Sennheiser PX100 User Review

[Andreas]

Basics
The Sennheiser px100 is an open ultra portable headphone that cost about $40, which include a hardcase for carrying. The nearest competitors are the Koss Portapro and the Akg k24p/k26p/k412p.

Comfort/design
The px100 is ultra lightweight and made especially for portable use. It can be folded almost like glasses, and the speakers can be twisted to lay flat. This makes them the best headphones I've had to carry around your neck, as at least I do a lot if I meet friends etc and don't have the headphones on my head. The Portapro is known for ripping off your hair if you adjust them or have them around your neck, because the headband is basically two metal bands held together by two plastic clips, and hair tends to stuck in these. This is a problem you won't have with the px100, and I think I speak for every Portapro user out there when I say that’s a real relief and a very important point for anyone who has the headphones around their neck.

Comfort wise these are good, the cans sit nice and sturdy on the head, and while I myself often experienced the Portapro falling off my head if I bent down or moved to quickly, these will sit on even if you hang upside down and shake your head. Nevertheless, they don’t press hard on the head, and you won't feel much of them being there. It should be said though, that after wearing these for a long period of time without a break, they sometimes bury into my ears a bit. This is however after using them for 5-6+ hours continuously, and I'd imagine it all depends on ear size as these doesn't cover the entire ear.

As mentioned above, they come with a nice hardcase (see pic) which is a real plus if you carry them in your baggage etc. They might be guilty of bringing the price up a few bucks from what they could have cost, but personally I'd pay extra for such a case for all my headphones if they offered it, so I see it as a big bonus, and $40 isn't much either way.

The cord is about 1.2-1.5 meters, not quiet sure, it's perfect length for having the player in your pocket and the cord hid underneath your clothes. The px100 comes in both black and white (ehem ipod....), and my experience is that the white version is more expensive, but on Amazon it seems to be the other way around.

Open headphones
The px100 is an open headphone, which means they don't isolate you from outside sounds, or the other way around. There is however a closed version of this, called the px200, but closing a headphone means you loose some sound quality normally, and that's also the case here. I've tried the px200, and would also like to point out that I didn't like the comfort of those at all, in my opinion closed headphones should cover the entire ear or close to, so the px200 with its tiny cans were just not comfortable for my ears. There are also yet another version of the px100 (and px200 for that sake) called the pmx100/pmx200, which has a neckband instead of a headband. I haven't tried these but I reckon the drivers (speakers) are the same and so the audio quality will be so too. I originally wanted a pair of pmx100 for using with a bicycle helmet, but at least in Norway they are way more expensive than the px100 so I went with the ksc75 instead.

Back to the issue at hand, the open design of the px100 means that you will definitely hear people around you if it's noisy, the same goes for people on the bus, and traffic for that matter. While it might be annoying at times, remember that the open design gives you better sound quality when it's silent around you, they don't hurt your hearing as much, and it might just save you from walking into a car on in the street

Sound quality
While design does play a big role, sound quality is in the end the most important aspect of a headphone - unfortunately for Skullcandy
Compared to the Portapro, which has an incredibly un-detailed and dominating bass, the px100 is more all-round, covering all frequencies well. Myself I use the mach3bass on the D2 at max wherever I go, so the px100 delivers wonderful and clear bass, which could easily match the amount of bass that the Portapro delivers off a normal mp3 without the mach3bass. The difference is that with the px100, you're able to hear the difference between mid-low frequencies and low frequencies etc, while the Portapro generally has "bass", along the lines of those headphones with vibrating cans, which is more of noisy sound than music in my opinion.
Without the mach3bass, the px100 won't give you that much bass that some people prefer, but it's definitely there!

Compared to the Beyerdynamic DT231 which is my home use headphone, the px100 sound more smooth in my opinion, which makes bad quality files sound less bad. This might be because the px100 is open while the dt231 is closed, and I actually prefer the px100 because of this fact sometimes, because I have music that I can't find with better quality anywhere. The dt231 sound sharper and almost sting when they encounter a low bitrate file. Also, when you use headphones out in the "wild", i.e. outside a closed room, some detail is lost anyways because of the recurring fact that the px100 is open. When outside, I never sit down and really listen to the music like I do at home, so the somewhat lack of detail doesn't matter for me, I'd rather have the option to be less picky about the music quality.

Conclusion
As is probably clear by now, I love the px100 for all they're worth and can't go outside without them. Previously I’ve used the Portapro, UR40 and KSC75 (all Koss) for portable use, and the px100 sweep everyone of these off the stage (the KSC75 are pretty matched with the px100, though the ear clip design is a tad annoying for extended use as it allows for lots of outside noise, more than the px100).

For portable use, I can happily recommend this headphone to anyone. For home use, I'd go with something else, at least for main set of phones, since the px100 is in full a portable headphone. The cord also shows this, being the perfect length for portable use, while i.e. my dt231 has 3m cable, which is better for home usage.

I don't really have anything bad to say about the px100, except for the "hurt my ears with long use" part, but that's not really a problem as I don't often wear them for that long.

White px100 at Amazon.com
Black px100 at Amazon.com

[WalkGood]

Good review Captain!

[cpchan]

Great review. I love the px100 for portable use (switched over from a pair of Porta Pro's like you did). I am on my second pair now- my cat ruined the first set.

Originally Posted by Captain Ødegård

The px100 comes in both black and white (ehem ipod....), and my experience is that the white version is more expensive, but on Amazon it seems to be the other way around.

There are actually 2 versions of the drivers. The new ones have even better sound than the old drivers. The black ones can either be the old or new drivers depending on the manufacture date, where as the white one always have the new drivers.

Charles

[Debord]

I was disapointed with this headphone. The bass is not so god as my KossSportapro and you cant play loud with them, the bass then start do rumble. It sound a bit sythetic also.

Ots Ok with my mp3 player but not with my stereo.

[cpchan]

Originally Posted by Debord

I was disapointed with this headphone. The bass is not so god as my KossSportapro and you cant play loud with them, the bass then start do rumble.

Yes, the PX-100 is not for bass heads. The Porta-Pro/Sporta-Pro have more boomy bass, but it is not as well defined.

It sound a bit sythetic also.

Did you burn them it?

Charles

[Andreas]

Hehe, with mach3bass on 10 the px100 can outbass any basshead headphone ran off a normal player, without sounding muddy

[Utew]

Captain, Somehow I missed your PX-100 review earlier.. so I'm posting late to this..

Great review and I agree, these little foldable Senn's are an excellent choice especially when needing a light-weight great sounding set of highly portable headphones.. I love mine too...

[Almoxil]

Great review, Captain. I also have both the PortaPro's and PX100's. Actually, I can only tame the overly strong bass of the PortaPro's with the 10-band EQ of my Meizu M6 (they sound very good, though).

My PX100's are still beginning to burn in, but they already sound great!

Edit: well, after burning them in for 72 hours through my D2, the sound is much clearer than out of the box. I think it's still going to improve a little, but they do sound great already! By the way, EQ is set to normal, all sound enhancements are set to 0, except for BBE, which is set to 2. Volume level 32.

[cdjohnson2]

I'm thinking about getting a pair of these, but I am torn between the PX-100 and PX-200. I like the closed design of the PX-200 because I am around people a lot up on campus and I know what its like to walk by a moron and hear their ipod headphones a mile a way or sit by someone on a bus. Butttttt I hear the sound quality is better on the 100's.
Could someone help me out?

[sassafras]

If you want closed headphones, there are better choices than the PX-200's. The PX-100's are great, but yes they're open. If you want a comparison, compare the PX-100's to the Sennheiser HD201's. They're available here: http://www.headphone.com/products/he...ser-hd-201.php

[The DarkSide]

Another person saying sorry for a late post but I must say great review!!!

[GreatDane]

Yes, very nice review. I swear I must have bought a defective pair of PX-100 at Circuit City about a year ago because they sounded terrible to me. Bass & mids were fine but highs sounded like tin can on a string...a horrible muted mess. KSC-75 easily won the fight.

[Popcorn]

Originally Posted by cdjohnson2

I'm thinking about getting a pair of these, but I am torn between the PX-100 and PX-200. I like the closed design of the PX-200 because I am around people a lot up on campus and I know what its like to walk by a moron and hear their ipod headphones a mile a way or sit by someone on a bus. Butttttt I hear the sound quality is better on the 100's.
Could someone help me out?

Probably too late replying to this to matter to you, but I have the PX200's and really like them. Very comfortable (I have relative small ears) and do keep out a lot of outside noise. They fold up flat and go into a plastic hard case to keep them safe. Much smaller and more portable than the PX201's someone mentioned above, but certainly nothing wrong with the 201's if the larger size works for you.

Also, Cptnodegard, Great Review!

[cpchan]

Originally Posted by cdjohnson2

I'm thinking about getting a pair of these, but I am torn between the PX-100 and PX-200.

I do not recommend the px200 unless you have small ears. It is very hard to get a good seal because of their small size.

Charles

[Jack4L]

Originally Posted by cpchan

There are actually 2 versions of the drivers. The new ones have even better sound than the old drivers. The black ones can either be the old or new drivers depending on the manufacture date, where as the white one always have the new drivers.

Charles

Eh, didn't know this... I personaly had the PX100's and Porta Pros for awhile, had to buy a set of PX100's when my Porta pros were being shiped to be replaced under there lifetime warenty, had them for about a month, tried to burn them in on a few weekends aswell. They were just alittle too harsh for my ears and the lower end was pretty pathetic aswell... I just almost imediatly got rid of them after I got my new porta-pros, which sounded better right out of the box. Mighta been a bad version though, never really thought there would have been a good and bad version.

Also I was really more of a basshead then I am nowadays (Owned PortaPros and Sony V6's)

[cpchan]

Originally Posted by Jack4L

They were just alittle too harsh for my ears and the lower end was pretty pathetic aswell...

The PX-100s are definitely not for you if you are a basshead.

Charles

[The DarkSide]

Originally Posted by cpchan

The PX-100s are definitely not for you if you are a basshead.

Charles

Don't know about that as the bass is pretty good on my D2, and I might add, it's un-amped.

[NYer]

I have these and love the sound, but they were not very comfortable for mp3 player use, as they tended to move around on the neck while I was walking. The cheap Sony street style neck band models are much more practical, but don't sound as good as these. Sennheiser has something similar, the PMX-60, and while better sounding than the Sony, are not as solid sounding as the PX100. I also had some trouble using the included case with these, and would prefer a model that somehow folded smaller, or seemed less fragile when folded. I was always nervous that I would break these unless I put them back in the case, and just as nervous that I would break them while putting them in the case, LOL.

If you're not going to be moving around much, these are a great choice for an inexpensive replacement for your basic earbuds. I'm still searching for the right blend of sound and comfort though.

BTW, by point of reference, I don't believe in different headphones for different music. The headphones should be neutral, just amplifying the sound from the source, not trying to enhance it in any way. Nothing wrong if you're looking for extra bass or treble, but I prefer to hear things as close to the original recording as possible. My ideal headphones have no sound of their own, they are transparent.

[Lord Froad]

I bought them and absolutely love them. Everything you said was true.

[webvan]

Thanks for the review, been hunting for a good pair of mid-level headphones for my iPhone but also to watch TV at home and picked up the HD212 Pro yesterday. Pretty disappointed, they have way too much bass, and I normally like bass ! Heard good things about the Koss UR-40 but the reviewer says they can't compete with the PX100, they do have the advantage of being closed, depending on what you read, so would provide some isolation in and out and apparently sound good.

To get to the bottom of this I might go ahead and pick up both the PX100 and the UR-40 !