Sennheiser CX300 Studio Earbuds Review

I love music, ever since I was little. If I don’t have mp3s paying on my pc, then the radio is on all day. I drive alot in my daily work, so music in my car is very important, too.

There is another thing that I value above the music and that sound quality. I hate having to listen to music without some depth; some nice clarity to be able to hear every stroke and glide cross the strings of a guitar, and the pounding bass drum of a rock song. Of course I take my music with me wherever I go on my mp3 player, but I want something better than the average headphones you get with a media player.

Now the CX300 is the first and currently only in-ear (or ear canal) headphones Sennheiser makes. Let’s find out of their in-ear products are up to spec.

General Description
The CX 300 pink are high-quality stereo ear-canal headphones with powerful, bass-driven stereo sound for listening ‘on the move’. Ear adapters in three different sizes ensure a perfect fit, high wearing comfort and an excellent attenuation of ambient noise. The CX 300 are ideal for use with MP3, CD, MD, or DVD players and many other portable devices.

	Sennheiser CX300 features & specifications specification description Features Powerful, bass-driven stereo sound Perfect fit in the ear canal due to ear adapters in different sizes (included in the delivery) Excellent attenuation of ambient noise Extremely small and lightweight Ideal for use with all MP3, CD, DVD, MD players and portable game systems with 3.5 mm headphone sockets Asymmetrical cable 2-year warranty Technical Data Frequency response 18Hz – 21kHz Cable length Asymmetrical, L: 170 mm; R: 510 mm, (850 mm divider to plug) Impedance 16 Ohm Sound pressure level (SPL) 112 dB (1 kHz, 1 Vrms) Jack plug 3,5 mm stereo (angled) Ear coupling intramural (ear canal fit) Transducer principle dynamic, open

Now that we have the technical mumbojumbo left behind, let’s talk about the sound and feeling.

The feel of the product and the quality it represents is prefect, as was expected from a proper Sennheiser product. Included with the headphones are 3 different sizes of earplugs to ensure a snug fit within your ear canal. I recommend you try a few different sizes and walk around with them for a while to see if you get any discomfort. If so, you can easily swap them out for a different pair. Remember that your ears aren’t exact copies of each other so one ear is always slightly different form and size so it’s perfectly normal to end up with one plug a little bigger than the other.

Comfort-wise if you’re not used to in-ear headphones you might have to get used to it. When you first plug them in your head they feels like you suddenly changed altitude (like driving in mountains with pressure differences as u climb or decline) but that will go away in 3 seconds. Do note that these are not headphones to chew bubblegum with, as you will feel the earplugs if you feel like cow chewing her cud.

One of the leads towards the right ear is longer so you can lay the cord behind your neck. The cords themselves (and the entire headphone) are so light so you won’t even feel them on your neck, and if you wear the headphones for a while you’ll almost forget you are wearing them. The cord itself is made of a silicone type of plastic, so it is not regular speaker wire, but a light-weight, soft and flexible material. Then again this also feels a little more vulnerable to breaking from straining the cord, but with normal use I don’t see that happening.

As for sound quality, Sennheiser claims they have “Powerful, bass-driven stereo sound” and they’re not lying either! If you’re a bass freak then you can’t go wrong with these headphones. To be honest, I like a little bass in my music, but on some audio players the bass boost function (or whatever fantastic “lets-fubar-your-sound” button it has) might go over the top. However, these headphones have no problem producing copious amounts of bass, and it really adds dimension to your music, but some might want to disable that particular button ;)

Also a player with an equalizer comes in handy here as well.

My taste of music is very broad. I like everything from metal to classical (except R&B: I just can’t stand that sound violating my ears), and these headphones have no problem dealing with all of them. I know sound is very personal, and what I like or decline to quality others might think in reverse; but from my experience the CX300 can cope with all types of music and really bring out subtle differences in sounds (like the sweeping of the fingers over a guitar string just sounds so much better).

Different with these in-ears is that the outside world won’t hear the sound smashing out of your ears. Go sit in public transport and you can almost sing a long and count the number of hi-hats in a minute ;). Public annoyance won’t be a problem with them as they do keep the music in your ear, and for that matter you don’t have to turn up the volume on your music player as any music already comes through loud and clear.

Another feature to the headphones is that they insulate the outside world from your music, in such a way it becomes hard to listen to a person without any music playing, so you can enjoy your music to the max. On a side note don’t wear them when riding/driving a car or bike as you won’t hear the outside noises anymore. Although it protects you from the noise outside, it is very susceptible to wind shear so using them in a windy situation isn’t the best idea, but if you’re just sitting outside reading a book you should be just fine.

Now I know these aren’t professional in-ear headphones like ones from Sure but the price is also not as stupid as the professional in-ear monitors. The Sennheiser CX300 will set you back around 50 to 70 dollars depending where you buy them, witch is an awful lot of sound and quality for the money. And you can choose from 4 colors, Silver Black White and Purple (for the ladies).

Needles to say I cannot find a single flaw in these headphones. The only thing Sennheiser could have added to the set is a storage case for the headphones and fitting plugs.

	REPORT CARD : Sennheiser CX300 Studio Earbuds category rating comments Quality 5 high-quality ear-canal headphones with comfortable insulating plugs. Innovation 5 In-ear plugs AND professional sound? Totally! Performance 5 These mini phones deliver better bass and crisper highs than larger headsets. Installation 5 Very comfortable, and snug enough that they don’t pop out easily. Value 5 The CX300 can be had for $50 to $70, which is a steal for this quality. FINAL VERDICT: Perfect