Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)These headphones are superb; however, BEWARE of all the fakes out there! There are tons and it is very difficult to tell the difference when looking at the physical package. I saw a couple of posts on here that complain about the loud thump when you hit the cord...if this happens, you have fakes. I bought a pair off of eBay (do not buy these off eBay, most if not all are fake) and had some other people that bought from the same seller contact me and inform me that they were fakes. Even worse, when confronted, the seller admitted they were counterfeit and was eventually caught and banned from eBay. With the fakes, every time I exercised and the cord would bump me it was extremely loud and after this happened a couple of times during my first use, I stopped using them while working out (still not knowing they were fakes at this point). When I discovered they were counterfeit, I contacted Sennheiser to find out if Amazon.com was an authorized seller (I was sure Amazon would only deal with legitimate products, but after getting burned on eBay I wanted to make sure I was getting was I was paying for). Here is the response I got from Sennheiser:
"Amazon.com is indeed a dealer...but do not purchase Sennheiser from their 3rd party marketplace unless from J&R or Tiger Direct as they are also authorized dealers."
I see Crutchfield will be selling 3rd party on Amazon and I also found them on the Sennheiser "locate a dealer" site. Tweeter is also a dealer.
Once I received the legitimate Sennheiser headphones from Amazon and I compared them to the fake copies I got off eBay, the differences were pretty evident. The carry pouch on the fakes is all the same color, but the S design has the same shape as that of the real pair's pouch. The carry pouch with the legitimate pair has a shiny and darker black "S" design than the rest of the pouch (the feel of the pouch is also softer). The length in total for both pairs is the same, but on the fakes, the volume control is slightly higher up on the cord as is the CX500 cord separator. One of the most notable differences is when you thump the cord with the phones in your ear...the fakes will produce a very loud thump (and any swift cord movement can be heard and will be very distracting with lots of movement like cardio exercising). On the real pair of headphones, I can hear the thump in total silence, but while listening to music and working out, it is barely audible if at all. Also, on the fakes, the volume control completely mutes the sound when turned down to minimum. On the real pair, when you slide the volume control to the minimum volume, the sound is still faintly audible. Finally, there is the sound quality. I never would have known had I not had a real pair to compare to, but the sound of the fakes does not even come close to the real pair. The sound on the fakes almost sounds muffled after listening to the real pair. The fakes also have a lot more bass to them. The sound of the real pair is clear, clean, crisp and beautiful. I can hear sounds in the music that I never realized were there before. The real pair tends to draw out so much of the music that it is amazing. I never would have known or realized the difference in the sound had I not gotten fed up knowing I had purchased counterfeit headphones and went out and bought a real pair (I got a majority of my money back on the counterfeit pair).
The best advice I can give is if the deal is too good to be true, it likely is. Check out the Sennheiser website and find a legitimate dealer to buy these headphones from if you truly want a good pair of quality headphones. They are worth every penny!
Click Here to see more reviews about: Sennheiser CX 500-B In-Ear Stereo Headphone
The CX 500 are high quality, noise-isolating ear-canal phones with a crisp, clear, bass driven stereo sound. They feature a volume control integrated in the cable and come with a new, unique type of ear adapter for an improved fit and an even better passive noise attenuation
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