Sennheiser MX W1 In-Ear Totally Wireless Headphone with Digital High-Fidelity Stereo Sound
by Sennheiser
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List Price: 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 MX W1 In-Ear Totally Wireless Headphone with Digital High-Fidelity Stereo Sound
Customer Review: An innovative product but could improve
Summary: 4 Stars
I have been looking for wireless ear buds for a very long time and I immediately purchased the Sennheiser MX W1 as soon as I found it, justifying that the price of convenience was worth the cost. When I received it I could have sworn the ray of light shone right on the box! Could this be the answer to my prayer? Anxiously, I opened the box and knew immediately that this was high quality stuff. I immediately charged it and after long awaited hours, it finally charged. These are my findings:
SOUND - No doubt about it, the sound is chrystal clear.
NO WIRES BABY! - The hassle of tangled wires and wires catching on something is now only a nightmare!
EQUIPMENT:
TRANSMITTER - very light in weight and surprisingly small. You can go about 15 to 30 feet without losing signal (depending on walls, corners, etc.).
EARPHONES - very light weight, sleek in design. However, they're not made for small ears. I am 5'1" woman and petite in size so everything about me is small. These earphones do stay in my ears - and I can even walk and move about - as long as I don't "bump" them or else they will just fall out. In other words, the ear buds are too big to "lock" in place in my small ears. I have to fuss with them to make sure they somewhat stay in place. If the ear buds were just a little smaller it would be perfect for me. Not recommended for small ears - especially children!
BATTERY AND TRANSMITION - At first the transmitter didn't want to come on but after poking around the DC inlet with the charger then it finally came on. Then I had some trouble having the earphones communicate with the transmitter. But eventually they found each other and haven't had problem since. Sometimes one earphone may only run for a very short time, which is odd (15-20 minutes) but after charging it again (which takes up to couple of hours), then it lasts up to 5 hours. If you use only one earphone at a time, like me, then you should have nothing to worry about as far as charging time goes.
IMPROVEMENTS:
Earphones - Sennheiser should offer different size ear buds (the earphones comes with small, medium and large ear rubber cushions to help secure it in place in between the ear folds but if the ear buds are too big to even go inside the ear opening then the cushions are useless.
Remote capability - It only has an on and off button on the earphones. I just feel that for the price I paid for the MX W1 earphones, it should at least have a pause button so that I don't have to go back to my iPod and rewind where I left off at. Better yet, having a volume, rewind and fast forward control on the earphones would make this product more appealing, even to those who don't believe in spending more on accessories than the iPod itself!
All and all, I think this is a very innovative product and I give Sennheiser a big kudos for becoming the first to come up with this, even before Apple. Sennheiser will more than likely improve its MX W1, hopefully taking into consideration my suggestions for improvements.
UPDATE: Buyers beware of the outragious cost of the replacement batteries! I've enjoyed this product for a year now. The rechargeable batteries are now worn out from both earbuds and maybe the transmitter. No problem, I call Sennheiser to place an order for the batteries. My jaw drops when I discover it's over $17 dollars PER battery (meaning each earbuds need batteries and also the transmitter; a total of 3 batteries!) Yikes! I haven't been able to find any other stores or on-line sites that offers this type of battery. It's lithium-ion rechargeable button cell 40 mAh, 3.7 VDC.
Customer Review: Not worth the extra Premium
Summary: 1 Stars
Well i did enjoy using this, but only for audio
Since this isnt bluetooth (i could almost swear it was bluetooth compatible) i need to use that huge nasty "dongle" on my ipod touch. Its great, though only when listen to audio since the earbuds are small and comfortable. But once i try to use video, it becomes very inconvenient and uncomfortable to use because not only is there a wire sticking out the side of the ipod, making it impossible to hold comfortably but I end up having to hold that dongle in my hand since it is so huge that i'm afraid that it might break the gold tip connection due to its own weight by leaving the dongle to dangle freely.
It comes with a strap, that fits nicely into a groove on the dongle, so you can keep it attached to you mp3 player, unfortunately for us non-$50-mp3-player users, we have a screen to worry about where we plan watch our videos and that strap will only get in the way
well now that i got that out of the way, i can being to describe my problems...
i used this only for audio, like stated earlier, and the other day i was at home depot and my right bud cut off... i figured it was something i did somehow and put both buds back in their case so they can reset themselves and re-paired it with the dongle and it worked fine again. Then the next time i used it, a few days later, i was going to the doctor's office and it cut off again. I tried to fix this while waiting for the doctor and it worked, then cut off within a minute or so. In the 25 minutes i was waiting to be called, i could not listen to a single song since i was busy fixing it only to have it fail again (got it to work twice, but only for a minute or so each time). After i left the doctor's office i went to walgreens (for my prescriptions) and tried again to see if there was anything i can do, but i don't think i was lucky that time. I was there maybe 15 minutes and never got the right earbud to connect again.
I didnt pay $500 for to be pissed off at a failing product. This was going to be a christmas present, but since the first (original) pair i bought also had problems (with sound quality) i figured it wouldnt do to give an expensive present to someone and have them end up being dissapointed thinking it was some cheap product that i had grabbed for them
Customer Review: Helpful Hints
Summary: 5 Stars
I was disappointed in my earbuds at first, because I couldn't get a good fit, and I discovered that the manual is totally inadequate in this regard.
The "secret" for me was to twist the buds backwards (instead of forward) and "catch" the rim of the "bowl" of my ear. The fit is now snug and secure, I can even use the toilet standing up without fear of them dropping in, hahaha.
The other issue I had was I thought I had a pairing problem because the left bud would "cut out" in about 15 minutes. I tried all the re-pairing techniques, and no joy.
What I discovered is that the left battery was no good. It wouldn't hold a charge, and I noticed it stayed lit in the cradle after the other bud charged and its light went out.
I contacted "Eric" at Sennheiser USA, and he immediately sent me a replacement battery by first class mail. Didn't have to register and go through all the normal RMA hassles like other companies.
The customer service experience was personal, and felt like I had my own concierge at Sennheiser.
5 thumbs up to Eric at Sennheiser USA!
As far as sound quality goes, GiGo applies here. f you "groom" your mp3's with "MP3 Gain" (free), to set the playback gain tag to the area of 91db, the MX's will leap into crystal clear optimum sound quality mode.
For you audiophiles out there (like me), playback gain adjuustment DOES NOT introduce clipping when applied properly, and will eliminate clipping as well.
Many of the Amazon MP3's are clipping already because they know that many portable devices, like iPod, have low level audio output, and that most customers would rather have max volume even with some clipping.
MP3 Gain will fix this, and you will be much happier with your SennBuds. Anyone that needs help with this can e-mail me, and I can go into more detail.
Customer Review: Sound like wired headphones!
Summary: 4 Stars
These headphones sound fantastic! They produce a well balanced sound across a wide frequency. Bass, mid range and treble all sound excellent. I haven't heard any distortion. Kleer definitely produces a crisp, clear sound and the headphones allow you to hear an incredible level of detail. I would have thought these were wired if I tested these blindfolded. Operation is simple. Activate the headphones, then activate the transmitter and you have sound!
There's quite a bit of innovation in one package. The transmitter is very small. About half the size of a gum package. It comes with a rubber band to strap it to a MP3 player. If you are in a clear space, you can walk quite a distance away from the transmitter. I was able to get 40 feet away without the audio cutting out. If you walk around walls or corners, it may cut out but if you are directly across, above or below the transmitter, through a wall, it comes in perfectly clear.
Twist to fit works fairly nice and the headphones feel comfortable. You may have problems jostling them loose if you have any jarring movements like running, but seems to handle walking on a treadmill quite well.
The transmitter can last for 10 hours on a single charge, the manual says the headphones last for 3 hours but I have had them run for up to 5 hours. You can charge the headphones in the charging dock three times while on the go but charging the headphones alone can take around several hours, plus or minus, depending on how run down they are. Battery life and charge time is the only true downside aside from the early adopter price.
Pros: Sound amazing, remote charging, comfortable.
Cons: Battery life, cost.
Customer Review: Excellent. Not perfect, but worth the money for me...
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought these for use in the car. (Yes, I know you're not supposed to wear headphones while driving, but I decided that this is daft. You can legally conduct a conversation but not listen to music through a bluetooth headset? Ridiculous. Talking is more distracting and thus more dangerous to yourself and others. As for the emergency vehicle argument, I usually listen to my music loud enough with my normal car speakers that I sometimes don't hear the sirens on an ambulance, police car or fire truck until they are close by, and that is perfectly legal)
The sound quality is definitely up to Sennheiser standards for this type of earphone. That is to say, they are as good as all the other types I have ever tried, and that is a lot. I have some $400 in-ear earbuds (Shure E5c) that are better, predominantly in the bass tones, but that is, in my opinion, mostly because they are right inside my ear canal!
I also have some very good traditional cans, including the Grado SR225 and SR80, and those are also better, of course, but then they sit outside the ear and have much larger drivers, so they really ought to be.
Bottom line for me is the audio is truly CD quality, and I can wear these in the car without fear of being pulled over - they look just like the wireless bluetooth headsets so many people have these days. I can also wear them in the gym and they won't fall out. I am very happy with them. If there was a Kleer in-ear earbud, I would get that in a second, as that would offer improved bass, but otherwise I would say these are as good as you could possibly ask for given there form factor. Good job Sennheiser.