[Flaskekork]

Hi!
I am really considering these. 
Went a lot of Hi-Fi stores in town today and it essentially boiled down to three
Denon AH-M400, Senn Momentum 2 and the PXC 550.
 
Since the PXC 550 is so "featury" I have some questions. Does the headset still "work" if the battery is dead? Then using the cable. 

And, is there an audio quality difference between running them through the cable/BT ? 
 
All these had features I liked, but I leaned towards the PXC due to the features, design and yeah... having such a broad spectrum due to the EQ.
 
I'm no big fan of ANC actually. Tried the Bose a last year, and I soon after got a headache. In addition, to my surprise and relief, these actually sound GOOD with ANC off (woho!). 

 

[Mark-sf]

  Since the PXC 550 is so "featury" I have some questions. Does the headset still "work" if the battery is dead? Then using the cable. 

And, is there an audio quality difference between running them through the cable/BT ? 
 

 
Yes they work with their audio cable with the battery drained.  There are actually two ways to run them with a cable - audio and USB. First, even though I use Apple devices (w/o) aptX I have found that the bluetooth signal is so strong that they are able maintain full bitrates out of the fallback SBC protocol. I detect a small loss of bass definition versus the audio cable but am still evaluating. Its the second USB cable support that surprised me in that you can plug them into your laptop/notebook as a sound card and get even better sound than the audio cable into the headphone jack. Its DAC appears to be limited to 48K on my Macbook, but I am still playing around with this. They will not work in this mode with devices that cannot deliver 500mA as you don't appear to drain their battery in this mode.  These are definitely worth an extended trial due to their versatility and level of performance.

 

[Flaskekork]

Excuse my language... but... holy ****! These are so versatile.
 
I'm sold ;P Definitely! 
 
Thanks! 

Have you had any experience with the volume problem-concern? I tried two different ones today, one straight of the box through the cable (probably low on battery) and on with a charger in it, through Bluetooth. Funny thing was, the one playing through the cable was fairly low, even when cranking up the volume to max on my phone AND cranking it up on the headset. For some reason, swiping the side, increased the volume in the headset separately. Weird. But at this point I was about to give them up... Luckily I gave another pair a try, and they had battery, and i was blown away. Loved them to pieces.  yum yum. 
 
But anyway, the volume concerned me a bit. 

 

[dweaver]

OK I owe Sennheiser an apology. I really needed to play with ALL of the features of this headphone more. I will have to update my review to include all of the features and more real world use of those features.
 
The latest feature I had not actually tested was using the USB cable as an audio cable. I was working away at the office and decided to see how it worked today. All I can say is this feature kicks serious @$$. Suddenly I have a lossless format that charges the headphone while I listen to music, it sounds even better than the already excellent Bluetooth and it is fully functional with all of the 550 features including auto pause when I take the headphone off. It also gives me a more robust and fool proof way to use the headphone as a headset in that unlike BT which is finicky with communication applications USB is bullet proof. Did I forget to mention I can still be BT'd to my phone while using this with USB to my computer?

 so I can answer my phone while listening to music on my computer through USB, while charging the headphone, and it will auto pause the music on the computer while I take the phone call.
 
As I continue to delve into the depths of what this headphone offers I can't help but think it bests ANY other ANC/BT headphone at this point in time including the heralded Sony MDR-1000X which is the current Head-fi darling. Even if the 1000X has better ANC, unless that is the only requirement a person needs I think the 550 equals or bests it in every other regard except for maximum volume level. If you then add in all the functions and features that the 550 has that are missing on the 1000X I think the 550 is simply a better option for most people.
 
I'm not suggesting people sell off their 1000X if they have already bought one but I do think that Sennheiser is getting the short end of the stick in the ANC/BT war right now.
 
Actually I can even understand why this is the case. Sennheiser has packed so much into the PXC550 you can't easily appreciate what is can do even when you use it regularly. It takes time and need to really see just how much it does. It's kind of like sports cars. You can have an American sports car like a Corvette and compare it to something like a Porsche or (insert exotic car name) and on paper they might stack up for most big features. But only the person who owns and uses the cars daily will learn to appreciate ALL of the features each car has to offer.

 

[discombob]

I got a pair of these and they are so impressive, really.  I can't believe mobile can sound this good:
 
- My sound quality estimate is about 80% of the way to HD600 or 700 level when streaming Tidal lossless over USB.  Transparency on Bluetooth suffers, as with most wireless headphones.  I do not have an AptX-enabled phone or I'd really like to see how that would work.
 
- A little smaller soundstage then the big open Senns (no surprise with this cup depth and being closed), but still good imaging and enough separation to make complex music passages surprisingly coherent.
 
- I don't find them bright or fatiguing at all, but rather more neutral without the flabby bass and big treble roll-off found in most other popular phones lately.
 
- Comfort is awesome if you don't have huge ears (low-profile design) or a giant head (clamping pressure is just right for average size).
 
- They are incredibly flexible in connectivity and show as a USB dac output in various operating systems.
 
- The sound is the same with ANC on or off.
 
- They even had good low latency (12 ms) audio streaming for studio monitoring when using ASIO4all to control buffer size, which was killer with ANC allowing me to more easily focus on my project.
 
- The midrange is a little recessed compared to my higher end cans.
 
- It is true the gesture controls take a while to get used to, but once you have them down, it is pretty impressive.
 
I find myself wearing them more than anything else now; even briefly considered selling my primary desktop rig tonight due to the immense convenience and comfort with these things.  I wouldn't hesitate to buy these as it will probably be a few more years before wireless sound gets much better.

 

[turbobb]

@dweaver - thx for your post. I've actually sold my 1000X (outstanding ANC but the SQ just wasn't for me). How is the ear cup size of the 550 in comparison to the 1000X? To me, I actually liked the fit of the ABN's deeper cups over the 1000X  but as for 550, I keep hearing that it's closer to on-ear than truly circumaural.

 

[dweaver]

My average sized ears fit comfortably. They occasionally touch on the edges but I just shift them a bit and then they get comfortable. I find the 550 more comfortable than my 100ABN and struggle to want to use the 100ABN most of the time now.

 

[jagu]

The 550s are my most used headphones at the moment! To work, during work (when not interacting with colleagues or customers), solo lunch breaks, from work. Not using my JH13Pros at all. I am enjoying the sound, the features such as being hooked up to my laptop+to my mobile phone, the double tap to activate talkthrough. I'd like to try them with my dacs but haven't gotten around to run the battery empty yet.

 

[dweaver]

I use the 550 pretty much daily for work, commute, some home time, power walks. They definitely get more head time than anything else.

 

[Audionautics]

Hello PXC 550ers,
 
Maybe I need some help. But first impressions: I have never been so disappointed with unboxing a set of headphones.
 
I just received my 550's a few hours ago. I got them in, charged them up, paired them with my iPhone. Cranked up my go-to new-equipment song, Babe I'm Gonna Leave You by Zeppelin. Then I just kind of stared disappointingly into the middle distance and didn't even finish the song. I forgot my iPhone pairing and grabbed the cable. My setup is Macbook Air -> audioengine D1 -> Sennheiser PXC 550. Bluetooth off. Noise cancelling off. Effect Mode off. Volume to the max on the headphones and on the audioengine D1 DAC/Amp. For completeness sake, the rest of the volume controls on my Mac are disabled when I plug in a DAC.
 
Just.... nothing. Nothing special. There's music, it's fine, but nothing I'd consider good. Far from great. First intro guitar riff sounds clear, but it doesn't sound full. It's got less of a soundstage than my on-ear beyerdynamic T51i's. If you wanna follow the bouncing ball with me, here are my listening notes for the song.
 
T-0:00 Intro guitar riff sounds clear, but sounds muted. Immediately disappointed. I pause here and re-read the manual page. I check to make sure the volume is up, the effect mode is off and not on movie or something. I make sure bluetooth is off just in case there is some other interference. Nope. Continue.
0:16 Robert Plant's first line is "Baby". He enunciates it as "Baaaaaay-buuuuh". There is no punch on the second syllable consonant "buh" sound. Hmm.
0:43 John Paul Jones enters with the first bass note. On all my other equipment this first note hits you and just hums. It shakes your spine. It feels good on your soul. These cans, it just kind of flops out. There's no punch. There's no emotion. There's nothing.
0:58 My absolute favorite part of the song. Jimmy Page crashes into your earholes. John Bonham has placed his Kick Drum inside your left ear canal. An eargasm only Led Zeppelin can deliver... usually. At this point, the intro is so weak, compressed, muted, and sad that I stop the song again and make sure that they're adequately charged and that the volume is up. I mean, no separation. Yep, fully charged. The volume is up. I keep checking the volume not because the song isn't loud--it is--it's just that there HAS to be more power there. More umph. There has to. But I'm running through my portable audioengine headphone amp and these are portable headphones, right?
 
At this point, I go grab my beyerdynamic T51i's to make sure my source path is correct. They're my current travel headphones, and the sound on those is amazing, but the on-ear design hurts my ear after a couple hours of listening. They're perfectly fine for a session. Amazing. Everything is working. Then I go grab my old PXC 350's. They have always been a little thin, but they're fine for an airplane. Not as good as my T51's for critical listening when traveling, but otherwise perfectly cromulent. They sound much better than the 550's. I won't plug in my DT880's. It will just make me sad.
 
So to my fellow Sennheiser aficionados, what's going on. Is there a setting that I'm missing? Is there a software update that I need? I want these headphones to work so bad. They tick all the right boxes and my wallet is about $430 lighter. They're not even my first cordless Sennheisers. Yeah, I was listening while corded, but I assumed the technology wouldn't be that different. I had an old set when Sennheiser had that proprietary protocol (Clear?) and you had the base that paired with the headphones. They were fantastic, but unfortunately some gentleman scholar thought they needed them more than I did, and they smashed my car window for the listening privilege. I used to keep those on my head 8 hours a day. I didn't keep the 550's on for an entire song.
 
Am I alone here? I hope there's a fix. They're absolutely perfect.... on paper.

 

[Audionautics]

Next Day review:
 
I spent all day listening to these cans. They're going back today.
 
I downloaded the app, messed with all the settings. Put the headphones in different listening modes, even tried a recipe I found for their "Director" mode (Director is the Sennheiser app name for custom) and I'm just not impressed with the sound quality.
 
For the positives: they're extremely versatile. Amazingly so. I plugged them directly into my iPhone, no problem, obviously. I plugged them into my computer through the USB cord and the Mac treats it as a DAC. Super cool. Of course, the cordless mode is impressive. I wore them all day and didn't have a bit of fatigue wearing them. They're light as a bird and very comfortable. I got used to the on-ear volume control, song control, and listen-thru in about 15 minutes. Didn't get hot. They're one of the most comfortable headphones I've ever tried on, save for my 15 year old Sennheiser HD 570's, which I'll probably be buried with. I can totally understand how the versatility of these headphones will draw a ton of fans.
 
But I didn't buy these headphones for the versatility. I bought them because of Sennheiser. The versatility, for me, is secondary. I swapped around my Senn PXC 350's, my beyerdynamic T51's, and these all day and the 550's consistently came up short. They've got this constant background "on" hum that's been driven out by most modern mid-level amp circuits. It's not that these headphones impart a color, it's that everything sounds reprocessed. I would never have guessed that these were flagship headphones.
 
Back on the market, I guess.

 

[Graham Baker]

​Maybe you got a faulty set? Mine have no hum at all, they do have a small amount of hiss, just a fraction more than the Bose QC35's.
I like the audio quality, especially now I have the Director mode set on.
I couldn't live with the gritty and detached treble of the QC35's which is why I bought the 550's which (to me) sound far more natural and less piercing in the top end
The only thing that concerns me is the low output where I find I am on max vol with some of my older recordings...
Apart from that I am very happy with my 550's, they are almost as comfortable as the QC35's and have much better functionality as well as better audio.
Couldn't live without the touch controls now I am used to them...

 

[dweaver]

No hum in my pair either just a very faint hiss that only is noticeable in quiet environments when no music is playing and its less than Bose and my Sony MDR100ABN. From reading your posts I do get a sense that the 550 may not match your sonic preferences and may not be loud enough for you. If that's the case at their price point just send them back and move on. If ANC is not your primary concern maybe the new 4.50BNC may be an option and they are certainly cheaper, or try out the Momentum wireless if you want to stay in the same price range.

BTW I don't want to suggest the ANC is worse in the other 2 Bose products I mentioned as I have not heard them so can not say that for certain. But I have read enough about the Momentums to think they will have a different signature that might be more to your liking and suspect the 4.50BNC will also have a different signature as well.

 

[Audionautics]

Thanks for the help guys. I really wanted ANC, but ANC is not a requirement if the cups give good enough isolation to use in travel. I have decent access to a BOSE store, and I'm eyeing the B&O H6 / H9 line for the same price point.
 
Dweaver: you have the Momentum On Ear. How do they stack up to other Sennheiser lines? I've got the HD 570's and HD 598's, and I'm familiar with the PXC line, obviously.
 
I definitely didn't have to strain to hear the hum. Maybe mine were out of tolerance, but I just don't think the profile was for me. Too bad, they were super comfy.

 

[dweaver]

Unfortunately I have sold the MOE so can't say for sure. But from memory they had a much punchier sound with hard hitting bass and sparkly sharp treble and they definitely went louder. I believe owners of both MOE and the over ear model say the MOE is a bit more V shaped signature wise. So I would imagine the Momentum wireless would definitely be more to your liking. I am really curious to see what Sennheiser has made with the new 4.50BNC offering just because of its price point but I can tell it is not as luxurious as the Momentum line.

I have bought and sold the H6, I liked its signature but its isolation was an issue and I found its BT implementation a bit to noisy and flaky for my liking.

If money is not a concern I would try the Momentum wireless if your a fan of the Sennheiser sound.

BTW my reason for selling the MOE was comfort not sound signature. I wear glasses and find pretty much all on ear headphones to be to uncomfortable, I prefer over ear instead. Sound signature wise I really enjoyed their engaging sound.