Sennheiser HD 414 SL Headphones Review

Sennheiser has always been noted for lightweight, supra-aural headphones. The company’s “Open-Aire” trademark gives an excellent description of the sound character of this type of headphone as compared with the tightly sealed circumaural models that dominated the market before the introduction of the HD 414 and similar headphones from other manufacturers. A major difference between supra-aural and circumaural headphones is in their respective ability to isolate the wearer from surrounding sounds. Circumaural phones provide such isolation to some degree (ranging from slightly to nearly total), making them a must for monitoring during a recording session. Supra-aural phones, on the other hand, are literally transparent to outside sound, which may be either a plus or a minus depending on your particular needs and preferences. They also tend to have slightly less bass response than circumaural phones.

The HD 414 SL has earpieces molded of a very light black plastic with slotted outside surfaces that open the rear of the dynamically driven diaphragms to the outside air. The inside of each earpiece (the actual dynamic transducer element is remarkably small, about the diameter of a half-dollar) is largely filled with plastic foam, which is also used for the comfortable, replaceable ear cushions. The extensive use of plastic foam in the earpieces helps to smooth out the frequency response of the headphones and to damp unavoidable mechanical resonances.

The earpieces are mounted on a springy, one-piece black plastic headband, and they can be slid up or down to fit each user. Toothed surfaces on the band keep the earpieces firmly in place. A slender rubber-covered cable is fixed to each earpiece. The two cables form a Y junction with a straight (uncoiled) cord about 10 feet long, which is terminated in a sturdy molded 1/4-inch stereo phone plug. The headphones weigh only about 3-1/4 ounces, not counting the cord.

The new HD 414 SL phones differ slightly on the outside from the original version, and presumably the transducers have also been modified to take advantage of today’s improved magnetic materials. The most obvious change in the manufacturer’s specifications for the HD 414 and the HD 414 SL is the reduction of the nominal impedance from the original’s 2,000 ohms to the SL’s 600 ohms, which should make the new phones more compatible with low-power signal sources such as compact portable radios and tape players. Most of the other old specifications were defined in different terms from today’s, preventing direct comparison. Price: $84.

Lab Tests

The frequency response of the Sennheiser HD 414 SL, measured on our standard headphone coupler, was smoother overall than that of most headphones we have tested recently. From 85 to 1,500 Hz the output was constant within ± 1 dB, and it fell off smoothly at 6 dB per octave below 80 Hz (see graph). At the higher frequencies there were the usual irregularities associated with coupler measurements, but they were relatively small in amplitude. The variation from 1,500 to 16.000 Hz was +8,-0 dB.

The headphones’ impedance was 600 ohms, as rated, from 20 to 6,000 Hz, rising gently to 800 ohms at 20.000 Hz. The average midrange output at a 1-volt drive level was 92.5 dB (the rating is 94 dB). Total harmonic distortion at a 1-volt drive level was typically 3.5 to 4 percent from 500 to 100 Hz, rising to 8 percent at 50 Hz.

Comments

We have found over the years that it is rare—fortunately!—for headphones to sound as irregular as their measured frequency-response curves would suggest. Nevertheless, in most cases a relatively smooth measured response goes along with smooth subjective response, and the Sennheiser HD 414 SL followed that pattern.

Its sound has the transparent quality that has made the open-air type of headphone so popular, and its relatively uniform high-frequency response avoids any coloration problems such as stridency or noise emphasis. Like most supra-aural phones, the HD 414 SL’s do not have a strong lower-bass response, and the distortion in that range at high sound levels makes it impractical to improve the situation much through the use of tone controls or equalization. Still, the phones are by no means lacking in bass, and their overall balance and smoothness place the HD 414 SL in the top rank of today’s supra-aural phones. Moreover, the new styling makes them even more comfortable than the easy-to-wear originals.

Obviously Sennheiser, as well as the buying public, has recognized the qualities in the HD 414 headphones that have made them an enduring part of the hi-fi product lineup.

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