Sennheiser PX 100 Lightweight Collapsible Headphones
by Sennheiser
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sennheiser PX 100 Lightweight Collapsible Headphones
Customer Review: The PX-100; Best Open Portable in its class in my opinion
Summary: 5 Stars
I started a journey about a year ago into the world of the audiophile, the lover of good sound. One of the first set of cans (audiophile speak for headphones) I purchased was the PX-100. I also received the Koss PortaPro at the same time and the PX-200 a few days later. The audiophile reviews in particular seemed to favor the PortaPro "slightly" and at first, I agreed with these reviews. As time has gone on, I have come to believe that the Sennheiser PX-100 outshines the comparable Koss PortaPro with better, more open and natural sound that isn't bass heavy and reproduces mids, highs and lows all equally and vividly! (I still am very fond of my PortaPros but I consider them to be a 4.5 star model vs. the Sennheiser PX-100, which I consider to be a true 5 star model.)
I've been so incredibly impressed by the Sennheiser PX-100 (and its closed, more bass reflexive relative, the PX-200) that I haven't even bothered to try the new iGrado portable made by my favorite headphone company, Grado Labs. So in terms of an Open Portable set of cans, the PX-100 are the very best set in my opinion. By comparison, the Koss PortaPro, has a somewhat "muffled" sound, requiring a little more power and not sounding quite as rich or dynamic, in my opinion. The PX series has a very low sound impedance of only 32 Ohms, which means that small low-power output devices such as CD/MP3 players and iPods can drive these cans without having to turn the volume way up and sucking your batteries dry quickly.
I have found the Sennheiser cans to be comfortable with durable pads on the headpiece and soft ear cushions, all of which are replaceable. So you are making an investment that will last! Being comfortable, you can also fall asleep in them; I have! They are also very sturdy and can be taken for walks, jogs, trips to the gym and so on. The PX-100's are Open cans so they will leak sound if you turn the volume up too high, possibly disturbing others around you. (If you want a portable set that both keeps your sound in and other people's sounds out, the PX-200 is the way to go.) The PX-100 sounds equally GREAT whether you are listening to an audiobook, classical music, rock, metal, contemporary, country or even a DVD or video game! Having said that, I believe you will be blown away by how much these little cans "can" do with whatever you throw at them! I listened to Samuel Barber's Adagio for String's (a very difficult piece that tests any headphone's abilities to handle all ranges!) and these cans handled every last detail beautifully. Martina McBride, Third Day, Metallica, Mozart and many others as well sounded absolutely amazing!
A lot of to do has been made about the difficulty of folding them up and storing them in their (very rugged and sturdy) plastic case. I have a nerve damaged left hand and I was able to fold them up and stow them the first time I used them in less than thirty seconds. In my opinion, it's a piece of cake! (And the directions are on the headphones as well as the case and packaging.)
Now the "but" or "qualified statement" list: These ARE audiophile level cans, which sound great right out of the box but there is there really is a break-in period for the absolute best results after about 12-20 hours. (I know; I didn't believe it at first either but I could hear the difference with every hour of use.) I believe that should you choose to purchase these Sennheisers, you are going to get a pair of absolutely amazing and out-of-this-world cans that will last for years to come!!
My final qualification is a warning: BEWARE blasting your hearing to pieces! These portable cans are able to produce amazingly accurate and beautiful sound but they are also able to produce amazingly LOUD (and yet still accurate!) amounts of sound.
In conclusion, I believe that the Sennheiser PX-100 is a fantastic portable open set of cans worth every penny you pay for them. They come with a full two year warranty from a company who stands behind their product. I am extremely pleased with all of my Sennheiser headphones and I believe that if you are looking for a Portable set of open headphones, the PX-100's are awesome and the choice to go with!
Customer Review: Great comfort, sound, and portability at an attractive price
Summary: 5 Stars
Since receiving a 40GB iPod last Christmas, I've been looking to replace its stock earbuds with something a lot more comfortable, a little less tinny-sounding, yet comparable in portability. The local Costco recently was demo-ing several Sennheiser headphones, and since I happened to have my iPod in my pocket, I had a chance to listen to it paired with the PX100s.
Putting them on, I immediately noticed that I'd be able to wear these for hours with no discomfort. They are light (65 grams), which is comparable in weight to a comfortable, El Cheapo headphone that typically comes bundled with Walkmen/MP3 players. Pads at the top of the metal band help to keep even more weight off of your tender ears. They are the open-air style where you only have sponge pads pressed against your ears (as opposed to having them enclosed within full, heat-retaining ear cups), and the spring pressure holding them against my ears was not excessive, yet there's no sensation of them wanting to fall off. In summary, 'A+' for comfort.
That's where the El Cheapo comparisons ended, however. Listening to the sonics, I was immediately impressed by the low end response. Bass this good usually needs either an in-the-ear design, or a larger speaker mounted inside an enclosed ear cup design. Dialing up King Crimson's bass heavy "Easy Money" on the iPod, I noticed how clean the bass sounded. Lesser speakers/headphones tend to turn the low end of that tune into a muddy, boomy mess, but the PX100s handled it flawlessly -- the individual bass notes were distinct, and still retained their "plucked string" character. Impressive. The high end sounded crisp, and the midrange felt very airy and open. Perhaps even a little too airy. Despite this latter suspicion, I'll give the PX100s an 'A-' for sonics.
I'd originally only been considering ear buds since I wanted something that is easy to carry around with my iPod (and since I'd erroneously assumed only ear buds would have acceptable bass response). The PX100s pushed their way into my candidates list due to a clever fold up design that squeezes them into an eyeglass-sized case (145 x 75 x 27 mm). This is still a bit larger than what I'd hoped to find (especially compared to ear buds), but acceptable. You have to spend 30 seconds folding it, and winding up its cord, but I'll give the PX100s a 'B' in portability.
OK, so now I'm tempted. Scanning for the price tag, I'm thinking I might be willing to go as high as $80ish. It turns out they only cost $39.99! 'A+' for price.
Sold! :-)
Addendum: After getting these home, I compared them to my home headphones: AKG K240DF Monitors. When I first got the K240s about twenty years ago, they were considered high end from a sonics perspective. By today's standards, however, they are middle of the road performers. The fact that they're still in production, and still command a market (as opposed to MSRP) price of $100ish means they probably make a good benchmark for mid-priced headphone comparisons.
As studio monitors, the K240s strive for "flat" response. Comparing them to the PX100s, I see my comment about the midrange being "too airy" is probably justified... the PX100s emphasize those frequencies beyond flat response. At the low end, I'd say the PX100s slightly outperform the K240s -- the PX100s make individual bass notes a little more distinct (i.e., low frequency response seems a bit faster). At the high end, the two headphones sound about the same, at least with my iPod. With a better sound source (MP3s ripped from a CD lose some of the high frequencies), high end differences might be more evident.
From a price-performance perspective, the PX100s are a big winner in my book. The comment about overly-airy midrange should be taken with a grain of salt. When it comes to sonics, personal preference is the ultimate gold standard, and I personally don't find the PX100s midrange emphasis to be distracting or tiring. You'll need to listen to them yourself, and decide for yourself whether you agree. These are not audiophile caliber headphones, but for my iPod, they are more than good enough.
Customer Review: Excellent value, truly good sound - your iPod is lonely for these!
Summary: 5 Stars
These headphones sound far better than they have any right to, given their price and easy-to-drive nature. I own Grado SR-225's and an Apogee Duet DAC/ADC unit, and when I listen to my iTunes library on my Macbook Pro with the Grados and Duet, the sound quality is clearly superior to my PX100's and iPod Touch. To be sure. But the Duet is a $500 DAC and the Grados are $200 headphones, not to mention the Macbook Pro! At about $50, the PX100's are a flat-out incredible bargain, and what's more, they can easily be driven by portable music players like an iPod. This together with how portable they are, makes these a very easy and smart choice. Buy them. You won't regret it!
I went with these instead of IEM's like the Shures or Etymotic Research because I need to be able to hear the environment around me most of the time. As much as I may want to, I can't isolate myself from it most of the time, and these headphones definitely let you hear both your music and the sounds around you. Also, I don't like sticking things deep inside my ear. I don't even like ear buds, even apart from their atrocious sound quality. Plus, keep in mind that closed headphones are harder to design and build than open ones, although some companies manage to pull it off quite nicely. Point is that the open nature of these headphones is in part responsible for their good sound quality.
So, as mentioned by others, these headphones accentuate the bass a bit, but in a way that isn't annoying or displeasing. Still, if you're into flat response and high accuracy neutral sound, give these a pass. Most people won't mind the slight bass accent, however, or may even like it. I think it goes pretty well with the overall sound balance of these headphones. The midrange and highs are excellent, although the soundstage isn't as open and spacious as more expensive, full sized cans, like my Grado SR-225's. I wouldn't want these to be the only headphones I owned, but I actually end up doing the majority of my listening on these, and I'm quite happy with them.
Getting the knack of deploying and replacing these takes some time, but is well worth it. Here's what works for me: open the case by holding it in your left hand (assuming you're right handed) and depressing the release with your right. Push the cover out of the way and unwind the cord all the way. Now pull the phones out of the case and bring your right hand around them to grip the grommet on the cord. Hold the cord to the left of the grommet with your left hand and PUSH the grommet away with your right hand. Now grab the grommet with your left hand while holding the cord with your right hand, and pull the grommet out all the way to the end of its travel. Now, hold the headphones so that the pads are facing down and away from you and the cord is hanging down and away from you. Extend the leg on your left first, then the one on your right. Now flip the headphones around so that you can read the "Sennheiser" label right side up, and finally, snap each pad in place and you're all set to go. This may sound complicated and tedious, but once you do it a few times, you can unpack and repack these in about 10 seconds or so. No joke. It is possible to pinch the cord in the hinges if you're not careful, so keep that in mind.
The build quality of these headphones is quite good, and the case and fold-up mechanics are well designed. If you've only ever heard the sound from the Apple ear-buds, you'll be in sonic heaven with the PX100's. And if you're used to truly high quality sound from full size headphones or IEM's, you'll be pleasantly surprised with how good the PX100's sound. Highly recommended. In fact, I like these so much, and rely on them so heavily, that I am buying a second set to keep new in the package as a spare in case I break or lose my first set, and in case Sennheiser ever decides to discontinue these. For the money, they're that good. Incredible performance to price ratio.
Customer Review: Superb with Sansa Clip+
Summary: 5 Stars
These and a Sansa Clip+ have superb synergy. Summary: this combo is like 3-Buck Chuck: isn't the absolute best out there, but what is there is WELL-TUNED, compliments it's pairing in a highly satisfying way, is UTTERLY inoffensive (unlike lesser cheap wines that readily offend the palate), and shockingly good for the price. The PX-100's will handily beat the KSC-75 in this configuration, but of course you are paying over three times street on that. That said, at such "small ball" numbers (relatively speaking, I come from an audiophile background), it's well worth the step up to the Sennheiser PX100's...$40 more bucks to enjoy each day's portable music 20% more. The combo will yield you a $95 TOTAL rig that puts a smile on your face daily.
Tried Etymotic HF5 headphones with the Sansa Clip+, and while I am sure they are amazing amped, with *this* portable they were lame. Yes I got a great seal, bass was fine as expected, but I was having exactly ZERO EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCES (and isn't that what music is really all about?). These cans are AMAZING for portable unamped use (I wanted a player-and-cans-only rig, no amp to fool with...yes I know that tends to stunt potential, but it is what it is...this is my exercise rig).
Total champion combination that flatters the absolute p*** out of lossy MP3's while wrenching every last bit of realism from them. Does a very neat trick of flattering compressed music in hugely beautiful ways.
Finally, most importantly...FLAC files. All bets are off with FLAC, that is where these things SHINE. They just do so much BEAUTIFUL musical justice to uncompressed digital files.
EXTREMELY HAPPY with this combo. Realistic, punchy with body, high detail and RIDICULOUS soundstaging (on well recorded, preferably lossless, music...remember, garbage in, garbage out, as always...although these do the amazing feat of maximizing the music and minimizing the unpleasant parts of garbage really nicely). It's a done deal, for me.
Thank you, Sennheiser.
EDIT II:
I shouldn't say these have amazing soundstage on EVERY song...it is #1 a function of how the song was recorded. They do have the ability to wring out a lot of it, whereas the Etymotic Etymotic HF5's soundstage feels compacted and sounds "close". The Etymotics (again, in this unamped rig, with this particular player and with my particular music) have that mosquito-around-your-ear closeness and compactness to it. It's not like a Stax or something, but it's more relaxed and at least "confusing" to the ear - plausible that it could be far out - on most tracks.
HOWEVER - on well recorded tracks, the PX100 / Clip+ soundstage is HUGE. Better than any unamped portable rig I'VE ever heard.
p.s. Grado SR-60's sound like crap with this player...way too bright, shouty and unpleasant. Have to keep the volume down to minimize distortion, but that also thins out body of music. The PX100's have a very smooth flat treble that allows you to really crank it with no painful peakiness. If you want to feel like you are enjoying music in the presence of the musicians (and not with your ear to their PA speakers), you want these.
On a final note, POP music is BRILLIANT with these - despite common belief that Sennheisers suck for pop and rock - they don't. It's called CRANK THEM UP, which is the correct listening style ANYWAYS for pop and rock. Forget the Grado or "analytical detail" lovers - listen to the MUSIC, LIFE and EMOTION lovers: Sennheiser is where it's at with the Clip+.
I have owned headphone rigs up to $5000+ (Stax Omega 3 and custom Gilmore amp), but dollar for dollar against performance, and I am just getting a lot of MUSICAL enjoyment out of this $99 combo (Sansa Clip+ and PX-100 Sennheisers with an extra 8gb MicroSD card thrown in to support my FLAC addiction).
Recommendation? GO GO GO!!
Customer Review: Excellent choice for replacing cheap headphones
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought these headphones after extensive research (my favorite site is headphone.com). I already had a pair of excellent higher-end $180 Sennheiser headphones but I wanted something more practical for portable listening. I am completely happy with the purchase and I would give them as gifts to any of my music-loving friends.
Sound:
These headphones offer an immensely improved sound quality over anything that you will get packaged with a player. They are smooth and fairly clear in most of the ranges. The bass can be heavy and a bit muddled, but I only really notice on songs that are bass-intensive. Most of the hip-hop songs that I listen to aren't a problem, only the poorly balanced ones. Keep in mind that this is in comparison to other nice headphones, they are still a vast improvement over cheap-os.
Comfort:
For higher end headphones, you usually have to choose between heavy monster headphones that fit around your ears or ear-canal headphones that are uncomfortable unless you have a perfect fit. As mentioned in a lot of reviews, these are almost as small as the cheap variety, and are worn in the traditional headband fashion. They are very light, but they are also high quality and durable (unlike Bose headphones which are known to break easily). I had thought the pads on the top looked kind of silly, but they don't really cushion so much as lift the headphones off the head so the band almost feels like it's floating. The ear pads also rotate horizontally, so when you put them on, they automatically fit perfectly to the ears. I usually wear them all day and they are just as comfortable when I take them off as when I put them on.
Portability:
On top of everything, these headphones are also foldable! They come with a custom hard plastic case that perfectly fits the headphones and even has a place to wrap the cord. The closed case is about the size of a glasses case, if a bit shorter and wider. The headphones fold in a way that may be somewhat confusing the first time, but there are illustrations printed right on the case to remind you how to do it (it's not that hard - really).
These headphones are also open-air, which means that they are not sealed from outside noises, and it also meaning the outside noises are not sealed from your music. For me this is important for portability because I want to be able to hear what's going on around me for safety or in case someone wants to talk to me. I wear these at work where I share an office, and I haven't gotten any complaints. I listen to music at a reasonable volume - don't want hearing loss - and I sometimes take them off with the music playing to see how they sound. In most cases, I can't hear the music when I hold the headphones a foot away from my head. If escaping sound is a big problem, or you want to use these mostly on a plane where you really want to seal out ambient noise, the same type of design is available in the Sennheiser Px200 Collapsible High-Performance Closed Headphones (Black). However, many reviews say that you would be sacrificing some sound quality.
Overall, if you're looking for something to replace the typical packaged headphone, look no further. These greatly improve on every aspect of cheap headphones and are a great value for the money. I would highly recommend these headphones to anyone. If clarity of sound is your highest priority, and you're willing to sacrifice comfort and portability, then the SR60 by Grado may be another option you want to consider within this price range.