Sennheiser PXC 450 Headphones

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Mark Korff
Beth
Sennheiser
Mar. 27, 2008

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Introduction

If you've ever looked into getting a pair of high quality headphones, there's a good chance you've heard of Sennheiser. While the company makes some good mid-range headphones, they've earned their reputation based on the products they offer at the high end of the market. Sennheiser creates some of the best audiophile headphones you can buy, but they also manufacture professional headsets for the aviation industry that feature an active noise-canceling technology dubbed NoiseGard. Today we'll take a look at a pair of their high-end consumer headphones, the PXC 450, that includes the same NoiseGard technology as used in some of the professional aviation models.

The PXC 450 is being marketed by Sennheiser as "travel" headphones primarily due to the NoiseGard, which helps reduce unwanted aircraft background noise. It also features a TalkThrough function, which allows the user to have a normal conversation without removing the headphones. These two relatively-unique attractions and the Sennheiser reputation don't come cheap, however (the PXC 450 was selling for as low as $450 from online retailers as of Dec. 2007), so let's take a closer look at this latest offering from Sennheiser and see if the PXC 450 is worth the high price of admission.

First Looks

After removing the PXC 450 from its packaging, the first thing I noticed was the unprecedented build quality. Everything from the thick metal headband to the plush ear and head pads seemed to be built for extreme durability and comfort. Considering that the PXC 450 is intended for those frequent flyers among us, the build quality is even more important than most headphones made for home use since they'll most likely encounter a lot more abuse, and possibly be worn for many hours at a time. The earphones also rotate in such a way that allows the unit to lie flat and take up less space (useful for a carry-on bag).

Due to the unique characteristics of the PXC 450, there are a few additional buttons and controls that should be mentioned. The NoiseGard feature requires power in order to function, so one AAA battery (two are included) needs to be inserted into a battery compartment housed in the right earphone. There is also a switch on the left earphone that toggles between "normal" mode, which enables NoiseGard, and "bypass" mode, which disables it for use without battery power. The rest of the functions are all controlled from a circular ring of buttons on the right earphone, including the "on/off" button, volume control, and the TalkThrough toggle button.

The PXC 450 also comes with a few useful accessories. The standard cable terminates with a 3.5mm audio connector, so Sennheiser included the larger 6.3mm adapter as well. A dual 3.5mm adapter is also included to use with the headphone jacks found on airlines. There is a travel case included as well, which should help protect the PXC 450 from all the abuse it's sure to see in busy airports.

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Page 1: Introduction & First Looks
Page 2: Testing
Page 3: Conclusion

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2 User Comments

1 - Posted by weslium on December 3, 2008 - 10:36 pm

It was a really tough choice for me whether to get these headphones or the Bose Quiet Comfort 3s. In the end, I choose the 450s after reading this comparison . . .

http://tech.spotcoolstuff.com/review/noise-canceli...

. . . and have been really happy that I did. These Sennheisers sound AMAZING. And, like your review notes, they fold up to a small size.

2 - Posted by Kurtis on December 4, 2008 - 11:54 am

Generally speaking, Bose tend not to do as well as similarly priced competitors' headphones, just FYI. They're great at marketing - great quality audio, not so much.

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