Let?s face it, when you are listening to your favourite music, the sound of people talking, a child crying, cars honking or dogs barking can be quite annoying. That is why I have a strong preference for on-the-ear headphones compared to the in-ear earphones, for the simple reason that the former are more effective in cutting out outside chit-chat, leaving you in privacy with your own music. A good set of headphones?most come with noise cancelling technology these days?actually scan your surroundings to pick up any ambient noises, then create the right frequency to push back at these sounds in order to cancel them out. In-ear earphones might be light, rain-proof and easy to carry, but they are poor at cutting out the outside cacophony.
Sennheiser?s PCX 95 in-ear neckband earphones have changed my opinion about the in-ear devices to a great extent. With these earphones firmly fitted in your ears, you need not suffer the irritations of background noise. Sennheiser calls the PCX 95 as its first model of headphones with an in-ear neckband design. Let us leave aside the in-ear or on-the-ear debate and come straight to the point?these new headphones are very good at cutting out outside noise, which means you are left in peace with your music and you won?t even have to crank up the volume. They are optimised for MP3, iPod, iPhone and portable media players and carry an affordable price tag of
R5,490. Sennheiser officials reckon that the PCX 95 in-ear neckband earphones feature precise, bass-driven sound with enhanced passive noise isolation, let us check them out for their performance and ease of use.
Out of the box, the PCX 95 earphones are small, light and comfortable to wear with a variety of ear buds for a secure fit. A major irritant in the earphones are their wires which have a tendency to get entangled. Sennheiser has got rid of this by provisioning in its new earphones a single-sided anti-friction cable for convenient handling. The cord length is more than sufficient to reach the phone or MP3 player that you?ll clip to your belt. The PCX 95 ship with a set of ear adapters (small, medium and large) for a personalised fit. Its design is surprisingly comfortable to wear even while jogging.
Technical speak, the PCX 95 earphones have a frequency response of 17-22,500 Hz, sound pressure level of 115 dB, impedance of 32 ohm and total harmonic distortion of <0.1%. For an ordinary user, this means they do a great job of concealing sound, removing all outside interference and giving the user a musical treat. My immediate reaction on plugging in the PCX 95 and listening to Faith Hill?s There you?ll be from Pearl Harbor was ?wow?. Even Eric Clapton?s Tears in Heaven, renowned for its haunting guitar was rendered perfectly. I could go on waxing praise about how good these headphones are, but probably the best way of summing them up is to say that they?re extremely easy to listen to.
Overall construction is lightweight and sturdy, allowing users to sit comfortably and take in music for long stretches. Even someone not used to wearing in-ear headphones will get used to these pretty quickly and their light weight means they don?t tug at your lugs as other headphones can. So what are you waiting for, place the PCX 95 in your ear, fire up your track of the day and sit back in peace. They sound good no matter which source you use.
