# Sennheiser HD-25-1 II vs. Sennheiser HD-25-SP II



## Kirill (Apr 14, 2010)

I'd like to talk about great ENG/FILM headphones set called Sennheiser HD-25-1 II and consumer Sennheiser HD-25-SP II.








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First of all, I do Production Sound Mixing for film and TV, and thus the headphones is one of the most important tools, besides the mics and recorders, micxers for getting a great sound recording. I went through tons of different headphones - Koss, Beyerdynamics, AKG, Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer and etc. But once I've heard the sound of this headphones I was astonished. 

To begin with, it's a pair of "closed" headphones, which means it's an amazing isolation from the outside world of noises. And it's truly is. it comes usually with the choice of two different types of padding for ears. Leather and a velvet ones. The head arch that holds headphones on top is made in a very cool way, first it's a usual bar and once you split it in two separate parts, it hugs your head very tight and increases the isolation by pushing the speakers to your head even tighter. Which is incredible, because it's literally almost impossible to hear what's going on outside, unless you are listening through the microphone or some other source that can allow you to hear around you.

Other thing, you have a choice of two different types of cables for it, one is standard straight cable, other one is a coiled cable. As well as there is a choices of higher conductive material cables for it. Usually it comes with the 1/4 inch adapter for a higher quality sound stations and amps. Those cables are totally replaceable and very easy to get either online or from most of the pro audio stores worldwide. They attached to the speakers via a fork connectors. In case if it breaks or stops working properly, you can replace it in about a minute, in case you got a spare of course. The impedance of the headphones will suit most of the applications. I.e. professional recording, CD/iPod/iPad/iPhone/Samsung/Amprlifier or any other standard 1/8 or 1/4 inch jacks outputs. It's impedance is starts from 70 Ohm *(Sennhesier HD-25-1 II)* and other model is at 60 Ohm *(Sennheiser HD-25-SP II)*, which is a single head bar model.


Frequency response of this headphones is beyond standard human hearing, 16Hz-22kHz (Sennheiser HD-25-1 II) and 30Hz-16kHz in Sennheiser HD-25-SP II. Which basically opens a whole new world of harmonics that are present in the headphones and thus limited digital recordings of our time should sound slightly better and more truthful to what many other headphones wouldn't sound even near as good. It's a proven fact that, most of people on Earth is limited between 20Hz-20kHz, but it doesn't mean that you can't allow more quality sound coming in to your ears *at lower volumes*. Though with time most of people who doen't really understand the dangers of the noise pollution we have now days on daily bases, do lose some percentage of hearing, sadly, you won't have to blast the volume levels to the extreme in order to enjoy the clear and crispy and full sound quality of your favorite records. Sennheiser HD-25-1 II can handle a very powerful levels of 120dB SPL and 114dB SPL consecutively. 

Very important factor when you chose headphones is THD or *Total Harmonic Distortion*. This factor is superbly important due to truthfulness of the headphone output. If the THD is low, for example 0.3% compare to 1%, then you headphones with <0.3% THD will output signal with more truthful quality then <1% THD. The lower the number the more realistic signal you'll get basically. Good mics for example would have <0.005% THD and not so good mics would have <1% THD. Feel the difference? I'm sure you do. Thus if you want a better quality then get Sennheiser HD-25-1 II beside the Sennheiser HD-25-SP II. But once again it depends on you personal preference. 

There is quite a big difference in price between two different models. Sennheiser HD-25-1 II average retail price goes $249.00+tax and Sennheiser HD-25-SP II would be around 149.95$+tax, depending on retailer and country. Higher quality usually costs more. 

If you work in ENG/FILM then I'd advise to chose Sennheiser HD-25-1 II model, and if you'd like to enjoy audio for you MP3 player or similar products then you can chose Sennheiser HD-25-SP II. Trust me you won't regret either model. 

Other important factor is weight. Both models are very lightweight 140-115g consecutively. 

To finish this little review I'll say one last thing, Sennheiser has a great *spare parts* service at very affordable prices. And it's quite rare when you'll need to replace anything, unless you do recording for living and that does wear things off at some point, but not to often either. The professional version Sennheiser HD-25-1 II has an option of attachable talk back head warn mic.

Hope you've enjoyed this little review article. Please comment if you got any questions.

Sincerely,
Kirill B.
*www.specsound.com*


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## Mike Yaffe (Aug 29, 2012)

Kirill said:


> I'd like to talk about great ENG/FILM headphones set called Sennheiser HD-25-1 II and consumer Sennheiser HD-25-SP II.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Excellent review! Headphones are one thing I don't currently use outside of my recording studio, but I'm intrigued by your review. Sennheiser is well-respected in both home and pro applications, and I'd be interested in auditioning a pair of the pro model (without the mic). The extended FR (especially in the bass region) has me most intrigued...:T


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## Kirill (Apr 14, 2010)

michaelhigh said:


> Excellent review! Headphones are one thing I don't currently use outside of my recording studio, but I'm intrigued by your review. Sennheiser is well-respected in both home and pro applications, and I'd be interested in auditioning a pair of the pro model (without the mic). The extended FR (especially in the bass region) has me most intrigued...:T


Thanks for kind words. I'm glad you've enjoyed it and got intrigued. I own a pair of Sennheiser HD-25-1 II myself since I work in film, and I'd recommend to take a listen of them for sure. :sn:


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## Benway (Apr 28, 2006)

Nice review. I got one pair of each of both models. I think they are both good, but they sound somewhat different. The Sennheiser HD-25-1 II has more treble, and a maybe a bit more even sounding bass than the Sennheiser HD-25-SP II.


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## AudiocRaver (Jun 6, 2012)

Thanks for telling us about them. I would love to hear a pair. Their isolation specs are superb, some of the best I've seen.


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

I have both models, too, and unlike Benway I really can’t tell any difference between the two (although I'll admit I haven't done a serious A/B comparison). They appear to both have the same cans. They’re great sounding headphones, very clean, smooth and balanced. I tried the highly-regarded Sony MDR-6 ’phones for a while, but they couldn’t hold a candle to the HD 25’s.

The main reason for the significant price difference between the two is that the SP has a cheaper headband. But with the cheaper price comes some problems. The problem with the SP is that the cans both rotate endlessly a full 360-degrees. This means the leader wire ends up getting twisted. All the Sennheisers of this type have the perennial problem (decades old) of the cables failing where they plug into the cans. A free-wheeling can like the HD 25 SP only aggravates and indeed hastens that problem. Of course, you can get replacement cables from Sennheiser, but by the time you buy a few of those you've bought your headphones all over again.

By contrast, the HD 25 1 has the cans flipped upside down and they can’t rotate, both of which isolate the cable connections from extraneous movement, which will make them last infinitely longer. Plus the headband has the nifty” split” thing kirill mentioned. As an added feature, one can is mounted on a pivot, so you can pull it off your ear while still listening to the other. This is a nice feature if you use them for DJing or production work.

Bottom line, if you’re considering these headphone, IMO it’s worth the extra money for the HD 25 1.

Regards, 
Wayne


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