Sennheiser HD 4.30i review: Price a big 'barrier

You don't necessarily need to have an expensive pair of earphones/headphones to be able to enjoy music. Agreed, there are audio products that enhance the listening experience to another level, but they also come with heavy price tags. Apart from good sound output, design and comfort matter to a lot of users as well. Just because a pair of headphones/earphones looks good doesn't mean that it sounds great, and vice-versa.

Fortunately, Sennheiser seems to have struck the equilibrium between the two with its recently-launched HD 4.30i. But is it really worth Rs 7,990? We spent some time with the beautiful looking HD 4.30i and here's what we think.

Design Sennheiser HD 4.30i is a pair of closed-back, over-the-ear headphones and looks stunning. It comes in two colour combinations - Black with Grey and White with Gold. The headphones have a very solid plastic construction and don't feel cheap at all. The outer shells of the earcups have two small grilles on the top.The right earcup has a 3.5mm audio jack which is where the 1.4m long audio cable plugs in. The cable comes with an impressive lock feature. Once plugged-in, it can be 'locked' by turning it either left or right a bit. And no matter how much you yank it, you don't have to worry about it coming off. All the primary controls are placed inline on the cable, and these can be used to do everything from handling calls to controlling music playback. The inner cushions of the earcups are made of leather and feel very soft and comfortable. The best part about these is the air-space between the ears and the drivers. The lack of this space can cause the sound to get distorted when it's played at high volumes. The outer side of the headband is made of plastic, while the inner side is rubberized, which is a good thing because even if it gets dirty you can clean it up with a wet cloth. In terms of design and comfort, the Sennheiser HD 4.30i checks all the right boxes. It's a good looking pair of headphones and perfect for using for long hours. It's quite light weight and portable too, thanks to foldable ear-cups and the included carry pouch. Performance Sennheiser HD 4.30i has a frequency response of 18Hz-22,000Hz, which is pretty decent. The bass is punchy enough to make R&B and Hip-Hop music sound good, while the mids and treble are well-synchronized. We used the pair of headphones with FiiO's high-resolution music player and found the audio output to be outstanding. Obviously, that was with lossless quality music. With MP3 songs, there's definitely a little degradation in quality and sound levels.Sennheiser HD 4.30i doesn't have active noise-cancellation but due its leather cushioning, it sits very well on the ears, managing to block the surrounding noise. We listened to some Pink Floyd songs and the vocals sounded really warm. Instruments playing were also audible, but bass output got a little muffled when playing AC/DCsongs. Apart from sound output, handling calls using the headphones worked perfectly. The microphone is placed at just the right location so you don't have to hold it constantly in front of your mouth for talking to someone. Voice output is clear for the most part. Even if there is some disturbance, it's likely to be because of poor network coverage. Verdict At a price of Rs 7,990, Sennheiser HD 4.30i headphones are surely expensive. The headphones are not wireless and also lack noise-cancellation feature, two big misses in this price segment. The sound output too is just about decent, in fact it is no better than what is delivered by many of the lower-end headphones. The selling point for Sennheiser HD 4.30i is its looks and design. The foldable ear-cups make it an ideal companion while travelling. So spending about Rs 8,000 for Sennheiser HD 4.30i is surely not the smartest idea. As for options, buyers can check Bluetooth-powered Skullcandy Hesh 2 wireless headphones which are priced at Rs 6,999.