Recently, I went to Media Markt in West End Mall and bought a Sennheiser CX 300-II Precision Black for my Apple iPhone 3GS. This is my simple personal review about this pair of earphones. I’m not an expert in these things. I just hope it could help you with how to decide when getting your own earphones.
Okay, for some background first. I bought a new pair of earphones because my favorite Philips earphones just keeps on breaking down on me. It never lasts a year for me. First, I bought the Philips SHE 7750 (with the extension cord). After half a year, the rubber sealing the earphones and producing the nice bass expanded/stretched and fell off. So I bought another Philips SHE 7750. Again, the rubber seal fell off. When I got to Budapest, Hungary, I bought the Philips SHE 7850. This one has in-line volume control. I was very happy with it already when the rubber again fell off after seven months. I couldn’t find it anywhere. 
The reason I buy Philips earphones is because of the frequency range, 8Hz – 24,000Hz. I’m a bass person (I also play bass guitar in my band, Vodka Cherry) and I like the bass range of Philips.
At first I was hesitant in buying Sennheiser because I saw another Philips with the better frequency range. But I decided I’m fed up with the rubber problems of Philips. Now I was also
thinking of buying AKG K330. They are of the same price as the Sennheiser. But a colleague of mine has AKG and I wasn’t impressed with it.
Now let’s proceed with the Sennheiser CX 300-II. The reason I bought an IEM or In-Ear Monitor earphones is for its improved and consistent sound quality. So I was told.
Sennheiser CX 300-II Precision Black
Box Contents
CX 300-II ear-canal phones
Ear adapter set (S/M/L)
Carrying pouch
Technical Information
Frequency response (headphones): 19Hz – 20,000 Hz
Impedance: 16 ohms
Sound pressure level (SPL): 113 dB
Jack plug: 3.5 mm (angled)
Cable length: 1.2 m
Transducer principle: Dynamic
Getting the right sound and feel
The package comes with two extra ear adapter sets (small and large). The medium is already with the earphones.
Nobody. Yes, nobody I know has told or advised me anything about getting the right fit for these IEMs. Usually, people don’t care about these adapters. And when they don’t hear the bass they will say the sound is not balanced. Okay now I am telling you, make sure that you get the right “fit” with the adapters so it will create a vacuum in your ears and produce the best sound. 
The medium adapters are just the right size for my ears but the large adapters are better for me. How/Why? One, the large adapters easily create a vacuum in my ears because of its size. Second, I don’t have to push the earphones deep in the ear to have the vacuum effect. So my ears don’t hurt. Third, the space/vacuum that the large adapters make in my ear produces a fuller bass sound.
Aside from the physical fit, you also need to test the sound fit. Thus, spend time to try all the adapters sizes to see which ones will produce the right sound for you. As a bass person, the large adapter produces the best bass for me.
Bass
A lot of people has said that the Sennheiser CX 300-II does not produce the best bass. Well, yes in a way. Comparing it to my old Philips, the Sennheiser doesn’t have the same heavy bass. But of course, best bass differs in every person. Some like the bombastic bass but some like the smooth bass. I used to be the bombastic bass person. Now with Sennheiser, I have appreciated the smooth bass.
Usually I’m curious why in some of my MP3s I don’t hear the mid-bass. Sennheiser CX 300-II was able to highlight the mid-bass in my MP3s. I am able to hear bass that I couldn’t hear in my Philips earphones (That might be the problem with a very wide frequency range, you tend to lose some sounds in the middle.)
Highlighted background sounds
I already mentioned this earlier with the mid-bass. With the Sennheiser CX 300-II, I could hear sounds and instruments that I never heard before when using my Philips earphones. The frequency range of Sennheiser CX 300-II is just enough to highlight some of the sounds we usually miss. I could hear the snapping of fingers, the sliding of the fingers in acoustic guitars, etc.
Noise isolation
This is not your noise canceling earphones. That’s a different story. What the Sennheiser CX 300-II simply does is isolate the noise around you that you get to hear the music better. When I’m taking the tram or the subway, it really isolates the noise and I could just hear my music. 
Complaints
I have complaints though. 
Sometimes I could hear my footfall. When the music is transitioning to the next song, I could hear my footfall. I could also hear the wires when they rub against my clothes. Oh yeah, I could slightly hear myself chewing gum. I guess that’s how it really is with IEM (In-Ear Monitor) earphones. Because of the vacuum effect, you could hear these things.
Overall
Overall, the Sennheiser CX 300-II has impressed me. I have the bass that I want. It isolates the noise of the tram and subway. My iPhone is very happy with it, they are both black. I don’t think I’ll be going back to Philips for a while. 
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Hey good review Fritz. I also find that IEMs never last me long- they’re way too delicate for me :-). Also next time try Shure or Etymotic – they make quite good (but expensive!) IEMs. In order to reduce the noises (microphonics) of wires rubbing against your clothing etc, I find it useful to to “fix” the wires with a peg to my clothes so that they move less (in case the earphone cable came with a peg) or else run the cable beneath your shirt/jumper etc so that the cable moves less.
Cheers,
Darko
Hey Darko, thanks for visiting my site man! I wish you had more time to spend in Budapest before going back to Australia. Sorry I was so busy we weren’t able to meet up.
Anyway, I wanted to check out Shure or Etymotic. I heard good reviews about them. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any here in Budapest. I’m not really good at looking for things here yet. hehe. Probably when I have my vacation in Manila next year I’ll check out those IEMs.
See you around man!
They are excellent headphones. Great bass response, but still offer a good balance with the upper end of the sound spectrum. I also have the EP-630s (Creative) and would recommend these to you though. They have very similar sound, also very strong bass, and cost about half as much. They also don’t make any sound when you walk (the senn’s somehow transfer a some sound in high wind and while waling).