New ‘Plus’ adds silence to Sennheiser CX
At the opposite end of entertainment scaling, Sennheiser has rather rapidly followed up its CX True Wireless model with “an even more exceptional consumer earphone offering”, the CX Plus True Wireless.
You’ll be hard-pressed to tell the difference by looking, we reckon, since the two models are identical in size, use the same 7mm dynamic driver, share an identical case, and have many other charactistics in common — such as IPX4 sweat-resistance, USB charging, and four included sets of silicone ear adapters.
The main feature difference is the inclusion of active noise cancelling in the CX Plus, compared with mere passive isolation in the vanilla CX. There is also, in addition to SBC and AAC, the aptX adaptive codec in the new model, where the old one has the original aptX. That could go either way — aptX adaptive will actually drop transmission quality if you’re in a difficult Bluetooth environment, though that’s perhaps better than getting glitches. Smart Pause appears to be another addition, automatically pausing audio when the earbuds are taken out and resuming when replaced.
While the earbuds still weigh 6g each, the case for the new CX Plus is slightly lighter, and its lithium-ion battery has, curiously, a slightly lower quoted capacity at 55mAh per bud, down from 60. The case gets a little more, however, and the play time is equally curiously unaffected by the arrival of ANC, still eight hours from the buds with an additional 16 via recharging in the case. There are customisable touch controls with the Sennheiser control app on hand, and users can even tailor bespoke commands for controlling audio, calls and accessing voice assistants.
Sennheiser’s consumer division is in transition to Sonova Holding AG, with its headquarters in Stäfa, Switzerland. Sonova will fully take over the consumer headphone and soundbar business of Sennheiser at a reported price of 200 million euros, though the announcement made in May anticipated ongoing cooperation between the companies.
Sonova’s background is in medical hearing solutions, so we look forward to seeing how the new arrangement, expected to be completed by the end of 2021 subject to regulatory approval, will affect new ranges. Meanwhile the CX Plus True Wireless in black or white is $259.95, compared with a current price of $199.95 for the standard CX.
More info: en-au.sennheiser.com