I work at an office where I need to be able to listen to my surroundings, make plenty of Skype calls.
I wanted a headphone that has all the above features + having good audio quality so i can enjoy my music while coding.
This headset meets the above expectations and above, and even tough they are labeled as gaming they don't look hideous like most other gaming headsets do.
The open back design means that you will hear outside voices (which I wanted), but they hardly leak any sound so your peers won't be able to listen to whatever you're listening to.
they are very comfortable and I happily use them for hours at a time.
they also sound really nice! bass is punchy and accurate, pretty good separation and overall great sound quality for the price.
They are all plastic, but build quality is really good, they don't feel cheap
I am really impressed with Sennheiser with the quality of this headset for the price, so much that i Just purchased the HD58X Jubilee for myself :-)