Sennheisers - Disappointed

No-One · 10 Jan 2011 at 18:53

Has anyone here used Sennheiser CX299s? I got a pair for xmas and straight away I noticed they seem to lack any treble. The low and mids are fine but the highs are awful. It's almost like the sound from a telephone earpiece. After about 5 mins I can't bare to use them and move back to my 5 yr old Sony EX71s which still sound perfect. Has anyone else experienced similar or have I just got a duff pair?

C64 · 10 Jan 2011 at 18:58

Anything below HD 555/580/595's from sennheiser are distinctly average I am afraid.

Raikiri · 10 Jan 2011 at 19:05

I've been saying for ages that the CX300s are poo but people won't listen. Go get some Klipsch X1/S2 for £18, they're much better.

No-One · 10 Jan 2011 at 19:15

Weird on headphonereviews.org Sennheisers sound is often rated better than Sonys. Oh well, they never cost me anything and I never even asked for them

Auraomega · 10 Jan 2011 at 19:17

Raikiri said:
I've been saying for ages that the CX300s are poo

This. No highs, poor mids and over the top bass.

james.miller · 10 Jan 2011 at 19:25

they arent much worse than the ex71's though, are they? the ex71's could well be the worst earphones sony have ever released.

No-One · 10 Jan 2011 at 19:36

lol. ex71's seems to be like marmite.

james.miller · 10 Jan 2011 at 19:37

trust me, they really are awful next to the ex85/ex90's.

Rroff · 10 Jan 2011 at 19:45

The CX line isn't the best like Raikiri I keep telling people not to buy them but they still do - also huge number of fake CX. Love my MX streetware but they aren't ear canal jobbies.

Rizo-UK · 10 Jan 2011 at 19:54

Love my hd 215 IIs

Sound even better through a headphone amp.

C64 · 10 Jan 2011 at 20:02

oh they are in ears didn't realise, in that case the sennheiser Ie6 and above are the good ones.

The best bang for buck solutions are to be had from jaben or mp4 nation but you have to wait about a month for delivery.

Kosmiche · 10 Jan 2011 at 20:43

You might have a fake.

There are a lot of fake cx 300 in circulation, might be the same for the ones you have.

No-One · 10 Jan 2011 at 20:59

I know they were bought from a certain big name uk retail chain that I can't mention on here. Surely the big shops wouldn't have fakes would they?

MagicBoy · 10 Jan 2011 at 21:00

No-One said:
lol. ex71's seems to be like marmite.

Indeed.

I had a couple of pairs of EX71's and the earlier Korean made pair sounded much better than the later Chinese made ones. Both eventually broke and I replaced them with the original CX300s. To my ears the Senns are much more neutral - the EX71s are dominated by the bloated and flabby bottom end. Probably just the thing for R&B and Dance music but not so good with something more balanced. I've also tried the "award winning" Goldring GX200, and I still prefer the Senns which are far more comfortable to wear and have a more pleasant tone.

As mentioned there's a lot of fake CX300 (and some similar priced Creative's) around, including stock from large UK e-tailers.

Marsman · 10 Jan 2011 at 23:16

No-One said:
I know they were bought from a certain big name uk retail chain that I can't mention on here. Surely the big shops wouldn't have fakes would they?

No shops won't. The famous auction site and the Brazilian rain forest site, are the places to obtain fakes.

titaniumx3 · 10 Jan 2011 at 23:50

The sony EX71 and EX85 sounded fun but were completely unbalanced, as they had very "U" shaped frequency response curve - mids were hugely recessed and the bass and treble sounded very monotone.

In fact when I got my UE Super.fi 5 Pros, I didn't like them at all because there seemed to be way too much mids and not enough treble. It was only after a few days of listening to them did I realise that they were actually far more balanced and it was actually the EX71/81 that had no mids and too much treble.

Maybe that is also your problem?

MagicBoy · 10 Jan 2011 at 23:53

titaniumx3 said:
The sony EX71 and EX85 sounded fun but were completely unbalanced, as they had very "U" shaped frequency response curve - mids were hugely recessed and the bass and treble sounded very monotone.

I know what you mean. Switching to different headphones and listening to familar music was like a voyage of discovery - I could hear lots of midrange detail that the Sony's just completely missed.

EX71s were awesome for head destroying dance music but that's about it!

Andrew Moore · 12 Jan 2011 at 10:48

No-One said:
Has anyone here used Sennheiser CX299s? I got a pair for xmas and straight away I noticed they seem to lack any treble. The low and mids are fine but the highs are awful. It's almost like the sound from a telephone earpiece. After about 5 mins I can't bare to use them and move back to my 5 yr old Sony EX71s which still sound perfect. Has anyone else experienced similar or have I just got a duff pair?

Ive used the cx299s and the cx300-IIs and I must say that i too was a little dissapointed... anything in my opinion lower than the CX880s are a little lacking but you do get what you pay for. £80+ is usually whats required for some decent buds. You can however find decent buds for as little as £30 but these are few and far between.

FatRakoon · 13 Jan 2011 at 04:37

I always thought Altec Lansings were good speakers. I have 3 setups, my oldest is made for Tiny and its a 2.1 affair but its half decent and still to this day kicks out a good thump and is not too shabby in quality.
Then came the 251 and these are again, still in use today, and still every bit as strong as the day I got them, and then there is my Dell 995 babies which I love to bits.

Based on these my last 2 purchases have once again been Altec Lansing

The first setup is a simple 2.1 job, The model is BXR 1221
The Second failure is headphones and I wanted to splash out a little on these and I opted for UHP805 and those were not cheap.

Absolute crap.

Best Headphones I have ever had for the price is SONY MDR-V150 and these are a tenner. Sure, you cannot expect much but for the price, but you do in fact get headphones that can justify a much higher price tag, and I think that you can pay a hell of a lot more to get a lot less.

I have these on all my PCs and they take a fair knocking when Im with the kids on teh LAN, so...

Oh and I have ferrets that have eaten hell out of my old pair but they are still crisp as hell.