Sennheiser PXC 250 II (Black)

Pros: Great sound quality
Compact
Noise cancelling
Build is solid
Good price

Cons: Requires a single AAA battery
No mic/remote control if you're using with an iPhone

Summary: I am a Sennheiser fan and I own MX471, HD280, PMX680, and PXC250.

I bought the PXC250-II after my friend lost my old PXC250 that I loaned to him.

Compared to the PXC250, this new one is more portable, more comfortable but provides less passive noise cancellation.

Design: the head band is wider than the old model, thus putting less pressure on my head, and therefore more comfortable for extensive listening. The improvement on the battery compartment is that it only needs one AAA battery now. The problem I have with battery compartment is that the cables now run from both ends of the battery compartment which makes it very difficult for me to put the battery compartment in my jeans pocket. Also the cable from the battery compartment to my cellphone is not long enough, so it is inconvenient for me to play with my cellphone and listen to my music at the same time.

Portability: Better than before with the same award-winning folding mechanism as all the other PX and PXC series and reduction to only one battery.

Sound isolation: with the same small ear cup and the reduced pressure on my head, the passive noise cancellation is deteriorated as expected and there is no obvious improvement for the active noise cancellation.

Sound quality: I have no doubt about the sound quality of all my Sennheiser headphones so far. Of course, for PXC-250II, you must have the active noise cancellation turned on.

Build: the build is solid and it survived my rough handling on the first use on flight - I pulled it really hard accidentally and I can still see the stretch of the Kevlar® reinforced cable.

Overall: small problems with the new model and small improvements from the previous model. I am happy with the PXC-250II as I fly almost every week and I do not see any competitive products with similar design and pricing. To me, this is still the best combination of pricing and features.

*** P.S. If you will buy these headphones I suggest you have compare price before you decide at: www.amazon.com/gp/*************?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%****%2Foffer-listing%2FB00375MWE2%3Fie%3DUTF8%26ref_%3Ddp_olp_new_map%26condition%3Dnew&tag=***************&********=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957