BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2012 — If you’re looking for cans on the high-end, you can always count on Sennheiser. Their latest headphones, though, are particular nice. Don’t expect just warmed over tech: their new MM 450-X and 55-X Bluetooth headphones can pipe in some of the clearest tunes you’ll hear without a wire.
The key to the new MMs great Bluetooth sound quality is Apt-X tech, which allows Bluetooth headphones to have the full fidelity of digital music with no degradation, the same as if it was being piped to you through copper. The resulting music sounds great, but the rub is it doesn’t work with everything. Macs sold in the last year should support the technology, as well as some Android devices like the Galaxy Tab, but if you want to enjoy the full benefits of the tech, iPhones and iPads won’t work (although Sennheiser expected that the iPad 3 and iPhone 5 would probably be compatible).
It’s a shame the MM 550-X and 450-X don’t work on an iPhone, because they feel great on the head. The 550-X are a beefier set of cans, fully covering the ears and filtering out 90% of ambient sound through Sennheiser’s NoiseGard 2.0 technology. In addition, if you’re listening to tunes and someone speaks to you, you can hear what the person is saying with just the push of a button thanks to the 550-X’s great TalkThrough functionality, which pulls outside noise into the headphones through the mic. And if you like to feel your music in your colon, there’s some great BassBoost technology. The MM 550-X headphones have just gone on sale, and retail for $499.95.
On the slightly lower end, there’s the MM 450-X. These headphones are sportier and smaller, but otherwise have the great sound and features of the 550-Xs. The only thing it doesn’t have is NoiseGard. They cost $449.95.
Both headphones should last about 20 hours on a charge without NoiseGard on, and they feel and sound great. They also allow you to make and receive calls. Even better, if your handset doesn’t support Apt-X, or you just don’t like the way Bluetooth drains your phone’s battery, both headsets allow you to connect a 3.5mm cord to listen to your tunes and answer calls in full analog glory.
We were impressed at first blush by Sennheiser’s latest offerings, and we plan on review these in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.
