Quiet travelling companion

DESIGNED FOR discerning business travellers, the Sennheiser PXC 550 premium Bluetooth over-ear headphones will appeal to just about any audiophile.
Providing high-end music quality and lots of useful features and functions, the noise-cancelling headphones are light and comfortable and would add to any listening experience on the go.
They can also be used with a smartphone and customised with an app.
Sennheiser says they are designed for demanding users who want sleek, light and comfortable headphones with good battery life. They have 30 hours of battery life and come with an in-flight adapter for use on planes.
With a weight of only 227 grammes without cable, the battery needs three-hours to recharge to capacity. They support Bluetooth 4.2 with a frequency response of 17 to 23,000 Hz and sensitivity of 110 dB.

The PXC 550 also has near field communication (NFC) technology that helps to easily establish a Bluetooh link. You simply tap the NFC location on your smartphone and the NFC panel on the outer side of the left ear pad for the two devices to initiate a Bluetooth connection.
There is a Bluetooth on/off switch on the right ear pad as they can also be used with a cable, which has an in-line remote for answering phone calls.
The headphones built-in power can be turned on by simply twisting the ear cups outward until you hear a click sound on both hinges, and off by twisting the ear cups inward until you hear the click.
They also come with an intuitive ear cup-mounted touch panel, on the right ear cup, to adjust values and perform other functions, and have voice prompt that tells the current status of the headphones.
For example, while playing music you can swipe vertically up or down on the touch pad to increase or decrease the volume of music and phone calls. But when you are in the idle mode, you can swipe up or down on the touch panel to increase or decrease the volume of voice prompts.
You can also tap the touch pad once to play or pause music. Or you can swipe the touch pad to the right to play the next track on the playlist or swipe to the right and hold to fast-forward the track. Swiping to the left gives the opposite result.

The headphones come with a smart pause feature that enables the headphones to respond to gestures. When you take off the headphones in the middle of a track, the song will be paused and will resume when you put the headphones back on.
Users can switch on Sennheiser’s proprietary NoiseGuard technology to shield out noisy surroundings or use the Adaptive NoiseGuard function. With Adaptive NoiseGuard, noise cancellation will be strong if the ambient noise is high or weak if the ambient noise is low.
The headphones also come with a TalkThrough function that allows you to talk to others without having to remove the headphones, even when NoiseGuard is switched on. You tap the touch pad twice to activate the TalkThrough function.
The wireless feature has four presets for adjusting sound and one customisable mode that can be tailored with ease using Sennheiser’s CapTune app.
The CapTune is both a premium quality music player and a powerful sound tuning app that gives more sonic control. It gives precise adjustments with the equaliser and also features the unique SoundCheck, which allow you to tune your music’s sound by testing different set-ups.

Another nice feature is that you can use it as a soundcard and speakers for your notebook computer. You can connect the headphones with the supplied USB cable to your computer and select Sennheiser PXC 550 as default audio on your computer.
During the test, I found the headphones produced good clarity and powerful bass and I enjoyed using them to listen to rock music, especially AC/DC’s “Rock or Bust” album, for hours without feeling uncomfortable. I tested it with Sony’s NW-A25 Walkman player and used the NFC function to easily establish a Bluetooth connection.
Sennheiser PXC 550 Wireless headphones retail for Bt16,720.

Key Specs
- Impedance Active 490 Ohms / Passive 46 Ohms
- Transducer principle (Microphone): Dynamic Closed
- Frequency response (headphones): 17 - 23,000 Hz
- Bluetooth Version: Bluetooth 4.2
- Sound pressure level (SPL): 110 dB
- THD, total harmonic distortion: Less than 0.5% (1kH, 100dB)
- Ear coupling: Circumaural
- Charging time: 3 hours (full charge)
- Pick-up pattern: 3-Mic Beamforming Array
- Operating time: Up to 30 hours
- Weight w/o cable: 227g