I am so glad I got them. They appear to perform better in cancelling airplane noise and are more comfortable to wear than the Sony NC 20. You have to experiment and position the earpads carefully over your ear to maximize the noise cancelling effect. For music, these headphones are GREAT from classical to Rap. You can hear the heavy and low bass thuds of Rap but its not overpowering.

However on my first flight with the Sennheisers, the headphones failed and the right side made a loud click and stopped working. I got them replaced with no problems. On my next flight with the replacements, the headphones worked flawlessly and continue to perform well. These headphones also work great if your hotel room has a noisy air conditioner.

I am no stranger to flying since I am closing in on a million miles in the air. These Sennheisers or any noise cancelling headphones for that matter, make air flight much more pleasant. Before my flights, I look for my headphones before I pack my clothes.


Very satisfied   June 22, 2005
 21 out of 21 found this review helpful

I bought these headphones a couple months ago to use with a Creative Zen Micro MP3 player, because (1) I knew I had to upgrade to something better than the included earbuds, and (2) I wanted something with noise canceling ability to take with me when I periodically fly to the east coast. And I have never been a Bose fan, I'll take fidelity over artificial booming bass any day :)

So far I have been very happy with these headphones. They are not cheap (I got them here on a brief special offer, which helped ease the pain a little), but in my opinion, these headphones are definitely worth the money.

First, as far as the noise canceling goes: like other reviewers have stated, you have to know what to expect. Total noise isolation? No way. But these phones do a great job of blocking out low-frequency background noise, while preserving input audio quality, with very little 'noise' added. I have not had the opportunity to take them on an airplane, but I've been using them in the office daily, and they do an admirable job of getting rid of the rumble of three computer fans and the air conditioning. The noise canceling makes a huge difference, especially at low audio volumes. Very impressive! When turned on, a slight amplification of the input signal is apparent, accompanied by a tiny amount of high-frequency hiss, not disturbing at all though.

Audio quality, with or without noise canceling, is of course way better than with the cheap earbuds you get for free with MP3 players. The PXC250's are not audiophile standard, as are the top of the line Sennheisers (e.g. the HD650), but they produce clear, well-balanced sound, free of any perceptible distortion and with good, tight bass response. I've tried these on my home theater system and I was suitably impressed - very typical neutral Sennheiser sound. Like most audio equipment of decent quality, they seem to improve after a break-in period.

The phones are very comfortable to wear: light-weight with adequate padding all round, probably the most comfortable headphones I've ever owned. I can wear these for hours at a time without feeling any fatigue. The included carrying case and converter plugs are a nice touch, like everything with wires attached to it, it takes some time to get the hang of properly folding and stowing them, but they are certainly very portable. The construction seems sturdy enough and I expect these to last a long time with proper use and care.

Something to consider: the input impedance is quite high (300 ohms, compared to the more typical 16-32 ohms of cheaper earbuds/phones), so to drive them properly you need some oomph. My Zen Micro manages to drive them to adequate volume levels (I plan on retaining my hearing for a while still), but if you insist on stretching your eardrums to bleeding levels, you may want to consider getting a headphone amplifier if you plan to use these with portable audio devices.

All in all, I am very satisfied with my Sennheiser PXC250's.