They were a very good deal even at the original price, and at the discounted price, they are totally a steal. In fact, we would say that they are a very good alternative to the Jabra Elite 85h, which we consider to be the most affordable premium ANC headphones out there right now.
The sound to challenge the likes of Bose and Sony
The PXC 550-II Wireless are the travel-friendly ANC flagship from Sennheiser. These headphones are supposed to the best option for those who want both great sound and lots of work-friendly options. Of course, those who are looking purely for high-quality sound with ANC at the exclusion of everything else would perhaps prefer the Sennheiser Momentum 3 wireless, which retails at Rs 34,990 and are considered by many to be on par with – some would say even better than- the best of ANC flagships Sony and Bose. The PXC 550-II Wireless are for those who want great sound, but also lots of work and travel related controls. And they do serve them up in spades. They might not look as stylish as the metal-infused Momentum 3 but they are smart looking in their own right and are very comfortable to wear. And well, they come with the signature high-end Sennheiser sound. We found it superior to the Elite 85h in terms of pure sound and just a tiny bit behind the Bose 700, which for us is the gold standard in sound quality right now – we have not got the AirPods Max yet.
And with smart functions aplenty too
But it is the smarts that come with this super sound that makes the PXC 550-II special. The headphones come with ear detection so they pause whatever is playing when you lift them off your ear. They also switch off automatically when you take them off and fold them and switch on the moment you put them on. They come with adaptive noise cancellation that changes the level of noise cancellation as per the conditions around you – shades of what we saw with Moments in the Elite 85h. In terms of noise cancellation, they can give the Sony WH 1000 XM4 and Bose 700 a good run for the money, although we feel they are a small step behind. And there are the three massive factors that those who use headphones for work will love – you can connect them to two devices at the same time and switch between them, call quality is comfortably better than anything Bose and Sony can offer (and comparable to the Elite 85h) and well, battery life is a very good 30 hours. Finally, there is one-touch access to voice assistants – Google, Alexa, and Siri are supported. All of which makes the Sennheiser PXC 550-II perhaps one of the best ANC headphones you can get for work. And one of the best ANC headphones below Rs 20,000. Period. The Jabra Elite 85h have a challenger and one that is spanking new in comparison. If you seek sound solace for your ears and have a budget of Rs 20,000, we would suggest grabbing a pair soon, as we do not know if the price change is just an “offer” nor a permanent one. The official price remains unchanged at Rs 29,990. (Note: This price was available at the time of writing this story. It might change subsequently.)
