Sennheiser MXL 70 VC sport headphones review

20 July 2006 8:37 GMT / By Chris Hall

This is the third set of sport-specific headphones from the Sennheiser range featured on Pocket-lint. Again, they come in the funky bright green and gray finish, so there is no chance you'll lose them.

As with previous models, these earbud-style headphones have been designed to withstand large amounts of sweat with active sorts in mind. They are based around a central lanyard and this is a clever piece of design work.

When running, one of the most common problems with headphones is the swinging wire. Because you need the freedom of movement for your arms, head and body, you need a good length of cable. This, invariably, swings in time with your steps, and pulls out the ear buds.

Sennheiser have got round this problem by turning the cable into a lanyard to wear round your neck, with the earbuds coming out of that - this means less distance to swing, and thereby, less falling out action. I'd go as far as to say it effectively removes the problem entirely. See the images to really get a feel for this.

At the bottom of the lanyard is a blob. Ok, my descriptive skills are somewhat lacking here, and I'll refer the reader to the images. This blob contains a volume control, which means you can turn it down to listen to your personal trainer, without fiddling with your iPod, for example.

Cunningly, it doesn't stop there. On the bottom of the blob is a small loop that you could attach the player to, although understandably, this would then mean that you had a larger weight handing round your neck, and in our running tests, we found this encouraged a pendular motion, which again, pulled out the earbuds, defying that clever bit of lanyard design. This would not be a problem on a gym bike, but power walkers might experience the same problem.

Having mentioned the gym, these headphones, with the attractive name of MXL 70 VC, are probably most at home in the gym, and there is no reason that you could not use them to their max in this environment. I did have visions of lyrca-clad gym bunnies wearing them and that can only be a good thing. As everything is centred around the lanyard and blob, there is no need for excessive trailing wires to catch on machines.

They come with a strange case, which you need an orgami degree to use - this is probably designed to let them dry out, so better than a sealed bag. Still, it stinks of quality and looks pretty cool.

Yes, great design, and the good quality sound that you have come to expect from Sennheiser. At £30, perhaps they are pushing the boundary of what you might pay, but then if they work for you, in the gym, it's worth the expense.

Verdict

The one major gripe that I had, as with some other earbud systems, is that they would not stay in the ear, so they fell out. Effectively, they were useless to me, so if you know you have a problem with earbuds, then try before you buy, unfortunately this has effected the review score, but it was a major obstacle for the reviewer!