Sennheiser MM 550-X Wireless Bluetooth Travel Headphones

A little over a year ago I was looking for a good pair of noise cancelling headphones I could wear at my desk job. While I was skeptical of the sound quality over bluetooth and some of the reviews on this and other websites, I've been a Sennheiser fan for a while (owning a pair of HD-555's and RS-180's for use at home for years), so I bit the bullet and paid the $330 (at the time) for the set.For my purposes, these headphones are fantastic. I previously used a couple of different sets of Etymotic IEMs while at work (MC5's, then HF5's) but I was sick of having wires. The sound quality is just as good as the IEMs, if not better, with more bass and "warmth", if that makes sense (I won't pretend to be an audiophile). With noise cancellation turned off I can get through a full 8 hour work day with constant music/podcasts playing on one battery charge. With noise cancellation it's more around 6 or 7 hours. I opted to purchase a second battery in addition to the headphones to always have a charged spare. And of course, no wires to get snagged on things, ripping flanged earbuds out of my ears.But as much as I enjoyed the headphones, I never wrote a review until now. So why wait a year to make a review?About a week ago, after a year of almost daily, 8 hour use, I went to put the headphones on and heard an audible snap. The plastic support within the headband broke right in half. The headphones still worked, but no longer fit snug against my ears. I felt like with continued use it would only break further, so I looked into the requirements to take advantage of the 2 year warranty every Sennheiser product comes with. The policy states:Damage: This warranty does not cover any physical and/or electrical damage resulting from, but not limited to:AccidentMisuseAbuseMalicious destructionActs of natureThe temporary or permanent affixing of any items supplied or not supplied by the manufacturer with any adhesive, fastener or the like.Use of batteries, power supplies or any other sources of power not specifically recommended by the manufacturer.Inadequate repair work performed by the end user or any non-authorized repair center.Still, I decided to send my pair into the repair center. If all else failed, hopefully I would be billed for a repair cost less than the cost of a new pair.Lo and behold, today I received a brand new pair of headphones! No shipping charges either way -- just a brand new pair of headphones in the original packaging. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised. I could have easily been charged for damage not covered under the warranty based on the judgment of the repair staff, and I wouldn't necessarily blame them, but this was not the case. Now, of course, your mileage may vary. I don't want to give the impression with this review that the same series of events will take place if your pair breaks, but at least in my case, I'm thoroughly satisfied. And that's why Sennheiser has me as a customer for life.

This is just a first impression of this headphone as it comes out of the box. I'll have updates in a few days of use and then in a few month just to give others a detailed impression of what it is like to own one of these.First, I bought these used at VERY GOOD condition with Amazon Warehouse Deal, Inc. So it was $158 to began with. Then I got the discount from Prime Saving too, making it a REALLY REALLY worthy buy.Many's main complain or con about this headphone is the hefty price tag. So right there I have no complaints.Second, these are complaints in reviews of this model being too soft, not getting loud enough. So that's the first thing I checked out. And I checked it out with wire and on bluetooth. I have realized the problem.These headphones only gets loud like normal headphones when it's on bluetooth and you turn the volume up as high as you can on the headphone. ON THE HEADPHONE. Then it's like any other wired headphone, listening to it at about 50% of volume is load enough for a quiet room.BUT, if you tried it wired or didn't turn up the volume on the headphone, then turning the volume up on your computer and phone to about 80% will give you that same result. SO, some people might complain that these headphones just don't get loud enough.Trust me. If you are using it wireless and have done what I said above, these gets plenty loud.Third, after playing a few songs I knew cheap headphone don't do justice to, I can say this pair is sounding pretty good out of the box. The strength is in the mid-range. Instruments like cello sounds amazing on these!But the bass is really weak, almost not there, and there is sibilance (the uncomfortable "tsh" sound with any mid-high range sounds). I can't really stand listening to female vocals on this right now.Though I expect the quality will go up after burn-in. Personally, I have always found the Sennheiser headphones needs to be burned in to sound better. It's seems especially true for this pair.I know some will argue that Burn-In does nothing, but from personal experience, burn-in opens up the sound stage, boost the base, and takes away the tsh sounds. And it's not my ears adjusting to the way the headphone sounds, because when I burn-in, I put it aside and let it go through the sound track on its own. That sound track consisting of Pink and White noise, Frequency Sweeps, and bass heavy tracks like Dubstep and "Silent Shout" by The Knife.For burn-in here is my steps:1. For the first 2 hours I let it play at about 50% volume on a mid-range focused song, like Country, or R&B, with male vocalists or female vocalist with a deeper voice. This is a good time to play Pink and White noises.2. For the next 2 hours I let it play at about the same volume on a classical string sound track to open the higher ranges. Pick good orchestras and good soundtracks because a badly recorded soundtrack doesn't do justice to the high notes.3. For the next 10 minutes I let the headphone rest.4. For the next 2 hours i let it play at about 60-65% volume with base heavy music. But an better alternative is taiko drum. I have found them the best way to open up the base response on headphones.5. Let the Headphone take a break and then start from Step 1 again.You can stop burn-in at any time to test the quality. Doing one of the above step longer if you feel like a certain range is weaker, and you are satisfied with another.After a day or two, you are ready to test these babies again! Tell me you don't hear a difference! I'm at the first stage of burn-in. Will report in a few days.Something to remember, the more you listen on these headphones, the better they'll sound. The burn-in continues withe use. So you don't have to burn them in with above steps. But I just can't stand how poor the bass is.------------I tried.But this pair of headphone's bass response is just not on par with what I'm looking for. I have been spoiled by my ATH-M50. I love listening to Jazz, which requires a pretty open stage and open bass. The bass got better, stronger with burn-in, but not enough.And compared to my ATH-M50, the stage isn't that open at all. (Both closed headphones).I'm not a heavy bass lover, but I require a balanced amount of it to enjoy the type of music I listen to.Having heard them a certain way for sometime, listening to the same song on here is a bit disappointing.I wouldn't be keeping these after all.

So folks all the reviews that you see with a low rating is the true rating for this product. Don't be fooled like I, who read a ton of reviews on here and everywhere else to decide to spend the $500 at the time to get this product. I travel a lot, on the phone a lot and listen to music a lot. This promised noise cancellation, better sound. The only thing I got out of it is ability to make and take phone calls. In the last 2 years I have travelled a few times around the world to have thoroughly tested this product. I wouldn't buy this for its noise cancellation...it's minimal when in a jet plane and in a propeller it's worse. To compensate for its poor noise cancellation you would think you would raise the volume enough to douse surrounding noise, there is only so far you can go to raise the volume. Bass ain't that bad but I have seen other manufacturers deliver better in that dept. Please don't waste your time with this model, sennheiser makes good products but they got it completely wrong with this one and for some unexplainable reason they have acquired high ratings. They are all misleading.