Sennheiser HD 4.50 Review

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As an attempt to compete against the premium headphones from Bose and Sony, the [amazon link=”B01MSZSL4I” title=” ]Sennheiser HD 4.50 ANC headphones” link_icon=”none” / provide great value with a much lower price and consistent features. You need to give kudos to Sennheiser for bringing out a premium pair of headphones that cost less than the likes of the QuietComfort 35 II and the WH-H1000XM3. However, is it worth getting the 4.50 rather than the more expensive rivals?

Features 

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While the HD 4.50 is not anything new, it is quite balanced in all of its important aspects. The sound is good, the noise cancelling is useful, the battery life is adequate, and the foldability is convenient. The best feature here is the looks. For a price this low, you would expect it to cost much more than what it is asking for. The HD 4.50 goes on our list as one of the best-looking headphones thanks to its jet-black matte finish, large pads and silver linings.

Although it does look good, you tend to see the flaw once you feel it and observe each detail. The main reason it is priced much cheaper than its competitors is mainly because of the materials. Sure, its pads may be memory foam (which is, in our opinion, very ideal) but the faux leather coating and plastic frames make the HD 4.50 cheap. So, is that a deal breaker? Definitely not. That’s because we have not even stepped into its internal performance.

Right off the bat, once you activate the headphones, you will be greeted with deluxe sound quality and great noise cancelling. The sound itself is beyond words thanks to the consistent mix of tone, bass, treble and response frequency. The noise cancelling is there but it does need a bit of improvement.

The headphones also include a canvas bag for you to bring anywhere and it just fits perfectly for the HD 4.50. Whether you put it in your bag or wrapped within your arm, it is anything but a nuisance to bring along.

Design 

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There is a combination of good and bad here. Good because it looks great on appearance alone and bad because it uses hard plastic and faux leather instead of alloy steel and fabric. Although, despite the cheap materials, the adjustments slide, rotate and bend naturally. The control panel is found on the right earpiece, but there is nothing fancy here; just regular buttons featuring Bluetooth mode, Active Noise Cancelling, volume control, pause/play and skip/previous track. They are easy enough to get used to anyway, so there is no need to worry about button confusion.

The headphones also lets you do hands-free calling, however from what we picked up, the microphone tends to sound echoed and muffled.

Overall, it is alright.

Comfort 

This may be the biggest weakness in the Sennheiser HD 4.50. Since it uses faux leather, expect the pads to get warm as hours go by. Personally, I am used to that kind but for anybody who has experienced breathable pads may find this a turn off. At the very least, the headphones do not feel like clamping in your ears even as hours go by. The only part you will need to worry about is the sweat build up from the warmth.

Sound Quality 

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Fortunately, the HD 4.50 sounds awesome. If there is a competitive edge here that can topple the Bose Headphones 700 or QC35 II, it is the Sennheiser’s sound quality. It provides a rich bass that adapts to any music you listen to, a great range of frequencies, a balanced treble and generally clear sounds . It even lets you customize your experience more thanks to its headphones app in which you should be able to calibrate the sounds to your own liking. The 4.50 is definitely two thumbs up for us.

Noise Cancellation 

The ANC included here is not all that bad but there are better ones. We do give honor to Sennheiser for still including ANC even though it is priced cheaper than its rivals. It does have a fully silent moment if you are in select areas where there are only a handful of people but background noises tend to leak when you are in crowded places. Not terrible, but decently reliable.

Battery Life 

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You could argue that its 19 hours of battery life (24 hours if ANC is turned off) may be short but it is good enough for us, especially for its price. At least it even provides quick charging: 15 minutes of recharging is equal to 1 hour of battery life.

Conclusion 

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If you are not planning to pay $300 to $350 on Bose or Sony, you better make do with Sennheiser HD 4.50. It includes the essentials that make a wireless Bluetooth ANC over ear headphones great and certainly a bang for your buck.

MaxWalker
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