Sennheiser MM450-X & MM550-X Travel Headphone Double Review

This is a detailed review for the Sennheiser MM450-x and MM550-x wireless active noise canceling headphones. They are believed to be one of the best sounding wireless headphones in the market. Sennhieser are one of the biggest and most reputed headphones’ manufacturers in the world. It its claimed that they have manufactured both the best earphones ands headphone in the world, the HD800 & IE800.

 

Manufacture’s Specifications:

• Type: on-ear (Supra-aural)
• Drivers Size:NA
• Drivers Type:NA
• Frequency Response: 15-22000Hz
• Sensitivity: 107dB
• Impedance:NA
• Microphone sensitivity:100-10000Hz
• Maximum Input: NA
• Weight with cable: 105g
• Charging time: 3h
• Connecter: NA
• MSRP: 1499 AED

Design

The MM450-x travel are an on-ear Wireless (bluetooth) headphones/Headset, Sennheiser also have an over ear edition from them the MM550-x, it is targeted towards business travelers, taking that into consideration it is obvious the amount of time Sennheiser spent developing them to to achieve this compact and durable design. The active noise canceling version is equipped with sennheiser’s latest noise canceling technology, Active NoiseGuads 2.

This is MM550 ( The Over Ear Edition )

 

Out of the box

You can call these the travelers ultimate headphones, the unique foldable/collapsible design with swirling ear cups enables the MM450 to be folded into a very compact shape to fit in the supplied carry case, which is a made of durable black fabric and can easily fit in any back pack or suitcase without any hassle.

Both of the MM450/550 are equipped with  interchangeable replaceable batteries which I believe to be a rare cool feature, you’ll always have the option to buy a new pair incase your batteries life expired so you don’t throw away your headphones and no need to take them to any service centre. Batteries performance on these headphones is superb, it needs around 3 hour to fully charge and they would last around 10 hour of continuous listening.

The headphone design is very user friendly, all the controls you’ll need are on the right ear cup, you can control your media player form them and can also increase and lower the volume. The headphones have a separate volume control other than the one in your music device.

They come with a USB wall charger with many interchangeable wall adapter, USB charging cable (note that you can directly charge the headphones from any USB port). Bluetooth® 2.1 can pair with almost any Bluetooth device or system available in market. These Headphones/headset are good for music listening, and receiving calls without having to take them off, the built in controls on the right ear cup allows you to answer and end calls.

MM 450/550 are also provided with an audio cable for direct connection during flights or if you just wanna use them wired for any reason, and it’s a plus that you can use them wired even if you ran out of battery as normal headphones. So incase you forget to charge them, you can continue to use them unlike many other Bluetooth/Active noise canceling headphones that can’t work without their batteries charged.

The active noise canceling on MM450-x does an acceptable job, but I wouldn’t say that it is the best I’ve tried, maybe thats due to the on-ear design since they don’t fully cover the ears. If you require a better seal and don’t mind a bigger size and paying a little extra you can always go for the over ear model the MM550 which provides a much better sound isolation and noise canceling.

Both models provide a useful feature called the talk through, which lets you speak to a the passenger sitting next to you or the flight attendant without having to remove the headset by just pressing the noise guard button on the right ear cup. This will mute your music and lets you hear the sounding sounds through the built in microphones in each ear cup. The MM550 have a virtual surround option which is an extra feature that’s not available for the smaller model.

Style

They have a very unique styling different than normal headphones with a small rounded ear-cups, 2 small padded cushions on the headband where it rests on your head. They come only in black color with a metallic stainless steel arc embedded in the upper part of the headband with the Sennheiser logo on the left ear-cup, and all controls on the right ear-cup.

Build quality

They are very flexible, well built, and can easily withstand almost any type of normal use. The ear cushions are replaceable, this is a good added value for a long lasting use. It might look fragile from at first look, but don’t let appearances deceive you, the MM450 can handle thousands of bends, fold and twist without getting damaged, they are really durable. Plus, Sennheiser provide a 2 year warranty on their headphones.

Comfort

The extra light weight of the MM450-x gives it an advantage over other competitors, the soft leather padding on the ear cups makes them comfortable for long hours of listening. I’ve spent almost 4 hours roaming around the house doing chores and I almost forgot  that I have them on. some might not like the feel of the on-ear headphones, so there’s always the option to go with the 550 model.

 Supplied accessories:

• USB wall charger for US, EU, UK and AU
• USB charging cable
• In-flight adapters (3.5mm double mono jack/ 6.3 mm gold adapter plug)
• Audio cable
• Carry case
• Quick set-up guide

Sound

The MM450 are one the best sounding Bluetooth headphones I’ve ever listened to, It is really impressive to have this sound quality and performance over the Bluetooth connection. My only take on their sound quality over the wireless connection that you can hear a slight hiss sound when not playing anything.

It’s not easy to detect it for an untrained ear, but while playing music it is almost unnoticeable. As for the sound quality I find it to be pretty impressive taking into consideration how small the ear cups are, normally for a headphone to be able to produce such sound you require a slightly bigger cups. and that was clear while trying the MM550 due to the bigger headroom the over design provides, the improvement in sound stage and bass response was clearly noticeable.

Bass: They produce a moderate powerful and greatly balanced bass, it has almost no distortion at all, but at the same time it can use a little boost, these headphones are not bass heavy, so if you’re looking for something to blow your head up these are not for you.

Mid-range: Very well presented mids, very clear with an audiophile like performance. A surprisingly good sound from such a small sized headphone.

Treble: Nicely presented highs, all high notes are well produced and properly tuned, they sound clear and crisp and at the same time they’re neither harsh nor sturdy and easy on the ears.

Sound Stage and instruments separations: They have a fairly nice and wide sound stage considering how small the ear cups are. Normally for such small size headphones the sounds are muffled which is not at all the case for the MM450. When it comes to instrument separation the MM450 does a great job.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Active Noise Canceling
• Can be used as a headset
• Great sound quality
• Extremely light weight easy to carry
• Rechargeable replaceable battery
• Long lasting battery life
• Small foldable design makes it easy to carry for travelers.

Cons:

• A bit pricey
• Noise canceling performance can be improved
• sound Lacks a little bass
• Slight hiss noise while operating on blue tooth

Conclusion

To cut things short the MM450-X are one of the best sounding wireless headphones I’ve tried, and giving their unique compact and durable design I consider them to be a great package. If you’re looking for a pair of wireless headphones for traveling or to be used in the office, or even at home, You should definitely give them a try.