SENNHEISER CX 150BT WIRELESS REVIEW

VERDICT

The Sennheiser CX 150BT is a great-sounding set of wireless earphones under 5K that's marred by the absence of several integral features and some build flaws.

If you don't mind the lack of voice assistant support as well as an IP score, and should you deem the design to be good enough for you, there are not too many wireless earphones in this price range which seem like the Sennheiser CX 150BT. But if you are a basshead, you'd need to search elsewhere to satiate your bass requirements.

Sennheiser is well-renowned for their premium in-ears or headphones which are usually well-received by music critics and users alike.

The Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless won the Digit Zero1 award for the best acting true wireless earphone in 2019, and the version 2 that the firm started this year also boasts solid sound quality. These headphones and earphones also include impeccable build quality and design.

Let's see if these earphones figure out how to impress us as completely as Sennheiser's more superior offerings have, time and again.

BUILD AND COMFORT

The Sennheiser CX 150BT surely boasts layout accents and design choices that are associated with Sennheiser goods, but they are much more understated on this product.

The earphones feature a glossy-black finish on the buds and on either side of the plastic modules (weighted boxes comprising the battery).

The opposing side of the plastic modules include a matte finish. All these are wireless in-ear headphones that may be worn in the neckband-style, albeit they are missing the part-stiff, part-flexible neckband that is usually found on wireless earphones.

The wires hang loose in this circumstance, along with the weight of those plastic modules often cause the buds to get tugged out of their ear from 1 side or the other.

Oddly, 1 module is positioned in this manner where it rests in the nape of your neck, while the other sits at the more conventional place, at the side of the neck. The unconventional placement caused the unit to sense wonky and unbalanced, which negatively impacts the total construction.

But, the substances used are still pretty solid and powerful. The plastic modules don't feel cheap and rickety, the three-button control system includes tactile and responsive buttons, and the earbuds themselves are ergonomic and lightweight, allowing users to use them with no overbearing comfort for hours and hours.

The buds additionally produce adequate quantities of seal, leading to good passive isolation. Unfortunately however, the unit misses out on nifty magnetic modules that are generally present on wireless neckband earphones. When not in use, the earbuds just dangle off your chest loosely, which just does not feel as safe as earbuds with magnetic housings that securely attach to each other.

The business has provided 3 extra pairs of silicone eartips - XS, S, L (The M dimension is currently on the buds), which allows users to get as near a perfect match as possible. The Type-C jack on the earphones are tucked under a plastic flap to the right-side plastic module.

Overall, the earbuds are lightweight and ergonomic, but the strange placement of the modules do cause the buds to feel unstable from the ears, occasionally, and the dearth of magnetic housings on the buds is also unsatisfactory. The design is understated and minimalistic, but it is marred by a number of the build issues we have mentioned previously.

FEATURES

The Sennheiser CX 150BT Wireless earphones aren't just a feature-laden set of wireless earphones, and they overlook some integral features that are anticipated from the 5K price range.

Let us begin with the great. Powered by Bluetooth v5.0, the earphones feature strong connectivity along with great wireless variety. There's support for the AAC and SBC codecs, but the earphones do miss out on aptX codec service which some wireless earphones in this price range don't have.

The management system on the CX 150BT lets users control calls and media. The centre multifunction button, however, just feels overworked since it is used to do pause, play and track seeking functions. Pressing the button after pauses/plays the music, a double-press requires you to the next path, even though a triple-press requires you to the preceding one.

We personally strongly dislike any triple-tapping commands, here at the Digit test labs, because they accidentally fail by either not registering at all or performing the job assigned to the double-tap. The plus and minus buttons simply control the quantity by single taps.

We would prefer it if the track searching controls were placed here instead, allowing users to either double-tap or lengthy press to visit the previous and next tracks. Also, the earphones don't have some control to summon voice supporters that's only ridiculous in 2020.

The earphones also lack any type of IP rating, so even though the earphones fit in the ear pretty closely, we would recommend that you steer clear of using these in the gym or while jogging/running, since sweat might cause the earphones to become ruined.

Additionally, the earphones also do not lend to a favourable experience during intensive workouts or actions since the earbuds often get pulled out of the ears due to the unbalanced placement of the plastic modules.

Oddly enough, the earphones do join with Sennheiser's Smart Control app, however, there is absolutely nothing you can do in the program once you've connected the buds to it. You can not even understand the battery proportion of the earphones on the app.

The earphones, however, do have one redeeming feature that's that the wonderful battery life. You may easily go 2-3 days between charges even in the event that you listen to music for a good 3-5 hours a day, which can be impressive.

PERFORMANCE

In an A-shaped sound profile, the highs and highs are often slightly curbed while the mids are slightly extended, that is true on those earphones. This isn't to mention that the bass response is severely lacking. It's definitely got some depth and punch, without being overwhelming.

But if you're a basshead, you may get the bass response to be a bit insufficient for your tastes.

Currently, coming to the mids, the Sennheiser CX 150BT really soars here. Vocals, particularly male ones, have considerable amounts of clarity and sparkle.

Female vocals can sound somewhat tinny on higher volumes, but it is not too jarring. In songs such as Pull me Under by Dream Theatre and Selkies by BTBAM, the vocals and direct instruments sound exquisite, almost as good as on the more expensive Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2. On the other hand, the bass guitar and drums in both these monitors seem dull and unenergetic.

The earphones appear to be best suited to vocal-centric monitors, and pop songs rather than stone and EDM. Nevertheless, they are not disappointing for all those genres too.

In general, these are one of the better sounding earphones below 5K and many users will probably be more than pleased with the audio quality (besides bass fans, possibly ).

Coming to the mike quality, we're impressed with the mic's intelligibility. We attempted dictating a paragraph in the notes app by the app was able to pick up most words correctly. For calls, the microphone does a fairly good job as well. The voice is crystal clear and doesn't sound muffled or distant to the receiver.

BOTTOMLINE

The Sennheiser CX 150BT is a great-sounding set of wireless earphones under 5K that is marred by the lack of some key characteristics and some build flaws.

If you don't mind the lack of voice assistant support and an IP score, and if you deem the design to be good enough for you, there aren't too many wireless earphones within this price range that sound like the Sennheiser CX 150BT. However, if you are a basshead, you would have to look elsewhere to match your bass requirements.

PROS

Good audio quality
Comfortable fit
Responsive, tactile buttons

CONS

No Voice Assistant service
Bare-bones app support

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