Sennheiser CX 95

Who's It For

Audiophiles

Audiophiles that don’t mind the frequency response will be very happy with the low distortion and great tracking. We’d ask that they make they listen first, but we’d recommend these to our audiophile friends.

Portable User

We would recommend these to portable users, but with a bit of a warning: if you’re looking for ear plugs, buy the Shure SE420s. The CX 95s don’t block out very much noise, but they are more portable than average. While we’re a bit torn on the recommendation, we still think the CX 95s would be good for portable users. Just try not to tug the cord much.

Airplane Traveler

These things are comfortable and, since you won’t be moving around that much on an airplane, the issue about the headphones coming loose is moot. The main concern in this case that left us with a ‘maybe’ answer is with their isolation capabilities.

Home / Office Use

No. You can use them in a pinch, but don’t use in-ears for your home theater setup. There are much better options out there, such as headphones with surround sound, the Sennheiser HD 555s, or the Pioneer SE-A1000s.

Conclusion

The Sennheiser CX 95s are good headphones, but we had some problems with them. First of all, we didn’t particularly like the way they fit. We’re not sure if it was weird sleeves, the unique ear bud shape, or some other factor, but they just didn’t sit as well as, say, the Sennheiser MM 50 iPs, which we adored. In terms of dollars, the CX 95s are a good enough choice. They have the short cord for those who can use it, and a slightly longer than average cord for those that can’t.

Their audio quality is good overall, but they fell off a bit on isolation, which is typically an in-ear strong suit. Although isolation isn’t the most important of aspects we test for, in-ears need good isolation; more often than not they need to help your music contend with street noise.

We think the CX 95s are a solid option, but we’re not all that sold on the idea that they’re better than the MM 50 iPs. The CX 95s cost a little more, offer less audio quality and comfort, and have a short cord. The MM 50 iPs are better overall, but suffer from some severe durability issues. While we think the MM 50 iPs are still a better choice, that in no way means the CX 95s are anything but solid.