Sennheiser CX 95

Summary

The CX 95 headphones are a set of in-ears from Sennheiser and are priced at $120. The headphones have a cord that’s only a few feet long, but also come with an extension to let them reach your front pocket. The short cord length will help you connect to a media player stowed in your lapel pocket or on an arm band. The headphones also have a slightly different form factor, with cord guards that jut away from the ear buds at an angle, creating a small zig-zag. We didn’t notice that it made a significant difference on our comfort levels, but we didn’t like that the headphones would come loose — not fall out, but loosen in their position — fairly easily.

Frequency Response (4.72)

The Sennheiser CX 95 had a pretty good frequency response. It might over-emphasize the bass a bit, but we didn’t notice any muddiness or booming. As you can see, the response diminishes as it reaches the middle frequencies, where it peeks below the bottom limit a bit. The line then jumps back up around 7kHz, which is the frequency partially responsible for making drums sound sharp (specifically it’ll emphasize the attack, or initial hit). After the 7kHz spike the graph drops back down again, with a second, smaller peak around 10kHz, which should help accentuate the sizzle on cymbals.

The CX 95 landed square in the middle of all our comparison units. It had a virtually identical response to the MM 50 iP, but it dipped a bit lower when it broke the lower limit, which is why it received a lower score. There really isn’t a shining star on the below headphones, but that’s typical for in-ear headphones. They can have some really low distortion, but they tend to to overly emphasize certain frequencies (or overly dampen some frequencies—we’re looking at you, Apple iPod In-ear Headphones’ bass response).

Headphones	Score	Frequency Response
Sennheiser CX 95	4.72
Shure SE420	4.02
Sennheiser MM50 iP	5.04
Etymotic Research ER6i	6.7
V-MODA Vibe Duo	4.31

Distortion (11.10)

The CX 95 headphones have excellent distortion control. There’s thankfully not much else to say. The line hovers around the 0% mark the entire time and really doesn’t peak above it in any noticeable way. Bravo, Sennheiser.

On a purely score-based comparison, the CX 95 came in second to the MM 50 iPs, also from Sennheiser. Realistically, anything that gets above an 8 on this test is golden. We do think it’s interesting, however, that there’s such a discrepency between the two Sennheiser headphones and the others below.

Headphones	Score	Distortion
Sennheiser CX 95	11.1
Shure SE420	3.82
Sennheiser MM50 iP	12.6
Etymotic Research ER6i	4.31
V-MODA Vibe Duo	1.99

Tracking (9.52)

This was another good score for the CX 95. At no point is either channel significantly louder than the other. Emphasis tends to meander towards the right channel, but barely strays further than a 2dB offset before wandering back towards neutral. It’s nothing someone with sub-superhuman hearing would notice.

Just about all the comparison headphones did about as well as the CX 95s, although the Vibe Duos and iPod headphones were notable for being closer to average. You might notice a bit of a difference comparing the Vibe Duos or iPod headphones to any of the other pairs, but the four below that scored above 8 points are pretty solidly good.

Headphones	Score	Tracking
Sennheiser CX 95	9.52
Shure SE420	10.1
Sennheiser MM50 iP	8.2
Etymotic Research ER6i	9.52
V-MODA Vibe Duo	5.81

Maximum Usable Volume (10.00)

The CX 95s were capable of 123.64dB, which is exactly 3.64dB louder than the max level we award points for. Even if you like it loud, the CX 95s are a great choice for you.

Isolation (5.97)

The CX 95 was a bit disappointing here, although they scored about average. As in-ears, the CX 95s have a lot of expectation to live up to. They really don’t block out much bass at all, which is unfortunate for commuters and others who are the prime in-ear demographic. They do block out quite a bit of higher-pitched sounds, but nothing impressive. Of course, if you’re the sort of person who doesn’t like total immersion, then the CX 95s offer you a rare service.

In-ear headphones have a great capacity for blocking out sound. The CX 95s didn’t do too well. Even the MM 50 iPs managed to outscore them, and we thought the MM 50 iPs were scraping the bottom of the barrel when it came to in-ear isolation. The main problem with the CX 95s is they don’t block out as much high-end noise as other headphones tend to (with the exception of the MM 50 iPs). Overall, this isn’t bad, especially if you’re walking or jogging somewhere and want to keep a wary ear out for cars, trains, or other dangers.

One interesting thing to note is that the two Sennheiser headphones have, so far, had very similar audio quality results. We’ll need to do a few more reviews before we say anything for certain, but we’re wondering if there’s some correlation between having very low distortion and not isolating well.

Headphones	Score	Isolation
Sennheiser CX 95	5.97
Shure SE420	10.12
Sennheiser MM50 iP	6.6
Etymotic Research ER6i	10.01
V-MODA Vibe Duo	7.79

Leakage (10.00)

This is another non-issue for CX 95 users. These things might let in a lot of external sound, but they really don’t like giving up their own. These headphones would be appropriate for any quiet environment or with a room mate that needs to study. We had no complaints here.