It's not all good news, though. We found the flush-fitted button on the microphone dongle hard to push when you're reaching for it by touch alone. The left cable's just too short to hold the mic away from your head in a position you can look down at it clearly, so most of the time you will be fumbling for the button blind.
Great 'phones - shame about the mic pod
Contrast that with the dongle on the standard iPhone headset, which is not only much smaller and lighter, but the whole thing is a button. The MM50 unit is fine for emergencies, but for pausing music and skipping tracks, which we do all the time with our Apple set, we found it a poor substitute.
We're not convinced the sound pick-up's any better, either. It may be, but the it naturally hangs with the microphone pointing away from you.
Perfect partners?
Incidentally, according to Sennheiser, the MM50s work with the new MacBooks - they're able to detect dongle-button presses and relay the commands to iTunes, allowing you to pause and skip tracks. With only a first-gen Air to hand, we can't confirm this, but it should be a boon to iTunes users and Skypers.
Verdict
Sennheiser's MM50s make for a darn fine pair of in-the-ear noise reducing 'phones. They don't make for a good mobile phone headset, as such, but we were happy to trade that for the much improved musical quality they gave us over the Apple 'phones. They're great value at the stock price of £60 and even more so for the sub-£50 you can get 'em for online. ®
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Sennheiser MM50 for iPhone stereo headset
COMMENTS
Loop the other way and all is good
If you look the headphones around the back of your neck then the different lengths make more sense. Also that way you can easily run the cord down under your shirt to your pocket where its nicely stashed. Saves having to faff around trying to loop the buggers over the backs of your ear. :)
Good for the HTC Touch HD too!
I had these delivered from Amazon today for my HTC Touch HD and they're great! The stock HTC headphones were designed with giants or dumbo-eared individuals in mind as the phones themselves are HUGE and uncomfortable.
With the HTC, though, the mic button has no functionality when using the MP3 player. When using the phone, it can be used to answer calls, a short press puts the call on hold and a long press hangs it up. Otherwise, when there's no call in progress and no incoming call a long press on the button brings up the voice dial function.
Definitely a good buy and far cheaper than the article suggests - got mine for just over £37!!
I have these
or last year's version, anyway. Great sounding headphones but the snagging problem is incredibly annoying. I find the rubbery texture of the cables create a ratchett effect on the inside of my coat, pulling the cable down slowly as i walk along, until I have to yank a length of cord up at the top to free up my head.
The button/microphone is very badly placed - it continually catches on my collar and yanks the left-hand earpiece out.
Having said that, I'm not sure what could be done to improve these problems - smoother cables would move easier but pick up more rustling noise, and the microphone can't really go anywhere else...
Good 'phones
I've had these for a couple of months - the button aside, I can't fault them at all.
The sound is a lot more pleasing to me than the Bose in ears I was using previously and like Sebastian, I prefer the asymmetric cord.
Not had chance to try the mic yet, partly out of the fact it seems to hang a hell of a lot further from my mouth than the mic on the standard iPhone headphones.. Still dislike the tiny, hard to feel for button on these though.. The amount of misclicks I make when I do find it is an annoyance too, since I often find myself stopping tracks by accident, rather than skipping on or back as intended.
Had my MM50 for two months
I have used a pair of MM50 daily for two months and I think they are great! And I actually prefer some of the features that aren't appreciated in this review, probably because I mainly use it as a handsfree.
I had previously two revisions of the V-Moda headset, both littered with design and build quality problems (the jack failed after two weeks on both, the cylindrical mic always pointed in the wrong direction and the on/off button was hardly locatable at all -- not even on the second revision). So I tried the MM50.
-Nice sound
-Nice weight and fit (works very well under a helmet when snowboarding)
-Reasonable mic (sometimes too low volume, don't know if it is the MM50 or iPhone)
-Asymetric cords -- I LOVE IT -- the rubber on the cords makes it stick and earphone at the end anchors nicely around the neck (typical handsfree setup)
-The on/off button is easily operated without looking at the mic, even with leather gloves
-The cord tangles a lot less than the v-moda
I have experienced that the buds yank out of the ear, but only when I catch the cord. I find that the rubberised cords actually reduce the "pull" from clothing (when used as a handsfree).
My verdict would be that this is a solid everyday handsfree which is also great for listening to music. If you use it mainly as a stereo headset and only occasionally to talk, I can imagine that you might find better alternatives.
