Test headphones Sennheiser CX 880

Sennheiser, originally from Germany, was founded by engineer Fritz Sennheiser in 1945. From its beginnings in the manufacture of voltmeters and microphones it has grown into a world class manufacturer of equipment for the transmission, recording and playback of sound. Today its range of products includes wireless radio systems, equipment for conference calls, devices for the hearing impaired, and much more.

But Sennheiser is first of all known to the general public as a headphone manufacturer. Sennheiser succeeded in the headphone industry so much that in the minds of many people the following idea became firmly fixed: “if good headphones – then certainly Sennheiser”. Go into any hardware store and ask for help in choosing headphones – you are almost 100% likely to be offered something from Sennheiser in the first place.

Plug-in headphones Sennheiser CX 880 is a middle class model – they occupy an intermediate place in the lineup between the budget models, and headphones, positioned as a portable Hi-End solutions.

Ergonomics

Sennheiser CX 880 differs non-standard location of sound leads – they go from the shells at an angle, which positively affects the convenience of putting on and taking off the headphones, but deprives the opportunity to set them deep into the ear canals. A shallow fit generally means a low level of isolation from outside noise. Sennheiser CX 880 is not an exception here, with the cutting off of ambient sounds they cope medium.

Sound

In terms of sound Sennheiser CX 880 is another “relative” of HiFiMAN Re0 – perhaps even closer than Sunrise Xcape. If the root of the kinship between Xcape and Re0 was excellent resolution, then, in the case of the Sennheiser CX 880 the reason for the kinship is tonal balance.

From the almost neutral HiFiMAN Re0 Sennheiser CX 880 differ more bass and a little more “pronounced” at the top of the midrange but the difference is so small that a cursory comparison of the models can literally be confused with each other.

As to the resolving power – Sennheiser CX 880 hold up very well in this parameter, but lag behind and from Re0, and from Xcape. Especially in the low-frequency range: here Sennheiser CX 880 can not boast outstanding speed characteristics, the bass in them is not clear enough, and even a little bit rumbly. But the medium and high frequencies are quite intelligible and detailed.

Like HiFiMAN Re0, Sennheiser CX 880 adds almost no emotional coloring to the sound of the tracks, the music is perceived as it is in the Re0, but, nevertheless, somewhat different.

The sound of calm, slow melodies, appears in the Sennheiser CX 880 softer, more comfortable. However, when listening to fast, instrument-laden songs with these headphones, a poorer intelligibility is noticeable or rather, in your ears .

This suggests that the main domain of Sennheiser CX 880 – is a light, not over-saturated with the abundance of sounds, and not too high-speed music.