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Despite the small size – unless you have very large ears – these are over ear offerings. They also have a good noise reduction system built in. Many purists might scoff but as my review period was during the coldest part of winter I often wore them over a synthetic woollen hat pulled down well below my ears so my near bald head and back of my neck were protected. The sound given even through the added barrier was excellent.
A full charge from totally discharged took three and a half hours, you are given several audio warning to recharge. Even when no charge is in the unit it can still be used via the supplied 2.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable when empty.
There is 3.5cm of enlargement on each side of the headband. From a parallel position the distance from the centre of the base of the headband to the tip of the earpads is 17cm while the distance between earpads is 15cm.
Both earpads can turn through 90 degrees, both those figures are with no side expansion.
The linking between your playing device is via NFC with a simple touch between the two bringing up the link screen. It is possible to pair between more than one device at the same time.
A large 32x45cm sheet is the multi-language instruction sheet with English as the first instruction on both sides, so you have a total of nineteen languages. The instructions are mainly in images with the occasional phrase.
The right earpad has connections and controls around the join between the leather earpad and the outside of the unit with other touch controls like advancing a track, answering a phone call etc. on the back of the earpad, all clearly explained in the instructions.
There is good padding on the headband which is ideal for those of use with little hair. The over ear can for certain people like me produce ear sweating which ironically did not occur when wearing them over the synthetic woollen hat but as the outside temperature was the wrong side of zero a lot of the time sweating was not my major concern.
As to sound quality this was excellent as with most Sennheiser headphones, I remember a visit to a high end audio store a few years ago and the only brand of headphones they had that I had heard of was Sennheiser they were their entry level product, probably the only time you will Sennheiser and entry level in the same sentence.
Sound across the whole range was true, with good base without the vastly over emphasized sound some units give, the top notes were there without making your toes curl as was everything in between.
Attaching the supplied 1.3metre 2.5 to 3.5 cable to my MP3 player kept in use solely for testing all Genre of music and speech I was able to tick all the boxes.
For those on noisy roads or who travel daily on London’s tube network the active noise cancellation (ANC) worked well but still allowed things like a car horn to break through.
The Sennheiser PXC 550 Wireless Headphones are available from Amazon for £329.95 with free delivery.
http://en-uk.sennheiser.com/wireless-headphone-headset-bluetooth-noise-cancelling-pxc-550-travel
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