Performance
We plugged the headphones into my main PC at my desk, probably the noisiest place in the world. The music reference was an assortment of MP3s, FLAC, and also good old jazz CDs. Before even starting the circuit, I found the passive noise cancellation quite phenomenal. At least 30 dB of background was reduced, leaving just low hums and vocal murmurs.
Still in off-mode, the bass was nice and round, and in perfect tandem with the timing part of things. Mids and highs too were very sweet-sounding, with a nice laidback feel to the overall sound. This is signature Sennheiser: the sound is never in your face, it’s just powerful and pure.
On the flip side, I have to say that the highest volume wasn’t as loud as in some other models I have checked in the past.
Coming to the NC circuit: we turned it on, and lo! You feel five pounds lighter in the head. Especially when the music is off, the peculiar feeling of not hearing any background noise is a subject that deserves an entire article to it. But these circuits are always noisy, and this was no exception. I'm afraid I will have to reduce points because the amp hiss and a high-frequency hum was clearly audible.
The music was perceived as sharper when in active mode. But insistent chatter and irritating giggles never quite went away; even this baby could not eliminate that kind of noise.
Conclusion
All in all, I like these headphones a lot for their build quality, ergonomic design and sound. Ironically, they appear to sound better in passive mode. In active mode, the low buzz of background noise is definitely abolished, but the inherent noise of the system is a turn-off. At Rs 19,900 (MRP) it’s a tough call, but if you are an audio purist you might want to check these out.
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