When you see the Sennheiser HD 360 Pro headphones for the first time, the thing that pops-out is the "Monitoring" specification written on the packaging. This means that Sennheiser created them for those who want a clear, isolated and flat sound. Monitoring headphones are like the automatic watches of audio. Some of them offer better quality and are more precise, and others are not. It all comes down to your expectations and the price that you are paying for it. As a sound monitoring solution, this pair of headphones is addressed to DJ's or to music lovers who appreciate clear flat sound, without any processing or distortions. But are they any good? Should you buy them? Let's find out from this review.

Unboxing The Sennheiser HD 360 PRO

The Sennheiser HD 360 Pro headphones come in a transparent box like the one shown below.

Inside the box you will find the headphones, a jack for plugging them into your Hi-Fi system and a textile case that you can use to store them safely and carry them around with you.

At first look we are dealing with a carefully designed product which is supposed to live up to the Sennheiser name. But let's see what these headphones have to offer from a specifications perspective.

Hardware Specifications

These on ear headphones have 32 ohms drivers which Sennheiser says can reproduce sound from a range of 15 to 22,000 Hz. The total harmonic distortion (THD) is lower than 0.1% (1 kHz) and they can produce a sound pressure level of up to 110db.

Sennheiser HD 360 Pro also have a 3.5mm audio jack that allows you to plug them into many portable devices, from smartphones to laptops to TV sets. Their cable is 3 meters (9.84 feet) long which is quite a lot and many users will appreciate that.

Using The Sennheiser HD 360 PRO Headphones

The stylish black and the slick design of these on ear headphones have the fingerprint of the great German audio company that produced them. Even if they do not have Sennheiser written on the top of the head strap, you would still be able to recognise their brand.

We were satisfied by the good build quality of these headphones and how easy they are to carry around. The inside of the strap is made of metal and can be adjusted very smoothly for optimal wearing. This assures a longer lifetime of usage without breaking it, unlike what happens with some plastic straps. After a couple of hours, though, we found them to be a little bit uncomfortable because of the tight fit.

We used these headphones both for listening to music and videos on a laptop and while on the go, on an iPod. We used them first with an integrated sound card and the results were not impressive. The sound was not suggesting that we are dealing with a Sennheiser product. We could hear distortion and the general feeling was that we had a mediocre pair of headphones in our hands. When we switched to a FiiO E10K USB DAC and Headphone Amplifier we got much better results. The sound was balanced, more clear and fewer distortions could be heard throughout the tunes. We listened to several types of music like: rock, pop, jazz, classical and even country. Since their number one quality should be balanced and natural sound, we did not test them with heavy-bass musical genres like hip hop or dubstep.

The bass is there, you can hear it, but it doesn't bother you at all you because it feels more natural. When listening to rock for example, it could be heard in the background, leaving the front seat for guitar and acoustic sounds.

For portable usage we used an iPod touch with FLAC (free lossless audio codec) files. This means we provided the best input and balance sound possible for these monitoring headphones. We set the equalizer to "flat" and started listening. Drums, guitar and even violin sounds pretty good when listening at the highest volume provided by the iPod Touch 5. The voice however feels a little bit unnatural sometimes, like it's metallic, but not for all the songs we have listened to. There is very little sound noise that isn't there when listening with a more expensive high-end pair of headphones. This could have been hidden by Sennheiser by using a stronger and louder bass, but we are glad they didn't make this compromise because, in this way, you are able to hear all the sounds of a tune.

The closed drivers of the Sennheiser HD 360 Pro don't let any sound out, making them a great choice for subway or office listening, since people around you will not be disturbed by your music.

Verdict

Jazz and Classical music lovers will find the HD 360 Pro to deliver the natural sound of their favorite tunes. You don't have to be a DJ or sound engineer to appreciate them, you just have to love balanced sound. However, in order to appreciate them you would need something better than an integrated sound card and you should not listen to poorly compressed mp3 files. The Sennheiser HD 360 Pro headphones are very affordable and, in most shops, they will cost less than 60 USD. For your money you will get a product with good build quality and a balanced sound. If you do not have a pair of monitoring headphones by now, they are a must have at their price range. We recommend them to both amateur DJs and music lovers on a budget.