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The Sennheiser MM50 iP headphones are comfortable and portable. They don't come with many frills, such as a variety of sleeve options, extension cords, or cleaning tools. They do have a microphone, which means the MM50 iPs are a great choice for cell phone or iPod users (newer iPods let you change songs by clicking the microphone button).
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Comfort (7.00)
 The MM50 iP headphones are pretty comfortable. They don't exert much pressure on the inside of your ear, although, like most in-ear headphones, you never really forget you're wearing them. There were three sizes of sleeves (the rubbery part that fits on the ear bud and ventures into your ear canal), which is what you'll find packaged with most headphones. We were lucky enough to have adequate ear size/shape, however, so we didn't run into any issues.
As always, we highly recommend trying out headphones before you buy them, preferrably for upwards of six hours at a time. Until we build a robot that allows us to measure comfort for every ear size and comfort preference, we'll only be able to give you the general consensus around our office. We have robot builders building around the clock to remedy this situation.
Extended Use (7.00)
After six hours we really didn't notice any change in our overall comfort level, which is pretty remarkable for in-ear headphones. Typically having a foreign object in your ear for so long would start to cause some discomfort, but we really didn't run into any.
Cable Connectivity (3.42)
The Sennheiser MM50 iP headphones have a cable that measures 40 5/8 inches (3 feet, 4 5/8 inches; about 1.03 meters) from the end of the plug's cord guard to the end of the ear bud's cord guard. This will be more than enough to reach that media player in your pocket, but isn't good for much else. There also aren't any included adapters. Overall, while the MM50 iPs will help the iPod/Phone crowd connect to their music, they're limited to that role.
Portability (8.00)
As in-ear headphones, there's not much to the MM50 iPs that'd bog you down. The cord is short and the ear buds are tiny: it doesn't get much more portable. There isn't a case included, however, so you'll have to be content with just shoving the headphones into your pocket. If you're looking for portability, in-ear headphones like the MM50 iP are the way to go.
Customizability (2.00)
Typically in-ear headphones have a lot of customization options, because sleeves (the small rubber thing you put on the end of the ear buds to protect them from your ears) are small, cheap to make, and come in a lot of different sizes and styles. In the case of the MM50 iPs, there are three different sizes of sleeves, which is a standard set of sleeves.
Three different sleeve sizes is
standard, but many in-ear
headphones include more options.
Maintenance (2.00)
Some in-ear headphones come with cleaning tools, since some people have dirtier ears than others. The MM50 iP headphones don't come with such a luxury. They do allow you to remove the sleeves, however, so you can clean them easily and not risk getting the headphones' vitals wet.
Other Features (6.00)
Battery Dependency
The MM50 iP headphones do not require a battery to function. Needing batteries in order to function adds limitations to your headphones' use, or means you have to carry around spares. Since this is annoying, we give out some points to headphones that aren't dependent on batteries.
Microphone
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The button on the mic pendant might not look like much, but it adds a ton of functionality. |
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The MM50 iPs have a microphone and a button part of the way down the cord, for use with cell phones and certain media players. Interesting fact: the microphone button is where the MM50 iP gets its "iP" from (it's short for iPhone). This isn't the first time we've seen a set of headphones jumping on the iWagon, but this might be the best set of headphones that has chosen to pander to the Apple audience.
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