Sennheiser CX100 review
Throughwork
Sennheiser live a long life, since 1946. They make microphones and headphones for professional music studios. As part of the chain that make the music, what is their budget earphone like?
Contents
Build
The CX100 seems a good quality of build, but read on. Cable thickness is only passable and, despite a good rubber cover, has some memory—the CX100 cables will tangle. For a change, cable sheaths seem designed. The housings are little more than a half‐sphere join to the cable. The tips are slightly shallow and rubberish—they do not feel secure. The left/right mark is blobs on one sheath, much better than visual marks. They are probably robust. The glossy hemispheres are not easy to get into the ear, the tips do not feel grippy, so I think CX100s are only passable, or poor, for ease of use, though they are comfortable. As for looks, with the skinny wires and hard gloss, the overall impression is of budget professional, or earphones for people who don’t want people looking at their earphones.
Sound
Reasonable—quieter—volume. Timing is reasonable, attack is good, so is decay. Outstanding volume range. They do a reasonable job through swells. There seems to be a duff spot I first heard on recorders (of all instruments), they tizz on cymbals, and a frequency dip in top string notes. Make that several spots where they sound tizzy and distorted. Light on the low notes. Extended toward high notes. So wide frequency range, but towards high. Detail sounds natural, both on attack and decay. Color is only passable at best and in general thin. Width is only reasonable, but positioning outstanding.
They ought to be superb for voice replay, and be a reasonable alternative for orchestras. They lumber on rock music. Good detail makes atmosphere on soundtracks. But, through every kind of replay, the rasp and noise are intrusive. And it doesn’t go away.
Spec
| mic available? | no |
| cable noise | reasonable |
| accessories | four sizes of eartips |
| support | Good reputation for replacement within warranty |
Assess
The CX100 makes no effort to be a service device—no microphone or switch. Beyond that, in the world of marmalade trees that is in‐ear headphones, the CX100 stands out. They appear well‐built, but with features that make them difficult to use. They have outstanding range, especially high notes, so detail is fun, yet are not good at timing, and the thin color and noise do not go away. They buzz and rasp on everything aside from solo instruments.
This is a dynamic cone, which tells in the directness and modest detail, but less explicable in the lack of color. The shallow housings suggest the light lower notes. A few reviewers have praised the CX100, yet users say they often break. I think these are votes for apparent quality as an aura. As a monitor the CX100 is outstanding, but ‘monitor’ only covers flat response and some detail. So how about… well, the CX100s can play a walking bassline. But do you want to adjust your listening to awkward‐to‐use, raspy, earphones?