Sennheisers have a name in the audiophile market for being very classy, sturdy and expensive. This time around, what I noticed first was the lightness of HD449. At first feel, they don’t seem like high-end headphones since we’re all used to something heavy resting on our head. The headphones come with a pad on the bridge, to rest comfortably on your head--which is definitely a plus. Long hours on this wouldn’t feel like a burden, surely.

When it comes to fit and design, they certainly score top points. The cans also have a slick steel plate across the outside, with the branding. Again, looks really sexy. The light rubber skin covering the cushions has become a mainstay now, though I’ve noticed time and again that these come off with even the slightest scratch against sharp objects.

But on the sound front, I’m quite disappointed. Though it is generally said the sound ‘opens out’ after a few weeks of use, I didn’t feel the sound cancellation to be noteworthy, and neither was my bass craving satisfied. Of course, I live in Mumbai, where no headphone manufacturer has lived up the sound cancellation challenge; but if I can hear kids playing downstairs with my headphones on at home, I’m just not impressed. Bass fanatics will have a lot to complain. I have to get into my equalizer almost every time my playlist shuffles genres as I’m very finicky about my bass-mids-treble levels.

On the whole, great looking headphones, excellent design and build, perfectly weighted. But at a cost of INR 4,990/- in the Indian market, they could have paid a little more attention to sound balance. The cable is just the ideal length for both indoor and outdoor use, with the standard 3.5 mm jack. It does come with an additional 5 inch extension and the 1/4 inch adapter. 

Read our review of JBL OnBeat Xtreme here.