Sennheiser PXC 550-II Wireless Over-Ear Noise Cancelling Headphones - Black

I'm in the technical professional events industry, and just because something is heavy, doesn't mean its quality. These headphones prove that point. Light weight but durable, the active noise cancelling is impressively effective, and the touch pad controls, once used to them are pretty neat. In terms of audio quality, these are easily one of the best consumer headphones i have listened to, crisp clean sound with punchy but not too much bass. I tried playing with the eq settings on the app, but the stock neutral eq settings sounded the best to me. overall a fantastic product! I'm in the technical professional events industry, and just because something is heavy, doesn't mean its quality. These headphones prove that point. Light weight but durable, the active noise cancelling is impressively effective, and the touch pad controls, once used to them are pretty neat. In terms of audio quality, these are easily one of the best consumer headphones i have listened to, crisp clean sound with punchy but not too much bass. I tried playing with the eq settings on the app, but the stock neutral eq settings sounded the best to me. overall a fantastic product!

I'm bald.
These are made for haired people.
I tried identifying as a haired abled body but they still wiggled around.
The ear pieces won't fit if you have larger ears.
I also tried positive affirmations but no luck changing how they sat on my ears.
I bothered to reaearch.a.bit more after the purchase. Now i knew what to search for.
I.e bald sasquatch identifying as hairy headed youth. But the news was another lynch pin in climate disorder. The world is simply to hot for shrinkage of wiggling objects. Trump is most definitely involved somehow. I'm bald.
These are made for haired people.
I tried identifying as a haired abled body but they still wiggled around.
The ear pieces won't fit if you have larger ears.
I also tried positive affirmations but no luck changing how they sat on my ears.
I bothered to reaearch.a.bit more after the purchase. Now i knew what to search for.
I.e bald sasquatch identifying as hairy headed youth. But the news was another lynch pin in climate disorder. The world is simply to hot for shrinkage of wiggling objects. Trump is most definitely involved somehow.

TL;DR: This headset is good, but they are expensive for what they are. Very neutral Sound, sound isolation is great to excellent in perfect conditions. They are light weight, which I quite like and the build quality seems good, although I have not dropped them yet. Usability and user experience is REALLY BAD. There are NO buttons, except for one useless one and the only useful button is a switch, but it's TINY.

The charging port for some stupid reason is not USB-C, instead it's micro-USB, which is beyond dumb. I expected more in this price bracket.

The touch controls are intermittent and when you do get your finger to register, sometim...view more TL;DR: This headset is good, but they are expensive for what they are. Very neutral Sound, sound isolation is great to excellent in perfect conditions. They are light weight, which I quite like and the build quality seems good, although I have not dropped them yet. Usability and user experience is REALLY BAD. There are NO buttons, except for one useless one and the only useful button is a switch, but it's TINY.

The charging port for some stupid reason is not USB-C, instead it's micro-USB, which is beyond dumb. I expected more in this price bracket.

The touch controls are intermittent and when you do get your finger to register, sometimes it does the wrong thing. You have to be VERY deliberate about what you want to do and hit the correct spot, or nothing happens. Double tapping the damn ear cup trying to turn on talkthrough makes you look dumb while someone is trying to talk to you. This means I'm often just lifting the ear cup of my ear anyway. I've only ever managed to turn talkthrough once while my podcast was playing and I'm pretty sure that's because I glitched it out.

The touch pad also registers on EVERYTHING. Lord forbid you lean your head on to your right shoulder, because it will pause your music, max out your volume and deafen you when you unpause it.

Sound isolation is as good as any. Unless you are wearing a hat, have a funny shaped head or a lot of hair. ANC is about 30-50% less effective when trying to use this headset with headgear on. The cups have a limited tilt before they bottom out and the seal breaks around the bottom or top of your ear. The headband demands direct access to the circumference of your skull.

The British voice over lady telling me what I'm connected to tells me every device I have is "Phone one", even when it's a TV or a PC. She also takes forever to tell me anything, interrupting what I am listening to for longer than is needed.

The ON/OFF switch is not a button. Nope, for some reason Sennheiser was anti-buttons (except for a totally and utterly useless voice assistant button) and you have to twist the right ear cup to turn them off. So I can't sit them nicely on a table ready for me to pick up and put on. I have to first unbuckle my headset being careful not to twist them the wrong way and only then can I put them on.

So far I have not been able to get the advertised 20 hours of battery life, even when ANC is off (I almost never use ANC).

Speaking of ANC, the switch to enable it is a physical switch. They dedicated 90% of the left ear cup to a touch bad for gestures, so instead of making a gesture, you have to use the switch. I actually prefer this. The only problem is, the switch is 1/5th the size of my pinky finger nail. I had to come up with a strategy to find it while the headset was on my head to avoid using the touch pad trying to find it.

This headset sounds just good enough to stop me from listing them for sale because the money I'd lose outweighs the general dissapointment I foster in the headsets usability. It would have been perfect if the ANC switch had an ANC + Talkthrough setting to make it always on regardless of what my phone was doing. It would have been even more perfect if they replaced the dumb touch pad for three regular buttons. One for play pause and pair and two for volume up/down, forward/backward and skip.

Buyers beware.

I purchased these after a light amount of research showing not good feedback for the cheaper Sennheiser models and these were fortuitously on sale.

Mostly really happy with them, sound quality is good, and connection stability and connecting to multiple devices is good but only after a firmware update. Before the firmware update I was having major issues with Windows 10 dropping connection and generally being a pain in the ass. The only way to do the firmware update seemed to be by downloading the Sennheiser app on Android and pushing it through there - Sennheiser get points here for not pointlessly making you sign up.

The connector is ...view more I purchased these after a light amount of research showing not good feedback for the cheaper Sennheiser models and these were fortuitously on sale.

Mostly really happy with them, sound quality is good, and connection stability and connecting to multiple devices is good but only after a firmware update. Before the firmware update I was having major issues with Windows 10 dropping connection and generally being a pain in the ass. The only way to do the firmware update seemed to be by downloading the Sennheiser app on Android and pushing it through there - Sennheiser get points here for not pointlessly making you sign up.

The connector is micro-USB and it has a 3.5mm jack if needed, haven't tried the jack and micro-USB is fine but it would've been great if it had USB-C connector instead.

Comfort is good, I haven't had any issues with sizing or fatigue wearing them apart from pressure on a stud earring but that's unescapable unless you were oversized overear headphones.

Noise cancelling is great for continuous noises (train, bus) but with variable noises like loud voices and radio in background they are more apparent.

Battery life has been good so far.

Would recommend but be aware of possible pitfalls as above.

Based on reviews, I was expecting a great product and this is not the case.
The sound quality is just ok, the battery life is not good at all, and the maximum volume level is very low.
If you want excellent headphones I suggest looking for another option. Based on reviews, I was expecting a great product and this is not the case.
The sound quality is just ok, the battery life is not good at all, and the maximum volume level is very low.
If you want excellent headphones I suggest looking for another option.

Bought these heavily discounted and am happy with my purchase.

Sound and build quality are excellent, however I find the max volume quite limiting, might be good for my hearing.

The app features and equaliser options are not bad, and like the “thumping” option.

Very good quality case and accessory storage although can be bulky if you are trying to pack light.

Ears can get warm and sweaty if you are prone to heating up like me. And if you wear earring studs, the back of the stud will dig in to ur skin unless headset is adjusted.

ANC is impressive. Pairing is finicky due to the need to turn switch on and then press button.

...view more Bought these heavily discounted and am happy with my purchase.

Sound and build quality are excellent, however I find the max volume quite limiting, might be good for my hearing.

The app features and equaliser options are not bad, and like the “thumping” option.

Very good quality case and accessory storage although can be bulky if you are trying to pack light.

Ears can get warm and sweaty if you are prone to heating up like me. And if you wear earring studs, the back of the stud will dig in to ur skin unless headset is adjusted.

ANC is impressive. Pairing is finicky due to the need to turn switch on and then press button.

Appreciate the twist on/off option and the option to pair to a lot of devices.

Do not love the touch controls, but don’t hate it either.

Would buy again, but only at the Black Friday price.

Great sound. Easy to use, take a little getting used to the touch functions. Great sound. Easy to use, take a little getting used to the touch functions.

I just bought this recently and I had worst experience ever since. I would recommend to buy Sony wh-1000xm4 instead!! I just bought this recently and I had worst experience ever since. I would recommend to buy Sony wh-1000xm4 instead!!

Very lightweight and comfortable. The frequency response is very neutral but is super clear and the ANC rivals Sony or Bose. However the app is annoying to use and lacks customisation. The sound levels sometimes drops and take a while to readjust when using the cans with 2 devices at once and the audio source changes. Also it has an archaic micro USB for charging Very lightweight and comfortable. The frequency response is very neutral but is super clear and the ANC rivals Sony or Bose. However the app is annoying to use and lacks customisation. The sound levels sometimes drops and take a while to readjust when using the cans with 2 devices at once and the audio source changes. Also it has an archaic micro USB for charging

Sound volume is low. Noise cancelling has an issue that it'll "click" loudly if you're being jolted around a bit. This is particularly annoying when you're on a bus; you'd want to use noise cancelling but it's often not worth the clicking.
This is a $200 product at best Sound volume is low. Noise cancelling has an issue that it'll "click" loudly if you're being jolted around a bit. This is particularly annoying when you're on a bus; you'd want to use noise cancelling but it's often not worth the clicking.
This is a $200 product at best

These are very nice sounding headphones, and when on sale are good value for money. The noise cancelling is not as good as Sony of Bose, and sound quality maybe not quite as good either, but still sound good for music and have excellent battery life. Light on base, and not great (awful) for gaming. Problem is that you can probably pick up a pair of Sony xm3's cheap now days, and the xm3's are a better option if at a similar price. These are very nice sounding headphones, and when on sale are good value for money. The noise cancelling is not as good as Sony of Bose, and sound quality maybe not quite as good either, but still sound good for music and have excellent battery life. Light on base, and not great (awful) for gaming. Problem is that you can probably pick up a pair of Sony xm3's cheap now days, and the xm3's are a better option if at a similar price.

Good headphones for the price Good headphones for the price