Sennheiser CX 400 II Precision Noise Isolating Ear-canal Phones with Integrated Volume Control - Black

Important Update: 21/07/11 - They've finally conked it! Well, the left one has, but stereo is the only way to fly so i think its fair to say my cans have officially died :-( Please read on as i stand by everything i said in my review, these babies have been used more or less every day for nearly 2 years and i'm just off to order another pair.

Well, it is if you're passionate about music and want to listen to it as nature intended. Some people (like my parents) can listen to Dionne Warwick through dodgy headphones with no defintion or clarity and be completely happy. I want to hear everything, i want to be in the studio with the Artist(s) when the song's being recorded!

These 'Cans' are the closest i've got so far. I bought a pair of Sennheiser's last year (can't remember the type) and wasn't all that impressed with the sound. Plus, after 6 months, the left one went completely dead. As you can imagine, when i stumped up 50 of the queen's finest in HMV (That's how much they cost in the real world folks!) for the CX 400 II's, it was was with a feeling of rising trepidation.

I needn't have worried. The leakage out of these is minimal, so not only will you be popular on public transport but practically everything goes straight to your brain! That means extra bass. Now i'm not a teenager and i don't solely listen to cheesey dance music but i still like a strong bass resonance in my music. With these, I get it. Plus the clarity of all your other frequencies is equally as clear. I guess this is the closest i've got to having my ears sealed by a pair of headphones, that truly helps cut down the background noise. Take nothing away from the quality though, the sound on it's own is truly impressive.

Minor gripes. These go pretty loud (110db i think, most go to 104db) and when you do attempt to 'Go to 11' the clarity does disappear. No distortion, but high hats and cymbals don't come through quite as well. That said, unless you fancy wearing a hearing-aid for thr remainder of your life i doubt you'll want to take them up that high anyway. Also, the lead has a rubber coating (i think it's rubber, rubberish anyway) which may provide protection (haven't had them long enough to testify to that yet) but does mean they get tangled quite easily.

Comes with Volume control on the lead, plus 3 or 4 different size pairs of ear piece fittings for custom ear canal tightness. One of the major advantages of these is the noise isolation so this is an important aspect.

I have scoured the pages of Amazon looking for headphones in the past. It is a minefield out there, but i stake my reputation on these. As far as sound quality goes, they are quite simply the best pair of headphones i've ever had!

Update: 04/12/09 - No problems with headphones deteriorating, they are as good as when first purchased!

Sennheiser CX 400 II Precision Noise Isolating Ear-canal Phones with Integrated Volume Control - Black

I know, I know - when it comes to headphones, there's a wealth of info out there. However, because of the poor build quality of these cans, I feel compelled to throw my tuppence worth into the mix. As a former DJ and keen music fan, I was initially very impressed with these Sennheisers' - they gave a good depth of sound throughout and if you get the fit right with various earpiece fittings, the bass comes through with a bit more oommph. Sadly, and not for the first time with Sennheiser, the right earpiece failed within 6 months of fairly light use. In addition, the rubber sleeve that protects the inner cable has no grommet housed within the volume control and therefore the wires became exposed within weeks. This is a basic design flaw that should have been forseen without too much thought - perhaps a sign that Sennheiser are slipping? As to the failure of the earpiece, this is the 3rd pair of Sennheisers' I have owned and ALL of them have failed in the same way, so I say NO MORE and would not recommend these or any of their headphones until they make a concentrated effort to rectify this recurring fault

[Update: Reduced the star rating from 5 to 3. They were the genuine article and very good while they lasted (see the original review below). Unfortunately, after eight months of careful and considerate use, the infamous, common fault appeared: the volume and the sound quality of the left earphone quickly deteriorated. I have now replaced them with Amazon-special Klipsch X1 headphones at half the cost. Klipsch Image X1 Headphones The Klipsch actually sound a little better. Let's hope they last longer, too.]

I have had the opportunity to compare a counterfeit version of these earphones with the genuine item and I can see why there are so many negative reviews: there must be quite a few who have bought the fakes. The real ones sound nowhere near as bad as the negative reviews would imply.

I bought one of these at a bargain basement price, thinking myself very lucky. I had read elsewhere that there were a lot of fakes around, but I thought that was just the usual nonsense you read on the Net. The earphones I received were in a genuine looking box and the build quality looked fine. But even after burning them in for a week (including leaving them plugged in and playing overnight), there was no bass whatsoever. Plenty of detail at the treble end, but forget the bass.

Eventually (don't ask), I ended up with the genuine thing. Side by side, the fakes look as good as the real thing. The only difference that I could see was that the mesh over the speakers was finer on the real thing, which became almost translucent at some angles so that I could see the tiny speakers at the bottom.

You will find a lot of misleading advice on the Net about things like the 'leather' pouch included with the genuine earphones. In fact, the pouch is not leather. Turn it inside out and you'll see that it is just pvc. Even more ironically, the fake item came packaged with a better looking pouch, which looked like simulated leather, whereas the real ones had a cheap, shiny, real pvc-look pouch.

But how about sound quality?
At the treble end, I would have a hard time separating the real one from the fake. Both are quite detailed. On the other hand, the real ones have thumping bass (once you've got the correct fitting for your ears) whereas the fakes have none whatsoever.
One criticism: while there is a lot of bass, it is not detailed bass. Compared with a pair of decent (but unfortunately big) over-the-ears or a pair of monitor speakers (nothing horrendously expensive, just a pair of Edirol M7As), these Sennheisers smear the bass a bit. With pop penny-dreadfuls or yelling rock, it shouldn't matter; with more considerately mastered material, there is that nagging feeling that it could have been better. But then, what would you expect from drivers that are only millimeters wide? And this was in a quiet room. In the environment where most of us use these -- public transport, walking about -- the ambient noise becomes a bigger issue than the bass smear.
[Update: After several months' regular use, the bass sounds much better. Has it taken a while to burn them in or have I become used to their flaws? I don't know, but they sound more than good enough, now.]

So, forget the detailed photo comparisons of fakes and the real things. The only way most of us will be able to tell whether we got a fake is when the sound quality is not up to scratch (but make sure that you have them correctly fitted to your ears before you go chasing the poor trader.)

These earphones also insulate the outside sounds well, but, yes, you do get noise from the cable rubbing or flexing. On the other hand, they are quiet enough not to annoy people sitting next to me on the train. Wish other people had them, too; I would not have to listen to their music tsk-tsk-tsk'ing at me.

In summary:
Excellent sound quality for the size and price, but if I could, I'd take over-the-ears or a decent pair of real speakers any time.