5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
Expectations met
Date of Review: May 28, 2006
The Bottom Line: If you want noise canceling headphones, I recommend these.
When I decided to buy noise-canceling headphones, I was pretty set on Bose. I had heard those were the best, and that's what I wanted. But Bose is expensive, and I was buying to sets of headphones – one for me and one for the wife. So I decided to do some research on line. The more I read, the more I realized that Bose had competition, and the competition was a lot more reasonable. From all of the reader reviews I read, I was able to narrow my search for these headphones to Sennheiser PXC300 and the Bose QuietComfort 2.
Two review topics made up my mind. In a couple of instances, people with noise canceling headphones met others on planes with other equipment and exchanged. The results were they were about equal in noise canceling, even though Bose cover the ears. Also, in a couple of instances I read of people saying that their Bose headphones were not very sturdy and broke easily. They agreed that Bose covered the warranty (one year), but I didn't want to have broken Bose headsets at 16 months that I had paid $300. The Sennheisers have a 2 year warranty by the way.
I bought two of the Sennheiser PCX300 headsets and have not been disappointed. They work well when we mow the lawn, use yard equipment, vacuum, or even want to relax indoors in an environment with fans and dishwashers or other noisy equipment running. We haven't tried it on jets yet, but we do a lot of traveling and look forward to trying them out on a plane soon. From what I've read, I won't be disappointed there either.
The headphones are small, lightweight, comfortable for long wear, and do a great job of canceling out low frequencies – as advertised. All of the little distracting low frequency noises that you come to accept as part of every day living disappear when you turn them on. Very nice. There are more wires than the Bose, and the battery case – but that clips on to anything you're wearing and it's all manageable. The universal plug works with our CD players, tape players and our Ipods. The headphones work well enough without any power applied, but when you turn them on, it's great. The base won't blow you away, but I don't want to be blown away by base. I prefer a more natural sounding base and really don't need my ears bleeding. I'm very satisfied, and I paid less for two of these headphones – with shipping included – than I would have for one set of the Bose. Works for me.
