Brief: The second decent portable I bought after the KSC75s, the silky-smooth Sennheisers are a stark contrast to the aggressive sound of the Koss.
MSRP: $59.99 (discontinued, replaced with PX100-II)
Current Price: N/A
Build Quality (7/10): Designed to be highly portable, the PX100s easily fold into a tiny package and fit into the included plastic carrying case. Despite the multi-jointed folding mechanism, they feel rather solid and sturdy. The metal headband is both tough and flexible and there’s a feel of quality to the whole construction – every motion they make feels controlled one as the joints click smoothly into place. I expected them to be quite fragile at first, but there are no creaks or rattles after two years of use.
Comfort (10/10): Yes, they are that comfortable. The rotating earcups adjust perfectly to the angle of your ears, preventing the uneven distribution of pressure that can be such a problem with the other supraaural phones. The foam pads are a little thicker than the stock KSC75 pads and feel slightly smoother. The padding on the headband looks miniscule but gets the job done without making your head sweat. I’ve worn these for very long stretches on many occasions with no adverse effects.
Isolation (3/10): Same as the KSC75s and PortaPros, the PX100s are open phones. They let outside noise in and leak sound out. Though not as drastically open as, for example, Grados, they are still pretty useless as far as isolation goes.
Sound (6.75/10): I really like the sound of these – they are dark, warm, laid back, and very, very smooth – but they just don’t work as well as I would like with my preferred genres. The vocals are nowhere near as forthcoming as the KSC75s and they are missing the treble sparkle. They do, however, have bass that is tighter and better controlled than even my modded KSCs. The amount of bass is approximately the same, but the impact is just quicker and cleaner with the PX100s. I reach for these very often over the KSC75s though I prefer the Koss sound signature in general.
Value (9/10): The Sennheiser PX100s are very good headphones, worthy of my recommendation any day of the week. It is a matter of preference, however, whether these are better than KSC75 and PortaPros, On a very tight budget, I would go with the KSC75s, but give the choice I would probably take these even over the PortaPros as relaxed and balanced all-rounders. It should be noted that fake PX100s have popped up on eBay on occasion, so buyer beware.
Manufacturer Specs:
Frequency Response:15-27,000 Hz
Impedance:32 Ω
Sensitivity:114 dB SPL/1mW
Cord:4.6ft (1.4m); Straight Plug
Space-Saving Mechanism:Flat-folding, collapsible
