Sennheiser HD 206 Stereo Headphone Silver

I bought this pair of headphones on a bit of a whim. I've recently got back into PC gaming, and my build had stretched my budget somewhat. Not wanting to have to resort to the inbuilt speakers on my monitor I purchased these for just shy of £30. That doesn't get you a lot in the world these days, so in my mind if these lasted me a month I'd have been happy enough.That simply wasn't the case. The unboxing experience highlighted their price point, not much other than the cardboard box and a soft paper/fabric bag. They arrived undamaged though, so it was fine.The headphones do feel light, and are made of a cheap plastic but this isn't really an issue. Durability may be an issue if you were to travel with these regularly, but for me they are permanently plugged into my PC.There is plenty of adjustment to be had here, I think most heads will be able to get a comfy fit with these.The cups are a strange material, it seems like a thin vinyl type material? At first glance it doesn't look like it'd be overly comfortable, but my presumptions were wrong! The headphones are a joy to wear, I can basically forget they're on my head, they don't get too hot, they don't put any pressure on any point of my head. Zero complaints in this area.I'm by no means an audiophile, the next best audio device I have to compare would be Airpods Pro 2nd gen. Now the listening experience on these is very different to those, mainly because one is in ear and one is on ear, but the actual sound quality is up there.The clarity of sound is excellent, sounds in game are separate from one another, extremely clear and very balanced. Voices are crystal clear, and they are very immersive.One point to note for gaming, is these have no directional abilities aside from left and right. I know some stereo headphones can emulate surround but these do not. If you want that you'd probably be better going for 5.1 headphones anyway.These headphones do quite well for not letting too much sound leak out for others to hear, at reasonable volumes at least. However external noise is present, and these are not noise cancelling by any means. For me that's actually a positive, I like to be able to still hear whats going on around me.For less than £30 these are unbelievable value. I'm glad that I took a chance on these, there are even replacement cups available online if I ever need replacements! If they last me 12 months (I'll update if I remember) I'd buy another pair in a heartbeat.

These are best for recording and mixing, not general listening. The sound isn't coloured and has a fairly flat frequency response, which is what I was after. The low end is nice and clear which has definitely helped with my mixes, although I do think the top end lacks a bit of detail. This isn't really a problem for me though because I mix using 2 sets of headphones and monitor speakers too, and like I said, they've certainly helped me to mix bass better. Don't get these if you want noise cancelling headphones because they do leak, although not too excessively. These were an emergency purchase for me. I needed a pair quickly, and through reading various reviews realised that these are very well respected at the price point, and with good reason too.2 final points - I wasn't initially too impressed with the sound at first, but after a few days I really started to appreciate it. I don't know if that was just me adapting to a new set, or whether the headphones needed some playing time to burn in. Either way, they're certainly worth the price and will be playing a big part in all my mixes going forward. Secondly, the cable is really long, which is both an asset and a pain in the backside depending on what you're doing at the time. I'd personally take a long cable over a short one any day, but it may be something to consider if long cables drive you mad.

SoundThe HD 206 has that beautiful balance of sound which Sennheiser are always so good at. The mids and highs are crisp and detailed without being piercing, and the bass is nice and punchy when it needs to be, but without ever being overdone.The soundstage is good, too. In comparison to the old HD 201, the first difference that hit me was how much bigger and more directional everything sounds, although you can definitely hear a little more detail and punchiness in the music too.I can’t imagine a genre or era of music that these headphones would struggle with.ComfortIf you were fine with wearing the HD 201, you’ll be fine with these. They fit my head absolutely perfectly- in fact, they feel so perfect that I wonder if they could be slightly too large for someone who has a small head. I love the shape of the ear cups, they’re so...Ear shaped. Circular cups don’t make much sense to me, as I don’t think it’s too common to have circular ears!Quality & DesignThese headphones are identical to the HD 201, and that’s not a bad thing...Apart from the wire. I’ve had a couple of HD 201s in the past, and I’ve learnt that you should never, EVER undo the bundle that the long wire comes in. Instead, you should carefully pull out enough wire from the bundle to make it long enough to use, and then secure the bundle with sellotape (as in the picture). Even though my last HD 201 had its wire secured like this for its entire life, the bundled wire *still* managed to tie itself in knots. I don’t know how.Aside from that, it’s all very well built for a pair of headphones which is this cheap. The wire will probably degrade after a few years and kill these headphones while they’re still in otherwise good condition, as was the case with my 201s, but they’re so cheap that it would be a bit fussy of me to take a star off them for this.ConclusionIf you don’t have a fortune to spend on high-end headphones, these will be absolutely fine. They’re a nice little upgrade from the HD 201s, and I doubt that anything else in this price range can beat their sound.