On 6th April, Sennheiser announced its two wireless earphones to hit the shores of the Indian market including the Sennheiser CX Plus which is priced at Rs. 14,990 and CX True Wireless at INR 10,990 to bliss the audiophile lovers. The Sennheiser CX 400BT was the first addition to the CX series which got applauded for its sound quality at a stellar price but it lacked ANC feature and had a flat audio experience which made it less compelling compared to its competition. But now, Sennheiser steers in the right direction and adds two entrants to its CX series i.e, Sennheiser CX Plus and Sennheiser CX True Wireless.
The Sennheiser CX Plus includes some minor upgrades from its predecessor which finally brings the ANC to its lineup. Other than that, the rest of the specifications might look almost the same as the Sennheiser CX 400BT. But, there are some subtle changes that improve the listening experience on this pair of true wireless earphones. Do these subtle changes are enough to justify its presence in the overcrowded true wireless market? After using them as our go-to earphones for over a week, Here’s our review of the Sennheiser CX Plus Wireless Earphones. Before diving into the review, let’s take a look at the specifications:-
Sennheiser CX Plus True Wireless Stereo (TWS) Earphones Full Specifications
| Brand | Sennheiser |
| Model | CX Plus True Wireless Stereo (TWS) Earphones |
| Price in India | ₹14,990 |
| Type | Earphones |
| Headphone Type | In-Ear |
| Connectivity | True Wireless Stereo (TWS) |
| Microphone | Yes |
| Driver Type | Dynamic |
| Driver Size (mm) | 7 |
| Water-Resistant | IPX4 |
| Weight (g) | 6.00 |
| Weight With Case (g) | 37 |
| Sensitivity (dB) | 114 |
| Frequency Response Range | 100Hz-10,000Hz |
| Bluetooth | Yes |
| Bluetooth Version | 5 |
| Bluetooth Codec Support | SBC,AAC,aptX |
| Charging Port | USB Type-C |
| Battery Life (Hrs) | 24 |
| Battery Life (Hrs) Earpieces Only | 8 |
| Battery Life (Hrs) With Case Total | 24 |
| Battery Capacity (mAh) Earpieces | 55 |
| Battery Capacity (mAh) Case | 400 |
BOX CONTENTS
- CX Plus Wireless Earbuds
- Silicone Eartips (S/M/L/XL)
- USB-C Charging Cable
- Quick Guide and Safety Guide
DESIGN
The Sennheiser CX Plus sticks to its typical design quintessence with the same blend of subtle matte colours and it looks almost identical to the previous pairs of Sennheiser CX and Sennheiser CX400BT with the same squared boxy design. The charging case is built up of hard plastic which adds to the endurance of the build quality but also feels a bit bulky in your pocket. The magnets which are placed inside the case hold the buds strongly. On the front, there’s a tiny single indicator light that indicates its charging status. It also comes with IPX4 certification which can suffice accidental water splashes and sweat tortures that were not there on the CX400 BT.
The Sennheiser CX Plus is available in two colours:- Black and White. For conducting this review, we’re rocking its White colourway. The earbuds fit snugly with a twist and lock mechanism which prevents them to fall from the ears. For a more precise fit, it bundles various sizes of ear tips in 4 standard sizes i.e, S, M, L & XL. The earbuds possess the ‘Sennheiser’ logo on the gesture pad in a light grey accent. With a secular fit, it also isolates the unwanted noise in the surroundings and doesn’t slip off during jogging or workout sessions. With a weight of around 6 grams each of an earbud, this makes them compact and extremely lightweight for daily usage.
It supports a smart play/pause sensor that works accurately well and on-point. It lacks multi-point connectivity but the Sennheiser’s companion gives connection management which helps to switch between smartphones easily, this feature still remains reserved for the Jabra earphones. These circular panels’ inland touch gesture is pretty responsive and consistent and supports various commands which include music playback, switching between noise cancellation and transparency mode, handling phone calls, adjusting volume settings and smart assistance over Siri(iPhone) or Google Assistant(Android). It supports various gesture style which includes single tap,double-tap, triple tap and long hold gestures to control various commands that can be customised with the Sennheiser’s companion app which gives it more versatility over the smart controls.
SOUND QUALITY & NOISE CANCELLATION
Moving towards sound quality, it packs in the same 7mm TrueResponder transducer (from Sennheiser CX) which reproduces a neutral sound with crisper details on the highs and punchy lows. The Sennheiser CX Plus lacks some details and crisp vocals compared to the wireless earphones available at this price tier. It fetches almost the same hardware which is used in Sennheiser Momentum 2 with a few features removed to keep them preserved. The vocals and instruments don’t overlap each other which means the separation is on-point. The bass notes feel underemphasized on higher notes which can be tuned by tweaking the equaliser settings and turning on the bass boost mode in the equaliser settings. The bass boost mode improves the strength of the bass with a much wider soundstage which makes the bass not ruin the overall details while listening to the music.
While listening to songs like Brown Munde by AP Dhillon and On My Own by Troyboi, the instrument and vocals feel crisp and well separated, the bass is not crazily heavy but it’s there without tampering with the vocals and instruments at all. To sum up, it produces a good sound experience and is better than the flat sound offered on the Sennheiser CX400 BT. When it boils down to the noise cancellation capabilities, it blocks out the loud noises effectively produced by train while travelling from studio to home pretty well on higher volumes.
The Sennheiser CX Plus has a noise isolation fit which gives an extra edge where noise cancellation actually doesn’t need to cancel out much background noise. During indoor activities, it was able to hush fans and other ambient noise in the room. It doesn’t create a huge impact while the ANC is off or on but ambient sound fizzles out. If you’re looking for the world’s best noise cancellation experience, it certainly isn’t the right pick for that. It also has a transparency mode by the term ‘Transparent Hearing’ to hear the ambient noise without removing the buds. With its array of microphones, the Sennheiser CX Plus are excellent for its call quality whether in indoor or outdoor scenarios. The other party didn’t have any problems listening to my voice during a call.
CONNECTIVITY & BATTERY
The Sennheiser Smart Control is available on both Android and iOS devices. From customising the audio with Bass boost, creating a custom EQ as per taste, toggling ANC modes, and upgrading the earbuds firmware to customise the gesture controls: it brings plenty of features to tinker with. It supports Bluetooth v5.2 connectivity which works pretty well and can be paired with both Android and iOS devices. We never encountered any stutters or signal drops during our time spent with them. This generation now comes with the AptX codec along with SBC and AAC codecs to listen to high-quality music. With the lack of Google Fast Pair, the pairing process feels like a pain. You need to tap and hold on to both the earbuds for a good 5-7 seconds to begin the process ahead and manually pair it with your desired device.
Sennheiser claims that CX True’s battery life lasts for more than 24 hours which is not a false claim. The earbuds can last independently for 8-9 hours when ANC is off and 6 hours when ANC is enabled on maximum volume levels. Later, the buds can be topped up by the case three times. As far as charging speeds are concerned, this can reach from 0% to 100% in around 90 minutes and while on the go, a 10-minute charge can play music for an hour with ease. It lacks wireless charging at such a premium price which can be a bummer for some.
VERDICT
The Sennheiser CX Plus is available at a price of Rs 14,990 in two colours:- Black and White.
The Sennheiser CX Plus is a true example of implementing subtle changes; which brings Active noise cancellation, better Bluetooth firmware and support for AptX for more clarity and low-latency playback. The lack of some features like the Multi-point tech and wireless charging can be disappointing at such a price point. Its limited connectivity and effective noise cancellation may not impress someone but its sound quality is way more refined than its predecessor. The Sennheiser CX 400 BT is available for Rs.10,990 in the market. Now, the question is would you spend 4,000 bucks more just for the sake of ANC? If you’re someone who loves the typical audio signature of Sennheiser and is willing to spend 20,000 bucks on a truly wireless earphone with an impressive sound quality then this pair of TWS won’t disappoint you.
If you’re looking for an industry-leading noise cancellation experience then Sony WF-1000XM3s offers a better bass-rich audio experience with few compromises as well. If you can stretch your budget to 20,000 bucks, the Sony WF-1000XM4 is a blind pick from our recommendation list. The Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 comes with better comfort coupled with a better transparency mode with an almost comparable audio experience. Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro offers a good noise cancellation with an IPX7 rating to survive water tortures which integrates well with Samsung Galaxy devices. Sadly, if you’re using an iPhone; there is no companion app supported for iOS yet.
Disclaimer: We tested the Sennheiser CX Plus for more than a week before writing this review. All our reviews are unbiased and are published without the brand getting to read them before you guys. We don’t change our reviews on pressure from brands and that’s the reason we are not sent review units from companies like Samsung, OnePlus and a few more.
