Sennheiser CX 880 review

Sennheiser’s CX 880 earphones have a surprisingly light and delicate sound. Their treble reproduction is particularly noteworthy – it’s very clear, but suffered none of the harshness we’ve experienced from many earphones that emphasise clarity on high notes.

The bass contributed a rich presence that didn’t drown out higher notes. Mid-range guitars and vocals were distinct, making these earphones ideal for anyone who appreciates a natural, flat sound that allows the true characteristics of their music to come out. The earphones are particularly quiet, though – we had to turn the volume up to almost twice that we use to test most other earphones.

The earphones come with standard dome-style silicone ear tips, but they don’t come with any noise-isolating alternatives. They aren’t compatible with any of Comply’s foam ear tips, either, so they aren’t suitable if you’re looking for a pair to significantly quieten background noise. The earphone bodies’ long, slightly curved design does mean that they’re comfortable regardless of whether you wear them with the wires looped around the back of your ears, or hanging down in front of your earlobes.

1.2m cable is a standard rubber-coated affair, with the usual 3.5mm stereo plug on the end and an inline volume control. At 32 ohms, the earphones’ impedance is slightly higher than most – a possible contributing factor, along with driver design, to their relatively low volume – but their frequency response spectrum is a wide 17 – 30,000Hz. In common with most mid-priced earphones, the CX 880s have a closed dynamic driver.

While most headphone manufacturers provide a standard one year RTB warranty, Sennheiser gives you two years. At £40, this is an excellent set of earphones – we’re real fans of their flat, natural but very clear sound. The relatively low volume and lack of support for foam ear tips will be an issue for some users, though. Soundmagic isn’t as well known as Sennheiser, but its Soundmagic E10 earphones sound better and cost a little bit less.