Sennheiser PMX200 neckband headphones review

The Sennheiser PMX200 don't come with the compact fold-ability of the PX200s but are should that bother you?

15 January 2006 0:26 GMT / By Stuart Miles

The Sennheiser PMX200 offer a similar package to the Sennheiser PX200 headphones but without the compact fold-ability and a different design, but are they any better?

The PMX200 are designed to sit around the back of your neck and loosely fit on your ears. It’s a good idea and one that means you don’t have to wear an intrusive alice band design and mess up your hair in the process. With the design, however, comes a host of other problems; mainly that you can’t sit down and lean back on a headrest without it being uncomfortable.

Do so and the headphones are prone to fall off, or more annoyingly, dig into the back of your neck. What makes things worse is that you can’t adjust the headset in any way to fit your head or neck.

The other problem with the PMX200s compared to the folding PX200 is exactly that - you can’t fold these away and it seems strange that such a good feature has been left off here.

Get past the design and like the PX200s the sound is very good. The speakers sound reproduction features neodymium magnets, Duofol diaphragms and a TWIN attenuation system.

Like the PX200s the headphones come with a 1.4 m Kevlar-reinforced OFC copper cable with 3.5 mm stereo jack plug there is plenty of scope to connect to an MP3, CD or MD player. One thing worth bearing in mind though, is that you’ve got to put that cable somewhere - so expect plenty of cable in your pocket.

Like the PX200s we tested the speakers on Apple’s iPod, Sony’s PSP and Creative’s Zen Vision:M and in all cases the phones comfortably improved on the performance of the headphones that shipped in the box. We especially noticed an uplift in the capabilities of the bass volumes.

Verdict

The PMX 200 headphones are great when it comes to the sound, but unfortunately we found them too uncomfortable to wear, either walking around and sitting down.

Our advice would be to stick with the PX200s instead.

Score

Review Recap

Made by: Sennheiser
Price as reviewed: £40
Latest price: Compare prices
The good: Sound quality
The bad: Uncomfortable to wear, unadjustable
Quick verdict: The PMX 200 headphones are great when it comes to the sound, but unfortunately we found them too uncomfortable to wear
Score