[Soundizer]

I agree with your view "it's a matter of taste which you prefer". And as I continue to listen to the PXC-550 via Apple devices the more it confirms to me that the Bose Sound experience is better on these devices. I am not the only one to think so.


I would however, not be surprised that PXC550 might sound better to me on Android AptX devices.

Its not good to hear that the 550s fair poorer in sound (NC by deduction and comfort as well) so in the end why spend 50 more than the bose. Disapointing to hear that the Bose 35s still are the best NC as to me it sounds awfull . I expected the 550s to sound at least closer to the momentum wireless which definately sounds better than the 35s.


On that note can you tell more about the different sound modes ? effect modes, including club, movie, speech or no effect that you could change on the headphones itself. 

No one is more disappointed than me as I am a big Sennheiser fan and only originally purchased the Bose QC35 because the PXC550 was not available and thought I should at least experience the best NC headphones. I would have spent much more on the Momentum 2 Wireless but the ANC is not very effective on them.


[PXC SOUND MODES - SWITCHABLE FROM THE HEADPHONES DIRECTLY]
I tried all the the difference modes.
They sound much better without these modes for Movies and all Music Genre. Have experimented with these modes over 50 times.
The 3 modes are : Club, Movies and Speech.
They sound artificial and with so much ANC processing already going on why complicate the sound further. A bad move.
Compared to Bose Voice already sounds too distant and this is made worse in both Movie and Club mode. The Base is much faster and punchier on the Bose.

Speech Mode is good for speech clarity only, but not if there is also music in the background.


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I have to highlight that multiple device pairing is now almost unmanageable and awful compared to Bose so even if they did Sound better than Bose (which they do not to my ears _subjectively speaking) I cannot live with having to reconnect to pair on both the device and on the headphones which also fails many times. On the Bose it just works and you can use the Bose App to easily connect/disconnect.

I am Returning these tomorrow and buying the Bose again.

IF YOU HAVE ANDROID APTX DEVICES I WOULD CERTAINLY TRY THEM MAYBE THEY SOUND GREAT AND ALSO THE ONE TOUCH NFC MIGHT BE GOOD.

 

[arcanemethods]

  My question is why is everyone getting into wireless audio before we have a bluetooth standard capable of transmitting lossless sound? Like, I get that the apple iPhone-sans-headphone-jack rumors have reached deafening pitch, but if everyone will need to include lightning port (ala EL8, maybe N90NC?) or go wireless, until there's a wireless standard capable of sounding great (never mind not cutting out every few minutes), what is the rush to go wireless? Read the amazon reviews of Earin. It was disastrous. #thanksbluetooth

Before you stop wondering how lossless it must become to be lossless to you, use these for a bit. I can't find anything missing at all or any kind of audible masking.

 

[arcanemethods]

Rosmadi, can you get any info at all about the spatial processing that is being done because I assure you it is being done. I had never imagined it could be this good for a common denominator device. The plastic lens between diaphragm and pinnae point of contact (I wish it wouldn't but it is so slight that if that is part of the magic I'm ecstatic) is brilliant because it cancels the user pinnae so that within the limits of our canal's themselves we have a standard image.

 

[arcanemethods]

  I had a couple of flights today and, given that I wanted to get a wireless headphone for a while, was happy to get a chance to demo the PXC 550, QC35, and Zik 3 all side by side, and compared them to my trusty old PSB M4U2.
 
In short, I was seriously underwhelmed by the 550. Yes, it looks really nice, but that's about it. The comfort of the cups was OK, but the headband immediately felt uncomfortable. The NC was good but not great, however the biggest disappointment was sound quality. I only used it for a few minutes, but it sounded quite dull, bass was bloated and just unpleasant. The QC35 bested it in every category - comfort, NC, and surprisingly, even sound. The QC35 doesn't sound all that great in terms of sound quality alone, mind you - it certainly lacks details, but it has generally nice airy presentation, and the silence makes it ideal for flights.
 
The PSB is still the king of the hill in terms of actual sound quality for an NC headphone, but the NC is years behind Bose, and the wireless works very nice. I will keep the PSB for the daily commutes until it breaks (they have the unfortunate tendency to stop working after 1-2 years of heavy use, due to poor internal wiring), and will use the Bose predominantly for flights (yes, I fly enough to justify a headphone only for flying...)
 
In short - as always, best to try before you buy... And if you're in Australia, you should be able to test it in pretty much every airport, against its main competitors.

FWIW, and just who the hell am I anyway, my experience is exactly the opposite of yours. I found nirvana here.

 

[arcanemethods]

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 and test research and but 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 even heard before.
 
Some have criticized a touch of brightness but I don't agree. That's what perfect verisimilitude sounds like and it provides a common center from which one can apply tasteful transformation. The Sennheiser PXC 550 is something that no audiophile can ignore. I didn't even start on the superb feature set because, cool as it is, it isn't particularly relevant to what matters to me.
 
I just watched Avatar listening through these and I won't revise my estimate of them being a canonical device. I had been waiting for a 3D HMD suitable for watching it to first see it but couldn't resist. Perfect surround sound stage and perfect timbre, none of its own to speak of.
 
Putting a 100 Hz low shelf on it to lower bass a bit to taste results in something like a horizontal line you can hear in the reproduction. It's like a curtain with its bottom edge horizontal across the floor. It changes it from bass to base. A slower roll off is in order to put a less audible edge on it, more of a shimmer.
 
These are going to prove very important to the future of music production as well when listeners, performers, producers, mixing and mastering engineers have a common point of discussion and perception relative to the musical content of music.
 
They must be canonized.
 
Finally found the little button that allows venue selection. I pushed it once and was suddenly in a club. The voice-over confidently asserted, "Club Mode", and indeed that's where I found myself listening to The Allman Brother's Band, Live At Ludlow Garage. Simply amazing. Even better, Stevie Ray Vaughan on Tin Pan Alley or Lenny from Texas Flood.
 
I believe these should be sold as anti-depressants. There's just no way to keep that point of view. Seriously, I have a Vagus nerve stimulator on speculative purchase from IndieGogo and will adapt them to these. The mind boggles.

 

[Levanter]

Just arrived today
 
 

 
 

 
 
Haven't tested the NC extensively yet, but I could still hear the upper mids of my ceiling fan and the vacuum pressure is obvious once NC is on. Sound wise i'm satisfied so far, but i'm not that fussy

 

[Sennheiser]

  Just arrived today
 
 
Haven't tested the NC extensively yet, but I could still hear the upper mids of my ceiling fan and the vacuum pressure is obvious once NC is on. Sound wise i'm satisfied so far, but i'm not that fussy

Congrats on your purchase! Looking forward to your impressions!

 

[arcanemethods]

I find that the full on ANC has a negative effect on the timbre of the music. It has a negative effect on something anyway. Full off in a quiet space is flawless. In a space with enough noise to be sub-optimal the mid setting seems to have a pretty significant, if not perfect, quieting effect without much altering anything about the music.

 

[Levanter]

  Congrats on your purchase! Looking forward to your impressions!

 
I don't really hear any difference between Adaptive NC and Max NC. Is that normal?

 

[xela3]

Just got mine, what effect mode is the best?
 

 

[highdefinitely]

I don't really hear any difference between Adaptive NC and Max NC. Is that normal?

The best way to test that is with music turned off. Adaptive ANC is almost as effective as 'full' ANC, that's why I use that setting in loud environments most of the time,set to 75% via CapTune.

 

[highdefinitely]

Just got mine, what effect mode is the best?

The 'best' is what you like the best. The best for me is off.

You can also create your own effect mode via the CapTune app ("Director") and save it on the headphone.

 

[dgyoungs]

I just received these and so far so good. I cant comment on everything I would like to right now but one small side note, do you need your source (mine is galaxy s6) turned all the way up and the headphone volume at max as well? I mean I probably dont need it much louder, but would like the option.

 

[jonstrong]

I've been following the ads, "reviews" (some are actually reviews - way too many are regurgitation of the press releases), and the commentary here and on sites like Amazon (only 18 there when I posted my own). I fly twice a week - and have been doing this for about 3 years now, and expect to be doing so for the foreseeable future. ANC headphones - comfortable, good audio, all very important to help keep me sane and headache free as I deal with airlines and lots of travel time.
 
I chose PSB M4U-2's over Bose QC15's a bit over two years ago. I checked out the QC25's when they were released, and once again was happy I had my PSB's. In recent months, I came to the conclusion I wanted something more compact (the PSB's are bulky with everything else I cram in my backpack), wireless and with better ANC (the PSB's sound wonderful, but ANC is just "so so"). I've been looking at QC35's and Parrot Zik 3's, and having tried both I wasn't convinced -- always went straight back to my PSB's.
 
After reading up on the PXC 550's for the past month, I finally got to try them out when I was at the CLT (Charlotte Douglas Int'l) airport, waiting (yet again) for my delayed flight back to NJ to start boarding. With some time to spare, I wandered over to Brookstone and was delighted to see the 550's in stock - with a demo unit just waiting for me to give it a try.
 
I won't go into a full review here. But for the moment I can say that I fell in love with these and have spent many happy hours running through my large and diverse Google Play Music library and getting familiar with the various swipes and taps (and Captune) that can control these headphones.
 
Re: volume -- I have a Droid Turbo 2 -- I DO have the volume set to full on the phone, and adjust up and down from there using the finger slide control on the right headphone (slide up/down for volume). All the way up would seem to be pretty deafening for me. I've had no reason to turn it up that much. Volume has been excellent for me using Google Play Music as a source.
 
Jon

 

[Brooko]

Just got back from two weeks away.  Sadly none of the airports I went to had demo units of the PXC550 readily available.  Still keen on listening to them though - so Rosmadi - if you have a demo pair heading down under at any stage, can you please put me on the review list.
 
I did get to hear the QC35 and compare to my QC25 (briefly).  With an iPhone 5S - same excellent noise cancelling, very clear, good bluetooth connection (even in a busy airport).  I'll hang off until I get a chance to hear the Senns - but otherwise I will probably end up selling the 25s at some stage and buying the QC35s.
 
The good thing is that everyone is lifting their game.  For the consumer - this is a great thing.