I've just got a pair of 7509HD's - arrived this morning. I have to admit being worried when this thread turned up, having already paid for them! (As usual it's damn hard to try before you buy, so I was trusting the SoS review of them. Although I did get them cheap, which is always nice.)

I wouldn't say they're too cheap and plasticky. Obviously they *are* plastic, but the swivel arms feel fairly tough, and they attach to a metal shell on each cup. If you twist them around then they creak as any plastic things do, but they feel like I'd have to really crunch them to actually do damage.

Like many headphones, the foam ear pads are fairly easy to remove. Unless you've got pads that are clamped in place, there isn't really a way around this. If you keep them in the carry bag, though, I wouldn't think they'd escape on their own though.

Cable is a coily one, but it seems to naturally be a little under 2m long (if I stand up with the cans on, the end of the lead is just shy of the floor) which should be enough movement for most things I'd need.

I haven't had a chance to do any serious listening with them - only a few songs on my work PC. But first impressions...

Main thing is, they're loud. I SAID, THEY'RE LOUD! Beware of the volume control! Initial impressions of the sound is that they seem a bit heavier on the bass than I'm used to - I'm not sure I'd say boomy (definitely not one-note wonders), but I might need to take them off for fine-tuning bass and kick balance. They don't seem hyped at the higher end, and the mid-range seems to come through clearly. I can see why Mike Senior said he'd want a second opinion for how much reverb to add, though - it does feel like there's more reverb on things than you'd hear if you listened on something else. I'm a little wary that this is them flattering the sound a bit, which isn't really what I want when I'm trying to sort out the mix on a gig.

I don't know yet how well they seal against gig-level noise, but I do know that I couldn't hear a colleague trying to get my attention until he walked in front and waved, and I didn't have the level too far up.

Got a gig next week, so I'll see how they go.

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