Sennheiser HD 228

The HD 228 have been a much-hyped pair of headphones, with star DJ David Guetta spotted sporting his very own pair. But are they really good enough for wannabe DJs?

Design: I hope you like plastic!

As Sennheiser has had the wonderful idea of adorning the HD 228 with a huge chrome-effect logo on each earpiece, there'll be no mistaking who made these headphones! But with the low-quality and bulk-dyed plastic headband, the shiny black casing housing each earphone, and the mock-chrome (grey paint) detail, the HD 228 look like the kind of headphones you'd pick up on the market.

The same is true of the joints too, which only allow you to angle the headphones up or down in line with the headband, and don't even get me started on the tacky leatherette used to cover the earpads and the headband padding.

Finally the cable is (too) thin, sensitive to being folded and its moulded plastic connector looks like it might not last all that long. Evidently then, Sennheiser is sometimes a brand that gets things oh so right, but which is clearly able to get things oh so wrong too. On the upside, the HD 228 are actually comfortable to wear, and they do have a lightweight design. The HD 228 headphones have clearly been inspired by the Bose supra-aural headphones (which are obviously more expensive), but they're a mile off being anywhere near as good.

Audio quality: who stole the bass?

Maybe bass isn't David Guetta's thing, as we noticed a complete lack of bass frequencies with these headphones (I also seem to remember bass being a strong selling point in the HD 228 advertising material). You'll just have to rely on the lower medium frequencies (which are relatively meagre themselves) to balance out the sound output. Here at DigitalVersus, we're the first to criticise headphones for being too heavy on the bass, but for once, it's the other way round, as these headphones simply don't have enough. In any case, superstar DJs won't be heading off to Ibiza to mix a few tunes with these babies.

If you were hoping the lack of bass would be compensated with a top-class treble then think again, as there's still room for improvement here. Medium frequencies aren't up to much either to be honest. Then again, that's pretty much all there is so they certainly stand out from the rest.

Finally, the sound output is metallic, and is neither full nor rich. It sounds one-dimensional and the audio level is poor. So, as I think you've understood by now, the HD 228 headphones seriously failed to impress us. Plus, given the RRP of £40-50, we would have hoped at least for the basic level of quality you'll find in many lower-range (and lower-cost) headphones.