Sennheiser CX True Wireless review: Jack of all buds

Sennheiser has been within the true wi-fi buds house for some time, and with the Sennheiser CX True Wi-fi they’re aiming to make earbuds with a extra reasonably priced value. This pair of earbuds lack lively noise-cancelling, however in any other case supply options according to Sennheiser’s dearer fashions. Is the CX True Wi-fi the following high-value contender?

Who’re the Sennheiser CX True Wi-fi for?

• Anybody on the lookout for a brand new pair of earbuds that may final all day and received’t break the financial institution.
• Athletes on the lookout for one thing sweat-resistant however don’t care about noise-cancelling.

The Sennheiser CX True Wi-fi are fairly comparable in design to different Sennheiser true wi-fi earbuds. These have the identical boxy form we’ve seen earlier than, now with all-black matte contact panels as a substitute of shiny ones with silver logos. The case is sort of equivalent to earlier buds as effectively.

The earbuds are a bit cumbersome, however they’re gentle and safe, with 4 sizes of ear suggestions offered to verify they slot in your ears effectively. These don’t have any hook or fin to securely match into your ears, so discovering the precise tip is necessary.

The case is a little bit cumbersome too, however nonetheless compact. It’s made from plastic however doesn’t really feel low cost, and the earbuds match properly into their slots, held in place with magnets and pegs.

The Sennheiser CX True Wi-fi are IPX4 rated, to allow them to deal with sweat and splashes of water, making them secure to work out with. Be warned that going for a run can shake them free a bit, so ensure that your match is sweet and also you aren’t transferring your head an excessive amount of whereas sporting them.

The CX True Wi-fi join utilizing Bluetooth 5.2, which implies perhaps at some point they’ll have the ability to use the LC3 audio codec and LE Audio. For now, the CX True Wi-fi help the SBC, AAC, and aptX codecs, so these buds are nice whether or not you’re utilizing an Apple or Android gadget.

See additionally: The perfect exercise earbuds

Since these earbuds have capacitive contact panels, you possibly can modify quantity, reply calls, management playback, and entry your voice assistant with out utilizing your telephone in any respect. Tapping as soon as pauses playback, two faucets take you to the earlier observe from the left earbud, and the following observe from the precise. Three faucets will activate your voice assistant, and holding will lower your quantity from the left bud or enhance it on the precise.

The Sennheiser Sensible Management app provides you extra management over the buds, together with swapping any of the faucet controls. It additionally lets you modify the EQ of your earbuds both with a three-band EQ module or by way of preset choices. Extra crucially, you may as well get firmware updates right here. Whereas there’s no Bluetooth multipoint, the Sensible Management app will allow you to change between not too long ago paired gadgets seamlessly, however solely one by one.

Sennheiser claims the CX True Wi-fi last as long as 9 hours on a single cost, however in SoundGuys’ testing, they fell wanting that. At a constant output of 75dB, the left earbud lasted eight hours, 31 minutes, and the precise one solely lasted 5 hours, half-hour.

It’s fairly regular for one earbud to empty sooner than the opposite with true wi-fi earbuds, since one bud is related to each your telephone and the opposite earbud, whereas one earbud is simply related to the opposite one. Sennheiser says it designed the earbuds to modify between which earbud features as the first connection level when taken out of the case every time to mitigate this lopsided battery drain, so extra common use will mitigate this downside.

In accordance with Sennheiser, the CX True Wi-fi case holds as much as 18 hours of extra expenses, and it lived as much as that. The case expenses with USB-C, however options no fast cost or wi-fi charging choices.

The Sennheiser CX True Wi-fi don’t have lively noise-cancelling (ANC) — you’ll want the Sennheiser CX Plus True Wi-fi for that — however that doesn’t imply they’ve poor attenuation. Upon getting the precise match with the precise ear suggestions, you get some strong isolation efficiency. Isolation not often impacts mid and low-range sounds from reaching your ears, however the CX True Wi-fi truly do a good job of lowering this noise. It’s not going to be like having precise lively noise-cancelling, however noises ought to appear significantly much less distracting.

Try: The perfect noise-cancelling true wi-fi earbuds

The Sennheiser CX True Wi-fi frequency response (cyan line) follows the SoundGuys goal curve (pink line) fairly carefully in a number of the increased ranges, however has a little bit of an emphasis within the bass and mid-range. It sounds good, nothing is just too boosted, and it doesn’t trigger something to be notably distorted.

Most genres of music ought to sound good by way of these earbuds, although the drop within the treble vary might imply that cymbals and a few strings, in addition to higher-pitched “whirr” sounds in some genres like EDM may be a bit more durable to select.

The microphone within the Sennheiser CX True Wi-fi is fairly commonplace for a pair of true wi-fi earbuds. It’s clear sufficient, although there’s some muffling and digital compression sounds. It nonetheless does a good job of lowering low-level environmental noise, however it’s undoubtedly not nice for recording speech. That is undoubtedly a mic for telephone calls, and it’s alright for that objective.

Sennheiser CX True Wi-fi microphone demo (Ultimate):

The Sennheiser CX True Wi-fi aren’t excellent, with points within the excessive vary audio, battery life issues, and an absence of options like wi-fi charging and ANC holding them again from being nice. If you’d like the proper factor for a particular use case, like understanding, commuting, or taking calls, this isn’t it.

Nevertheless, these earbuds do sufficient issues effectively sufficient that you may’t completely knock them. They sound good, have strong isolation efficiency, an excellent app, and that IPX4 score is nice. If you happen to’re on the lookout for one thing that may do some little bit of every little thing, these may be value contemplating.

If you happen to like the concept of those earbuds loads however want that they had lively noise-cancelling, Sennheiser up to date its CX line with the Sennheiser CX Plus True Wi-fi ($179), which have an identical design, Bluetooth 5.2, and expanded high-quality codec help as effectively.

If you happen to’re on the lookout for true wi-fi earbuds which have an amazing battery life, the Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus ($149) can deal with nearly 12 hours of playback on a single cost, and so they’re simple to seek out on sale. If you’d like one thing that falls between the Buds Plus and Buds Professional, the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 ($149) may be value contemplating.

If you’d like an amazing pair of exercise earbuds, the Jaybird Vista 2 ($149) have silicone ear hooks to maintain the buds in place, in addition to lively noise-cancelling. And if you happen to favor to be additional conscious of your environment, the Sony Linkbuds ($179) have a ring-shaped ear tip design to maintain exterior noise coming in like regular, although they don’t sound nice.