Stereo - Over-the-head - MPN: PXC250
Strengths: Comfortable, gets rid of most background noise, and fold up into a compact case.
Weakness: Can't handle some of the higher frequency noise on an airplane, probably related to the small size of the ear cups. The inline, 2 AAA battery pack, is a little cumbersom.
These headphones provide good performance for a price that didn't put a hurting on my wallet. They were a good choice over the very pricey Bose ones. You'll need a pair with larger ear cups to enjoy a totally isolated feeling.
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TopStrengths: Small package, easily portable, noise isolation is very good.
Weakness: A little pricey.
I wasn't willing to spring the bucks for the PXC 300, and am completely satisfied with this purchase. I don't feel that I had to sacrifice anything quality-wise. Haven't used the product long enough to comment on battery life.
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TopStrengths: Very good at canceling low frequency background noise, good sound quality, comfortable, light, easy to sleep while using, folds into a portable, compact size, thoughtfully designed carrying case.
Weakness: Large, clumsy battery case. On-ear design may be a bother to some who are used to over-the-ear type.
I tried noise canceling headphones by Bose, Sony, Panasonic and Sennheiser prior to purchasing the PXC 250. The Bose and Sennheiser are nearly equal in performance to my ears and clearly the best of this group with the first a bit better due, perhaps, to it's over-the-ear design. This configuration provides a high degree of insulation from the environment regardless of the Bose's ability to cancel extraneous noise. At the time of my purchase, Amazon had a $99 sale price on the Sennheiser. The Bose website had their headphones at $299 with a bonus CD player. In the end, frugality won out and I chose the PXC 250.
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TopStrengths: Very portable. Effective noise cancellation. Great sound quality with noise cancellation on.
Weakness: Battery/noise cancellation circuitry pod is cumbersome. Sound quality without noise cancellation is poor.
I must say that I am impressed and I like these Sennheiser PXC250 Noise Canceling Headphones.
About a year ago, I actually purchased the Bose QuietComfort 2 Acoustic Noise Canceling Headphones. They were nice but I had several issues with them. 1) they are $299. 2) they are somewhat bulky and were not comfortable to wear for extended periods of time. 3) they did not have a flat frequency response, they boosted the base too much. 4) did I mention that they are $299. Bottom Line, I liked the novelty of the noise cancellation but I have a set of 20 year old AKG studio headphones that I paid $150 for that reproduce the sound much more accurately and are more comfortable to wear for extended periods. I could not justify spending $299 for the noise cancellation alone, so I returned them under Bose’s 30 policy.
Enter, Sennheiser PXC250 Noise Canceling Headphones. These are small, comfortable (wore them for 2 hours in the plane), sound great with the noise cancellation circuitry turned on, and priced right ($85 from Amazon). They come with a nifty zippered carry pouch, dual-mono airline adaptor, and 1/8” to 1/4” plug adaptor. The battery/noise cancellation circuitry pod is somewhat cumbersome, but it is certainly manageable. It has a clip on it so you can put it in a shirt pocket or on your belt. The only truly negative comment I have is that without the noise cancellation turned on, they just plain sound poor, so plan on using the noise cancellation all the time and on long trips, carry a couple of spare AAA batteries.
For $85 (compared to the $299 Bose), these are a no brainer. I would make the purchase again.
Addendum: I used these this past weekend to do my lawn. With both the weed whacker and the mower, they made a significant difference. They cut the equipment noise to a level that allowed me to listen to talk radio & music at a reasonable level instead of just cranking it up to drown out the noise of the weed whacker/mower.
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TopStrengths: Small, compact folding design. Excellent sound quality. 2 year warranty. Ability to use as stand-alone headphones (without noise cancelling function).
Weakness: Extra module for batteries and electronics. Included pouch had zippers sewn on opposite sides. Would be nice if the plug was angled rather than straight.
I purchased these headphones to help deal with the noise of the bus and train I take to work. They are outstanding! The bus engine sound is reduced to that of a quiet car and the train now sounds like the quiet whoosh of a jet aircraft. I can now also hear the music or news without turning my player up so loud as to injure my ears. The folding design makes them very compact and easy to store in my shirt or jacket pocket. The extra module for the batteries and electronics is unfortunate, but at 1/3 the cost of the Bose, these headphones are a superior value. I purchased these at Amazon for $89 + free shipping.
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TopStrengths: Portable, easy to use, good sound
Weakness: Noise cancellation introduces some distortion into music
I use the PXC250 together with an Apple I-pod for travel on planes. Without noise cancellation (NC) I find it impossible to listen to music on transport. I listen mostly to classical music, and the dynamic range is such that background nois makes the pianissimo inaudible, and the tutti unbearable. NC makes the music enjoyable, but introduces a certain leve of distortion, a kind of digital coarsening of the sound. In quiet hotelrooms the sound of the PCX250 without NC is much better. On the (noisy)move the NC is essential to being able to listen at all. I couldn't do without.
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TopStrengths: Light, portable, comfortable, inexpensive.
Weakness: Battery/noise reduction module on cord is clumsy.
I wanted comfortable, portable headphones to travel with and to listen to music on my computer at night - noise reduction a plus for the traveling portion. These fit the bill. They're small, light and comfortable - kind of a mix between closed and over-the ear headphones, with electronic noise reduction built in. eCost had them on sale for $69.95 (albeit with outrageous shipping and handling of $25.00 to overnight them to Hawaii - no other shipping options - but even with shipping added in, still a deal compared to other vendors). I wouldn't call them audiophile quality, but then I'm not an audiophile. They're clearly better than a pair of cheap earbuds and will be a snap to carry on a a trip.
The battery/noise reduction module is in the middle of the cord, which is kind of clumsy - there is a clip to snap it on a belt but I can foresee it getting in the way, for example, in an airplane seat.
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TopStrengths: Noise reduction, comfort.
Weakness: Cumbersome to fold. No intrinsic volume adjustment.
Very comfortable and with excellent noise reduction. Worked great on a plane as well as at home. Adjusts for fit very easily. No intrinsic volume adjustment like some Sony models. Can be tricky to fold and store in its puch.
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TopStrengths: Portability, comfort, decent noise reduction, sound, price
Weakness: I like the protection of the PX 200's hard case better than the soft carrying case of the PXC 250.
PXC 250 offers a pretty good compromise between the sound reduction of closed headphones and the portability of open ones. I use the phones with my camcorder, but the wire between the battery adapter and the jack is not long enough to allow you to clip the adapter to your belt and set the camcorder on the ground. No one else may use it this way, but it bugs me.
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TopStrengths: comfortable ear pieces, not bulky, reasonable price
Weakness: none
These headphones are great. They fit comfortable on my ears and create a good seal. They are a little tight at first, but have started to loosen up. I also lke that they are compact and fit in the nice little pouch that comes with them.
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TopStrengths: Excellent noise cancellation features
Weakness: No major weaknesses
A few months ago I started taking monthly flights across the country. So, I started bringing along DVDs to watch on the plane. With my normal (admittedly cheap) headphones, I could barely hear the dialogue, and with the volume cranked I knew I was putting my ears through a trauma. I shopped around for noise cancelling headphones, and would not pay the price for the Bose. These seemed decent, and affordable.
Now I can't fly without them. On the plane I can watch DVDs with the sound at a normal level, and hear everything clearly. Even when I'm not watching DVDs, but just working on the computer, I'll usually keep the headphones on. Even without the active noise cancelling feature on, they seem to block quite a lot of the airplane noise, yet still enable me to hear the flight attendants. Your ears may vary -- mine are on the large size, and they are reasonably comfortable to wear for a 2-3 hour stretch.
I am not a serious music listener, so I cannot comment on the full sound quality of the headphones. If you are buying headphones to block noise from the plane (or the lawnmower, or even the vacuum), these do a very good job, at less than half the cost of the Bose.
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TopStrengths: small lightweight...good sound quality
Weakness: Fragile for everyday use...
The sound quality of these headphones are definitely a "cut-above" the average ear phones. I've used them to listen to my ipod and the sound was great. The noise counseling system is also good. There's a small pack that houses the batteries for the head-set. It could use some volume controls. While the construction is better than other mobile headphones I have purchased, I suspect it could be a little sturdier for "every-day" use.
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TopStrengths: Noise cancelling works great. Comfortable and efficient.
Weakness: The battery holder is a bit inconvenient, but I didn't find it to be a big inconvenience since it swivels. Sounds a lot better in N/C mode.
I would recommend the PCX250's to anyone who travels and wants to save a $100 or more over the Bose. They are comfortable, convenient and easy to use. The noise cancelling feature worked very well despite the style to be "on the ear" vs. over the ear. I used two alkaline batteries (a national pharmacy brand) for about 7.5 hrs. and they haven't gone dead yet. The bass response sounds much better with noise cancelling on. I'm not sure if it's because of the excellent noise cancelling feature or if the feature itself boosts bass. Although the battery compartment is a tiny bit awkward, I wouldn't use that as an excuse to save money over the Bose. It wasn't a problem in a side or shirt pocket. My ears didn't sweat, the N/C worked great and the batteries didn't go dead in 2 hours. A definite thumbs up.
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TopStrengths: Comfortable, lightweight, effective noise cancellation
Weakness: none
This is my second set. Bought this pair for my wife. She tried mine on a flight to Fla and she liked them so much that I knew she would love a pair of her own. PS...I wanted mine back! Very functional, fold up nicely in the carrying case. Would recommend to a friend.
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TopStrengths: music fidelity at low volume levels
Weakness: very weak bass, poor sound isolation
I've been a huge fan of Sennheiser since I bought the HD414 in the '70s, and I currently own both the HD580 and HD570. I got interested in noise-cancelling headphones a few years back and have tried several models. I tried the PXC250 after using similar models from other manufacturers. I concluded that the PXC250 suffers from critical design flaws, and returned them promptly.
Sennheiser evidently created the PXC250 from an existing on-the-ear portable model, the PX100. The diaphragm in the PX100 is evidently a special design that was concieved specifically for use in an open-air headphone. The PXC250 has a sealed back, and even though that significantly improves the sound isolation, it is possible that this is the explanation for the weak bass response of the PXC250. Whatever the actual explanation, the bottom line is that the bass response of the PXC250 is unusually weak. Moreover, whereas with most small headphones you can compensate by turning up the bass volume at the source, this doesn't work with the PXC250, because all that will do is cause the diaphragm to distort. The bass volume level, at which distortion becomes distracting occurs at a significantly lower bass volume than any other headphone of similar overall size that I have experienced. In this respect, it is more comparable to those tiny in-the-ear speakers. In fact, the sound of the PXC250 is probably more comparable overall to typical in-the-ear speakers than it is to other on-the-ear headphones of similar size. This is not consistent with the reputation of the PX100, but using the same driver in both an open-air design and a sealed-back design will certainly produce very different results.
If you want a small, portable headset with active cancellation, you might consider the in-the-ear designs, although many people find them uncomfortable. If you want a decent on-the-ear portable headphone that does a good job at noise cancellation, and you don't mind the remote module, I suggest trying the inexpensive Panasonic HP-HC70, which works about as well as any on-the-ear noise cancelling headphone is likely to work, and you can buy them for about $30. I have used them on airplanes and was surprised at how effective they were at reducing the engine drone. They sounded quite good and were comfortable as well.
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TopStrengths: Good quality sounds, compact, and easy to store away
Weakness: very little noise reduction white noise heard when the device is powered on inconvenience extra additional noise canceling device
Wanted to have a good noise cancellation headphone for air travel. Liked the price, but found that this is definitely not for air travel as its noise reduction is quite minimum even the noise cancellation device is powered on. The headphone is fairly comfortable to wear.
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TopStrengths: Design
Weakness: Difficult to fold. Eccentric and impractical battery compartment. Low sound effect.
In comparison the "Sony" MDR-NC5 is very easy to fold and is built with a very elegant "one"battery compartment.Most important:Sennheiser's device is only made to listen to pop
music,because of his poor dynamic range.To listen to classical music when you're flying it is quite impossible,because the "pianissimi" of an orchestra are inaudible.On the contrary Sony's engineers had overelaborate
this problem by increasing volume when switching the canceling button. I recognize that this is unhortodox and
a little bit tricky,but it works very properly.
Harshoshan(Brussels)
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Earphones are often thought of as a minor accessory supplied with MP3 players and nothing more. And yet your earphones are your interface with the music, and thus directly responsible for the quality of the sound you hear and the pleasure you get out of listening.
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Testseek.com has collected 16 expert reviews for Sennheiser PXC 250 and the average expert rating is 78 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use Testseek.com to see all ratings, product awards and conclusions.
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(PXC250 Noise Canceling Headphone)
Strengths: Great sound, easy on the ears, and a nice storage case.
Weakness: You have to get use to folding up the headphones.
A very good buy for the quality and sound. I liked them so much I purchased a second pair. I have a portable DVD player and use the headphones alot with this item, the player has two jacks and makes it nice for two people to enjoy watching a movie using the noise canceling feature.
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