Sennheiser HD 212 Pro

Headphones or earbuds with your music player?

The HD 212 Pros are a popular choice for use with portable music players. And they're a good choice. Light and with very good sound, they lend themselves well to on-the-go use.

But why use headphones with a music player? Well, the earphones that come with players are generally bad. Since they need to be changed anyway, headphones are a possible choice from the start. It's true they take up a lot of space, but the noise insulation is better than with standard earbuds without totally plugging the ear canal as in-ear phones do. And if you take a good look at entry-level in-ears, you'll see that they're not all that good...

Update (02/12/09): Already a few years old, the HD 212 Pros were tested by us back in 2006. Since then, a lot of new products have hit the market. We needed to check and see if these top-selling headphones still deserve their five-star rating..

The HD 212 Pros are closed-back headphones that stand out with a commendable light, airy design. The headband has cushioning that improves overall comfort.

Design: Simple but effective

The HD 212s are low-cost headphones, and concessions have necessarily been made. The packaging is very light - like the headphones themselves. Don't expect a collapsible, high-end set of phones. The HD212 Pros just aren't in that league.

Their weight and relatively flexible plastic make for an appreciable level of comfort. It's better almost to look at the HD 212 Pros as disposable headphones. The lack of hinges may even be a good thing, since they would have made the phones too fragile. But we would have preferred slightly larger ear cups - the 212s are exactly halfway between being supraaural and circumaural.

Audio: Pro? You're sure?

Maybe that sounds harsh, but it isn't really meant to be. Still, the "Pro" part of the 212s' name isn't really appropriate. This is a good set of consumer headphones, but they're not at all compatible with professional use - starting with their lack of detail and sharpness.

Still, the phones deliver airy, even sound that should please a majority of users. We can't really fault them much; these are entry-level phones that give good enough sound. Sennheiser announces "powerful bass response," and delivers, though the lows are a little sloppy. Nothing overly worrying though. We have nothing in particular to say about the midrange. The highs don't go all that far up the spectrum, but they'll do fine for use with a portable player or laptop.