Enough was enough!
They play the music so loud at my gym that I have to wear earplugs. Yes, I actually wear earplugs. It’s not just the loud music but it’s also all of the annoying conversations between people who would rather talk than exercise. At the end of my workout I always go to the Eliptical machine to burn some extra calories. I then remove my earplugs and place on my headsets. Unfortunately I could still hear the gym’s loud music and people conversing. Subsequently, I heard all of that while trying to listen to my own music.
My solution? Noise canceling headphones.
I don’t like the in-the-ear style headphones. I prefer the over or on-the-ear style. The two main manufacturers that I considered were Bose ($349.00 US Dollars) and Sennheiser ($449.00 US Dollars). For Bose it was the Quiet Comfort 3 and for Sennheiser it was the PXC 450. I decided to do a side-by-side comparison of the two models. I used the same player and same songs for my evaluation. Below is the player, songs and song specs that I used for my evaluation.
Player:
Creative Labs ZEN M 30 GB (Good player, goofy software)Music:
1) Faith Hill – Sunshine and Summertime / mp3 @ 256kbps
2) Los Lonely Boys - Live at the Filmore / wav @ 1411kbps
3) Genesis - Selling England By The Pound / wav @ 1411kbps
4) Tears For Fears – Songs From The Big Chair / wma @ 333kbps
5) PFM - Live In Japan 2002 / wav @ 1411kbps
6) Frank Zappa - Live In Buffalo / mp3 @ 320kbps
My evaluation was simple and to the point. I didn’t take an engineer’s approach. My test included no sophisticated equipment, just my ears. Evaluation scores were on a 1 to 10 scale.
| Bose Quiet Comfort 3 | Sennheiser PXC 450 | |
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| Bose Quiet Comfort 3 | Sennheiser PXC 450 | |
| Sound Quality: | Score 5.5 - Lacks detail. It’s like they’re stuffed with cotton. The high frequency range sounds compressed. | Score 8.5 - Noticeably better detailed sound than the Bose. Better depth and range. |
| Noise Canceling: | Score 8.5 - Still can hear a little bit of yapping in the background | Score 8.5 - Same as Bose |
| Portability: | Score 8.5 - Nice compact design | Score 6 - Bulky and a bit clumsy design |
| Esthetics: | Score 9 - Pleasing appearance | Score 7 - Clunky appearance |
| Comfort: | Score 9 - Very comfortable | Score 8 - Generally comfortable although they feel slightly oversized |
| Specifications: | Score 3 - Bose discloses very limited specifications about their headsets. No information about their frequency range, kept secretive | Score 10 - Full disclosure of specifications |
Conclusion:
The Bose Quiet Comfort 3 and the Sennheiser PXC 450 are both excellent units. It boils down to personal preference. The two areas that I felt were the most important were the sound quality and noise canceling ability. The noise canceling was too close to call. Both were quite good at noise canceling. My deciding factor was ultimately the sound quality. Bose averaged a 7 in those two areas. Sennheiser averaged an 8.5. I didn't include the Specifications into the average. Bose received an overall score of 8.1 with Sennheiser receiving a 7.6.
*Warning: When done listening to the Sennheiser PXC 450, make sure you switch "OFF" the noise cancelling feature before you place the headsets back into its case. If you don't, you'll completely drain the single AAA battery. I've accidentally done that twice. Make sure you keep extra AAA batteries in the case.
Sennheiser has an additional feature called a “Talk Through”. It’s basically a mute button that allows you to hear someone in your general facinity blabber, which kind of defeats the reason for noise canceling headphones in the first place.
I kept the Sennheiser PXC 450 for its superior sound quality. It’s just too bad Sennheiser couldn’t mix the portability, esthetics and comfort of the Bose into their PXC 450. Then again it’s too bad Bose couldn’t match the sound quality of the Sennheiser PXC 450. After all, isn’t it this really all about the sound?