Childrens Toyshop
Welcome to The Childrens Toyshop, here you will find all the latest and traditional toys in our toyshop. You can search and locate the best selling Toys Games & Puzzles to purchase online and have delivered to the door. We have a large selection of Electronics with reviews.
Back to Home Page > Go back a page
Electronics : Sennheiser CX 95 - High End Noise Isolating Ear-Canal-Headphones
1 2 3
Rating: 
- The Perfect Headphones
I've become increasingly aware of audio fidelity and this has made me fussy as to what I hear my music from. I thought I would upgrade my acceptable ipod classic earphones to something will more "isolation" from outside noise.
Put simply, the sound from these is incredible. After some testing, I found the largest ear-buds to be most effective at blocking outside noise and having a comfortable fit. This surprised me as I actually have small ear canals. But I guess what is important here when you use the silicone adapters is the outer ear, which needs to be as filled as possible.
Bass is deep and rumbling. Voices are clear. I wasn't shocked at the sound quality instantly, then realised it was because these earphones were producing in my head, what my Creative T20 speakers were producing on my laptop. I tried my old apple ipod headphones and noticed a lot of roughness and non-existant bass. Switching between the two made the CX95 sound incredible. It can REALLY handle all types of music. From Kanye West's late registration it controls the low bass, and with classical music, you can hear every instrument even at the very low volumes. For instance with Danny Elfmans Batman theme, the beginning 30 seconds is near inaudible on ipod earphones unless in a quiet quiet room. Hear the beginning can be heard without any volume adjustments throughout the whole track as I often need to do with classical music.
New music will unexpected effects such as gunshots may even make you jump as it did to me.
What others have said about the volume is correct. With my ipod earphones. I find myself turning up to 75% to hear my music. With these, I turn it down to about 40-50%. That's loud enough.
Finally the cabling. There have been many complaints, but I've found the cabling perfect! It's not too thin, and is quite wearing. It's short at about 60cm, but this makes it perfect for my usage. Inside a side jacket pocket or connected to a games console such as the psp. I dislike the "pull" you get from mp3 players in your trouser pocket, thus I never use it there. The short length means it rarely gets tangled or becomes unwieldy li.
Bear in mind the supplied case can only hold the main earphones and not the 1m extension provided for those that want more length. I do agree that this extension should only be about 60cm more itself to make the cable size similar to others on the market that are usually 1m or so.
Rating:
- Fantastic sound, cable a snag
Firstly, let me say that for sound quality, for less than £100, these earphones are awesome... Living in the UK, I use these regularly with my phone via an adaptor and with my Vaio SZ laptop.
The cable length is ideal for using with the laptop on the desk. With the phone, I don't have any snags with it as I keep it in my jacket pocket. But for those wanting to keep their ipod etc in their trouser pocket I can see these would be a bit of a snag. Poor decision that hampers an otherwise ideal set of headphones. In addition, as a previous reviewer mentioned, these headphones suffer a bit from cable induced noise on the move. I personally don't recommend these for gym bunnies, but for the commute, or just enjoying brilliant sound, they're the best!
Rating:
- Let down by poor ergonomics
The Good:
They sound amazing for the price. The bass is deep, but controlled, and the mid and highs are clear and precise. I've owned several other low to mid-level canal phones/IEMs but these are probably the best sounding buds I've found in the sub £100 price range.
They are also very stylish to look at.
The Bad:
The cable is a complete and utter pain.
It's rubbery and bouncy, so fairly resilient, but this causes a lot of iritating cable microphonics. If you're sitting still while you use them, they sound great, but if you're wearing them while walking you'll end up with monotonous loud thumping and scraping passing through the wires into your inner ear.
This isn't a problem unique to these particular buds, but it's one of the worst examples I've come across, and it's made worse by some of the ergonomic design decisions that Sennheiser have taken.
The main cable is far too short, so most people will have to use the cable extension. The extension cable makes the overall cable far too long, and the connector is far too bulky and heavy, so it swings around as you move and sends a riot of noise into your ears.
The usual way around any cable microphonics is to loop the cable over the top of your ears before inserting. However, the problem with this method is that the earbuds have been ergonomically designed to be placed in the ears with the cable pointing down. You can either wrap them over your ears, with the wires bending back abruptly on themselves or wear them upside down and the wrong way around (i.e. the left bud goes in your right ear and vice-versa).
This removes some, though not all, of the cable microphonics but you then end up with the rest of the cable slightly too tight under your chin for complete comfort, and it's annoying that the earphones end up the wrong way around.
Conclusion:
I'd really love to be able to recommend these earphones to everybody, but I can't. The best I can say about them is that they sound fantastic as long as you keep still, but seeing as they are most likely going to be used with "portable" players that's unikely.
If you're going to use them while on the move you might end up tearing your hair out trying to work out ways of making the cables quiet and comfortable.
I'm now looking for an alternative, but I can't help thinking that although I might find something that has less cable microphonics, I'm unlikely to find anything in a similar price range that offers the same audio depth and clarity, which is a major shame.
Rating: - Great sound, dreadful mistake with cable length!!!
These headphones deliver great sound for the price - but I cannot understand why they are supplied with a really short cable - a fatal error.
Unless Seinnheiser think that their market is joggers that wear very light mp3 players on there sleeves, it is a huge error. They then provide an extension cable with a heavy dongle. This means that if you are the 90% (I would imagine) of people that need to use it, your ears get weighed down by said dongle.
This error of judgement is compounded by not supplying a clip to alleviate the weight on the ears problem. I contacted Sennheiser customer support to find out how to get hold of a compatible clip. I was given details of two suppliers of spares. Both told me that no such clip exists - good work Sennheiser customer support - an annoyed customer then given details for suppliers that don't actually have a clip anyway - therefore more wasted time. When I emailed the customer services person back, nothing - am I surprised? no.
Well, this is the first Sennheiser product I've ever bought - could well be the last.
Rating: - Very good product worth considering
These are a very good set of headphones for those who are prepared to spend a little bit of money, probably at the high end of what the average person would be prepared to pay, and at the low end of what a serious audio enthusiast would be expecting, which makes for an excellent compromise.
My first impressions of these is that they are very nice sounding and hopefully this will improve as they break in. Comfortable and very good at blocking out the noise. As others have commented the cable can cause some interference if not restrained, I have used a small bulldog clip as a shirt clip and this has worked fine and removed all interference and distortion from cable flap.
These have offered an immediate improvement in the sound quality to the extent where they are nearly on a par with good quality traditional speakers. What has particularly impressive is how these are able to show up a poor recording. All the minor distortions from cheap recordings or low quality audio rips are audible and therefore it is important to make sure that music is ripped at the highest possible bitrate - it is worth the extra disk space!
Overall I am giving these 5stars as they are comfortable, the sound is very impressive and for a set of audio headphones the price is excellent. Don't be put off by the minor problems that can be caused if the cable flaps, pinning it in place with a small clip (sadly not provided) fixes this instantly.
- The Perfect HeadphonesI've become increasingly aware of audio fidelity and this has made me fussy as to what I hear my music from. I thought I would upgrade my acceptable ipod classic earphones to something will more "isolation" from outside noise.
Put simply, the sound from these is incredible. After some testing, I found the largest ear-buds to be most effective at blocking outside noise and having a comfortable fit. This surprised me as I actually have small ear canals. But I guess what is important here when you use the silicone adapters is the outer ear, which needs to be as filled as possible.
Bass is deep and rumbling. Voices are clear. I wasn't shocked at the sound quality instantly, then realised it was because these earphones were producing in my head, what my Creative T20 speakers were producing on my laptop. I tried my old apple ipod headphones and noticed a lot of roughness and non-existant bass. Switching between the two made the CX95 sound incredible. It can REALLY handle all types of music. From Kanye West's late registration it controls the low bass, and with classical music, you can hear every instrument even at the very low volumes. For instance with Danny Elfmans Batman theme, the beginning 30 seconds is near inaudible on ipod earphones unless in a quiet quiet room. Hear the beginning can be heard without any volume adjustments throughout the whole track as I often need to do with classical music.
New music will unexpected effects such as gunshots may even make you jump as it did to me.
What others have said about the volume is correct. With my ipod earphones. I find myself turning up to 75% to hear my music. With these, I turn it down to about 40-50%. That's loud enough.
Finally the cabling. There have been many complaints, but I've found the cabling perfect! It's not too thin, and is quite wearing. It's short at about 60cm, but this makes it perfect for my usage. Inside a side jacket pocket or connected to a games console such as the psp. I dislike the "pull" you get from mp3 players in your trouser pocket, thus I never use it there. The short length means it rarely gets tangled or becomes unwieldy li.
Bear in mind the supplied case can only hold the main earphones and not the 1m extension provided for those that want more length. I do agree that this extension should only be about 60cm more itself to make the cable size similar to others on the market that are usually 1m or so.
Rating:
- Fantastic sound, cable a snagFirstly, let me say that for sound quality, for less than £100, these earphones are awesome... Living in the UK, I use these regularly with my phone via an adaptor and with my Vaio SZ laptop.
The cable length is ideal for using with the laptop on the desk. With the phone, I don't have any snags with it as I keep it in my jacket pocket. But for those wanting to keep their ipod etc in their trouser pocket I can see these would be a bit of a snag. Poor decision that hampers an otherwise ideal set of headphones. In addition, as a previous reviewer mentioned, these headphones suffer a bit from cable induced noise on the move. I personally don't recommend these for gym bunnies, but for the commute, or just enjoying brilliant sound, they're the best!
Rating:
- Let down by poor ergonomicsThe Good:
They sound amazing for the price. The bass is deep, but controlled, and the mid and highs are clear and precise. I've owned several other low to mid-level canal phones/IEMs but these are probably the best sounding buds I've found in the sub £100 price range.
They are also very stylish to look at.
The Bad:
The cable is a complete and utter pain.
It's rubbery and bouncy, so fairly resilient, but this causes a lot of iritating cable microphonics. If you're sitting still while you use them, they sound great, but if you're wearing them while walking you'll end up with monotonous loud thumping and scraping passing through the wires into your inner ear.
This isn't a problem unique to these particular buds, but it's one of the worst examples I've come across, and it's made worse by some of the ergonomic design decisions that Sennheiser have taken.
The main cable is far too short, so most people will have to use the cable extension. The extension cable makes the overall cable far too long, and the connector is far too bulky and heavy, so it swings around as you move and sends a riot of noise into your ears.
The usual way around any cable microphonics is to loop the cable over the top of your ears before inserting. However, the problem with this method is that the earbuds have been ergonomically designed to be placed in the ears with the cable pointing down. You can either wrap them over your ears, with the wires bending back abruptly on themselves or wear them upside down and the wrong way around (i.e. the left bud goes in your right ear and vice-versa).
This removes some, though not all, of the cable microphonics but you then end up with the rest of the cable slightly too tight under your chin for complete comfort, and it's annoying that the earphones end up the wrong way around.
Conclusion:
I'd really love to be able to recommend these earphones to everybody, but I can't. The best I can say about them is that they sound fantastic as long as you keep still, but seeing as they are most likely going to be used with "portable" players that's unikely.
If you're going to use them while on the move you might end up tearing your hair out trying to work out ways of making the cables quiet and comfortable.
I'm now looking for an alternative, but I can't help thinking that although I might find something that has less cable microphonics, I'm unlikely to find anything in a similar price range that offers the same audio depth and clarity, which is a major shame.
Rating:
- Great sound, dreadful mistake with cable length!!!These headphones deliver great sound for the price - but I cannot understand why they are supplied with a really short cable - a fatal error.
Unless Seinnheiser think that their market is joggers that wear very light mp3 players on there sleeves, it is a huge error. They then provide an extension cable with a heavy dongle. This means that if you are the 90% (I would imagine) of people that need to use it, your ears get weighed down by said dongle.
This error of judgement is compounded by not supplying a clip to alleviate the weight on the ears problem. I contacted Sennheiser customer support to find out how to get hold of a compatible clip. I was given details of two suppliers of spares. Both told me that no such clip exists - good work Sennheiser customer support - an annoyed customer then given details for suppliers that don't actually have a clip anyway - therefore more wasted time. When I emailed the customer services person back, nothing - am I surprised? no.
Well, this is the first Sennheiser product I've ever bought - could well be the last.
Rating:
- Very good product worth consideringThese are a very good set of headphones for those who are prepared to spend a little bit of money, probably at the high end of what the average person would be prepared to pay, and at the low end of what a serious audio enthusiast would be expecting, which makes for an excellent compromise.
My first impressions of these is that they are very nice sounding and hopefully this will improve as they break in. Comfortable and very good at blocking out the noise. As others have commented the cable can cause some interference if not restrained, I have used a small bulldog clip as a shirt clip and this has worked fine and removed all interference and distortion from cable flap.
These have offered an immediate improvement in the sound quality to the extent where they are nearly on a par with good quality traditional speakers. What has particularly impressive is how these are able to show up a poor recording. All the minor distortions from cheap recordings or low quality audio rips are audible and therefore it is important to make sure that music is ripped at the highest possible bitrate - it is worth the extra disk space!
Overall I am giving these 5stars as they are comfortable, the sound is very impressive and for a set of audio headphones the price is excellent. Don't be put off by the minor problems that can be caused if the cable flaps, pinning it in place with a small clip (sadly not provided) fixes this instantly.