking on hot summer days as your ears will get hot and sweaty - but on sub 60 degree days they're fine.
* I sometimes watch TV or DVDs using these headphones (on PCs) and they are spectacular for that purpose, as it seems many TV programs and movies have bass heavy background music.
Conclusion:
After 7 months with the Sennheiser HD 485, I have to say that I'm very impressed with what I got for the price: Great detail, strong on bass, reasonable on middle frequencies, and weakest on treble. For many applications - TV, DVDs, bass heavy music - these are ideal. If you want high quality listening for music that features treble (violins, soprano singers, etc.) you'll be happier with a different pair of headphones. Given the price of these headphones, and the way I'm using them, I am completely satisfied.
 Good bass but muddy treble October 30, 2008
I purchased Sennheiser HD485 headphones to replace by old Sennheiser HD497 headphones. I am running them off Logitech Z5500 speaker system (using a PC with Audigy 2 sound card).
After seeing all the positive reviews on Amazon, I was convinced that these would be great headphones for me.
My previous headphones were AKG 701, which I sold because they lacked bass and my setup (without a headphone amp) is not sufficient to properly drive AKG 701s.
My general comments on Sennheiser HD 485 are as follows:
1. The bass is very good, punchy and clear.
2. The mids and highs are very muddy. They are worse the Sennheiser HD497, and they are far, far worse than AKG 701. In fact, my cheap Logitech Z5500 speakers sound far better.
3. The HD485s are easy to drive and reach very good volume (much better then AKG 701).
4. I feel that my older Sennheiser HD 497s are overall better than HD 485s.
These headphones may be acceptable for rock or bass-heavy music, but they are terrible for vocal or acoustic music.
Great comfortable headphones for the price July 29, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I use headphones for dual purposes, listening to CD's etc, and then use in radio communications. The radio communications application requires long hours of use, and the non-circumaural type like the HD-485 are the best for this purpose. I also noticed, that unlike other open headphones, these seem to be more immune to outside noise leaking in.
As far as fidelity goes, I can't tell the difference between these and much more expensive Sennheisers. However, one thing is for certain- these headphones are good enough so that you can really distinguish the difference between CD quality sound and mp3 sound. With mp3's you can hear the distortion that originates from the compression process.
Audiophile Quality under $100 July 21, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is headphone is excellent. The sound is smooth, light and airy thanks to the open back design. The bass is warm and rich. This headphone is a non-noise cancelling design meaning that you can hear that going on around you, bad in noise environments. However, in a quiet room these headphones sweet.
Pretty good sound and pretty solid headphones July 14, 2008
I'm using the headphones with a high quality computer sound card. The headphones are a bit tight, but that is good, since they don't fall off when I look down!
Comfortable enough to wear for hours and the sound quality is very good (although not superb, but for that you might have to spend $100s more).
I am very happy with Sennheiser headphones and this is just another in a line of successes.
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