[arcanemethods]

Got 'em. After a three day listening orgy with much to go before I revisit my whole collection I will pronounce these the Last Word. I have a broad collection of 'phones at a lot of quality and price levels for acoustic measurement but and these are the first I've encountered that I will call revolutionary. The experience need not get any better than what this device offers. The word canonical comes to mind.
 
There is (fixed at this point) spatial processing in the DSP to give a sound stage that has to be heard to be believed. There are acoustic lenses between the diaphragm and one's pinnae that I believe override the individuality of our pinnae to be completely replaced by the presented DSP stage. I watched A most Wanted Man last night which has a superb surround sound track and I felt I had been transported. Almost anything one listens to becomes an animated movie with eyes closed. This bodes enormously well for VR use.
 
Their magnificent space auralization is not even mentioned in the advertising. Level changes are clearly heard as changes in distance with appropriate scaling. That I've never heard before.
 
Some have criticized a touch of brightness but I don't agree. That's what perfect verisimilitude sounds like.

 

[highdefinitely]

Thanks for the feedback. Good to know I'm not the only one enjoying them, see the 'official' thread for my experience with them:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/813207/transform-your-journey-sennheiser-pxc-550-wireless-headphones-deliver-long-haul-performance-and-a-smart-travel-experience/

There have been others who didn't share my opinion, but I wouldn't want to miss the PXC 550. Great headphones.

 

[jonstrong]

As anyone following the PXC 550's may have already learned, these have been available on Amazon, on Sennheiser's own website, and now from many Brookstone bricks-and-mortar stores located in airports. I picked up my own pair at a Brookstone at CLT (Charlotte Douglas airport - Charlotte, North Carolina). Superbly easy to pair with your phone if you have NFC, and of course you can pair manually. I found that they paired with my laptop in seconds -- the laptop is a Dell XPS15-9530 (Windows 10) -- the headphones work beautifully with this, as well as with my phone (Droid Turbo 2).
 
 
Not reviewing here -- but in short: spectacular. Very pleased with the purchase.
 
Jon

 

[arcanemethods]

To avoid any connectivity problems with a PC, use the Creative BT-D1 USB dongle. It appears to the system as a sound input rather than a Bluetooth device. My 'phones pair with this widget easily and it is apt-X compliant as well so nothing new is lost.
 
Gotta wonder if it would also work plugged into the USB of a network phone. Will try that one of these days. Since the dongle looks like a USB sound card, it should work on any phone that supports USB audio.