Sennheiser PC37X randomly goes bad after disconnecting the cable ?
Greetings, Yesterday I was using my headset like normal with my macbook, just listening to music and on a call with people like usual, and the headset was perfectly fine. The stock wire that came with the headset is extremely long and yesterday it annoyed me very much that it kept getting tangled with itself, so I decided to see if the cable is replaceable. I pulled out the cable from the headset and saw the adapter, and looked online for a replacement. Upon plugging it back in, the audio sounded extremely muffled and washed out. Im not sure what I did wrong to make it mess up like that as I've always taken good care of it, ive had it for about 2 years and its always just been chilling on my desk, but anywho I thought the cable just went bad and ordered a replacement. The replacement came, and the issue is still persistant, so I am not sure what the issue is I've tried multiple different headsets and the issue is not with the port, and I also tried it with my windows laptop and...
Apr 23, 2024
Thought I would share my thoughts on these headphones, as I have had the chance to use a pair of them that Massdrop sent me to test out. They have not asked me to write anything about testing them, they just asked for my feedback privately, but I asked them if they mind if I posted something and they did not object, so, here are my thoughts.
When not out on the trail (throughout a good part of the year) I am an active gamer. I have 1000+ hours of gameplay on a few different games, so I will address my thoughts on these headphones from that perspective. I also listen to a lot of music, so I will touch on that briefly also.
I had about two weeks of use with these headphones, using them almost every day, ranging from three hours of use up to ten-plus hours. (uggh, getting too old for 12+ hour lan parties!)
FIT/COMFORT:
I found the fit to be a bit on the tight side of things. The ability to expand them was limited. It was not a brain-crushing fit, but it would have been nice to have a design that would allow them to expand a bit more. From a comfort perspective, I found them to be pretty good. Not the most comfortable pair of headphones I have ever used, but by far the most comfortable pair of $100 cans I have ever used, and without a doubt the most comfortable pair of gaming/mic headphones I have used. The comfort pads are good enough that I was able to go 10+ hours (with a couple of short breaks) without having them heat up on me, or get sweaty, or have any issues with them pressing my glasses inside the side of my head. So, I would say 3 stars for the Fit (make them expanding and get 5 stars) and 5 stars for Comfort.
BUILD QUALITY:
Being mostly plastic, they are on the higher quality side of things (again, only two weeks of use, keep that in mind... this is not some kind of 2+ year review), and it is unfair to compare all metal cans to plastic cans. For a $100 pair of gaming headphones, they are built much better than what I expected. The mic seemed very solid. The cables (non usb) were good and never twisted up on me. I would give the build quality a 4 out of 5, with the last star being removed for not having an indicator light for when the mic was active (or not muted) which is something I have come to want and expect on all of my gaming headphones these days.
SOUND, GAMES:
This is, of course, where the money meets the road. If they suck playing games, why buy them, eh. My thoughts on how these cans perform while playing games are a 5 out of 5. I have owned a few gaming headphones over the years and I would say these rank up there at the top. Hearing things I have never heard while wearing any other dedicated gaming headphones. Surprised me a few times when I was hearing things - very much "what the hell is that?" moments. Ultimately, that is why you buy a pair of gaming headphones, and these are worthy of the money for that aspect alone.
SOUND, MUSIC/YOUTUBE:
Pretty much suck, but these are gaming headphones, not music headphones. Think along the lines of those Bose QuietComfort 35, which themselves are not really designed for high quality music, I would put these PC37X headphones a bit under the quality of the QC35 music quality (which is not saying much - and nothing at all comparable to my $700 headphones) I did find the bass to be way too strong. Never popped or cracked, but way too much bass. I am somebody that mostly listens to very calm music (https://www.pandora.com/station/play/2583307788184421944 and https://www.pandora.com/station/play/809722969109268024 and https://www.pandora.com/station/play/1227760219157399096 being my three most listen too pandora stations - and yes, I know, pandora is not exactly high quality audio... just sharing them to give an idea of the style of music I speak of) so for me to have a heavy bass on very calm music, only makes them all the much worse when I happen to hit a station that is not so calm. But again, we are talking about headphones dialed in for gaming. I also wore them when watching youtube videos (not music videos) and they sounded pretty good for the average talking style youtube videos. I am not going to give them a x out of y rating for music, because these are not music headphones.
MICROPHONE:
The microphone (hardware) itself seems to be built very good, nice and sturdy, no flapping around, all that good stuff. I asked others (in-game) how I sounded and not a single person said anything negative. In the end, that is what matters. Would give the mic a 5 out of 5.
WORTH BUYING:
If you are looking for a pair of headphones in the $100 range, I would say "absolutely buy". Far far better quality (build and sound) than the cheaper cans out there. Maybe not up to spec with some of the significantly more expensive gaming cans on the market, but again, unfair to compare $400 cans with $100 cans. Would I buy these, having now used them, and mailed them along to the next person testing them? Yep. Right now I got a couple of $80 gaming headphones sitting around that are now trash worthy. It is getting close to hiking season again, but if these PC37X cans are still around come the end of this hiking season, plan on buying a pair of them.
Also, yours is the first remark I've seen about these or related headphones saying music sounded less than good. Your audio sources listed are lower quality which could have some impact. I have heard these have a more pronounced bass effect but not too strong. Do you think your "sucks" comment is objective or more of a personal preference thing?
>>> Do you think the head clamping effect went down at all during your usage or have any sign of going down?
As stated in my post above, I only had these for around about two weeks, so that is very little time for them to have a 'break in period', as we might call it. During those two weeks they stayed rock solid, and based on the durability that they seem to have, I would say there is probably little chance of them stretching even a small bit.
>>> A little squeeze isn't so bad to keep them in place but too much can be uncomfortable.
Yep, totally agree. In my case, they were right on that edge. Any tighter and I would not have worn them.
>>> yours is the first remark I've seen about these or related headphones saying music sounded less than good.
I usually listen to music in my office via a full surround speaker system (when in office) or via some (bit over $700) custom insert. But as I pointed out more than once, it is unfair to compare them to gaming cans. Lets face it, gaming cans pretty much always suck when it comes to lossless music.
>>> Your audio sources listed are lower quality
I clearly stated, "I know, pandora is not exactly high quality audio... just sharing them to give an idea of the style of music I speak of "
>>> Do you think your "sucks" comment is objective or more of a personal preference thing?
Everything I said was both objective and personal :-D
I see from your drops page that you ordered a pair. The PC37X really is a great gaming headset, hope you enjoy the pair you get as much as I have the one I have got to demo!
Because to me, they do.
Great thing about writing what you think about a product is that it does not have to be in agreement with a single other person. Each of us write what we think about a product. Does not mean it has to agree with everybody else.