SENNHEISER MM550 Headphones

If there is one thing that makes me angry it is having to fly somewhere. This past weekend I flew to Michigan for a wedding, and because I am about $60 Mill away from buying a G550, I had to fly through Chicago. All in, my flight took me longer than it would have to drive - image that. Under normal circumstances, I would have been raging; however, having taken the Sennheiser MM550 with me, I was well entertained.

Whenever Michael asks me to check out wireless headphones I am always kind of hesitant, especially noise canceling ones. Wired headphones seem to work very well for one of those common-sense based reasons: because they are connected. Other wireless headphones I’ve checked out always made the bass sound muddy and exaggerated, almost like a little guy is inside the cans straining to kick my ear.


The first thing I did was pair it with my iPhone 4, which went off without incident. Next, I paired it with my Macbook, as well as my personal Android, all with no issues whatsoever. Finally, bluetooth made simple I thought.


Next, I proceeded through airport security with the headphones in my backpack and to my great surprise, they did not ask me to take them out and scan them separately. Anyone who flies frequently can appreciate that as that always seems to be the case. And incase you were wondering, I opted for both the full body scan and the patdown.


Since I had to fly from Cincinnati to Chicago, I had to fly on a plane so small I thought we were going to have to pedal it to keep it in the air. It actually worked out really well though because I was exposed to the absolute worst flying experience: a propeller driven aircraft.


I fired up the MM550s, threw on some Bob Dylan and was really shocked how well the headphones worked without the noise canceling feature enabled. When I did turn the noise canceling on, it was incredible that it drowned out the entire sound of the props, eventhough they were housed about 8’ away. To kick it all off, these things are so incredibly comfortable! It is truly amazing how soft they were, it felt like my ears were laying on a beach surrounded with beautiful bikini models or something.


When it comes to noise canceling, these get five gold stars. Pairing the bluetooth was also much simpler than I ever thought it to be. They have a great range and made my music sound great.


When I landed, I plugged them in and fired up a Netflix. I was actually kind of disappointed as the volume did not seem as loud when I was not on the airplane. After tinkering with my settings a bit I got it louder, but it was strange nonetheless. I tried it both with the Bluetooth and the wire and same effect.


After leaving O’Hare, I fired them back up with the same Netflix (thanks wifi!) and it seemed much better. I played around with the SRS, but it made the sound seem a little hollow, so I don’t care for that much.


The Bottom Line: if you travel, these will make your life so much better. The Bose & Sony noise canceling ones never seemed to quite work, not to mention didn’t seem very comfortable. If I went on brands alone, I would have picked Sennheiser because they always produce soundly engineered products (that was a joke for audiophiles). No really, they were the perfect fit for my travel and keep in mind, I would rather have a tonselectemy than use a pair of wireless headphones. The only downside is they seem kind of quiet on the ground, also the microphone seemed kind of weak. Although these are two strikes for everyday use, that is completely fine, because if I were a serious traveler I would spend my time on the ground doing cool stuff like eating at Macaroni Grill.

Click here to order the Sennheiser MM 550 Headphones today!