Sennheiser Raises The Sonic Bar On Noise Cancelling Headphones

Posted Thursday, January 25, 2007

If frequent flyers were granted three wishes from their travel headphones, these would be outstanding comfort, superlative audio and effective reduction of ambient noise. Sennheiser plans to ship it's new PXC 450 headphones, a new active noise reduction model that offers all this and more, starting in March.

The PXC 450 from world-renowned audio specialist Sennheiser, significantly reduces annoying ambient noise so individuals can relax and enjoy their music, whether they are traveling for business or pleasure. “With the PXC 450, we are now offering an extremely high-end noise reduction headphone”, says Rob Douglas, Industry Team Manager for consumer electronics. “Up until now, headphones with active noise reduction and closed ear cups had just one problem: they shielded ambient sounds so well that you couldn’t talk to your neighbor easily since you always had to take the headphones off. With the Talk Through function, we are now offering an innovative solution to enhance the consumer’s experience.”

The PXC 450 is Sennheiser’s first model to use this technology. Tiny microphones in the headphones pick up surrounding sounds, and the headphone’s electronics distinguish between noise such as that of the aircraft engines and the voice of the person sitting next to you. “Finally, you can have a conversation and still enjoy the peace and quiet provided by the active noise reduction,” says Douglas. “Of course, you can set the volume of the voice — and the music — directly on the headphones.”

The PXC 450 features an attractive full-sized design, and soft, circumaural ear pads with generous padding for unsurpassed comfort. Their sound is full-bodied and detailed, with an adaptive baffle damping ensuring a consistently powerful bass response.

Sennheiser’s proprietary Duofol diaphragms ensure distortion-free crystal-clear sound, The PXC 450 (equipped with NoiseGard™ 2.0) eliminates about 90 percent of background noise. Should the batteries be drained, the PXCs will continue to function as audiophile grade headphones, damping outside noise thanks to their closed ear cups.

The PXC 450 can be collapsed for low-profile transport in their supplied case, making them the ideal travel companion. Adapters for in-flight entertainment systems and 1/4” headphone jacks are also supplied.

The PXC 450 will be available March 2007, at Sennheiser’s suggested retail price of $449.95.