Its been over 6 months since I bought the Sennheiser Adidas CX 680i Sports Headset
Some background
If you are a regurlar here at my site you would know that I’m a cyclist and and my primary phone is an iPhone. Since the apple ear phones were almost onto their end of life last July, I started looking for ear phones. My requirements were very specific as follows.
- Brilliant Audio Quality.
- Must be specific for use with an iPhone.
- Affordable.
- Must have some kind of sweat/water resistance.
- Durable (should last for a year at the very least)
- Comfortable.
With these criteria in mind and kind of products available in the market in India, I finally narrowed on the Sennheiser Adidas sports series. Luckily there was a CX 680i which was the model I liked. It suited my needs.I think it has been discontinued and the newer ones are called 685 series.
The HeadSet
I chose the in ear headphones not that I am big fan of those but because they suit the cyclist with a helmet :).
- The Headset is really very light and you dont feel a thing when they are in your palm. It is about 15gms i beleive. Not that i wanted something heavier, I just mentioned it coz, you dont feel a thing on a ride and thats great.
- The audio quality is simply brilliant. These ear phones have redefined the way I prefer to listen music these days. May be its just me, probably these were the first time I heard such high quality audio on a good headset. Nevertheless its totally worth the price. The headphones are quite balanced I must say, Over the past 6 months I’ve heard all types of music and it delivers on all kinds of music consitently, unlike dr dre beats which prefer a lot of bass in the music.
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The Ear adapters are pretty flush and come in three sizes, Small, medium and Large. I use a medium. It just needs a bit of getting used to, then they just disappear. If you are already used to in ear headphones, it wont take really long. Now i literally feel nothing in my ears even after i plug the headphones in the earphones. The Music just flows.
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I must say there is a more noise cancelation especially at high volumes than you would have thought there will be. I really wasnt concerned of noise cancelation at all given that I would prefer hear the horn sounds of vehicles behind me on the road than get ridden over by the vehicles. The noise cancelation is pretty good when you are in bus/ train on your commutes. On the bike I just keep the volume a bit low so that I can hear vehicles behind.
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The cables are really long and helps me when i am riding with my iphone on the jersey pockets.
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The headset survived a crash I had like a week after I bought them, though there are cosmetic damages, the functionality is still perfect. The crash was so bad that i had to stay off the bike for almost 25 days. you can see the plastic scraped off near the mic(small hole) while I went flying at around 30 odd kmph due to a pinch cut.
. May be i got lucky it survived, but i must say these will last a year or more with normal use. Have used it in all sorts of sweaty environments and have never had any issues with the ear phones what so ever.
The only thing I hate about them is that they came in a fluorescent yellow colour which is not my choice at all.Its a compromise I made considering the value of the ear phones. I looked at the newer models from the series and i must say the Sennheiser CX 685 Adidas Sports In-Ear Headphones
Updates as on 11th march 2014:
Its been over a year and half now, these headsets are still going strong. I have been using them almost everyday and I do not see any difference in the sound quality. The headphones do get dirty from time to time and you just have to use some wet wipes and they just get back to their radiance. Minor scuffs are showing up on the cable housing, but not enough to cause me to stop using the headset on my bike commutes. I expect them to last another 8 months to an year at this rate. Will keep you guys posted.