Sennheiser CX 400BT review
Our Verdict
The Sennheiser CX 400BT are no ordinary pair of mid-range wireless earbuds. Their balanced, detailed sound, excellent comfort and myriad of features ensure they stand out in a crowded market.
For
- Bully sound
- Good app and features
- Respectable bombardment life
- Comfortable fit
Against
- No ANC
- No water or sweat resistance
Tom'southward Guide Verdict
The Sennheiser CX 400BT are no ordinary pair of mid-range wireless earbuds. Their balanced, detailed sound, excellent comfort and myriad of features ensure they stand out in a crowded market.
Pros
- +
Dandy sound
- +
Good app and features
- +
Respectable battery life
- +
Comfortable fit
Cons
- -
No ANC
- -
No water or sweat resistance
Sennheiser CX 400BT specs
Price: $130
Colors: Black
Size: two.iii x 1.three x 1.6 inches (charging example)
Weight: 0.2 ounces (per bud), i.3 ounces (charging case)
Bombardment life: 20 hours
Speakers: 7mm dynamic drivers
Features: Customizable touch controls, source switching, EQ controls, replaceable tips, voice assistant support
The Sennheiser CX 400BT might not seem like the most thrilling true wireless earbuds right now. Apple's AirPods 3 are on the way, and the active noise-cancelling Momentum True Wireless 2 are a more premium option from Sennheiser'south own stable.
The CX 400BT practice not have ANC, just on a closer look, in that location'due south really quite a lot here for the discerning music fan. For one, these earbuds dropped in toll – rather apace, also – from $200 to $130, putting themselves on equal terms with the current 2nd-gen AirPods. Challenging Apple tree is no small effort, but equally this Sennheiser CX 400BT will explain, a combination of splendid sound quality, competitive battery life and a healthy range of features proves enough to win out.
- See our list of the all-time wireless earbuds
- The best wireless headphones y'all tin buy
Sennheiser CX 400BT review: Design
The Sennheiser CX 400BT have a boxier shape than the more rounded Momentum True Wireless 2, but they're still featherlight with a robust matt plastic finish. They don't stick too far out of your ears either -- no ugly stalks here.
There are no buttons on the buds, but a flat section for touch on control inputs. Other than a argent Sennheiser logo on each of these pads, the buds are all-blackness for an understated look.
Overall, these are a well-designed pair of earbuds, though they're not quite the complete parcel. There'southward no waterproofing, splash-proofing or sweat resistance, and so you'd have to be careful about using them for serious do. This is, arguably, the single biggest omission, because how much the CX 400BT price. Even the Creative Outlier Air V2, which are only $lxx, have sweatproofing.
While the CX 400BT don't stick out plenty to offend the eyes, they do tend to pick up air current noise on blustery days. Fortunately, you lot can drown this out past upping the volume.
The CX 400BT come with a neat niggling charging case, which is taller than most competing cases, but also narrower, and so it has no problem plumbing fixtures in a pocket. The lid snaps shut with a satisfyingly forceful magnet clench, too.
On the back of the case is a USB-C charging port (the cablevision comes in the box) and a tiny-but-handy power indicator button. Press this, and a status LED will glow greenish, amber or red depending on how much juice is left in the example.
Sennheiser CX 400BT review: Comfort and fit
You tin can adapt the Sennheiser CX 400BT's fit with iv pairs of swappable silicone eartips: extra-small, small, medium and large. I found the pre-fitted medium tips a tad too big for my dainty ears, but the small size tucked in perfectly. The CX 400BT prefer a elementary push button-and-twist approach for securing themselves in place, and yet they remained snug and secure when I was jogging, doing jumping jacks and, I'll admit, headbanging while practicing bass guitar.
It'south also worth noting that the AirPods come with only three tip sizes, so you lot've got a slightly amend chance of securing the perfect fit with the CX 400BT.
Again, these headphones are also very lite, at just 0.2 ounces per bud. I happily wore them for hours at a time without feeling any discomfort.
Sennheiser CX 400BT review: Setup
Getting the Sennheiser CX 400BT ready is kid's play. The unlike tips pop on and off with ease, and pairing is just a matter of holding downward on the touch sensors for a few seconds, then selecting the headphones on your source device.
The Sennheiser Smart Control app isn't technically essential. Ignore it at your peril, though, as it unlocks most of the CX 400BTs' most interesting features. This is available on both iOS and Android, and gets upwardly and running fairly speedily, with a clean UI and self-explanatory settings.
Sennheiser CX 400BT review: Controls
Like almost true wireless earbuds, the Sennheiser CX 400BT support touch controls: tap the left bud once to play or suspension, double-tap the right bud to skip forwards, hold to raise or lower volume, and so on.
These controls work well plenty, and I especially appreciated how the flat surface of the bear on-sensitive area contrasted with the more rounded sides. This helped me stay sure of hitting the right spot by affect solitary.
What's special about these controls is that you can customize them in the Smart Control app. While there are fewer total options than you'd get with the Momentum Truthful Wireless 2 (which also offer noise-cancelling and transparency modes), information technology'south still a very welcome feature. I was personally fond of mapping the skip functionality to both double-tap and triple-tap input, and so I didn't accept to worry about being so precise with my tap count.
Sennheiser CX 400BT review: Audio quality
The Sennheiser CX 400BT use Bluetooth v.i, with support for the loftier-quality aptX codec, as well every bit the standard SBC and AAC codecs. That'south the same fix of specs every bit the $270 Momentum True Wireless ii, and the CX 400BT fifty-fifty use the exact same 7mm dynamic drivers.
It's an open attempt, in other words, to copy and paste the more than expensive earbuds' audio signature into a cheaper package. And to Sennheiser's credit, it works. The CX 400BT sound excellent.
Fifty-fifty with no ANC to cutting out distractions, the frequency balance, lack of distortion at loftier volume and abundance of detail are all easy to appreciate. I could clearly option out all the different vocal layers on Tally Hall'due south "Ruler of Everything", and challenging rock tracks kept their baloney and overdrive effects intact without melting into mush. The choruses of Biffy Clyro'south "Mountains" sounded suitably titanic, while Zippo Only Thieves' "Trip Switch" transitioned between frail and anthemic as well as could be expected from such dinky drivers.
Because the CX 400BT favor a neutral EQ mix -- more on this presently -- some music, peculiarly poppy, dancey tracks and electronic songs, benefit from the addition of some extra bass. Merely there's however a very healthy corporeality of low-cease dial, giving tracks like Bishop Briggs' pulsing "Jekyll and Hide" the impact they demand.
The CX 400BTs' broad soundstage and ability to represent every single part in a mix make them a great option for live recordings and classical music, too. There are no outright problems, like the boomy bass and recessed highs described in our AirPods review.
The Bluetooth connection is also stone solid, able to agree through several walls without degradation.
Sennheiser CX 400BT review: Features
The Sennheiser CX 400BT may lack the ANC of the Momentum True Wireless 2, but this is even so a very modernistic pair of earbuds, with some very smashing tricks. Voice banana back up is 1. By default, a single tap of the right bud will summon whichever digital helper your phone supports, be it Google Assistant or Siri, and the born microphones let you to give exact commands or brand queries.
There's also a "congenital-in equalizer", which, in theory, sounds something like the Adaptive EQ feature on the AirPods Pro. In fact, it only means you can personalize the EQ using the Smart Control app. This isn't a disappointment, though, because the software provides a wonderfully granular level of command.
There are two ways to set the EQ. One uses a uncomplicated set of 3 sliders: one apiece for bass, mids and treble respectively. The other is a "visualizer" tool wherein you lot can drag a marker on a graph, with the frequency range on the X axis and prominence on the Y centrality. It's quite fun to push the mark effectually and, after a few seconds, hear how the sound shifts, even though I ultimately settled on a neutral contour with just a affect of actress bass.
Another party fox is the ability to pair the earbuds with up to eight source devices at a fourth dimension, and only select the one you want to listen to in the app. This is, every bit it sounds, pretty convenient, at least for music. The first time I added a laptop to the list, I couldn't switch dorsum to my telephone without manually pairing the headphones once more. But after that I could utilize the app to bandy between the ii relatively smoothly.
Unfortunately, there's a bigger trouble: Using this switching feature seems to knock the audio out of sync with videos, which isn't an issue for the CX 400BT when you pair them manually. That's not much of an issue for sound-only listening, merely when I wanted to scout a video on a different device, I had to disconnect and re-pair the buds to go the audio back in sync.
Sennheiser CX 400BT review: Battery life
Sennheiser promises upwardly to 7 hours of playback per private charge, with repeated employ of the charging example pushing this upward to a maximum of 20 hours earlier the whole setup runs dry.
The latter effigy is lower than the 24 hours offered by the 2nd-gen AirPods, simply the CX 400BT themselves tin can get for longer without interruption. I got v hours and 17 minutes of non-stop music playback from the CX 400BT before they needed to go dorsum in the case. That's nearly one-half an hour more than the AirPods' 4 hours and 49 minutes.
That's even so, you'll note, well brusk of the marketed 7 hours, even though I stayed within the 25-50% volume range. But over 5 hours is skillful by general wireless earbud standards, then information technology's difficult to be too grumpy about this performance.
The same goes for recharging speed: the CX 400BT produced a respectable 54 minutes of playback from x minutes of charging. This is one area the AirPods have them beat out, though, as Apple's buds can provide up to 3 hours of listening fourth dimension from 15 minutes of charging.
Also, I wish the bombardment could exist measured on a finer level than 10% increments. If y'all're running depression it can exist difficult to tell if you've got a full 60 minutes left or less than 30 minutes.
Sennheiser CX 400BT review: Phone call quality
Taking phone calls on the CX 400BT technically works fine, in the sense that I could hear and understand the person I was calling, and they could hear and sympathise me. At that place's no need to raise your vocalisation or otherwise speak unusually to ensure the microphones are picking you up.
Still, don't expect particularly gleaming sound quality. While clarity is decent, it all sounds somewhat metallic, like you're using an old landline telephone.
Sennheiser CX 400BT review: Verdict
While they're not without a few blemishes, it takes simply a few minutes of listening to music on the Sennheiser CX 400BT to almost forget nigh the faults. These are, for $130, more than a match for the AirPods, with outstanding sound quality and long-lasting comfort.
And, while not every one of the many bonus features entirely works, it'southward corking to see so many tools and customization possibilities stuffed into a tiny pair of wireless headphones. Wait for the AirPods three if you really want, but if yous can live without ANC, the CX 400BT deserve to exist much more than than a stopgap.
- More: Read our full Sennheiser Momentum 3 Wireless review
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/sennheiser-cx-400bt
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