Sennheiser CX300-II Earbuds

[Guest Kakugo]

A while ago I bought a set of Sennheiser CX300-II earbuds to play music "on the go". After less than a month of operation the left earphone went completely mute, all of a sudden.

So I got another set. This lasted a while longer: a tad less than three months before, again, all of a sudden the left earbud went completely mute.

I will try to have this set swapped under warranty as well in the next few days (they come with a two years warranty).

I'll add these are not cheap Chinese knock offs but "the real deal" bought from an official Sennheiser dealer.

 

Must say I am very disappointed with them. I have a cheap set of Skull Candy earbuds I use when doing "dirty and sweaty" activities that gets thrown around a lot and they haven't missed a step so far. The only reason I don't use them while riding is because sound quality is quite poor compared to the Sennheiser and they do not work as well with the noise filter on my Walkman, meaning to get a similar effect I have to keep the volume too high for my liking.

[Rougarou]

Sorry you're having bad luck. I've had my Dre Beats earbuds for quite some time now and they are still going strong.

[Guest Kakugo]

Sorry you're having bad luck. I've had my Dre Beats earbuds for quite some time now and they are still going strong.

 

Yes, those were my first pick as well but not a single shop carry them in my area and there are way too many knockoffs around to trust the Internet.

I delivered my CX300-II to the seller: they acknowledged the issue and shipped them off to Sennheiser. Turnaround time is "about three weeks". Bummer, but I hope to get a free replacement.

[Guest Kakugo]

Out of curiosity I decided to "cut up" the old set of CX300-II I had laying about, the one with a non-functioning left earphone (which I could not swap because... I had lost the receipt!). Following a little research on the Internet it appears for whatever reason a lot of dirt tends to build up in the left ear bud alone, so I removed the mesh and, behold, there was a veritable mess in there.

Just out of curiosity I removed the right mesh as well and it was as clean as it could be, not a single speckle of dust.

After cleaning I reassembled everything, fired them up and they sounded as good as new.

 

Needless to say I am even less impressed than before: this obviously not a design flaw but poor manufacturing.

 

Regardless now I have an extra set of high quality ear buds and know how to fix them in an emergency.

 

 

[SteveHebert]

By far the best in-ear speaker I have ever used is the Bose sport. The soft rubber design stays put and the sound quality is, well-Bose. Not cheap at $90-100 but I use them for everything, working out, mowing the lawn, on the long transatlantic flights to and from Dubai. Have had them for a couple years now.

[Rogue_Trader]

I've had good success with the Etymotic Research earbud, model ER-6i. Expensive, but worth it. Model is discontinued now, but there might be a replacement on their website.

[TyTass]

By far the best in-ear speaker I have ever used is the Bose sport. The soft rubber design stays put and the sound quality is, well-Bose. Not cheap at $90-100 but I use them for everything, working out, mowing the lawn, on the long transatlantic flights to and from Dubai. Have had them for a couple years now.

Do you use these under your helmet?

[MichiganBob]

I use the ER-6i under the helmet. They have been flawless. There are these tiny filters that need to be changed but I seem to get a year's good reception before this needs to happen. Did not realize they were not longer available but like the product so imagine the updated ear bud would also be good.

[TyTass]

Originally I had and used er-6i's and loved the way they sound. However, I could never get them to be comfortable under the helmet due to my small ear canals. I also disliked the wire coating choice, which seemed to stick and catch on everything.

 

So, I moved to Arizona Al's custom-fit in-ear monitor system. They worked for years and were quite comfortable. This system featured an external driver that was connected to the custom-fit ear pieces via plastic tubes. Because there was no driver being inserted into the ear canal, comfort is easily achieve.

 

Last year, one of my custom plugs cracked (not bad after like 5 straight years of steady use). So, I ordered a couple custom-fit ear plug kits from Radians. Follwed the directions and after only a minimal amount of trimming and drilling a hole for the 'tube' to be insterted, they were like new.

 

However, while very, VERY comfortable I was never thrilled with the sound quality. Great for intercommunications (decent mid-range response) they were not good on the low and high ends.

 

So, I'm actually am playing around with my very old set of er-6is and trying to make custom ear molds (again using Radian's moldable foam) instead of using the er-6i's bevels.

 

I'll let you know how that turns out.

 

One note about the er-6is ... the tiny wires have hardened over the years and are now even more irritating than before. Newer in ear monitors are starting to come out with woven fabrics to reduce catching (and therefore tugging). So, although I'm experimenting with the er-6i's to get practice with correct positioning the molds, do plan to use a better monitor with better wire quality.

[Fraidycat]

""for whatever reason a lot of dirt tends to build up in the left ear bud alone, so I removed the mesh and, behold, there was a veritable mess in there.

Just out of curiosity I removed the right mesh as well and it was as clean as it could be, not a single speckle of dust. ""

 

??? Explain! What is your theory why this might be? what is the source of that dirt and what is different about the right side earbud? Not a design flaw? Hmmm? I've got several Sennheiser audio pieces and find them all to be of superior quality and so I'm curious about your 'problem'.

[DaveTheAffable]

Out of curiosity I decided to "cut up" the old set of CX300-II I had laying about, the one with a non-functioning left earphone (which I could not swap because... I had lost the receipt!). Following a little research on the Internet it appears for whatever reason a lot of dirt tends to build up in the left ear bud alone, so I removed the mesh and, behold, there was a veritable mess in there.

Just out of curiosity I removed the right mesh as well and it was as clean as it could be, not a single speckle of dust.

After cleaning I reassembled everything, fired them up and they sounded as good as new.

 

Needless to say I am even less impressed than before: this obviously not a design flaw but poor manufacturing.

 

Regardless now I have an extra set of high quality ear buds and know how to fix them in an emergency.

 

 

There is a reason that there is more debris in left ear piece.

 

- While riding, it is most common to leave your right hand on throttle (near brake also) even with cruise control.

- Suddenly, a thought, a remembrance, a "oh crap" thought comes to mind.

- The left hand leaves the left handlebar grip and strikes the left side of the head/helmet in a "DUH".

- The rapid movement of your head to the right, causes any loose debris, earwax, etc to fly down the ear canal and into the left ear piece.

- How often you need to clean the left ear-bud may be dependent on the frequency of your "DUH" moments.

I hope this helps.

[Guest Kakugo]

Last update. The earbuds work very, very well and I am fully satisfied with them.

The same cannot be be said for Sennheiser's customer service.

As you may recall, I dropped in a defective set over three months ago and the dealer promised he would ring me as he got them back from assistance. I was told it would have taken about four weeks.

 

As these are not cheap earbuds from a no name brand, I rang a couple times and still no news. Finally the dealer rang me, but to tell me they haven't heard a thing from Sennheiser and, as three months have passed, there are no chances of seeing them again.

So he's giving me a brand new set of CX300-II out of his own pocket...

[jbr7t]

Glad to hear that the dealer did the right thing. If I was him I would seriously be considering my relationship with Sennheiser. If they aren't going to support their product and me as a dealer I move on to a product I can believe in!