Sennheiser CX 300S Bass-Driven Lightweight In-Ear Headphone
by Sennheiser
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Our Price: $58.55 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sennheiser CX 300S Bass-Driven Lightweight In-Ear Headphone
Customer Review: Great Value for Money. Good sound isolation
Summary: 4 Stars
CX-300 is one of the latest products in Sennheiser's wide line of headphones. Its raison d'etre is 'ambient noise attenuation' in Sennheiser's words. Of course they are meant to be used with portable devices and do just fine at that.
Exactly how good is the noise attenuation?
Sennheiser says 'excellent', but surely you would want a more unbiased opinion. The noise attenuation is certainly good enough. I have tried them in the Athens Underground Railway (Metro). It is so noisy when the train moves, that with common closed headphones, it is impossible to hear the music at a volume that won't impair your hearing. With the CX-300 a lot of the noise is shut out, so you can enjoy your music at a reasonable volume. Another measure of comparison is that you can't hear a person that is near you speak, unless they shout. That is what these headphones were meant to do.
If you don't want or simply don't need noise reduction, you can buy just as good or even better headphones at a cheaper price. For example Sennheiser's PX and HD series, and AKG's K24 and K26.
Obviously for this price you can't buy high fidelity. The sound quality is up to Sennheiser's standards of course. I am using these with my Sony HD-5 mp3 player and haven't got any complaints. When I am not in the subway I usually go with Sennheiser's PX-200. I haven't made a real head to head comparison, but I think they are more or less a match on sound quality. So obviously, you can get better sound at home with quality speakers or quality bulky headphones.
These headpones don't silence everything. If you want that you can try 'active noise reduction' headphones (Bose, Sennheiser, AKG), but the active noise reduction process introduces artificial artifacts into the sound and the headphone are a bit expensive. You can also try Shure's or Etymotics passive noise reduction headphones which are a 'professional' choice (you can remove the quotation marks for Shure);they were (initially) meant for artists on stage. But you have to pay a hefty price tag for those.
So to sum up, if you want something which 1)shuts out unwanted noise 2)gives quite good sound quality, and 3) doesn't feel like wearing a helmet, these are an excellent choice at their price.
If you can pay more, you can get more in at least two of the three criteria.
Customer Review: Great Value for Money. Good sound isolation
Summary: 4 Stars
CX-300 is one of the latest products in Sennheiser's wide line of headphones. Its raison d'etre is 'ambient noise attenuation' in Sennheiser's words. Of course they are meant to be used with portable devices and do just fine at that.
Exactly how good is the noise attenuation?
Sennheiser says 'excellent', but surely you would want a more unbiased opinion. The noise attenuation is certainly good enough. I have tried them in the Athens Underground Railway (Metro). It is so noisy when the train moves, that with common closed headphones, it is impossible to hear the music at a volume that won't impair your hearing. With the CX-300 a lot of the noise is shut out, so you can enjoy your music at a reasonable volume. Another measure of comparison is that you can't hear a person that is near you speak, unless they shout. That is what these headphones were meant to do.
If you don't want or simply don't need noise reduction, you can buy just as good or even better headphones at a cheaper price. For example Sennheiser's PX and HD series, and AKG's K24 and K26.
Obviously for this price you can't buy high fidelity. The sound quality is up to Sennheiser's standards of course. I am using these with my Sony HD-5 mp3 player and haven't got any complaints. When I am not in the subway I usually go with Sennheiser's PX-200. I haven't made a real head to head comparison, but I think they are more or less a match on sound quality. So obviously, you can get better sound at home with quality speakers or quality bulky headphones.
These headpones don't silence everything. If you want that you can try 'active noise reduction' headphones (Bose, Sennheiser, AKG), but the active noise reduction process introduces artificial artifacts into the sound and the headphone are a bit expensive. You can also try Shure's or Etymotics passive noise reduction headphones which are a 'professional' choice (you can remove the quotation marks for Shure);they were (initially) meant for artists on stage. But you have to pay a hefty price tag for those.
So to sum up, if you want something which 1)shuts out unwanted noise 2)gives quite good sound quality, and 3) doesn't feel like wearing a helmet, these are an excellent choice at their price.
If you can pay more, you can get more in at least two of the three criteria.
Customer Review: Great sounding headphone for under $[...]
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been researching headphones for a few months before I actually purchased this item back in September, because I didn't know too much about headphones. After having these headphones for a few months, I have purchased some upper end Sennheisers to compliment these, but those have a open sound that may be distracting to others. I am a college student who uses these when I am in the library or if I want to listen to things with slightly more bass, while I use my other high end headphones in my room. I use these when I lift (not great for running because, if you try putting your index fingers in your ears, then rub the back of your fingers with your middle fingers, you can see what I mean.)
The asymmetrical cord to many, seems dumb and useless. But what those people don't know is that the longer part of the cord is meant to go behind your head, around your neck, so that if you would take off the headphones, they won't fall off. I actually didn't know this until I saw a reader review on cnet. I actually prefer this style cord over the normal, after I figured out it's purpose.
On to sound quality, these are very nice sounding headphones that sound even better after break in. The cushions are ESSENTIAL to actually getting the right amount of bass. I personally use the smallest cups, because my canals are a bit small. The highest notes may seem a little distant at times, but you don't notice it unless you really think about it. The bass truly is amazing, and has more of a thud than a boom. So if you like rap, you probably would prefer other bass heavy headphones. The mids are very clear, and I never really hear any harsh notes except at unhealthy volumes.
I use a 5th generation Ipod video 30gb, and I usually have my volume right around half, and I don't use an EQ. I have a logitech 5.1 surround sound system, which I have my Ipod hooked up too, and I usually have the volume over 3/4 full, but only if I want more bass.
Overall, these are great headphones for under $[...], and are highly recommended at any highly reputable headphone site around the internet, like [...]. The sound is equivalent to the Shure e2c's, but doesn't need to be shoved far into your ear. And remember that the cord is purposely made at different lengths to be worn differently, and is a very useful design.
Customer Review: Excellent value, good sound quality, wimpy cabling
Summary: 4 Stars
After researching and testing many different earbuds to replace the OEM earphones on my Samsumg T9, I bought the CX-300's for 3 reasons. 1. I have a pair of Sennheiser HD 515's that I have found to be excellent quality budget headphones for home theatre use. 2. Good reviews from many sources (C-net, CC website, amazon, etc.) 3. An excellent price, on sale at Amazon for less than $40 delivered to door.
The CX-300's are small and light and once set up with appropriate sized earplugs, the sound isolation is excellent. (I have 3 young grandchildren living with us at present and can block out their sounds of playing and TV w/o difficulty during my afternoon snooze.) The comfort level is very high and I can wear them for hours at a time w/o discomfort. The cabling seems to be a bit wimpy, some people have claimed noice transfer through the cables, I have not experienced it yet, however, I am not running while wearing them.
As far as sound quality is concerned, the Senns were a compromise somewhat. There are better sounding earbuds out there, but all are in the $100 plus level, too rich for my blood. (My Samsung T9 was only $85)The buds have excellent bass response. The mids seem a bit muddy at times, especially with some blues numbers (the bass seems to overwhelm the mids, can be compensated for somewhat with the T9's EQ). Treble is pretty well reproduced, but can sound slightly tinny at times (possibly more related to the quality of the MP3 recording). One thing that is essential is to allow the CX-300's time to break in, sound got better over a period of 10-15 hours. My beefs are picky, for $40 these Sennheiser CX-300's are a great bargain.
Overall I would have paid $50.00 and still felt I got a good deal with these CX-300's. I cannot comment on durability as I have only had the Senns for a short time, however, my previous experience with Sennheiser products has been a positive one. I believe that if you are looking for a good quality budget set of earbuds you can't go wrong with the Sennheiser CX-300's and can recommend them to anyone on a budget, but not happy with their OEM earphones.
Customer Review: Very good but not exceptional earphones
Summary: 4 Stars
I ordered these earphones based mainly on the many online reviews that are here at Amazon particularly where "excellent" bass response is concerned (in the reviews). A word of caution, the packaging is a real pain to remove the earphones from. I almost broke one of the earphones trying to get them out of the packaging. Pack your lunch, it's going to take a while. I was looking for some really lightweight earphones with exceptional bass response as well as clean "High" & "Midrange" sound reproduction. I was actually disappointed in the performance of these earphones. I would give them only a 3.5 star rating but that is not a choice here. They are in fact very light weight and do fit comfortably in my ears. There is a potential problem here, however, in that they block out almost ALL outside sounds. That is great if you want to be completely removed from your outside surroundings while listening to your music but is very annoying if you have someone trying to talk to you from time to time and you are constantly having to remove one of them to hear what is being said. It could also be dangerous if you are driving down the road and can't hear what is going on in the background around you. Also, anything that touches the cords going to the earphones is heard as a very annoying and loud scuffing sound. It can be very bothersome! The High" and "Midrange" sound reproduction is very clean and crisp. The BASS response is there but in my opinion is not nearly as good as what I was expecting after reading all of the reviews here. It is somewhat muddy and "distant" (in the background) on most mp3's I have listened to compared to a superb set of over the ear headphones I have been using. Bottom line, if you are looking for an average set of earphones that are light weight and comfortable with very good "middle of the road" performance, you will probably like these earphones. If you are looking for really thumping heavy duty bass response to go along with clean upper and midrange performance, its not there. They are probably worth what Amazon is selling them for but not a penny more.