Sennheiser HD435
Up until now, we’ve been speaking on general terms, using headphones and headsets interchangeably. It is important to note that “headset” is generally accepted as a pair of headphones with a microphone attached, whereas “headphones” are just the audio output device. The HD headsets we’re reviewing are both headphones. We start with the HD435, the little brother of these two. As is the Sennheiser tradition, these headphones come in very attractive, clear plastic packaging, with just about every bit of information imaginable on it. Inside you’ll find the headset; a ¼” plug adapter, and a nifty carrying bag. More on that in the bell n' whistles section. The HD 435s appear to be designed with at least moderate LAN use in mind, given the attractive styling of it, mostly composed of differing shades of gray, with a mirror-finish HD435 logo on the sides and a maroon-red trim on the phones themselves. Not a bad date to take home to the parents, especially with a price tag of only $49.99. Now it’s time for the test results!

Game Audio

The gaming audio quality of the HD435 can be summed up in one word: “ehhh…” We tested it out by playing in a DoD pub and concentrating on various aspects that we deemed important. First of all, the positional audio wasn’t that great. Naturally this is something that the sound card affects more than the headphones themselves, but a good pair of headphones can certainly assist in the job. The HD435, however, doesn’t. Next is the actual quality of the sound. In general, the HD435s sounded very flat. There was little to no bass response, even in grenade explosions or sniper shots, which we found to take away a bit from the game. Additionally, the sound produced a lot of cracking when we cranked the volume to a super-high, “I can hear all!” level. Also, the footsteps, shots, and just about everything else wasn’t very crisp. It felt like the sound was “smoothed out”, and it was not hitting as solidly as it should be. We were less than impressed with the sound our games produced through these headphones.

Music Audio

The HD435 is no slacker in music reproduction. As with any of the HD series, this was the primary focus of its design. It definitely shows, too. During our run of the selected Beethoven music, we were able to hear every single instrument in the symphony. The beginning is very soft and very low in pitch, and the HD435s performed admirably. Their recreation of the sound of the cellos was spot-on. It didn’t over accentuate the bass for show like all too many headsets do, but put it exactly where it was supposed to be; a powerful, solid foundation for the music, but not strong enough to overwhelm the real melody of the higher pitches. The entire bass section is a single melody, until the violas chime in. From here on out, the symphony branches into several different melodies, all weaving in and out of each other to further build up the piece. Every now and then all melodies combine to form one solid note, and then diverge just as quickly. It is an excellent way to test the headphone’s ability to separate the sounds of different instruments as well as look into their mid-range performance. While the performance was better than you’d find in 90% of the headphones out there, it still left a bit to be desired. The tones of the bassoon counter-melody sounded rather flat, and the sounds didn’t filter out like we would have hoped. The main sound from the violas remained true, however, and we were still impressed with the product. The next test came in when the violins hit. Once again, we hear melodies and countermelodies intertwining, but this time at a much higher pitch. It gives us a good idea of what the headset is capable of at this frequency, and the HD435 pretty much stays the same in quality as it did in the middle-frequency section. Then comes the final test. At this point Beethoven stops pussyfooting around and goes straight up the middle. Violins, trumpets, timpanis, and the entire rest of the symphony all join together and play the main melody at an extremely high volume. It is the perfect torture test for headphones: High pitch and high volume. Given the circumstances, we weren’t expecting a perfect score from our headsets, and we didn’t get one, either. The trumpets were very flat, and the violins had no real presence compared to the Chellos and violas in the previous sections. The HD435 does an amazing job in lower pitches, slightly worse in mid-range, and worse still at high pitches. However, it doesn’t do BADLY at any of these levels; even at its worst it’s still better than the vast majority of headphones in existence. We came away from this test admittedly impressed.