Sennheiser Consumer Audio CX True Wireless Earbuds - Bluetooth In-Ear Headphones for Music and Calls with Passive Noise Cancellation, Touch Controls, Bass Boost, IPX4 and 27-hour Battery Life, White

I’ve been reluctant to go wireless, mostly because of sound quality issues of Bluetooth. But I really like the idea of being free from wires while at work, I already have phone/meeting headsets that are Bluetooth and love them. These went on sale Cyber Monday for a good price so I thought I’d try them.I found them a little bit of a pain to setup. The “Quick setup guide” was lacking information. Once I downloaded the full manual I figured out what I was missing and then got them setup and working with my phone. Sound is very clear and bass is excellent and not muddy. It does take a little tweaking of the EQ in the Smart Control app. Noise cancellation is very good considering its passive. These are generally comfortable but can cause a little fatigue if in for long periods. I’m in and out of meetings everyday so generally this is not a problem for me. I have found that I cannot position them the same in each ear. Everyone’s ears are different but unfortunately the only way to know is to try them. Battery life is good, though I stick them in the case when I leave my desk and the charge tops off on its own. Being Bluetooth, they do drain my phone a lot more than wired buds. I can’t comment on failed bub issues yet, it’s too early, so we’ll see.I didn’t intend for these to be used with phone calls but ended up taking a few calls while wearing them. I was surprised at how good the voice sounded. Warm and no distortion. The person I was talking to said it was pretty good. She had no trouble hearing me.A few complaints in the reviews I noticed of which have fairly simple solutions.1) Lack of bass. Make sure you are using the correct size ear adaptor and that it is snug in your ear. This is critical. They have the medium on out of the box. They seemed fine, but after a couple of days I took a chance and tried the large. Wow, dramatically better. I also found you have to wiggle it just a little to get the maximum effect. Also download the Smart Control app to get a bit more bass from the EQ. I suggest trying the Sound Check component of the app.2) For the units that are prematurely dying, I wonder if the contacts are dirty. The full manual specifies they do need to be cleaned from time to time. Also, they do have a 2 year warranty but you have to contact a Sennheiser partner.EDIT: I mentioned above that I got a little fatigued with them in for a while. After pulling out a couple of hunks of ear wax with the right ear bud, I decided to try some ear wax remover. Not only do the bud fit better, they are more comfortable. Something to think about if you are experiencing discomfort.

I recently lost my AirPods on a trip and was looking for something to replace them. I didn’t want to pay what they wanted for the AirPod pros and I wasn’t really impressed with the sound quality of the AirPods, so I went looking for the best sounding sub 130$ wireless earbuds I could find. I settled on the CXs and received them today. I’ll get to the sound quality at the end but first let me go over some other aspects. The set up was extremely simple, there are clear directions, I just pulled them out of the box removed the very obvious and labeled plastic covers on the battery contacts and then charged the earbuds for about an hour. Once they were charged they paired with my iPhone no problem I also downloaded the app which worked without issue. The fit is slightly less comfortable then the AirPods however they are not uncomfortable and feel quite secure. These buds lack ANC however I don’t think that will be an issue as they are very effective at blocking outside noise. The touch controls are intuitive and work smoothly. So far I have used them both together and one at a time and have taken them in and out of the case and have no issue with connectivity, you do have to reconnect to the app if you disconnect from Bluetooth however the app does have to be running for the earbuds to work, only if you want to run the equalizer also reconnecting to the app is very simple. The only “issue” I have had so far is when I updated the firmware; everything went fine however be prepared to have your phone and earbuds tied up for about 40 minutes while the firmware updates; during this process the app needs to stay open and the earbuds need to be close to the phone. It’s a little nerve racking because I was worried if for some reason the update was interrupted it could brick the earbuds, that being said it went fine just took a long time(the app does give a fairly accurate countdown so that helps a little). So how do they sound? There is no doubt these are the best sounding pair of earbuds I have personally heard in my life. I’ve owned the AirPods, the Jabra 65t, first generation beats, and a couple different Chinese pairs; none of those are even in the same category. These where the first earbuds I’ve had that do not sound like music is just being pumped into my ear canals; the music sounds like it’s naturally coming from the surroundings. Every instrument and vocal track are clear and separate. The bass and treble sound great and balanced and if you really like pronounced bass you can turn it up in the equalizer and it thumps. It’s really hard for me to overstate how awesome the sound is, I listened to a few songs that are now in lossless Dolby atmos on Apple Music and it’s nothing short of incredible. The best metaphor I can think of is all of my old earbuds were like Standard definition and these are 4K. So if your looking for the best sound for your money and probably the best sound for under 200$ these are the way to go.