Sennheiser MM550-X Travel Wireless Bluetooth Headset

I can't really add much that hasn't already been said, so for a more detailed review look at the others. This isnt ment to be a professional review, it's just my experience and opinions based on it.

First what i have connnected to using bluetooth;
Samsung Galaxy S2
HP touchpad
HP Pre 3
Sony PS Vita 3G
Acer Revo 3700 Nettop PC with a cheap dongle

I assume i would have no issue with my PS3 either i just havn't tried yet.

Some said about volume being too quiet, for me it is plenty loud enough, though i do find it does make a difference what your connected to in the first place, as some on that list were definately louder, Vita being one of the quieter ones or was when i was play MGS2 in the HD collection i have no music on my Vita to test. It was better however than my Vita constantly shouting out "Freeze" as i held up guards for their dog tags.

Had the headphones about 2-3 weeks now and not been able too use them too much due been busy at work, working 50+ a week over 6 days. I definately havn't been able to use a full charge yet, though i have been to town with them on one weekend and they were great.

Before i got these i was using my Vita earphones, and although they were often loud enough, i could always hear way too much of what was going on around me, and when your on the bus that can be annoying to put it mildly. Kids crying, parents yelling at them, all the things that turn a bus journey into a nightmare, all came through clear as day.

That first journey on the bus to town was when i knew even if paid £350 these were staying with me. Music playing at a comfortable level(probably no hearing damage caused :)) and i couldn't hear a thing, no kids crying, parents yelling, traffic or anything else. I put it down to both the noise canceling and the full cup that completely covers my ears and even though they cover completely i find they cause no discomfort and no sound leakage, it's a pleasent experience and one i plan on getting used too :)

I probably wore them about 4hrs or so that day, though for about 2hrs at a time, as i went cinema inbetween i probably had them off about 2hrs as well. Never found them uncomfortable though i'm still getting used to all the features and getting it to do talk through when i want it hardly ever happens, i usually end up pausing and lifting them off. I am hoping that in time i will be able to stop doing that.

That day i was using the Pre 3 with the headphones, pretty much emptied the Pre 3's battery but connection was solid except for one instance when someone walked past me at the bus station, i assume he had something on him that caused interferance as it was only a split second as he passed me, town had been fairly busy and had no problems til then.

I did in the past have a faily cheap pair of bluetooth headphones, some motorola on ear neckband ones, which were decent enough, but did cut out and stutter at times when i turned my head too far round, like crossing a road so it was annoying, a samsung clip one was the same when worn round me neck, turning my body too much caused it to stutter. Had no issues like that with these connection has been far more stable than my past experiences.

I listen to a variety of music from pop to rock, with some rap and hiphop inbetween, and for most of these i listen to both english artists and japanese artists. Most sounded great, some needed the noise cancelin turned off or the audio profile changed on my phone to give it the sound im used to. That is to say these feel quite balanced, unlike my friends Dre Beats headphones, so i think i get a better overall experience and one im happy with.

I don't make that much, and i'm not an audio freak i have no idea what some people are talking about in their reviews about sound quality and the highs and lows of it. I purely wanted to see what the most expensive bluetooth headphones i could find would be like, what they could do, and if all came to all and i wasn't statisfied i'd return them and go for some cheaper ones, til i either found some i liked or just settled for some that did the job. Well compared to settling for some that do the job im probably £300 worse off, but i wouldn't trade back to a cheap pair just to get the money after experiencing these. A bloke from work said they don't look much, and i was actually kind of happy to hear that as unlike Beats few people will know what these are, which makes me feel safer wearing them outside :)

As a quick list of why i would recommend;

*Solid connection compared to past experiences
*No sound leakage
*Blocks outside noise well
*Balanced sound(dont know how else to put it) not flat as such but not too heavily aimed at one type of music
*Very comfy
*Battery is overall fairly good 10-20hrs depending on the features you use, likely wont need more than that between charges, after all bluetooth is largely for mobile devices, which will probably be dead long before the headphones are

For the first time in 30 years of buying Sennheiser headphones, I find myself having to return a pair of Sennheisers for a refund. I'm a big Sennheiser fan; I currently have the HD 595 for the Hi Fi, the HD 380 Pro for work, the MM 450-X when mobile, and the PX 100-IIi as a spare. I've owned many others over the years.

I um'd and ah'd for several weeks before deciding to take the plunge and buy the MM 550-X, having mainly been influenced by the excellence of the MM 450-X - I wanted a larger version of the 450 with the same functionality.

First impressions
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When they arrived, I paired them with the BTD 300i APT-X adapter plugged into the iPad and fired them up. Setting up Bluetooth devices is simple, as long as you look at the instructions first. I thought the sound was a little hollow immediately, but I just thought they'd need to be run in a bit. I thought the build quality was excellent, and they are very comfortable. I imagine they could be worn all day without discomfort.

NoiseGard: noise cancellation
===
I carried on experimenting with with the settings on different music types, and with different settings on and off, and the results were always the same: with NoiseGard turned on, the sound quality is more like AM radio; it was as if the life had been sucked out of the music. The only near-acceptable configuration for noise cancellation is when using a wired connection. This completely misses the point for travel headphones: many users will want to use them without wires, and having a wired connection prevents the use of the headphones for calls. In each case, NoiseGard seems to hollow out the sound, a bit like boosting mid-range frequencies while leaving bass and treble slightly down. It does, however, do a fairly good job of cutting out the background noise. Outside, I was unable to listen to the headphones without seriously compromising the sound quality.

SRS
===
Speaking of mid-range frequencies, the SRS setting works like a loudness button on an 80s-era stereo - it boosts bass and treble way up, and cuts the mid range significantly. That might be great for a poor sound source, or for cheaper headphones, but I was unable to find a single track where the sound was improved.

Conclusion
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NoiseGard works reasonably well, but at huge cost to the sound. SRS it absolutely useless in my view, unless you love loads of distortion in your music. Combining the two will make you ill, I'm quite sure. The price of the MM 550-X in no way relates to the sound quality - you're meant to be paying a premium price for all the additional functionality, so if the additional stuff doesn't work, what you have is an expensive pair of headphones that sounds like a mid range (or budget) pair, depending on the configuration.

If you want a pair of headphones with good noise cancellation, stay away from these, and take a look at the MM 450-X; they're excellent all-rounders.

Having used a Sennheiser MM450 headset for over 18 months I leapt at the chance to try its bigger, updated brother the MM 550-X. These over-ear "full cans" look very similar to the 450s - same style buttons, in fact the same controls full stop, and the same battery, and don't weigh too much more either. In the box with the headphones is a nice carry bag containing some instructions (booklet and CD), USB charging lead, mains charger with a selection of adaptors, audio adaptors and a stereo cable. Again, similar to the MM450, and the similarities don't stop there.

Physically the 550s look good and feel like they have the same good build quality of the MM450, and having use the MM450 for as long as I have I found that the way it pairs, and the way the controls work, were identical (barring new features of course). The electronics have been updated, and these headphones also support a kind of surround sound (SRS Surround Simulation) as well as noise cancellation and hands free calling.

Before we get started using the headphones I'm going to cover the controls. They look a bit daunting to start with as there are seven buttons on the right earpiece that provide everything you need to work your headset. Sennheiser have clearly done some careful research here as it is easy to work out which button is which by touch.

The five buttons on the side control power, volume and next/previous functions. The central power button doubles, no, trebles up as play/pause when listening to music, and answer/hang up when calling while the two buttons on the bottom manage bluetooth, noise cancellation and other auxilliary functions via long and short pushes.

So once you've charged the battery, hold down the power button and the while plastic around it will flash blue. Keep pressing until it flashes blue and red - now you can pair the headphones with your phone, tablet, laptop or whatever. The headphones can remember four devices, so when you pair with a fifth, the one you lose is the one you haven't used for the longest time. Once paired you can independently adjust the volume of audio on the headphones as well as on the device it is paired with.

Phone calls can be answered just by pressing that middle button - the headphones have their own 'ringtone' - and and the phones I use will pause media if playing, and then resume when you hang up. I've paired these headphones with my Mac and a couple of Android phones with no issues - Sennheiser have a good track record on compatibility and I don't expect any problems with my tablet either.

In day-to-day use I've found these headphones comfortable to wear and, being over-ear, much better than the MM450 at noise cancellation. Battery life is good with Sennheiser quoting 10 hours of audio playback or 20 hours of calls, reducing by about 20% if you use noise cancellation. I've yet to be certain that I'm getting this much out of them, but its certainly in the ball park. Overall I've found these headphones to be well made and easy to use. They give good sound quality and have good battery life. And when the battery is flat you can still use the headphones (for music, anyway) via the supplied stereo cable.

Now the MM450 series headphones are cheaper than these with most of the same functions - but if you're looking for headphones because you do a lot of flying then pay the extra and get the 550s - they are more comfortable to wear over an extended period of time and when you go to sleep they won't dislodge. And of course the better seal means better noise cancellation too.