Sennheiser Earbuds

Toys!  I love toys.

This time it is the Sennheiser MM 30i and the CX 275s.  I wanted to look at these two items for one big reason.  I fly.  And on the plane, I want some nice noise-cancelling ear buds, but I also want them to sound great and provide a microphone so that I can make a phone call without having to dig out my Bluetooth earpiece.  Just go from musack to talking on the cell without changing parts.

Here is the Sennheiser market-speak for these two items:

MM 30i -  Realize the full audio potential of your iPod, iPad or iPhone with this high quality ear canal headset. A smart inline remote conceals a microphone and included adapters customize the fit.

CX 275s - Empower all your music, calls and gaming on your smartphone or tablet with awesome stereo sound. CX 275s universal in-ear headset features a smart remote and microphone. Adaptor cable included.

All manufacturer hype aside, and desiring to have my aural canals rocked by good (well, as good as it gets with earbuds) musack while retaining a good call quality, I plugged up and played.

Function

The MM 30i is, for me, better.  For starters, the MM 30i is iPhone specific.  The inline control is actually able to control the phone.  Nice.  The CX 275s had better sound I think, in the bass sections.  The CX was touted as being able to build more decibels, and that proved to be true.  I only had the volume up to the point of making my ears bleed once with each, and the CX certainly provided more pain. 

But the control on the CX inline thingy was marginal. Maybe I need to read the instructions, but my eyes are not that good. Dang but that print is SMALL!  Or maybe I should get my boss to obtain me (yet another toy!) a Droid to test with.

Either set demonstrated very nice music reproduction while not sounding too musicky (?) for voice purposes. As to comparing to the Apple-provided earbuds, either of these are far and away better in both sound and fit.

Comfy?

Comfort out of the package was quite good.  Both sets come with three sizes of cushions.  Seeing as how both the MM and the CX are “in the ear canal” designs, this is important.  I guess I am boring, the middle size (as shipped) worked best for me. The smalls were too small, while the large size simply would not fit.  Over the several hours of playing with both of these, I was impressed by my ears not feeling like a bearing puller was trying to extract a press-fit from my inner ear.

The Lync Connection

When using the earbuds with Lync 2013 Mobile Client, I had excellent results.  ‘Nuff said. 

Last Thoughts

All in all, in the vernacular of the 60’s, groovy. I had to forcibly remove the CX from the hands of my Droid tester.  Apparently they rock a Droid. Now I can’t wait for my next project that requires airline travel so I can give the MM 30i a more comprehensive trial.  In closing, these are the best ear buds I have heard yet.

You can get yours right here:  MM 30i – CX 275s.

YMMV