Sennheiser HD 465

Sennheiser has sent another of its numerous creations to us, and this time it's a little more high-end than the earlier headphones. It's the HD 465; which I gladly took up for review, though it's not exactly a new piece. Not too many reviews of the device are up, so it deserves mention. It comes under Sennheiser's Home Entertainment line, and since we are doing so many HT articles, I decided to focus on some multimedia/software oriented entertainment.

Form & Tech Specs
This one would be termed a mesomorph if it were human; the product is almost muscular. This effect is enhanced not only by the size and sturdy build of the headphone, but also the external form of the cans itself. There are no smooth and shiny black surfaces, this one is more rugged with the headband overlapping the can housing from the outside, and attaching itself right at its center, with the Sennheiser branding visible in bold. The type is claimed as supra-aural, though they tend towards circumaural as the earpads are large enough to encompass the whole ears.

The main factor is the soft cushion earpads that span the diaphragm, and not just the circumference, as is the case with regular circumaurals. Also these are the open-back type – again, there is no grill at the back, you have trapezoidal vents arranged around the central joint of the headband and the can. These vents expose a royal blue colored interior, which I'm assuming is only in this model. It looks very cool... a bit Vaderish perhaps, but very nice.

Open back means sound can travel back and forth, and I will have to check its implications, pertaining to this particular model. The wire is detachable too – which is a nifty feature in itself. The impedance is 32 ohms, which is regular and of the lower kind in my opinion – these are more suited for consumer audio equipment. The rated frequency response is quite wide at 18Hz -21.5 kHz, while the SPL is 110 dB. The performance section should either confirm or contradict these attributes, so let's get on with the tests.