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Sennheiser PXC 250 Noise Canceling Headphones

Sennheiser PXC 250 Noise Canceling Headphones

(Enclosed, 106 dB, 2.29 oz - MPN: PXC250)
Description: The PXC250 Noise Canceling Stereo Headphones from Sennheiser is a closed, dynamic, supra-aural mini stereo headphone with NoiseGard active noise compensation. Due to the active and passive attenuation of ambient noise, it lets you enjoy mus.... Read More

User Reviews

3.5 Star Review(18 Reviews)

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Date Reviewed:  09/25/2005
  • vegasfish
  • from IA
  • Member Since:
    Feb 2005

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    Product Experience:
    1 Months
Strengths: Great sound, easy on the ears, and a nice storage case.
Weaknesses: You have to get use to folding up the headphones.
Summary: A very good buy for the quality and sound. I liked them so much I purchased a second pair. I have a portable DVD player and use the headphones alot with this item, the player has two jacks and makes it nice for two people to enjoy watching a movie using the noise canceling feature.

100% of People (7/7) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

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Date Reviewed:  02/08/2006
  • scottbrunza
  • Member Since:
    Jan 2006

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    Reviews
    Product Experience:
    3 Weeks
Strengths: Comfortable, gets rid of most background noise, and fold up into a compact case.
Weaknesses: Can't handle some of the higher frequency noise on an airplane, probably related to the small size of the ear cups. The inline, 2 AAA battery pack, is a little cumbersom.
Summary: These headphones provide good performance for a price that didn't put a hurting on my wallet. They were a good choice over the very pricey Bose ones. You'll need a pair with larger ear cups to enjoy a totally isolated feeling.

100% of People (3/3) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

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Date Reviewed:  06/28/2005
  • fluffgazer
  • from SC
  • Member Since:
    Jun 2005

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    Reviews
    Product Experience:
    1 Day
Strengths: Small package, easily portable, noise isolation is very good.
Weaknesses: A little pricey.
Summary: I wasn't willing to spring the bucks for the PXC 300, and am completely satisfied with this purchase. I don't feel that I had to sacrifice anything quality-wise. Haven't used the product long enough to comment on battery life.

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Date Reviewed:  12/15/2003
  • hi50phd
  • from UT
  • Member Since:
    Oct 2003

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    Reviews
    Product Experience:
    10 Days
Strengths: Very good at canceling low frequency background noise, good sound quality, comfortable, light, easy to sleep while using, folds into a portable, compact size, thoughtfully designed carrying case.
Weaknesses: Large, clumsy battery case. On-ear design may be a bother to some who are used to over-the-ear type.
Summary: I tried noise canceling headphones by Bose, Sony, Panasonic and Sennheiser prior to purchasing the PXC 250. The Bose and Sennheiser are nearly equal in performance to my ears and clearly the best of this group with the first a bit better due, perhaps, to it's over-the-ear design. This configuration provides a high degree of insulation from the environment regardless of the Bose's ability to cancel extraneous noise. At the time of my purchase, Amazon had a $99 sale price on the Sennheiser. The Bose website had their headphones at $299 with a bonus CD player. In the end, frugality won out and I chose the PXC 250.

99% of People (69/70) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

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Date Reviewed:  11/03/2004
  • d_bondi
  • from UT
  • Member Since:
    Oct 2002

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    Reviews
    Product Experience:
    2 Weeks
Strengths: Very portable. Effective noise cancellation. Great sound quality with noise cancellation on.
Weaknesses: Battery/noise cancellation circuitry pod is cumbersome. Sound quality without noise cancellation is poor.
Summary: 2004-11-10 22:03:55 I must say that I am impressed and I like these Sennheiser PXC250 Noise Canceling Headphones.

About a year ago, I actually purchased the Bose QuietComfort 2 Acoustic Noise Canceling Headphones. They were nice but I had several issues with them. 1) they are $299. 2) they are somewhat bulky and were not comfortable to wear for extended periods of time. 3) they did not have a flat frequency response, they boosted the base too much. 4) did I mention that they are $299. Bottom Line, I liked the novelty of the noise cancellation but I have a set of 20 year old AKG studio headphones that I paid $150 for that reproduce the sound much more accurately and are more comfortable to wear for extended periods. I could not justify spending $299 for the noise cancellation alone, so I returned them under Bose’s 30 policy.

Enter, Sennheiser PXC250 Noise Canceling Headphones. These are small, comfortable (wore them for 2 hours in the plane), sound great with the noise cancellation circuitry turned on, and priced right ($85 from Amazon). They come with a nifty zippered carry pouch, dual-mono airline adaptor, and 1/8” to 1/4” plug adaptor. The battery/noise cancellation circuitry pod is somewhat cumbersome, but it is certainly manageable. It has a clip on it so you can put it in a shirt pocket or on your belt. The only truly negative comment I have is that without the noise cancellation turned on, they just plain sound poor, so plan on using the noise cancellation all the time and on long trips, carry a couple of spare AAA batteries.

For $85 (compared to the $299 Bose), these are a no brainer. I would make the purchase again.

Addendum: I used these this past weekend to do my lawn. With both the weed whacker and the mower, they made a significant difference. They cut the equipment noise to a level that allowed me to listen to talk radio & music at a reasonable level instead of just cranking it up to drown out the noise of the weed whacker/mower.

98% of People (45/46) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

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Date Reviewed:  02/10/2004
  • dmyers20
  • Member Since:
    Feb 2004

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    Product Experience:
    45 Days
Strengths: Small, compact folding design. Excellent sound quality. 2 year warranty. Ability to use as stand-alone headphones (without noise cancelling function).
Weaknesses: Extra module for batteries and electronics. Included pouch had zippers sewn on opposite sides. Would be nice if the plug was angled rather than straight.
Summary: I purchased these headphones to help deal with the noise of the bus and train I take to work. They are outstanding! The bus engine sound is reduced to that of a quiet car and the train now sounds like the quiet whoosh of a jet aircraft. I can now also hear the music or news without turning my player up so loud as to injure my ears. The folding design makes them very compact and easy to store in my shirt or jacket pocket. The extra module for the batteries and electronics is unfortunate, but at 1/3 the cost of the Bose, these headphones are a superior value. I purchased these at Amazon for $89 + free shipping.

97% of People (38/39) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

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Date Reviewed:  11/02/2004
  • dbensdorp
  • Member Since:
    Nov 2004

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    Product Experience:
    90 Days
Strengths: Portable, easy to use, good sound
Weaknesses: Noise cancellation introduces some distortion into music
Summary: I use the PXC250 together with an Apple I-pod for travel on planes. Without noise cancellation (NC) I find it impossible to listen to music on transport. I listen mostly to classical music, and the dynamic range is such that background nois makes the pianissimo inaudible, and the tutti unbearable. NC makes the music enjoyable, but introduces a certain leve of distortion, a kind of digital coarsening of the sound. In quiet hotelrooms the sound of the PCX250 without NC is much better. On the (noisy)move the NC is essential to being able to listen at all. I couldn't do without.

94% of People (15/16) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

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Date Reviewed:  02/03/2004
  • chazas
  • from DC
  • Member Since:
    Jan 2004

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    Reviews
    Product Experience:
    1 Days
Strengths: Light, portable, comfortable, inexpensive.
Weaknesses: Battery/noise reduction module on cord is clumsy.
Summary: I wanted comfortable, portable headphones to travel with and to listen to music on my computer at night - noise reduction a plus for the traveling portion. These fit the bill. They're small, light and comfortable - kind of a mix between closed and over-the ear headphones, with electronic noise reduction built in. eCost had them on sale for $69.95 (albeit with outrageous shipping and handling of $25.00 to overnight them to Hawaii - no other shipping options - but even with shipping added in, still a deal compared to other vendors). I wouldn't call them audiophile quality, but then I'm not an audiophile. They're clearly better than a pair of cheap earbuds and will be a snap to carry on a a trip.

The battery/noise reduction module is in the middle of the cord, which is kind of clumsy - there is a clip to snap it on a belt but I can foresee it getting in the way, for example, in an airplane seat.

86% of People (18/21) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

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Date Reviewed:  12/19/2004
  • denver_tom
  • from CO
  • Member Since:
    Dec 2004

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    Reviews
    Product Experience:
    5 Days
2 Star ReviewI've been a huge fan of Sennheiser since I bought ...
Strengths: music fidelity at low volume levels
Weaknesses: very weak bass, poor sound isolation
Summary: I've been a huge fan of Sennheiser since I bought the HD414 in the '70s, and I currently own both the HD580 and HD570. I got interested in noise-cancelling headphones a few years back and have tried several models. I tried the PXC250 after using similar models from other manufacturers. I concluded that the PXC250 suffers from critical design flaws, and returned them promptly.

Sennheiser evidently created the PXC250 from an existing on-the-ear portable model, the PX100. The diaphragm in the PX100 is evidently a special design that was concieved specifically for use in an open-air headphone. The PXC250 has a sealed back, and even though that significantly improves the sound isolation, it is possible that this is the explanation for the weak bass response of the PXC250. Whatever the actual explanation, the bottom line is that the bass response of the PXC250 is unusually weak. Moreover, whereas with most small headphones you can compensate by turning up the bass volume at the source, this doesn't work with the PXC250, because all that will do is cause the diaphragm to distort. The bass volume level, at which distortion becomes distracting occurs at a significantly lower bass volume than any other headphone of similar overall size that I have experienced. In this respect, it is more comparable to those tiny in-the-ear speakers. In fact, the sound of the PXC250 is probably more comparable overall to typical in-the-ear speakers than it is to other on-the-ear headphones of similar size. This is not consistent with the reputation of the PX100, but using the same driver in both an open-air design and a sealed-back design will certainly produce very different results.

If you want a small, portable headset with active cancellation, you might consider the in-the-ear designs, although many people find them uncomfortable. If you want a decent on-the-ear portable headphone that does a good job at noise cancellation, and you don't mind the remote module, I suggest trying the inexpensive Panasonic HP-HC70, which works about as well as any on-the-ear noise cancelling headphone is likely to work, and you can buy them for about $30. I have used them on airplanes and was surprised at how effective they were at reducing the engine drone. They sounded quite good and were comfortable as well.

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Date Reviewed:  12/03/2003
  • fadib
  • Member Since:
    Nov 2003

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    Reviews
    Product Experience:
    10 Days
Strengths: Noise reduction, comfort.
Weaknesses: Cumbersome to fold. No intrinsic volume adjustment.
Summary: 2003-12-03 11:54:17 Very comfortable and with excellent noise reduction. Worked great on a plane as well as at home. Adjusts for fit very easily. No intrinsic volume adjustment like some Sony models. Can be tricky to fold and store in its puch.

60% of People (9/15) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

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Date Reviewed:  01/02/2004
  • garymcl
  • from FL
  • Member Since:
    Dec 2003

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    Reviews
    Product Experience:
    1 Weeks
Strengths: Portability, comfort, decent noise reduction, sound, price
Weaknesses: I like the protection of the PX 200's hard case better than the soft carrying case of the PXC 250.
Summary: PXC 250 offers a pretty good compromise between the sound reduction of closed headphones and the portability of open ones. I use the phones with my camcorder, but the wire between the battery adapter and the jack is not long enough to allow you to clip the adapter to your belt and set the camcorder on the ground. No one else may use it this way, but it bugs me.

60% of People (6/10) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

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Date Reviewed:  04/04/2004
  • HARSHOSHAN
  • Member Since:
    Apr 2004

  • View Member's:
    Reviews
1 Star ReviewIn comparison the "Sony" MDR-NC5 is very easy to f ...
Strengths: Design
Weaknesses: Difficult to fold. Eccentric and impractical battery compartment. Low sound effect.
Summary: In comparison the "Sony" MDR-NC5 is very easy to fold and is built with a very elegant "one"battery compartment.Most important:Sennheiser's device is only made to listen to pop

music,because of his poor dynamic range.To listen to classical music when you're flying it is quite impossible,because the "pianissimi" of an orchestra are inaudible.On the contrary Sony's engineers had overelaborate

this problem by increasing volume when switching the canceling button. I recognize that this is unhortodox and

a little bit tricky,but it works very properly.

Harshoshan(Brussels)

59% of People (17/29) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

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Date Reviewed:  10/02/2004
  • jaimeell
  • from CO
  • Member Since:
    Sep 2004

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    Reviews
    Product Experience:
    1 Months
Strengths: comfortable ear pieces, not bulky, reasonable price
Weaknesses: none
Summary: These headphones are great. They fit comfortable on my ears and create a good seal. They are a little tight at first, but have started to loosen up. I also lke that they are compact and fit in the nice little pouch that comes with them.

46% of People (6/13) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

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Date Reviewed:  05/07/2005
  • TheoShopper
  • from IL
  • Member Since:
    Apr 2004

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    Reviews
    Product Experience:
    6 Weeks
Strengths: Excellent noise cancellation features
Weaknesses: No major weaknesses
Summary: A few months ago I started taking monthly flights across the country. So, I started bringing along DVDs to watch on the plane. With my normal (admittedly cheap) headphones, I could barely hear the dialogue, and with the volume cranked I knew I was putting my ears through a trauma. I shopped around for noise cancelling headphones, and would not pay the price for the Bose. These seemed decent, and affordable.

Now I can't fly without them. On the plane I can watch DVDs with the sound at a normal level, and hear everything clearly. Even when I'm not watching DVDs, but just working on the computer, I'll usually keep the headphones on. Even without the active noise cancelling feature on, they seem to block quite a lot of the airplane noise, yet still enable me to hear the flight attendants. Your ears may vary -- mine are on the large size, and they are reasonably comfortable to wear for a 2-3 hour stretch.

I am not a serious music listener, so I cannot comment on the full sound quality of the headphones. If you are buying headphones to block noise from the plane (or the lawnmower, or even the vacuum), these do a very good job, at less than half the cost of the Bose.

43% of People (3/7) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

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Date Reviewed:  05/28/2009
  • zhao1979
  • Member Since:
    Oct 2007

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    Reviews
    Product Experience:
    10 Days
2 Star ReviewGood sound, but weak noise canceling
Strengths: Good quality sounds, compact, and easy to store away
Weaknesses: very little noise reduction white noise heard when the device is powered on inconvenience extra additional noise canceling device
Summary: Wanted to have a good noise cancellation headphone for air travel. Liked the price, but found that this is definitely not for air travel as its noise reduction is quite minimum even the noise cancellation device is powered on. The headphone is fairly comfortable to wear.

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