Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Sennheiser Consumer Audio HD 4.40 Around Ear Bluetooth Wireless Headphones

Top positive review

BT noise cancellation at it's finest

Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2023

I purchased the Sennheiser HD 4.40 headphones a couple of years ago, and I am absolutely thrilled with the immersive audio experience they deliver. Let me share my excitement, particularly focusing on the remarkable noise cancellation and impressive bass performance.

First and foremost, the noise cancellation on the HD 4.40 is a game-changer. It creates a tranquil listening environment, allowing me to escape into my music or podcasts without being disturbed by external noises. Whether I'm on a busy commute or in a bustling coffee shop, the active noise cancellation effectively drowns out the surrounding sounds, providing a cocoon of serenity.

Now, let's talk about the bass – it's nothing short of sensational. The depth and richness of the low frequencies add a whole new dimension to my music. Whether I'm into bass-heavy genres like hip-hop or electronic music, or just enjoying the thump of a well-produced beat, the HD 4.40 delivers a satisfying punch without overpowering the overall sound profile.

Comfort is another standout feature. The over-ear design and plush ear cushions make for a comfortable fit during extended listening sessions. The headphones sit snugly without causing any discomfort, and the adjustable headband ensures a personalized fit.

The build quality is excellent, as expected from Sennheiser. The materials used feel durable, and the sleek design exudes a sense of sophistication. The foldable design is a practical touch, making these headphones easy to stow away in the included carrying case for on-the-go convenience.

Wireless functionality is seamless, and the Bluetooth connection is robust. I appreciate the convenience of not dealing with tangled wires, and the battery life is impressive, providing hours of uninterrupted listening pleasure.

In terms of affordability, the HD 4.40 offers fantastic value for the features it provides. It competes admirably with higher-priced models in terms of both noise cancellation and bass performance.

In conclusion, the Sennheiser HD 4.40 headphones have exceeded my expectations. The combination of stellar noise cancellation, powerful bass, comfort, and build quality make them a top choice in their category. If you're in the market for headphones that deliver an exceptional audio experience without breaking the bank, the HD 4.40 is a clear winner.

Top critical review

Critical reviews›

gogo

Tried few Bluetooth headphones, the only one I kept are the Skullcandy Hesh 3

Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2017

I'm not an audiophile, and currently have one good headphones (AKG K701) that are not really portable and I use them mostly when working from home (sound leakage, open design). I am looking for polyvalent wireless headphones, mostly to listen while working 8h / day. Tried theSkullcandy Hesh 3 Wireless Headphone, Black (S6HTW-K033), theSennheiser HD 4.40 Around Ear Bluetooth Wireless Headphones (HD 4.40 BT), theSony Noise Cancelling Headphones WH1000XM2: Over Ear Wireless Bluetooth Headphones with Case - Goldand the Bose QC35II. Did compare them on various musics, rock, pop, classic, ... .

Bottom line: The only one I kept are the Hesh 3! Not for myself as I felt the comfort was not great (too tight / clamping pressure, burning ears after 1h listening), but for commute / smaller listening periods (i.e not full workday), they are great. Bluetooth is stable, sound quality is good. I'll keep looking for a comfy work-polyvalent headphones, probably give up the bluetooth criteria as I'm disappointed by the sound quality of the Sony & the Bose, and I'm not ready to put 350$ for 100$ audio quality level.

Sound quality:
Sony and the Bose are OK, but that's it, just OK, not great and not what I expect from 350$ headphones.
Hesh3 have well defined bass (not too boomy, just what's needed to make it a fun headphones to listen to). Very good spatialization. Grabbed them at 80$ on black friday, and for my uneducated ears, they compare more to the Sony & the Bose than with my AKG K701 (not in the same category :-)). TBH, the sony & bose are a bit more clear than the Hesh3, but ... I feel the Hesh3 are more "fun" and would be my choice here.
The clear looser here are the Sennheiser. They are disqualified from this review. Stay away from them, my 10y-old 15$ Koss are better. No spatialization, bad for rock, for pop, for classic... Might do for techno / podcasts.

Build / comfort:
Hesh 3 feels a bit plastic like at opening, but you quickly forget it. Comfort is so-so, you definitely feel them more than Sony & Bose. More clamping pressure, lower quality ear pads.
Sony feels good and are probably the winner, I'm just a bit worried about the touch control thingy, what happens after the warranty expires ? Do you pay 200$ for repair if this stop working or bug ?
Bose earpads feel less durable, BUT, they are the comfort winner. If you have money and want to buy a light, comfy headphones, go for it. Sony are the 2nd best in these models.

Bluetooth:
Hesh3: all good.
Sony: I sent them back because... they kept jumping on my macbook. If I looked left or right, the sound will jump. If I walk 2 meter away from the laptop, it will jump. Worked good with my iPhone, but ... it's the only BT headphones I tried that was disqualified because of this. Not acceptable for this price range.
Bose: did try them only 30min, but they seemed good.

Sound leakage / isolation:
Hesh3: no active noise cancellation, but cost 5 time less than the competition. I don't need that much noise cancellation and what they provide is enough to work in a open space, very little sound leakage.
Sony / Bose: amazing. You put them on, and feel isolated from a lot of background noise. If you're looking for peaceful commute, they are worth it. The mic from the Sony did seems to pick less background noise in the few calls I tried.

4 people found this helpful

9,026 total ratings, 4,671 with reviews

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From the United States

Eazy

BT noise cancellation at it's finest

Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2023

Verified Purchase

Helpful

Nancy

Great sound, comfort, and design. Especially for the price!

Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2017

Verified Purchase

Sennheiser really did a great job with these headphones! They sound really crisp with a good balance of high's, mid's, and low's. Maybe a little more on the low's, but not too much so. Being made of mostly/all plastic does cut down a lot on the weight, but does not make these feel like cheap, flimsy, easy to break headphones. Although somewhat of an oxymoron, these headphones come the closest to rugged plastic headphones that I have seen.

So this might be a weird mix-up of comparisons, but's to it's what I have listened to.
Compared to the Sennheiser 429, the sound is definitely more towards the bass side, giving the headphones a more feeling in my opinion. They definitely feel more rugged than the 429's, and the fold-able design makes these much better for travel. Also, for anyone that is on the fence about going bluetooth, these are a great option! I love being wireless. I believe that it is indeed worth the $50 jump up from the 4.30 to go to the wireless 4.40. The sound both wired and bluetooth is fantastic on these headphones.
I bought the Sennheiser Urbanite XL wireless (and returned them) before buying these. It might be my head size, but the Urbanite XL's did not fit me at all. I gave them a little while, but the circular shape of the pads was just a horrible fit on my ears. The Urbanite XL was so small -- or my ears are just so big -- that the top and bottom of my ear were uncomfortably squished against the side of my head. The diameter of the Urbanite XL's is about the same as the minor diameter on the 4.40. The 4.40 still pushes down on my earlobes a little bit, but there is so much padding that I can barely notice. The Urbanite and 4.40 have rather comparable sound in my opinion. I am not the biggest audiophile though.
The Beats Studio Wireless and the Sennheiser 4.40 have rather different sounds. They are both comfortable, but I think the Senny's have a more crisp, less muddled sound.

In summary, Pros:
-Great sound
-Comfortable
-Good, reliable bluetooth connection
-Rugged plastic build
-Can be used if the battery dies
-Long battery life
-Good passive noise isolation

Cons:
-The super comfortable, copious amount of padding does make these headphones stick out on my head a lot. Not a problem with getting in the way, but some people might not like the look
-The next/previous track button clicks in to answer calls and do other functions. Easy to function, but the clicking in part made me feel like the switch is loose. But I quickly got used to the button scheme.

14 people found this helpful

Helpful

Edmund James Milly

Best option at the $100 price point; some work required...

Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2018

Verified Purchase

I’m not exactly an audiophile; I am a 30 year-old professional singer who spends a lot of time listening to music (predominantly historically informed Baroque, hip-hop, and prog metal), and recently I’ve started trying to improve my listening experiences with higher quality equipment, on a typical musician’s limited budget. When I bought the Audioengine A2 speakers for my computer a couple years ago, *everything* instantly sounded better, more detailed, richer; music that I already knew well came to life in new ways.

So, that experience definitely got me hooked on how good equipment can make music sound better, and I was hoping to replicate that magic when I bought these Sennheiser 4.40bt headphones. I prefer Bluetooth headphones because I usually wear my headphones when I’m out and about in the city or on the subway, and I just can’t be bothered with a cord – if there is a sacrifice in the audio quality versus corded headphones these days, I think it’s too small for me to really discern, and the freedom of having no cord is fantastic. On the other hand, it does mean you’re going to pay more for something decent: I did extensive research before settling on this model (on sale for $100), and I also considered the 4.50btc (same cans but with ANC for $150), the PXC 550 (Sennheiser’s top-of-the-line Bluetooth ANC cans for $300), the Bose Quietcomfort 35 (which everybody seems to agree are the best around, $350), and the many, many over-ear headphones by weird no-name Chinese companies that you can find on Amazon in the $60-70 range, all of which have hundreds of suspicious 5-star reviews, and many of which also seem to have ANC. (If you google for a real review, not on Amazon, of any of these popular headphones, you will get the lowdown on what they're really like.) The temptation to go for something in this category was strong because I just didn’t have $300 to drop on headphones, but in the end I am very glad that I swallowed my pride and got a more entry-level product by a reputable company. After some initial disappointment and some software tweaking and getting to know them, I’m very happy with the Sennheiser 4.40bt.

My first listening experience was a letdown. I tried them on, listened to representative favorite albums from several genres, and came away with the same complaint in each. I’m not well equipped to provide verbal descriptions of my complaints, but I would say that everything sounded tinny, two-dimensional, and, surprisingly, not even really loud enough. I would have to crank the volume up all the way to the top to be able to listen to anything classical in the subway, and I worried that maybe I’d made a mistake not going for the noise-canceling model.

Sennheiser suggests that you use their proprietary equalizer app, Captune, with these headphones, so I decided to give that a shot, and it certainly did improve my experience. The presets for classical and rock alone pretty much made everything sound completely different (i.e. better) regardless of genre. But Captune is an annoying, finicky app – I’m a Tidal subscriber and I was excited that Captune allegedly plays nice with Tidal, but even this turned out to be a disappointment: you end up having to navigate your Tidal library through the Captune interface, which is unintuitive and doesn’t allow you to access your offline albums. And if there’s a way that you can make your Captune EQ settings apply to all the sound on your phone instead of just what you play through the Captune player app, I wasn’t able to figure it out.

This led me to find a third-party equalizer app, of which there are many. I paid $1.99 for an app called Equalizer FX Pro on the Google Play store, and this provided me with all the benefits I’d experienced with Captune, but also with the ability to use the equalizer when you’re using whatever app to play music (in my case Tidal), plus a loudness enhancer which has solved my aforementioned “not loud enough” problem. Basically, with the addition of this app, the 4.40bt have become a set of headphones that I feel very good about having paid $100 for. Certainly, I wish that no additional software were necessary for that to be the case, but at this point I’ll take it.

Other things: battery life of the headphones is great, they last much longer than the cheap Archeer over-ear Bluetooth cans I was replacing. Pairing etc. is easy. I do have a complaint about the comfort of wearing them: the band doesn’t feel great on the top of my head, perhaps because it isn’t padded thickly enough. This has become less of an issue as I’ve played around with different ways to position that band, but they could be more comfortable. The pads over the ears are great, no complaint with how those feel.

Pros: at $100, great value for audiophile quality (some work with an equalizer required) that most of the premium Bluetooth headphones will charge $300+ for. Block out noise pretty well without noise canceling. Comfortable fit over the ears. Conservative but attractive style. Nice build quality. Don’t turn on by accident in my bag and drain the battery like the ones I used to use.

Cons: I found that in order to get great sound you have to use an equalizer, which adds an extra step to the listening experience but is worth it. Band a little uncomfortable on the top of my head.

Four stars. Are my standards too high? Debatable. Obviously all the cheapo headphones in the $60-70 range do not deserve to have so many five star ratings, but they get them either because they’re fake reviews or because people who buy those headphones end up being pleasantly surprised by how much bang they got for their buck. Fair enough. Maybe I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t get something perfect when I spent my hard-earned $100, and maybe that is an unrealistic expectation. Maybe in a few years I’ll be in a place where I can drop $300 and get “the best.” If and when that happens, I would consider Sennheiser as a valid rival to Bose, but I would like to try them out first… hopefully by then they will have sorted out their equalizer problems (meaning either you won’t need an equalizer to make things sound good, or the Captune will become some effortless thing that automatically makes them sound like they should regardless of what media player you’re using).

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

Tim Chow Studio

Review After 60-days of Daily Use

Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2019

Verified Purchase

The Short: Affordable, dependable, over-ear bluetooth headphones with high usability, rich sound with good separation from trusted brand in audio.

I run a professional video and photography production company, and use these headphones on a daily basis for both editing and entertainment. If you are considering this pair of headphones, odds are you are simply looking for a pair of wireless bluetooth headphones with the best quality sound that can hold up to casual daily use. Congratulations, you’ve found it.

The tech specs are readily found on Amazon and Google, so I won’t get into the technical side in this review. Instead, I will talk about (1) build quality + durability, (2) reliability, (3) sound quality, (4) usability, (5) comfort, and (6) transportability.

1. Build Quality + Durability
The headphones are made with hard plastic all around; there are no visible metal parts on the headphones. They are lightweight, but overall construction feels solid and the plastic feels and looks like high-quality plastic and not cheap and toy-like. I travel a lot for my work — spending my days between editing out of coffee shops to flying across the country on production. The headphones either travel with me around my neck, folded in my padded equipment bag, or folded into my daily commuter backpack without any hard case around it. In all instances, over the last 2 months of daily use, I have never had any issues with the headphones nor have I had to worry about them not holding up to travel. So far so good!

2. Reliability
One of the most important factors for me in choosing a bluetooth wireless headphone was the reliability of the connection. I grade this on (a) the connection strength of the headphones and (b) the ability of the headphones to connect with my devices every time. These headphones have performed with perfect marks across the board in both categories. I’m an Apple user, and use these headphones daily between my iMac desktop, MacBook Air laptop, and my iPhone X. The bluetooth connection is always solid, and the sound coming through is clear with no audible lag, distortion, nor interference. If using with just one device, the headphones will pair quickly and automatically, which is nice. Switching between each device has been super easy for me — just hold the power button down when turning the headphones on to place the headphones into pairing mode, then select the headphones from your device’s bluetooth pairing menu.

3. Sound Quality
These have great sound clarity, rich midtones, controlled highs, full base (but not overwhelming), and remarkable sound separation. The headphones may be used both wirelessly, or with the wire that comes with the headphones. As with all wireless/bluetooth headphones, the audio quality is always better if directly connected to the device. However, these headphones do a truly fantastic job of preserving audio quality in wireless bluetooth mode. I would say there is a negligible difference in sound quality between wired and wireless, which is really only noticeable if you are comparing it side-by-side. I was a long-time user of the Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 80 Ohm wired studio monitoring headphones, which are still my headphones of choice when monitoring sound on film productions due to its flatter profile which allows me to hear frequencies on a or even spectrum. On the contrary, the Sennheiser HD 4.40’s noticeably richer and more responsive tones and fuller base makes it more enjoyable to listen to, despite being less than HALF the price. If you want a pair of headphones that enable you to ENJOY your sound and not just monitor it, I definitely recommend these headphones. Even in their wireless mode, these headphones have allowed me to hear and feel MORE from old music I’ve heard many times before.

4. Usability
I spend a lot fo my time between my desktop, laptop, and cell phone for work. The pairing and switching process is super easy., and I have never had any issues with these headphones with any of my devices. I have used these for a full day of flying and traveling, and did not run into any issues with battery life, which Sennheiser boasts as having up to 25 hours of battery life while in wireless mode. The controls on the right ear cup of the headphones are easy to access for me, though toggling them produces an audible “beep” from the headphones while in wireless mode. Many of complained about how annoying this beep is, but I personally don’t mind having audible feedback to my input. Using the headphones in wired mode disables the functionality of the buttons on the right ear cup, thereby eliminating the “beep.”

5. Comfort
The ear cups that come with the headphones are made of a supportive but super soft memory-foam type material, covered by a smooth and high-quality feeling stitched pleather material. Many of complained that the ear cups are too small to fit over their ears, and should therefore be considered on-ear headphones, though I have never had that problem myself based on my ear-size. My ONLY complaint is that the padding on the bottom of the headband where the band touches the head does not have very much padding, which can create some discomfort when wearing over a long period of time. I have the headphones at their max extension to avoid tension from the headband hurting the top of my head. The headphones stay on my head very well and does not slip around despite being on the widest setting.

6. Transportability
To transport, the headphone’s ear cups fold INTO itself, though the ear cups do not fold flat. As a result, they produce a taller profile vs. headphones that fold flat. When I travel, the headphones are either around my neck for ease of access, or folded and placed into my padded equipment case, equipment backpack, or simply tossed into my daily commuter backpack. They really are a fantastic pair of wireless bluetooth headphones for the commuter and daily user who wants to enjoy their sound.

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Conclusion:
For their price range ($70 at the time of this review), they are really hard to beat. If you are looking for a pair of headphones for entertainment and not professional/commercial use, it's hard to go wrong with the Sennheiser HD 4.40. Great for the commuter and daily user. Would buy again.

6 people found this helpful

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OVR Guy

Relatively affordable, excellent audio quality, very comfortable, incredible battery life,

Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2019

Verified Purchase

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Summary:
The Sennheiser HD 4.40BT is a relatively affordable wireless headset by a well-known brand. It generates excellent audio quality, has incredible battery life and very comfortable to use for long hours. The headset is light, made from quality materials, the Bluetooth connection works great with no disturbances, and you can operate it using NFC as well.

Before reviewing this headset I’ve been using it for more than a year, and I can say that it took me time to appreciate the HD 4.40BT's audio quality.

The sound experience it offers is worth every penny. It generates the right sound for every type of audio content I've been listening to, whether it's music (from all genres), lectures and audio books or phone calls.

The bases are sharp but not explosive. It can reach a high-volume level, but there's no distortion in the sound. And when listening to audio using this headset, especially to music, you enjoy from a full sound experience.

At the beginning of my video review, I placed the microphone next to the headset, so you'll be able to hear how it sounds. I do that because I'm asked by my viewers, who wants to know as much as possible on the products I review. But let's be honest, it can hardly reflect the audio quality unless you'll be using the headset yourself. And if you will try this headset, then you'll probably won't want to take it off.

Though this model doesn't offer ANC (Active Noise Cancellation), you will be quite isolated from your environment.
If you don't listen to audio then everything around you will be much quieter, while if you listen to music, at a certain level you won't hear anything from your surroundings.

According to Sennheiser, the battery should last up to 25 hours, but assuming you don't raise the volume level to the maximum level, the battery will last much more than that.

I always kept asking myself when the last time was that I charged the battery because I kept using it for such a long time between each charging. I would say that if you're using normal volume level, the battery can reach even 50 hours.

As for how comfortable this headset is, you’ll be glad to know this is one of the most convenient headsets I've ever worn. The headband & the earphones are padded well (but not too much), the earphones have a range of movement that is adaptive to the shape of your head, and the headband is elastic and extends to the right size of your head.

The HD 4.40BT is made from quality materials. And after more than a year of intensive use, the headset still looks & feels great. During this time, it took some bumps & scratches while, but thanks to the type of materials, they are almost unnoticeable, and allows the headset to withstand much worse damages that could leave a mark. This is one of the main differences compared to a low-budget headset since it isn't made from cheap plastic or includes a simple cushion to soften the earphones and headband.

I noticed that sometimes when I minimize the arc, the arc isn't fully minimized from both sides, and the pops a bit outside. Since the quality of materials and build quality are great, and I was very careful when using this headset, I'm not sure if the headset is meant to be like that (since it is also foldable), or it just happened over time – but this isn’t a deal breaker for me.

The Bluetooth connection works great, and I didn't encounter any disturbances or disconnections whatsoever.
There’s a designated app for this headset named “Sennheiser CapTune”, that I almost didn't use. When I did try it, I almost didn't have what to play with it, since I consume my content mostly from YouTube & Audible, which aren’t supported by this app.

The pouch that comes with the package is from good quality and is useful for cleaning the earphones. It is common to offer such pouch with headsets, and yet, I wish Sennheiser would give instead (or in addition) a hard case to store & carry this headset.

Overall, If you consider purchasing this headset, then I believe it would be a great purchase.

Please note I attached to this review screenshots + a video review I made about my experience with this controller.

The pros:
- Excellent Audio quality
- Good isolation from the outside
- Battery life
- Comfortability
- Quality of materials
- No disturbances in the wireless connection
- The built-in microphone enhances your hearing

The cons:
- The App isn't compatible with YouTube / Audible
- The arc can't be minimized perfectly
- I wish it came with a hard case

****
FAQ :
****
If you have any, please do ask and I will do my best to answer them.

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

theCollegeStudent

Best Headphones in the market under $100

Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2019

Verified Purchase

I have owned the Sennheiser HD 4.40 BT for one year now and I can confidently say that these are a great pair of headphones for everyday users who look for great music quality with exceptional ability for portability. For the price this headphone is available, they exceed expectations for sound quality and their durability as well. However, there are some down sides with bass but the crisp sounds quality around the mids brings about specular sound quality for listening to any rock or blues. The following categories attempt to breakdown different aspects of the headphones that you may find relevant:

Comfortability
I personally find over ear headphones very comfortable, specially for long use. There is no noticeable input lag while using the Bluetooth feature however, for the nitty-picky gamers like me, using it wired for gaming is optimal. The cushion on the headphones are very soft but since they are sponge like, running with them is not the best option. Overall, I would definitely recommend it if you are looking to use it for long durations.

Connectivity and Usability
The headphones offer a wired option, but also provide connectivity with Bluetooth and NFC. It only takes a couple seconds to connect it with any device and are compatible with both OS, Windows, iOS and Android. There are three major controls on the right piece of the headphone that allow for connectivity, volume and music queue control along with use of hands free virtual assistant which works great with both iPhones and Android.

Style
I am a fan of the style. The metal black on the hinges and the hangers really makes it feel very durable and strong but the plastic for the head piece makes the headphone very light and comfortable.

Quality
Finally, the music quality is absolutely spectacular. I have used it with media players such as VLC where I have tried to make the sound very loud but I have never experienced any voice tearing. The headphone is not base heavy but I love listening to oldies rock or blues such as Led Zeppelin or The Black Keys. Since they are over ear, there is no sound leaking either which is just marvelous because I personally enjoy listening to loud music.

There are a lot better headphones than this, but for this price point it cannot get any better. For under $100, the headphones bring sound quality like stereo audio technicas with a modern style to it and ideal portability. If you are looking for something cheap, I cannot recommend you anything better.

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gogo

Tried few Bluetooth headphones, the only one I kept are the Skullcandy Hesh 3

Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2017

Verified Purchase

I'm not an audiophile, and currently have one good headphones (AKG K701) that are not really portable and I use them mostly when working from home (sound leakage, open design). I am looking for polyvalent wireless headphones, mostly to listen while working 8h / day. Tried the Skullcandy Hesh 3 Wireless Headphone, Black (S6HTW-K033) , the Sennheiser HD 4.40 Around Ear Bluetooth Wireless Headphones (HD 4.40 BT) , the Sony Noise Cancelling Headphones WH1000XM2: Over Ear Wireless Bluetooth Headphones with Case - Gold and the Bose QC35II. Did compare them on various musics, rock, pop, classic, ... .

Bottom line: The only one I kept are the Hesh 3! Not for myself as I felt the comfort was not great (too tight / clamping pressure, burning ears after 1h listening), but for commute / smaller listening periods (i.e not full workday), they are great. Bluetooth is stable, sound quality is good. I'll keep looking for a comfy work-polyvalent headphones, probably give up the bluetooth criteria as I'm disappointed by the sound quality of the Sony & the Bose, and I'm not ready to put 350$ for 100$ audio quality level.

Sound quality:
Sony and the Bose are OK, but that's it, just OK, not great and not what I expect from 350$ headphones.
Hesh3 have well defined bass (not too boomy, just what's needed to make it a fun headphones to listen to). Very good spatialization. Grabbed them at 80$ on black friday, and for my uneducated ears, they compare more to the Sony & the Bose than with my AKG K701 (not in the same category :-)). TBH, the sony & bose are a bit more clear than the Hesh3, but ... I feel the Hesh3 are more "fun" and would be my choice here.
The clear looser here are the Sennheiser. They are disqualified from this review. Stay away from them, my 10y-old 15$ Koss are better. No spatialization, bad for rock, for pop, for classic... Might do for techno / podcasts.

Build / comfort:
Hesh 3 feels a bit plastic like at opening, but you quickly forget it. Comfort is so-so, you definitely feel them more than Sony & Bose. More clamping pressure, lower quality ear pads.
Sony feels good and are probably the winner, I'm just a bit worried about the touch control thingy, what happens after the warranty expires ? Do you pay 200$ for repair if this stop working or bug ?
Bose earpads feel less durable, BUT, they are the comfort winner. If you have money and want to buy a light, comfy headphones, go for it. Sony are the 2nd best in these models.

Bluetooth:
Hesh3: all good.
Sony: I sent them back because... they kept jumping on my macbook. If I looked left or right, the sound will jump. If I walk 2 meter away from the laptop, it will jump. Worked good with my iPhone, but ... it's the only BT headphones I tried that was disqualified because of this. Not acceptable for this price range.
Bose: did try them only 30min, but they seemed good.

Sound leakage / isolation:
Hesh3: no active noise cancellation, but cost 5 time less than the competition. I don't need that much noise cancellation and what they provide is enough to work in a open space, very little sound leakage.
Sony / Bose: amazing. You put them on, and feel isolated from a lot of background noise. If you're looking for peaceful commute, they are worth it. The mic from the Sony did seems to pick less background noise in the few calls I tried.

4 people found this helpful

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Alexander Malakhov

Despite many reviews those headphones are very comfortable for my ears

Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2018

Verified Purchase

Despite many reviews, those headphones are extremely comfortable for my ears, I like controls, ease of connectivity and battery life. What I found really mediocre is a sound. Bass is ok, little plush but ok, I'm not looking to over-charged "Beats" sound. A general sound picture is not vibrant, lacks "wow" effect and I found highs are kinda hissing.

I'm going to play with 4.40 for few more days, try different inputs and EQ settings but am pretty certain I will return headphones. I think it's a very good headphone for this money ($115 on Amazon) with great comfort and functionality but I personally need much better sound. I am by no means a headphones expert and have tried only those and Bose QC, which are better but also lacks sound clarity for my taste and I don't need active noise cancellation (actually this feature only distorts sound in my opinion).

** UPDATE **

Unfortunately, I had to return them. What I found after a testing with different setups (wired/wireless) and sound sources (Spotify, Tidal HIFI, local lossless files) — the problem was with a wireless connection. I loved the sound of 4.40 when they are wired to my S8+ and would give a solid 8.5 out of 10 (and 9.9 would be wired Detroit Shinola studio headphones with an expensive amplifier and HiRes audio source). When they are connected via BT — it's just completely different headphones — muffed mids, distorted highs and who cares about a bass than?! I don't know what was the reason - may be my item was defective or they are not working right with Android phone (and I forgot to test with iphone) or something else. I'd be happy to keep them if a wirless sound would be identical to a wired.

3 people found this helpful

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CLop

Some fantastic features. Some disappointments too.

Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2017

Verified Purchase

I was officially eager to get the Sennheiser HD 4.40BT headphones. After trying out several headphones and accidentally coming across the HD 4.40s during a web search I thought, this is it. Finally, the pair I’ve been looking for. Some reviews say they sound great. They do. Some reviews say that their phone voice quality is good. It’s okay. And, for me, which is a critical issue, the reviews say that the HD 4.40 prevent sound leakage very well. That one is very true. So initially, I thought that I found the nearly perfect pair of headphones. But it turns out there are some disappointments especially when referring to my secondary list of “must haves”. Not critical, deal-breaker features, but ones that I find very convenient and in some cases essential, I started to find the shortcomings of the HD 4.40BT.

But first, let me comment on their sound quality. I’ve tried the Bose QC35, Sony MDR-1000Xs, Sony MDR-XB950BTs, Skullcandy Crusher Wireless, and the Plantronics Backbeat Pro 2. These headphones perform stellar in the sound quality department. Clear crisp highs, full mids, and plenty of bass. But the most fun I have with these their sound stage. With the HD 4.40BT, you get a broad sound stage with great separation. If you’re looking for a great sounding pair of headphones at $150, you’ve found them. These are the least expensive of the lineup I’ve tried and yield a sound quality on par or better than all of the headphones I’ve tried at more than twice the price.

The phone call quality is okay on the Sennheiser HD 4.40BT. Sometimes I get callers telling me that I sound fantastic and sometimes that I have digital “reverby” artifacts. Unfortunately, I can’t get consistent results. I do know that when I switch to my phone during those complaint calls, I get good responses. So it’s definitely in the headset. It may be a futile effort to find a great sounding pair of headphones that has excellent call quality but I’m trying. For now, the search continues.

The noise isolation capability is not that great. I can clearly here ambient sound, voices, and the like while listening to music, even somewhat loudly. Fortunately, however, these do not leak much sound which is a huge bonus. Due to the less-than-ideal noise isolation, I may try out the Sennheiser HD 4.50BT instead. Since those feature noise cancelling.

The HD 4.40BTs fold for compact storage, which is very nice. I wish the ear cans also rotated flat as with other headphones I’ve tried. But I mostly like the rotated ear cans for comfortably wearing the headphones around your neck when you need to temporarily have them removed. Fortunately, the HD 4.40s are very comfortable around the neck without this option. I think it’s their wide headband that accounts for this. Overall the foldability is nice. These come with a soft pouch so you’re not going to get any protection from a case with the HD 4.40BTs, but at their price-point, the company had to skimp somewhere.

The controls are okay. And if you’re familiar with Sony MDR-XB950BT controls, you’ll find these pretty similar. There is one significant difference however, the Sony’s feature a multi-function button that is pretty tall, which makes it easy to accidentally skip or rewind your music instead of pausing. This is due to the leverage that their button height has. This potential issue is not an issue on the HD 4.40s because the multi-function button has a very low profile. Consequently, the buttons low profile makes it a bit more difficult to find and press for phone calls and pausing music, especially since the bezel around the ear cup that has nearly the same height as the low profile multi-function button. The volume rocker is placed low on the ear can which I find a little too low. I think an improvement to the design would be to move the power button to the front of the can and allow more spacing and better positioning of the volume rocker and play/pause multi-function button. Overall, they’re a solid set of buttons that work well to control calls and music.

The ear pads, as mentioned in other reviews, have small openings and while I don’t have very large ears, the ear pad openings do press on either the top or the bottom of my ear depending on how I position them. This is in contrast to the Bose QC35s which have a large opening that fit my ears comfortably without touching. Despite this issue, the ear pads on the Sennheisers are soft and the headsets light enough to make them comfortable. However, I find myself having to tweak the fit ever time I use them. The comfort tolerance is so tight that you have to really fuss with the fit to get them where you can wear them for hours without some discomfort. It’s possible to find the sweet spot, but you need narrow ears, a narrow head, and a bunch of finicky trials to make them fit nicely comfy. There is a noticeable amount of ear pressure after wearing these for over an hour so they’re not the most comfortable headphones you can find. I wish Sennheiser would have made the ear openings bigger because the suppleness of the ear pads is great. There is minimal padding in the headband which will apply pressure to the crown of your head after about an hour of wearing these. In summary, larger ear pad openings and a more heavily padded headband cushion would make these extremely comfortable. As designed, they’re not.

The LED light on these does not illuminate when the headphones are on. While I thought this would be a bonus, especially when using them in a dark room, believe it or not, I miss a flashing or glowing LED. Glowing LED lights help let you know if a device is on, which may help you avoid unnecessary battery drain. With the HD 4.40s you’ll have to either look at your device to confirm whether they’re on or not, or you’ll have to simply try to play audio through them to test if they’re on.

One last little disappointment is the 2.5 to 3.5 mm headphone cable. I have a few standard 3.5mm cables lying around and would like to keep those in different places for convenient use with my headphones. One in the computer bag, one at the office, one at home, etc. Unfortunately, you need a special cable with the HD 4.40BTs.

If you’re looking for a good pair of headphones that sound great, have decent comfort, prevent sound leakage for using them in work environments, and have adequate voice call quality the Sennheiser HD 4.40BT may give you everything you want. Overall, feature and sound-wise these headphones top the Bose QC35, Sony MDR-1000X, Sony 950BT, the Plantronics Backbeat Pro 2, and the Skullcandy Crushers. While they're not perfect, they do have some solid performance in the features they offer.

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Sean Devos

Great audio

Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2024

Verified Purchase

Like any Sennheiser audio product, the sound quality is fantastic. That said, these were bought with PC gaming in mind as a gift, and the biggest complaint that knocked a full star off?
There's no mute. So you can't mute your microphone. This is not just a gaming issue, as if you pair them to your phone, iPad, etc. and are on a phone call, you still can't mute the microphone from the headset. Virtually every headset made, even Apple's AirPods, you can tap and mute.
If they had a mute button, they would be perfect.

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