Sennheiser CX 300-II Headphones Review - Shure SE420 Comparison

	Shure SE420 Comparison
• Both are somewhat plain-looking. • CX 300-IIs have a more ideal frequency response. • CX 300-IIs suffer from less distortion. • SE420s have better tracking. • SE420s block out significantly more sound • Both are about the same in terms of comfort level. • SE420s cost significantly more.
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Design

 The CX 300-IIs have a better aesthetic if only because they include a splash of color. The CX 300-II also has better cord guards at the ear buds. Both headphones manage the plug well.

Aesthetics
CX 300-II	Shure SE420

Sound Quality

The SE420s have a somewhat weaker bass, but have a much more even kiel to their response curve. The SE420s also have a weaker high end. The winner here will be decided by personal preference.

Frequency Response
CX 300-II	Shure SE420

The SE420s show a bit of distortion, but not much. We doubt the average consumer would notice. Both headphones did well on this test.

Distortion
CX 300-II	Shure SE420

As with distortion, both headphones have good tracking. The SE420s have a much more even tracking, but again, there aren't huge leaps between the two performances.

Tracking
CX 300-II	Shure SE420

Isolation

 The SE 420 is the clear winner on isolation. It is interesting to note that the CX 300-IIs block out the area around 1kHz much better than the SE420s. While this doesn't mean anything significant, we do get images of these two headphones teaming up against ambient noise like some crime fighting duo.

Isolation
CX 300-II	Shure SE420

Comfort

In lieu of posting a few HATS pictures, we'll actually use text for this comparason . We apologize for any inconvenience we caused when we totally forgot to take HATS photos of the Shure SE420s.

To sum it up in a word: similar. If we expanded that limit to three words to improve readability's: they are similar. We didn't have a strong preference as to which is better, so try them both on.



Verdict

While the SE420s are great isolators, they fall short on just about every other area. Even though these shortcomings are small in scale, the SE420s cost over $100 more than the CX 300-IIs. If you value isolation, it's worth the extra investment, but otherwise we'd recommend the CX 300-IIs.