The Sennheiser HD 300 look good, sound good, cost less than 40 euros (retail) and are therefore recommended if you value just these three qualities. However, for people who have larger heads or larger ears, they might be too tight. For everybody else, if you’re willing or able to do without Bluetooth and technical bells and whistles, the HD 300 should definitely be on your radar.
If you’re looking for uncomplicated headphones that aren’t too bulky, are also extremely lightweight but have a great sound, you might have found an ideal match with the Sennheiser HD 300.
The HD 300 have a minimalist appearance: the ear cups are suspended from a narrow, foldable headband with equally narrow silicone padding with an internal track system, which can be adjusted to suit head size through ten locking points. However, I found the grip to be a little too loose.
The ear cups are attached to using a hinge that gives them enough room to adjust. However, the removable leatherette ear pads turn out to be quite small for an over-ear, meaning that they rest on your ears and do not enclose them. This – coupled with the short headband and thin earpiece padding – could be a problem for larger heads.
The minimalist design, weight and the ability to fold the HD 300 makes them an understated pair of headphones for use on the move. Since they are connected to the sound via cable in the classic way, this requires a player with a mini-jack. But with a cable length of approx. 135 centimetres, it is not possible to enjoy listening via an amplifier in your living room. In addition, the 90-degree angle of the mini-jack plug is not to everyone’s liking – the tension it creates could have an unfavourable effect on the jack socket of the external player. Furthermore, the cable has no remote capabilities, so you have to reach for your Smartphone to adjust the volume or change tracks.
Sound
Don’t get carried away in terms of sound, as there is not much to complain about in relation to the price. For the current retail price of 40 Euros, you get a thoroughly harmonious set-up: the bass range has no exuberant hype but is solid and surprisingly precise, giving songs a warm foundation, which works well across genres. The mid-range builds neatly on this but seems slightly subdued, which takes away some of the sharpness from vocals and solos. The treble is not quite as lively as I would have liked, and a little more sparkle would not go amiss in some productions, but this also means fatigue-free listening – even over several hours.
Sennheiser’s portable headphones reproduce instruments astonishingly well. Although these headphones are not really a fine-tuning device, spatial movements can still be tracked, and effects such as reverberation, delays, etc. are easy to “hear”.
Technical specifications
- Ear couplingOver-ear
- Typeclosed
- Transducer principledynamic
- Frequency response (headphones)18 - 20.000 Hz
- Impedance18 ohms
- Sound pressure level (SPL)1 kHz / 1V RMS: 118 dB
- Weight with cable182 g
- Cable length135 cm
Do you test or listen to the headphones you review for more extreme music genres, like Metal? When you say the bass ‘works well across genres’ would these make a good go of heavy bass styles of music and more extreme down-pitch vocals?
Interested in this brand and price range.
Thanks
These aren’t over ears they’re on ear…
Sorry, but these are over ears. Even Sennheiser does say that.
is there any noise cancellation on them?
No, they do not have any active NC built in.