Sennheiser CX Plus Review: Perfectly Tuned!

Name: Sennheiser CX Plus
Item: Sennheiser CX Plus
Author: Divya

The Sennheiser CX Plus just sounds perfectly tuned in with all sorts of music. But does it stand out on other factors? Find out in the review.

By: DIVYA
| Updated on: Aug 22 2022, 11:56 IST

Sennheiser CX Plus Earbuds — Sennheiser CX Plus True Wireless Earbuds are currently available at Rs. 12,990 in India. (Divya / HT Tech)

It's hard to find perfect TWS earbuds in the era when we have all sorts of options in front of us -- from the budget segment as well as premium. Going with the affordable ones, the users are mostly left with either mediocre sound or smart controls. But the case with the premium earbuds is different, you can't settle for less when you are paying a hefty amount. And Sennheiser ensures that while bringing perfectly tuned audio quality with its CX Plus True Wireless earbuds. Of course, that is a ‘must-have' factor when there is so much competition from Samsung, Apple, Sony, Jabra, and many other major premium earbuds makers. But is that all? Does Sennheiser CX Plus make a perfect fit while offering everything to give tough competition to rivals? Well, it seems so! After a couple of weeks' experience with Sennheiser CX Plus, here is what I have to say…

Sennheiser CX Plus Design

Get them out of the box and you will get the CX Plus to look like any other Sennheiser earbuds -- a stem-less design in a squarish shape at the end featuring the touch controls. Well, my constant struggle with such earbuds has continued with Sennheiser CX Plus too. Once seated in the ears, it fits snug but the problem starts when you walk– sudden falls are what you should be prepared for! That's what I have experienced, it may fit you well considering the available different sizes of silicone tips along with it.

image caption — Sennheiser CX Plus Earbuds (Divya / HT Tech)

Looking at its charging case, which is cuboidal in shape and small enough to carry around but it is not as pocketable as other earbuds cases that we have seen. It carries a small LED indicator in the front to alert you about the battery availability with green for full, orange for medium and red of course to alert you to charge them ASAP. But its build quality is what brings disappointment! Within the limited time of usage, the charging case was full of scratches! Definitely, the quality of the charging case is what CX Plus lacks here!

Sennheiser CX Plus Audio Performance

Sennheiser earbuds are known for their best audio tuning. And the disappointment with its design gets easily compensated by the audio performance! For me, it is the perfectly balanced audio, which deals with all sorts of music – from classic 90s playlist of Bollywood to pop music – it offers decent bass. Neither too boosted to make you feel uncomfortable nor too less! It's just on point.

Sennheiser CX Plus Earbuds (Divya / HT Tech)

The CX Plus performs impressively on highs, mids, as well as lows. Listening to music at the maximum volume won't bring any distortion while keeping the details. Even at lows, it doesn't make the music sound flat. Still, if its pre-set audio tuning doesn't leave you impressed, then you have the option of an adjustable equalizer via the Sennheiser app. You can change the bass, treble, and mid according to your taste in music. It also gives you an option of 'boost bass' to amplify the bass and 'podcast' for speech clarity. Honestly, I haven't played with any of these settings during my usage! Just because its auto settings for the audio is perfect to deliver required sound output, either for listening to music or watching movies.

Unlike its previous generation TWS, the CX Plus features ANC mode to let you cut the surrounding sound as well as the Transparency Mode, which Sennheiser likes to call Transparent hearing. You can allow the ambient sound with music and without music according to your need. The direct controls also let you move between ANC and Transparent. ANC mode is also quite effective to put you in isolation. From AC or fan sound to noise from your neighbourhood, it can cancel out the noise effectively.

Sennheiser CX Plus Features

For more controlled and balanced audio, the CX Plus earbuds support Sennheiser smart control app for Android as well as iOS. And the purpose is simple (but important!) to tune the audio according to you. Not just that, the app serves customisation options to earbuds' touch controls, app control for ANC and Transparency Mode. There you will get the Smart Pause feature that lets the music pause automatically when one of the earbuds is removed from the ear. Even the sensor works quickly to pause the music. And yes you can use a single earbud too!

For taking calls, the earbuds come with pre-set controls which allow you to accept or reject the calls with a single touch. For more convenience, just take any one of the earbuds out of the case and it will automatically accept the calls. Talking about its water resistance, it has an IPX4 rating which makes it handle water splashes without any worries (Accidentally, I dropped my earbuds on a watery surface and it still works!)

Sennheiser CX Plus Battery

With ANC on board, then battery life definitely seems like a concern. But CX Plus delivers long hours of battery life. With ANC on, it went on for 5 hours, including continuous music sessions and an hour of calling.

Well yes, you turn off the ANC feature and look out for more than 6 hours of continuous usage. With the charging case, you can get 3 more refills. Though, the charging case along with earbuds takes almost 1.5 hours to fully charge from the null point. Sadly, you won't find any wireless charging option at this price range.

Verdict

Finding an issue with Sennheiser CX Plus earbuds' audio performance or smart-controls or even the battery would be really difficult! The design, fit (which may or may not fit to many users due to its bulky form), and build quality, especially for the charging case, could have been better. And yes, wireless charging at this price is another feature that could've added more value to it.

Despite that, CX Plus makes for one of the best TWS earbuds in the premium segment with its perfectly tuned audio quality, decent bass, effective ANC, smooth and smart controls and, yes, long battery life - it packs almost everything at Rs. 14,990 (currently available at Rs. 12,990).

But if you are looking for something more convenient than at the same price, you have Jabra Elite 7 Active which fills the voids of wireless charging and snuggly fit by CX Plus. You can even consider taking them to the gym too but know that instead of touch, you will get button controls here.

Rating

4 out of 5

Price

INR 14,990/-

Product Name

Sennheiser CX Plus

Brand Name

Sennheiser

Pros