Sennheiser CX 300 II Precision Noise Isolating Ear-canal Phones, Black

Sennheiser is a top manufacturer, and these are amongst their best products. I've used assorted Sennheiser and AKG headsets/phones/buds professionally and privately since the early 1970s, and the sound with these tiny buds is as good as the best. The bass is purer and smoother than many hi-fi loudspeakers. The top is sweet and clear, often a problem with older ears, but nothing is woolly with these buds. They are also very efficient, so need a lower volume setting, and the batteries on my ear-player last significantly longer than with its original earphones.I listen to a wide range of material from jazz to pop to choral to orchestral to speech. It all sounds very natural, and I have applied almost no equalisation in the player, nor any SRS, nor any Extra Bass. With these, the original sound sounds best, stays in your ears and does not disturb even your closest neighbours on the tube.BUT, there is a definite trick to making sure the sound is good. The seal to ones ear must be air-tight, otherwise bass is lost and extraneous noise leaks in. How then? Lubricate them! Moisten the ear canal, and also the soft rubber adapter, to allow it to slide in easily and find the best fit. Also, don't push it in too far as this might bottom the adapter on the curve of the ear canal and block the sound outlet. As Ronnie Barker might have said, you may need to jer-jer-jer-jiggle it a bit. Most ears do not have a circular canal, more often it is almost triangular, so it is a miracle these buds fit so well in so many different ears. Try each of the three different sizes for the best moist fit!I don't go jogging with them, but I do walk a lot, as well as use public transport every day, and the movement rubbing on the leads could be a problem. But by stowing the long lead around the back of the neck and using an inner pocket for the ear-player and any surplus lead, the unwanted noises are reduced to an acceptable minimum. And of course when sitting still there is no problem at all.I was wondering how durable they might be when I bought my first set of the original CX300 ear buds seven years ago, and I have been careful to avoid knots with stowing the lead when not in use; one pocket is dedicated to the ear-player and buds. The cords are reasonably tangle resistant, but a determined vandal could wreck them quite quickly. For all that time in daily use over maybe seventy thousand miles my old set continued to sound as good as new, with no signs of deterioration in the rubbers or the leads, so when eventually the left bud went open circuit at the join to the voice coil it owed me nothing. I was very happy to buy this new set as a replacement, and it has proved to be every bit as good, still with the clean full range sound.These CX300-II deserve the highest recommendation.

I bought these to replace a similar much loved pair of Sennheiser earphones labelled CX 3.00 which I had been using for about six years and only gave up because one of the cables had deteriorated as a result of poor storage on my part. These CX 300 IIs are even better. The bass is unbelievably powerful for units of this size and the treble is clear and precise. I have been able to turn the volume on my phone down by about a third.Unlike the previous model these have asymmetric cables which I wasn't previously a fan of but I now get that you run the cable to your right ear behind your neck; this works very neatly and takes most of the cabling away to your left hand side. The medium earbuds are a perfect fit for my ears. The only negative comment I would make is that the cables appear thinner than the previous model; time will tell whether they are as robust.Overall I think the sound quality of these earphones is really quite incredible for their price; I wouldn't want to change them for anything else.

This is the third pair of these we've bought in the space of several years - one each for my partner and I, and this pair being the first time we've had to replace them.As a more affordable pair of Senneheisers, these work great. Sound is clear and high quality, although note these do boost the bass a bit, so if you're not a fan of that you will want to adjust the equaliser settings on your phone. They work great for cancelling outside noise as well - I sometimes wear them at work just to reduce the ambient noise around me, and they do an excellent job of blocking out awful political discussions in the office!There are some negatives. The asymmetrical length for the cables is supposed to enable you to wear these with the device in a pocket, and reduce tangling. In my experience, the longer side is far too long, loops awkwardly and catches on clothes and limbs and therefore tends to send a lot of *rubbing against stuff* noise up the cable, and this also makes it more prone to tangling rather than less.But overall, for a £23-£30 pair of earphones that seem to last a good 18 months or more of *heavy, continuous use* you really can't complain. We never kept them in the little bags they come with, they were often roughly handled in and out of bags and pockets, and more than once I've dropped my phone with the earbuds in my ears, resulting in the cable getting tugged out of the jack. And yet it took this long for the first pair to need replacing.

My old Sony earphones packed up after 2 years of me not looking after them so i thought I'd give these a go and pay £14 extra compared to another Sony earphone replacement. It is Sennheiser after all.Packaging:Earphones came well packaged with a pouch and spare buds which was nice. Very good packaging.Fitting:For me they are not comfortable; they fall out even after trying all bud sizes, smallest are the best but even then they don't fit snug. It was nice of them to send many bud sizes though.Sound:This is where i was slightly disappointed. And i am comparing these to my old Sony MDR-NC31EM's. Both were on a preset equaliser setting i never change it. And I have to say in terms of sound quality and bass the sony headphones blow this out of the water. The sound is clean on the Sennheiser but it does not match the trebl, highs and lows of the Sonys and the bass is not as good either.I adjusted the equaliser to try and improve the experience and it still sounded mellow.Verdict:These are very nice earphones with top build quality, but would i buy them again? No. I thought i would give them a go but was left disappointed.My old Sony earphones can be had for as little as £19.99 on the web compared to the £33 i paid for these.

Great quality headphones great for when I'm on an airplane sound quality is great too