Gadgetory

Wow hey everyone Jimmy Wynn Jim's review room active noise-cancelling headphones are getting a lot of traction we have the best of the best that I've personally tested so far that's the boast QC 35 we have these Sony Hurons 100 ABM and today I'm testing the Sennheiser PXE 550 s that several of you asked me to review prices are on your screen and retail wise these Sennheiser's are slightly more expensive at the time this video but I'll leave my personal links in the video description below click on my links and they'll give you the most updated prices in real time so without further ado my channel is here to help you make a purchase decision welcome everyone to James going over the physical features first these do feel very premium the leather headband up top is soft and supple and it's also cool to the touch when we look at the extendable arms they're reinforced metal to keep the headphones in tact but yet there's still one ear those a bit concerning to me it was the all plastic hinges that Sennheiser decided to use during my stress test here that's pretty standard on all the headphone reviews that I do I'm aware it's a bit extreme but at least you'll know how well these hold up here they didn't even make a creak I did notice though the headbands do stretch but thankfully you can always bend them back quite easily now Sennheiser does market these as travel headphones just like the bose qc25 in boast QC 35 s the ear cups do fold inward and the air cap to do collapse for compact stowing moving on to the ear cups themselves this is where Sennheiser shows off its uniqueness to turn on the headphones turn the ear cups to its natural position you'll hear and feel the ear cups click into place signifying that they're on now I wasn't too fond of this feature though since I would have to be mindful each time I place them down or else I could accidentally leave them on and that way they would drain the battery completely now the right ear cup where there's touch sensitive controls and this has to be the most responsive touch controls that I've ever experienced that a pair of headphones a gentle swipe up and down raises and lowers the volume gentle swept left and right skips and goes back on songs tapping pauses the music and plays it as well and with a long hold it will give you the battery remaining levels now another great feature that I would love to see on other headphones Sennheiser calls it smart pause now when you pull one side of the ear cups or take the headphones off altogether to hear your surroundings the audio stops and once you put back that ear cup or the headphones on your head again the music continues just make sure you turn this particular feature on in the app as smart pause is off by default from the factory there's also this nifty feature DoubleTap on that right ear cup and your music stops and the microphones will pick up your environment and somewhat amplify your hearing I would imagine this being useful when you're at a conference or listening to a speaker or if you want to eavesdrop on somebody near you last of the hidden features available this one is pretty straightforward NFC is offered just tap that left ear cup with your NFC enabled phone and both devices will pair with each other a little faster than going into your Bluetooth settings but let's take a look at the buttons here on the right ear cup once again the Bluetooth switch is pretty much hidden by one of the ear cup arms yet moving down slightly the first button is to turn on and off the hybrid active noise cancellation feature which I'll detail right before I get into the audio test the next button cycles through different sound profiles to change the audio characteristics while you listen to either music movies podcast etc and yet to the bottom of that is the microUSB port for charging your headphones and since we're on the subject of batteries in charging gear Sennheiser is claiming up to 30 hours of use if you do keep active noise-cancelling on Sennheiser then claims up to 20 hours of use in which I was able to get 21 hours and 17 minutes and then without active noise canceling on my battery tests showed 30 hours in 42 minutes at 50% volume recharging though did take about 3 hours to complete from a dead battery but back to that microUSB port once again for a quick second all of the perks you can connect this to your laptop or desktop and you can listen to audio through the supplied USB cable and at the same time the headphones will charge while you're using them perfect for those in that office environments and doesn't mind that wired connection and the very last port here they went with a two and a half millimeter jack if you would like to connect this traditionally now my only gripe though I personally have physically on this particular device one it is in use it is somewhat hard to find these buttons since they are not as pronounced or protruding as other headphones aesthetically it looks great it looks clean but in practice it's hard to recognize when you need to adjust those settings as for comfort as I've mentioned before anything around 200 to 240 gram ranges light weight for me the Sennheiser's here came in at 227 grams there's very minimal to no fatigue whatsoever on the crown of the head when you do wear this for several hours straight the draw line pressure is very comfortable as well and these over ear ear pads just ever so slightly cause my ears to sweat but never felt like they were overheating in indoor environments so last before I touch base on sound quality this does come with a carrying case you can determine if this is big or not for your traveling needs but inside there is an area to keep all of your supplied cables contained the cables include the two and a half to three half millimeter cable as we discussed earlier the USB cord the airplane adapter for use for in-flight entertainment and last is the adapter for connecting you to your receiver or at home amp or if you have a studio somewhere in your house so let's get to the active noise-cancelling performance Sennheiser is claiming to offer a hybrid system meant to adjust to your environment called noise guard you can turn it on to a maximum if you like or you can leave it at 50% or turn it off altogether and to be clear or for those who are not too familiar with active noise canceling headphones they don't block out everything however they do block out a good amount of noise outside noise that is to offer a more immersive listening experience from my testing the PXE 550 s does very good here testing these they do very well at Starbucks with many people around here talking and moving around I've tested this in the middle of the city during rush hour and blocked out a good bit of noise yet one of the things I noticed from the bose qc25 s in both QC 35 you don't experience here on the Sennheiser's how describe as pressure from turning on a noise canceling feature for some that airplane cabin pressure feeling that's part of the best I could describe it is a discomfort for some and it is experienced definitely on the bose qc25 and 35 s you don't get it here on a pxc 550 s now with these Sennheiser's you still hear slightly more chatter or city noise around you though they still perform great though but more on par with the likes of these sony ABN s and the pair at Zeke's in regards to noise canceling performance now moving on to audio quality first and foremost let these burn in a little here when you first use them they do sound slightly recessed and not expansive at all even as short burnin about 30 minutes of using them I did notice a difference now afterwards bass was found to be tight and punchy not overdone for those who like some bass the PXE five fifties provided that though it provides lean non bloated bass now if you want deeper bass a definite bass boosted signature a sennheiser momentum to wireless i reviewed a while back does provide that now here the mids are good and it's rich in detail from my experience very balanced and very easy to listen to the high notes I do admit are somewhat bright and possibly the most emphasized out of all the frequencies all these sound frequencies that I've been describing so far now it's not your ringing it's not your singing it's not your piercing but something that you'll notice some mate like the higher frequencies especially those listening to instrumental those piano keys snare drums cymbal crashes they do stand out very much with great detail for the average consumer most will still enjoy the silent signature but the more analytical listeners they find it not as natural or neutral because of these high notes being pushed somewhat forward here so Sennheiser does alleviate this with their cap tune app for both Apple and Android devices and the app does provide a very good EQ adjustment now to change the sound profile to your liking basically as for the soundstage it's already amazing staff from the factory very clear distinct left and right audio channels very clear on where the audio direction is coming from the soundstage is quite impressive so overall I really enjoy these pair of headphones despite having some weird quirks here like the ear cups needing to lay flat to turn off and the sound signature that isn't the most accurate I'll omit that but using the supplied app to EQ does seriously help again in the comments section below if there's other headphones you want me to compare with these here write it down and I'll see what I can do so guys remember to add me on my social media the addresses should be on your screen right now like and subscribe if you haven't already and guys I'm Jimmy with Jim to review room here to help you make a purchase decision you guys take care and I'll see in the next one