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Reviews For: Sennheiser HMD25-1

Category: Headphones & Boom-microphone Headsets

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Review Summary For : Sennheiser HMD25-1
Reviews: 1MSRP: 675 and up
Description:
The HMD 25-1 headset features dynamic, closed headphones giving excellent attenuation of background noise, and an MD 414 super-cardioid close-contact dynamic microphone. It has been designed specifically for use in noisy environments.
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/home_en.nsf/root/professional_headphones-headsets_professional-headsets_003373?Open&row=1
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0015
K1XV Rating: 2010-04-10
Pricey, professional product. Light, but sturdy Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
OK, I admit to being a headset nut. I own several. Up to now, the best headset in my shack was the Sennheiser HMD-280. However, they are very isolating, and at 310 grams, become somewhat heavy after more than three hours.

I started to notice that the professional court side, baseball announcing booth and NFL booth announcers were using something somewhat lighter looking in appearance. I finally figured out that they were using the Sennheiser HMD-25.

The HMD-25 weighs in at 190 grams, or about 40% less than the HMD-280. It also has about half the ear contact pressure of the HMD-280, explaining why Troy Aikman, Joe Buck, and all the other sports announcers can wear them effortlessly through a 3+ hour game. The HMD-25 also uses an adjustable split head band, allowing a greater degree of freedom in positioning on the head. The ear cups are also smaller on the HMD-25, providing a little less isolation. The microphone is super-cardoid dynamic. These are designed, in their intended professional use, to pick up the sports announcer without picking up the sound of the sports spectators. So it should help if you have a noisy shack.

This is definitely a case where less is more. Less weight, less contact pressure, and slightly less isolation makes a more pleasant experience when wearing these things all evening or afternoon.

Audio reports, both on the phones and the microphone, have been excellent.

You can either buy this unit with an unterminated cable, or, terminated with a 3 pin XLR connector for the mike for a little more money. I have the terminated one. The XLR connector interfaces with the XLR socket on the W2IHY 8 band equalizer. To get the audio from your receiver usually means you will need a headphones extension cable.

Now the bad news. They are not cheap. The best price I have been able to find through normal retail channels is approx. $425 for the terminated HMD-25XQ.

Are they worth it? It depends. This is top of the line professional grade equipment. If you use them a lot in long stretches in the operating chair, probably yes. For occasional use, a nice Yamaha headset at 10% of the price will get the job done.