I test headphones for a living — and these are the most underrated earbuds

[admin]

See why the Sennheiser CX Plus earbuds are my personal favorite right now — and a must-own for quality audio fans seeking a bargain.

I test headphones for a living — and these are the most underrated earbuds : Read more

 

[guycuthbert]

I'm confused... At the start of the article (paragraph 3) you say that the CX Plus doesn't have ANC but then towards the end of the interview you state that the ANC is very effective. Which is correct?

 

[ShinyAds]

I'm also confused...
'AptX Adaptive codec support gives Bluetooth streaming quality a significant boost, especially on Android devices. Bitrate speeds were faster when playing Tidal tracks over Wi-Fi on my Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G' - I thought that phone (and most recent Samsung phones) only supports basic AptX and not Adaptive?

 

[ShinyAds]

I'm confused... At the start of the article (paragraph 3) you say that the CX Plus doesn't have ANC but then towards the end of the interview you state that the ANC is very effective. Which is correct?

Has the article been corrected now (I can't see where it says it doesn't have ANC)?

 

[sonicmustard]

Has the article been corrected now (I can't see where it says it doesn't have ANC)?

You're quite right, the Samsung phone doesn't support aptX Adaptive. Apologies for the confusion. This has now been edited to make it clear.
Additionally, the CX Plus earbuds do have ANC. The Amazon deal block added to the opinion article has now been corrected. Again, apologies for the confusion.

 

[sonicmustard]

I'm confused... At the start of the article (paragraph 3) you say that the CX Plus doesn't have ANC but then towards the end of the interview you state that the ANC is very effective. Which is correct?

The CX Plus earbuds do have ANC. An incorrect deal block was added to the opinion article but has now been corrected. Apologies for the confusion.

 

[ShinyAds]

You're quite right, the Samsung phone doesn't support aptX Adaptive. Apologies for the confusion. This has now been edited to make it clear.

Sorry but I'm still confused! I don't understand the relevance of streaming on Tidal - I know Tidal usually encodes at a higher bitrate than, say, YT Music, but the higher bitrate would be the same for any earbud.

In other words, if the CX Plus are using Bluetooth and connecting via vanilla aptX, won't the bitrate be the same as any other buds connected using Bluetooth via vanilla aptX (and worse than those connected using LDAC)?

 

[sonicmustard]

You are 100% correct. The reference the writer made to Tidal has now been removed from the article.

As an aside, there are some audio benefits to be had by starting out with a higher bitrate from a lossless streaming service such as Apple or Tidal. Try streaming Hans Zimmer's "Time" on both Spotify and then the lossless version from Apple Music (or Tidal), and hear the difference. I am perhaps going off topic here, but you should be able to hear the sound quality step up with the lossless version, even over the bitrate-strangling Bluetooth wireless connectivity between the playback device and earbuds.

 

[ShinyAds]

You are 100% correct. The reference the writer made to Tidal has now been removed from the article.

As an aside, there are some audio benefits to be had by starting out with a higher bitrate from a lossless streaming service such as Apple or Tidal. Try streaming Hans Zimmer's "Time" on both Spotify and then the lossless version from Apple Music (or Tidal), and hear the difference. I am perhaps going off topic here, but you should be able to hear the sound quality step up with the lossless version, even over the bitrate-strangling Bluetooth wireless connectivity between the playback device and earbuds.

Thanks for the edit.

You were not going off topic, as I had already made the point in my previous reply that Tidal encode in a higher bitrate that some of their competitors. Maybe that information will be of use to someone who was unaware of this.

 

[sonicmustard]

Thanks for the edit.

You were not going off topic, as I had already made the point in my previous reply that Tidal encode in a higher bitrate that some of their competitors. Maybe that information will be of use to someone who was unaware of this.

This article may go some way to explaining things further: https://www.tomsguide.com/opinion/spotify-is-great-but-tidal-sounds-better

 

[ShinyAds]

This article may go some way to explaining things further: https://www.tomsguide.com/opinion/spotify-is-great-but-tidal-sounds-better

Again, not useful for me but maybe for others.

 

[Catmanfoo]

I'm confused. The title of the article suggests these are the most overrated tws headphones but they are in fact some of the most painfully average tws headphones available. Even at the discount mentioned in the article there are plenty of objectively better tws headphones and not just in terms of sound quality! At least now I'll know not to trust this authors opinion in the future!