Features
Quality
Value
Overall

Sennheiser PXC 450 headphones

Price: $449.95 (Taken from the Sennheiser website: www.sennheiserusa.com)

In the space of professional audio equipment, Sennheiser is a force to reckon with. Only a few companies like Grado and Stax, that can be counted on your fingers, compete with the pioneering company in the professional audio space. These companies are very rarely heard in the consumer audio arena. However, for quite sometime Sennheiser has been making a limited high quality series of premium audio equipment for niche consumers who appreciate fine quality.

Overview

Design

The over-the-ear design of the PXC 450 fits very comfortably on the ear lobes with a soft cushion of ear cups of the headphone. The only other product to come close to the product class of PXC 450 in terms of quality is the Bose Quietcomfort headphone series. The luxuriously designed ear cups ensure that you have no fatigue even after hours of hearing a prolonged iPod list. Yes indeed, these headphones extend the Apple iPod experience to the next level, so it is not uncommon to see the magical combination being used by people.

However, the size of the headphones is a bit large for travel-related purposes. Even after being retracted to the flat storage mode, within the protective casing, the entire package can consume precious space in your baggage.

NoiseGuard 2.0

The patented noise reduction feature requires a single AAA cell to power it, unlike the rechargeable cells in the peer models, such as Bose QuietComfort. The cell mounts neatly within the right ear-cup and powers about 16 hours of continuous noise reduction. NoiseGuards ability to reduce most ambient noise in the lower frequencies is amazing, though higher frequency shrills may slice through a bit.

The NoiseGuard basically picks up noise through a pickup microphone mounted on the ear-cup and provides a phase shifted sound wave that reduces noise.

Talk-Through

The pick-up microphone used for NoiseGuard works for another innovative and useful feature that helps you converse with people around you, without removing the headphone. At the press of a button on the ear-cup labelled TalkThrough with a double-arrow, the headphone mutes the music, and plays your neighbour s voice grasped by the pick-up microphone.

Passive mode

PXC 450 continues to play quality audio even if the AAA battery gets exhausted, or removed. In the passive mode however, you will not be able to activate the NoiseGuard and TalkThrough functionalities that require battery power.

Accessories

The bundled accessories that you get along with the PXC 450 headphones are:

• Travel Case
• In-flight audio adapter for use on aircraft
• 6.3mm adapter
• 2 x AAA batteries

Universal Gold Plated ¼" adapter is also available separately for those who prefer flawless audio quality. The Ear-pads are replaceable and are available through the Sennheiser website or any dealer.

Conclusion

Priced at about $100 above the nearest rivals in its category PXC 450 headphones is a choice for those who are very serious about superior and unmatched audio quality. These headphones are a great effort by Sennheiser to step beyond pure-play professional equipment, into high-end consumer space. The high price of the PXC 450 is duly reciprocated by great performance and durability backed by a 2-year warranty. 

Pros:

• Superior sound quality
• Comfortable over long listening hours
• Compatibility with in-flight, home entertainment and MP3 players
• User-friendly NoiseGuard and TalkThrough features

Cons:

• Large size can be a hindrance for long travel use
• Expensive

Technical specifications

Sennheiser PXC 450 photos

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