Product Details
 | Sennheiser PC 350 Collapsible Gaming Headset with Vol Control & Microphone Mute |
| List Price: | $229.95 |
| Price: | $155.40 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details |
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Ships from and sold by Firemall LLC
18 new or used available from $124.54
Average customer review:
Product Description
The CX 350 Gaming headset marks the beginning of a new era in the gaming headset technology. Whether battling evil aliens or fighting guerilla warfare, a fraction of a frame separates winners from the rest. Hearing and being heard can make or break a game. By adding a never before experienced dimension of reality to gaming and providing the most accurate sound quality available in the market you have arrived at the ultimate. Thanks to Sennheiser's expertise as a global leader in electro-accoustics, the PC 350's sound perception is so precise that you will literally feel like you are in the game.Product Details
- Color: Black
- Brand: Sennheiser
- Model: PC 350
- Platform: Windows
- Dimensions: 9.00" h x 5.00" w x 8.00" l, 1.60 pounds
Features
- Closed circumaural construction shuts out disturbing ambient noise
- Large size ear cups for comfortable wearing during long gaming sessions
- Large size microphone for highest intelligibility
- Collapsible for easy transport
- Volume control with microphone mute
Customer Reviews
Superb headset in every way
I've owned a few headsets in
the past 10 years, including Logitech, Altec Lansing, Sony (without a
microphone) and a lower model Sennheiser about 5 years ago. I am an avid
computer gamer and often go late into the night at stretches of 8 hours
at a time or more. And this is the best headset I've ever used in
almost everyway.
First impressions on removing it from the
packaging (which I had no trouble with, following the directions on the
box) were of durability and a solid build. It's well put together,
nothing seems flimsy or cheap, but its also surprisingly lightweight.
The wire is quite heavy duty, unlike the Altec Lansing and Logitech
headsets I previously owned. Not to mention robust strain relief where
the wire connects to the headset, the control pod, and the jacks.
The
control pod is perfectly positioned and lightweight, so even if it's
dangling you don't even feel it, unlike the bulky control pods on some
other headsets. In terms of fit, the ears swivel almost 45 degrees in
each direction, and extend from the head-bar with solid clicking
intervals. The headbar and ears are both covered in comfortable velor
padding which unlike faux-leather on my previous altec lansings, don't
cause your skin to sweat and stick to it. The earpieces swivel slightly
in and out, and if you push firmly on them they will collapse inward
with a snap - don't be afraid, it just prevents them from collapsing on
accident, which I was concerned about when I saw them folded inward in
the pictures.
They collapse solidly but will not do so by
themselves. The microphone is adjustable, but not overly so - you have
to bend it firmly to adjust the position and it won't bounce back on its
own. It descends down from its perch vertically along the headset with a
moderate degree of resistance, so it won't flop up or down on its own.
And if you want to move it halfway up and leave it there, it won't flop
back down, unlike my old headset, which either had to be all the way up
or down. Hopefully it stays this way.
In terms of comfort, its
extraordinary. Many headsets I've owned claimed to be circumaural,
meaning they surround you ears and don't sit on them or in them. But
most either never intended to actually follow through on that promise or
they are made for people with ears the size of quarters. Even my old
Sennheisers sat right on my ears, and my Altec Lansings, while a very
nice headset, had padding large enough to go around my ears, but the
speakers inside the earphones themselves pressed up against my ears,
which became extremely uncomfortable after periods of time.
These
earphones are ACTUALLY circumaural. The padding surrounds your ears but
never touches them. The only pressure is on your actual head; your ears
are never in contact with anything. The velor is soft and the pressure
is almost unnoticeable. At first they seemed a bit tight but a little
adjustment of the head-bar and a couple hours and they seem to break in a
bit. the velor padding on the head-bar rests gently on the top of your
head and the whole thing seems to distribute the weight of the headset
evenly so you barely feel it.
Now for sound - Everyone knows
Sennheiser is one of the premier names in sound quality, and these are
no disappointment. Now these are probably not the headset you want if
you're just listening to music in a studio or something - but for a
combination of a microphone and comfort and audio quality, I doubt
there's any better at this price. I began by watching a DVD of Band of
Brothers on my computer. At first I thought something was wrong! It
sounded like there was some kind of noise coming from somewhere else
besides the DVD, when I realized I was hearing things I've never even
before heard on my speaker system!
Every sound, especially the
mid's and high's are exceptionally clear and sharp. And for a headset
that is not a 5.1 headset, the directionality of the sound is amazing.
Some here have complained that the base is not heavy enough, but
honestly, if you want to have more base than this, you're not looking
for audio quality and accuracy, you're just looking for ridiculous base.
The base was excellent and sharp, not booming or echoing. Explosions
sounded realistic and surprising, without any buzzing or crackling. For
sound quality, these are better than my Klipsch Promedia speaker system,
and that's saying something.
These also have a closed headset
design, and I was initially worried about the sweaty-ear syndrome from
this type of headset, but I was suprised and happy to find that after 4
hours, I didn't experience any overheating or sweating of my ears. Maybe
in the summertime that would change, but if anything the headset just
got more comfortable over that time.
The microphone quality,
while it is hard for me to tell myself, I've been told it's excellent,
although I had to turn my gain up a bit on my microphone, because
apparently its a bit quieter because of the filter on it.
My only
con with this set of headphones is the cord I think could be a bit
longer, but that's not a big deal, for me anyways. Also, I think a
carrying bag might be nice to go with these headphones.
Overall,
if you're looking for a headset with superb audio quality, comfort,
durability, longevity, and a high quality microphone, not to mention
incredibly stylish looks and a classic and understated appearance, you
CANNOT go wrong with these for the price. Forget the 5.1 channel
headsets with bulky, powered control pods for surround sound and
brightly colored headsets, get this one for a lifetime of quality and
enjoyment.
Best pair of headphones I
have ever owned
Got this set in today and I
must say for a $250 dollar headset it comes with very little extras(no
1/4 adapter etcc..)All you get is the headset.
Pros:
-The sound is
amazing. This is the first headset that after playing with the EQ
settings you can actually get these bad boys to vibrate pretty hard from
the bass with no distortion. In fact I can turn everything all the way
up and get no distortion.
-The mic is great no reverb and the inline
mute works well
-Closed design really does eliminate outside noise
for the most part.I would say about 80 percent or so.
-Build quality
is amazing
-very comfortable
-And I must say this headset is
pretty
Cons:
-The inline volume is almost useless. If you turn
it all the way down it doesnt go mute or even close to it I would say
all the way down on the little wheel thing is 50 percent volume and of
course all the way up on the wheel is 100 percent.I am not sure if mine
is defective or maybee thats the way high end phones are.I use the PC
volume anyway so it doesnt bother me too much.
Overall I love
them and if it werent for the volume wheel I would have gave it 5 stars.
A well engineered product, but it's being returned
anyway.
I've been using a pair of
Sennheiser PC 151s for a couple of years now and I've always been
pleased with their performance. After listening to a friend rave about
his recent acquisition of Razer's newest stereo headset offering, I
figured I'd try upgrading to something a little more high-end. And hey -
who doesn't want to look like an air traffic controller or a football
coach?
As everyone else has raved, the packaging is top-notch.
Incredibly easy to open while also conveying that this is a premium
product that needs to be shipped safely. But not to worry - these cans
are built like a tank. They have considerable heft to them while the
plastic feels very solid, even if the metal hinges are mostly for show. I
have a big head and these headphones fit shockingly well - snug, but
not tight. The large ear cups surrounded my ears completely and the foam
isolated me from the room so much that I didn't hear my phone ringing
while it was sitting just a few feet away from me. I also really liked
the solid feel to the cord, the thin nature of the cord on my PC 151s is
a constant annoyance to me, I'm always afraid that I'm going to snag or
snap it.
All in all, these are well designed headphones. Sadly
I'll be returning them anyway.
Why you might ask? I can't use
them without spending at least another $100 and possibly modifying them
to void the warranty.
If you look at the technical specifications
of any of the other Sennheiser headsets or even any of the headsets
from Logitech or Razer, you'll see that their nominal impedance is rated
at 32 ohms. This headset? 150 ohms. It's a much harder load for the
weak onboard soundcard's amp to drive. Highs and upper mids sound well
defined and rich, but mid and low bass material is weak and ill-defined
if it exists at all. I found myself wanting to turn the music louder and
louder to try and compensate for missing frequencies on material that
was familiar to me - and that's a great way to acquire some hearing
damage.
I went ahead and borrowed a small Yamaha mixer from my
office to test and ensure that the load on the soundcard's amp was my
issue. With the headphones powered by the more significant headphone
amplifier on the mixer these headphones sounded absolutely wonderful.
With some extremely minor (~10% above flat) boost to the mid and low
frequencies these headphones sounded really quite good. I enjoyed the
tightness given to the bass definition by virtue of the sealed
enclosure. Some people have instead chosen to modify their PC 350s by
drilling ports into the enclosure to enhance the low-end response and
follow that up by packing the rear cavity with fiberfill as well.
(Search head-fi.og for "modding the pc350" if you're curious for the
details.)
So, I'd have to buy a headphone amplifier to really
make reasonable use of these headphones. For anything of reasonable
quality we're looking at ~$100, minimum.
The final straw that
lead me to decide to return these headphones was actually the reason I'd
bought them to begin with - they isolated too well, really. When I
finally tried to speak to a friend on ventrilo while wearing them the
result was.... odd. I couldn't hear my voice in the room, just the sound
echoed back from within my own head - almost as if I'd had a bad
headcold or a horrible ear infection. If there was any noise in the
headphones I found myself shouting to compensate for it, which was just
obnoxious.
So, between the expense of the headset itself, the
added expense for a headphone amplifier and the additional possible need
to modify the design, I decided it just wasn't worth it. My old PC 151s
still work as well as the day that I purchased them, and they're
already paid for and can be powered perfectly by my soundcard. I'll just
continue using those, I suppose.
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