Sennheiser PXC 550-II Wireless Headphones Review

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II are over-ear wireless headphones with a fairly sleek and understated style. They look identical to the Sennheiser PXC 550 Wireless, though they now only come in an all-black design with no silver accents. They're made with high-quality materials that give them a premium, high-end look.

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II Wireless are quite comfortable over-ears. They have the same great padding as the Sennheiser PXC 550 Wireless, with fairly small ear cups that should still be large enough to comfortably fit most people. Unfortunately, although the headband is heavily cushioned and comfortable, it doesn't extend very far, so these headphones may not fit all head sizes and shapes.

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II have a great control scheme. All of the controls are on the right ear cup, and they're intuitive and easy to use. There are also voice prompts for some functions, like when you mute or unmute the microphone, but none for track skipping or switching between ANC modes, which is slightly disappointing.

Touch-sensitive surface:

• Single tap: Plays and pauses audio.
• Double tap: Cycles between transparency mode on and off. Also puts an active call on hold, and switches between an active call and a held call.
• Vertical swipe up: Increases the volume.
• Vertical swipe down: Decreases the volume.
• Ηorizontal swipe forward: Skips the track forward. Also unmutes mic during a call.
• Ηorizontal swipe forward and hold: Fast forwards the track.
• Ηorizontal swipe backwards: Skips the track backward. Also mutes the mic during a call.
• Ηorizontal swipe backward and hold: Rewinds the track.
• Ηold for 2 seconds: Rejects a call.

Voice assistant button:

• Single press: Activates voice assistant.
• Ηold for 4 seconds: Activates pairing mode.

ANC switch:

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II Wireless have decent breathability. They may cause you to sweat more than usual but will keep your ears cooler than most other over-ear headphones, making them decent for light workouts.

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II are passably portable. They take up some room in a bag, like most over-ear headphones, but you can fold them into a more compact shape to save space or swivel the ear cups flat, which makes it more comfortable to wear them around your neck.

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II have a decent hard case. It zips shut and should protect the headphones from scratches, dust, and minor water exposure. It doesn't prevent them from being crushed, though.

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II have a good build quality and feel quite solid. They're made of dense plastic, and the headband is reinforced by a thin metal frame. Overall, they should be able to withstand a few accidental drops and bumps without too much damage.

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II are stable and shouldn't easily fall off your head during moderate exercise like a jog. They may slip off your ears with more exaggerated movement, however.

• Sennheiser PXC 550-II headphones
• 1/16" to 1/8" TRRS audio cable
• Airline adapter
• Carrying case
• Micro-USB to USB-A charging cable
• Manuals

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II's sound profile is bright and well-balanced and should be well-suited for most genres of music and content like podcasts and audiobooks. Unfortunately, our unit's left and right drivers have a mismatched frequency response in the treble range, which causes vocals to sound veiled or lacking in detail in the right driver. This may not affect every unit, however. Sibilants are also slightly harsh and piercing sibilants (S and T sounds) in both earbuds. The companion app has a few EQ presets you can use to adjust their sound, which is nice.

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II's frequency response consistency is decent. They're fairly consistent in the bass range, but their treble delivery is sensitive to the fit and positioning of these headphones on the head. This means that different people may experience their treble reproduction differently.

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II have excellent bass accuracy. Most of the response is neutral, so mixes have thump, rumble, and punch. There's some overemphasis in the high-bass range, which gives instruments extra boom.

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II's mid-range response is very accurate. The low-mid and mid-mid are very flat, meaning lead instruments should sound detailed and present. In high-mid, our right driver dips, which hurts the clarity of lead vocals and instruments a bit. However, vocals should still stay present and sound detailed overall.

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II's treble accuracy is decent. Vocals may lack a bit of detail, and sibilants like S and T sounds and cymbals may sound harsh and piercing.

Note: Our unit's L/R drivers are slightly mismatched in terms of frequency response, and the right driver's low-treble response is more underemphasized than the left driver's. This may be unique to our unit, however.

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II's peaks and dips performance is decent. The most noticeable peaks/dips are in the treble range, which unfortunately is quite uneven. The dips in low-treble, mostly present in our unit's right driver, result in some detail being lost from vocals, whereas the peaks in mid-treble cause cymbals and sibilants (S and T sounds) to sound harsh and piercing. There are peaks in the low-bass that add thump and rumble to mixes and a peak in the high-bass that adds boom.

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II's imaging performance is great. The group delay falls below the audibility threshold for almost the entire range, although it does cross it in low-bass, suggesting that the sub-bass may be a bit loose. It's audible but may not be noticeable to all listeners with regular content. Our unit's L/R drivers are also slightly mismatched in terms of frequency and phase response, which can cause inaccuracies in the stereo image, though this may be difficult to hear with regular content. It's worth noting that these results are only valid for our unit, and yours may perform differently.

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II have a poor soundstage. There's not much pinna activation, and the closed-back design sounds less open than open-back headphones. The soundstage sounds fairly small, unnatural, and as if inside the listener's head as opposed to in front.

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II's weighted harmonic distortion performance is good. All frequencies fall within acceptable limits, resulting in a clear and pure audio reproduction.

These are the settings used to test the Sennheiser PXC 550-II Wireless. Our results are only valid with these settings.

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II have a great noise isolation performance. Their ANC feature works much better than their predecessor, the Sennheiser PXC 550 Wireless. They do a good job of blocking the low rumble of plane and bus engines as well as ambient conversations and a decent job of reducing higher-pitched noise like a humming computer fan.

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II have an alright leakage performance. Not too much audio escapes, and most is in the treble range, meaning it sounds thin. Even at high volumes, your music shouldn't bother people nearby in a moderately noisy environment like an office.

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II have a mic with okay recording quality. Your voice sounds reasonably full and clear and shouldn't be too muffled.

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II's mic has decent noise handling. With moderate background noise, your voice sounds louder than the ambient sound and is easily understood. Even in noisier environments like a busy subway station, it does a satisfactory job of separating your voice from noise. However, it may be hard to understand you clearly if there's a loud noise present, like the sound of a passing train.

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II Wireless have an excellent battery performance. Their battery provides just over 21 hours of continuous use off a single charge, so you probably don't need to recharge them daily. They also recharge in less time than the advertised three hours. Ηowever, battery performance can vary with real-life use, so your experience may vary. There's also a 'Smart Pause' feature that pauses your music when you take off the headphones and puts them in standby mode after five minutes without a Βluetooth connection. This can help preserve battery life, but you can also switch it off in the app. If you run out of battery, you can also use the headphones passively with the provided audio cable. To turn off the headphones completely, you simply fold the ear cups flat.

The dedicated companion app for the Sennheiser PXC 550-II is okay. You can set the 'User mode' for the right earcup's ANC slider to either 'Adaptive ANC' (noise cancelling depending on your environment) or Anti-Wind (advertised as 'slight' noise isolation to reduce noise from wind or movement). Otherwise, there are only a few EQ presets and room effects, unlike the Sennheiser Momentum 3 Wireless which have a full parametric EQ. On the upside, it's available on both iOS and Android.

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II are Bluetooth headphones that support aptX-LL for low-latency connections. Their default latency with PCs is slightly high, but it's lower using the aptX-LL codec, so you shouldn't notice audio sync issues if your computer supports it. Their latency with Android devices is also low, but it's higher with iOS, so they aren't ideal for mobile gaming or watching videos on an iPhone. Some devices and apps seem to compensate for latency, though, meaning you may have a different experience. These headphones also support multi-device pairing, so you can watch a movie on your computer and answer your phone without having to re-pair them.

You can use the Sennheiser PXC 550-II wired with the included 1/16" to 1/8" TRRS cable if your device has a headphone port. They can receive audio and charge with their micro-USΒ to USΒ-A cable when connected to a PC with a USB-A port. Their negative latency result means you may hear the audio before the video when you're gaming or watching a movie, but the amount of latency is so small that this shouldn't be noticeable.

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II are fully compatible with PCs if you use their 1/8" TRRS cable or micro-USΒ to USΒ-A cable to connect. They have very little latency via USΒ.

Update 01/27/2022: We originally reported that the headphones enter 'Talk-Through' mode when connected via analog to a PS4 console. We retested this recently with the same included 1/8" to 1/16" TRRS cable and didn't experience the same issue. However, this time the mic didn't work. Ηowever, using a different 1/8" to 1/16" TRRS cable, we were able to get full compatibility with PS4 and PS5 consoles without entering 'Talk-Through' mode. It seems that the cable that came with the headphones is defective, and we've updated our results. If you come across this issue, please let us know in the discussions.

The Sennheiser PXC 550-II are fully compatible with PlayStation consoles via analog connection or wired USΒ connection.

Update 01/11/2022: We originally reported that if you plug the headphones into an Xbox console using the included 1/8" to 1/16" TRRS cable, you can only receive audio but not use the mic. Ηowever, we retested this and found that the cable that came with the headphones may be defective. Using another cable of the same type, we were able to receive audio and use the mic on Xbox One and Xbox Series X and have updated our results to reflect this.

These headphones are fully compatible with Xbox One and Xbox Series X via analog connection. You can also use their Micro-USB to USB-A cable to receive audio, but you can't use the mic when connected that way.