Customer Reviews

Sennheiser PXC 250 II Collapsible Noise-Canceling Headphones

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This is my second pair of these lightweight noise-canceling headphones, which should tell you how much I liked the first set. I use them for travel, especially long plane rides to and from Europe.

PROS: (1) Light weight and portability. When I travel, minimizing weight and space is very important, and these featherweight headphones are perfect for those of us who find ear buds annoying. I wore them for 9 straight hours on a flight back from France and they never hurt my ears or felt heavy. By contrast, when I've worn the Bose on transatlantic flights (American Airlines loans you a set if you fly business class), I can't go more than about 3 hours before they start to feel uncomfortable. (2) Low price -- less than half the cost of the price-controlled Bose. (3) They work just fine (only without the noise canceling) if the battery dies. (4) The new ones have a small volume control on the battery compartment which I found very helpful on a long flight.

CONS: Their light weight makes them a bit delicate. They must be folded and unfolded with care -- don't get them for your teenaged son. If he sits on them, they can break. My son has a pair of Panasonic noise-canceling ear buds that work almost as well as the Sennheisers and he has been unable to break them (yet).

MATTER OF PERSONAL PREFERENCE: They don't cancel as much noise as the Bose. Personally, I find the Bose a bit eerie because they cut you off from all ambient sound, which is not the way one normally listens to music. I prefer the Sennheiser because, when I am waiting for my plane, I can usually still hear the announcement that the gate has changed or they are beginning boarding. I guess if you want a "home theater" experience with huge bass sounds swirling around while Vin Diesel blows stuff up, get the Bose. If you listen to music, get the Sennheiser.

I give it 5 stars for portability and technology, and 4 stars for music quality (bass a bit thin) and its slightly flimsy construction, but they won't let me post a 4 1/2 star rating.

At half the price of the Bose on ear headphones there is no good reason that I can imagine for buying anything but the Sennheisers. Aside from being much more friendly to the wallet, here's why you should get these:

- Sound reproduction is excellent
- They continue playback after the battery dies, unlike the Bose headphones
- Lightweight and compact
- Noise cancelling is excellent

This is my second set of Sennheisers. I bought the PXC 250 set in 2007 and have now upgraded to the PXC 250-II after managing to leave the first set somewhere in an airport. I travel about 100,000 miles a year and these have been a godsend both for listening to music and surviving my plane flights without headache and stress.

This is my third Sennheiser headphone set (lost one). The first two were the 250 model which requires two batteries rather than the one required by the 250 II model. I cannot tell any difference in the noise cancelling feature between the two models. They both do a good job, although not quite as good as the more expensive, well-known brands. But they do well and they are better on the other features -- compactness, particularly. The 250 II has a volume control feature on the smaller battery compartment, which is handy. Either model works in a quiet environment without the noise cancellation turned on, a big plus compared to those other brands that don't. The combination of price, design and effectiveness in cancelling noise will keep me from ever spending twice the amount on other sets that may be slightly better on noise cancellation, but not as good on all other features. By the way, I use the headphones mostly for airline travel, of which I do a lot.

I recently bought these as a replacement to my broken Jabra C820s noise cancelling headphones.

Pros: Very compact. Very lightweight. Built in volume knob useful for quiet places where minimum volume on the media player is too loud. Seem quite durable, certainly more so than the Jabra C820s which had design flaw in the quality of plastic used.

Cons: Clamp head too tight. High level of white noise. Average noise cancelling capabilities.

These will be very good for travelling due to their very compact nature and light weight, however I find they clamp my head too tight, putting pressure on my skull just in front of the ears, making the area ache and uncomfortable. The light weight nature is great for comfort, it's just a shame they had to make them clamp so tight. I find I cannot wear them for more than about 30 minutes before needing to rest form the pressure on my head.

Compared to my much cheaper Jabra C820s headphones the sound quality of these is about the same, worse in some situations and better in others. They seem to have nice tone range but worse base performance. The noise cancelling of the Sennheiser set does not seem as good as the Jabra. Voices, airconditioning, typing are all more audible through the Sennheiser than the cheap Jabra. The comparison is not apples to apples due to the Jabra being fully enclosed over-the-ear style vs the Sennheiser which are smaller sitting on the ear.

I purchased the Sennheiser PXC 250 II's on a trip to Europe. I own Bose but I like to pack light. I have traveled to China, Europe, and across the US this year. With limits on baggage, carting extra stuff is no longer convenient. You can't really compare these to Bose because they are geared to be portable where the Bose are only marginally so. With the case the Sennheisers are about 1/3rd the volume of the Bose.
Since the Sennheisers do not completely enclose the ear, they do not provide full noise cancellation. This can be a positive if you actually want to hear some of the important announcements. You find yourself turning up the volume to compensate, though. This high volume over extended periods can be detrimental -- so you need to be aware of the volume. If you take a lot of prop commuter flights, pack the Bose. If you are on newer, quieter equipment the Sennheisers are fine.
I found the music quality to be excellent and I could adjust my player to add a bit more bass. I am not an audio expert so it comes down to what I like. I like the sound of the Sennheisers. I also own a pair of in-ear Sony's and the Sennheiser PMX 80 Sport II's. The Sony's do not always stay in position but the sound is good when they do. The Sennheiser 80's are great for my morning walks and very durable. The sound is OK but they are rain resistant and do not move around -- a plus.
All in all, the Sennheiser PXC 250 II's are a good value and provide portability, marginal noise cancellation, and excellent sound. I would really give them a 4-1/2 out of five because they come very close to being the perfect travelling headphones.

On a transatlantic flight the headset was useful for drowning out external sound including the engine and yes, crying babies. The fun part was I could crank up the sound and not notice! I admittedly was surprised I had the volume as loud as I did. I utilized the noise cancelling feature and flipped it to off position to determine if it made a difference. Yes, it did.

It was easy to manipulate the headset and fold for travel. The Sennheiser PXC 250 II were lightweight with a convenient carry case that held an ipod.

The one problem I did have was not directly related to the product. The jack from the headset fit into the plane armrest fine going over but not coming back. I wound up using their earpiece and putting mine over them. Not the best scenario but it worked as I watched the in flight movies.

In the future, I look forward to using a wireless headset.

I owned an earlier version of Sennheiser Noise-Canceling Headphones, and I expected the same quality. This time, there is one improvement and two fallbacks. Improved: the noise-cancelling electronics housing is smaller and lighter, and requires less battery power. Worse: the clip-on hardware is of significantly poorer quality (does not rotate as the previous one did) and the cord is too short. When I'm seated on a stationary bike or other exercise apparatus with the clip attached to me, the cord from clip to musical device (e.g. ipod) is so short that I'm forced to hand-hold the musical device. This makes the whole thing impractical for any activity where I don't want to hold the musical device in-hand.

I've owned three pairs of these headphones, each time getting my hopes up that their relative affordability (compared to other noise-canceling headphones) would offset their brittleness. All three times, I've had no complaints about the noise canceling or the sound quality -- both are excellent. I ride the subway to work every day and these are perfect for shutting out ambient sound, even enabling me to listen to quiet, classical pieces in the middle of a crowded train. However, within less than a month of use, the wires started to fray. On my most recent pair, the left channel stopped working within six months of purchase. You're better off paying an extra $100 to get a sturdier pair.

This is my third set of Sennheiser PXCs - Have owned a PXC-150 and -250, and have found them to be adequate for noise cancellation, lightweight, compact and have great sound.

The PXC-250 II has a smaller, lighter amplifier/battery unit than the previous models, which uses a single AAA battery instead of two, and is equipped with a volume control, which are nice new touches.

The volume control is stiff enough to resist accidental ear blasts of sound, and has protective ridges on each side to minimize contact with objects other than your hands. The ON/OFF switch is recessed and includes a red POWER ON LED... these touches are nicely engineered.

The travel case is soft sided, nicely made and well padded with an external zipper compartment. The provided adapter to a two-jack airline audio system is a nice touch if you fly on an airplane that is equipped with the older two jack system.

The wiring on the amplifier on the previous units all were placed at one end of the unit, while the 250II has a "feed thru" style, with the jack at one end, and the headphones at the other.. I found the older style more useful, but can live with the new arrangement.

I use them regularly flying in turboprop commuter airplanes, and they do a good job of reducing the background noise and allowing music to be clearly heard with good quality, clarity and balance from lows to highs.

I considered an over-the-ear Bose headset, and while their sound was good, and it is marginally better in blocking out sounds, the cost, size and weight were excessive for me.

The Sennheiser PXC 250 II is a quality product that works about as well as can be expected for a light, small on-ear headphone.

I got these before a trip just to help with the airliner engine noise. For the most part the noise canceling was pretty good. With the on ear design they don't quite completely seal but they do pretty good.

On three of the four legs they reduced the engine noise quite a lot. One one leg I was near an engine intake and I think they may have even increased the background noise. I don't know if it was because the noise was loud enough to overwhelm them or if the battery was getting weak. On the next leg I replaced the battery and the canceling got better as well as the sound from my mp3 player. If it was the battery, it was only a few hours in on the battery that came with the headphones.

One one of the legs, all I did was turn them on without any mp3 player connected at all. It made a really nice difference in the noise level on the plane. It was easy to turn them on and off and see how much difference they make and they do make a big difference. It's a lot more than the difference between not having them over my ears at all and putting them on but turned off.

Not perfect but at the price point more than serviceable. It was nice to have these on my trip and to give me a welcome break from jet noise. I like them. I can't say how fast they use up batteries because I had to replace the battery after about six hours. The supplied battery may have been old or just a dud and I haven't had a chance to run down the replacement yet.

I would buy again if I didn't already have a set but knowing what I know now.