Design & Construction

After multiple iterations and continuous successful launches, Sennheiser is yet again putting themselves ahead of the competition. The ever-popular CX Plus Special Edition is here to the succeed the original CX Plus. The Sennheiser CX Plus SE is virtually identical to the CX Plus except that now it is finished with a matte brushed surface on the face of the earbuds. However, its design language has been carried over from the very first budget-friendly earbuds from Sennheiser, the CX400BT. The CX Plus SE now streamlines the design of the previous generations with a slightly smaller build and improved features. The case is now just a little smaller but it is still as compact as the Jabra Elite 3, Beats Studio Buds and the Marshall Mode II. Like all true wireless earbuds, the earbuds dock in fairly easily and will not fall out when the case is flipped since there are magnets inside to keep them secure. Although the case of the CX Plus SE have a matte finish, I found that in day to day use, the case do get a large amount of scuffs and scratches just from my first use, casually leaving it in my pocket with a MagSafe powerbank. Therefore, I would caution against leaving the earbuds case together with keys or coins if you are concerned over how the earbuds case may look with scuffs. In terms of durability, I would say the earbuds case feels hollow and it may not survive well with drops. There is a USB-C port at the back of the case with an LED indicator to notify you of the case charge when closed. As for the earbuds, they are now much smaller than the first generation CX 400BT but of similar size to the original CX. Sennheiser went ahead with touchpads that feels responsive even when you tap them lightly. Now for the controls, a single press on the right earbud will play/pause your music, a double press will skip forward and a triple press will bring up Google Assistant, Alexa or Siri; holding it down will increase the volume. Moving to the left earbud, a single press will enable Transparent Hearing while a double press will skip backwards and a triple press will enable Active Noise Cancelling.  Meanwhile, holding it down will decrease the volume. For calls, there is yet another set of controls that does the same command on either earbud. A single press will pick up the call and a double press will end the call. When you are in a call, a single press will mute/unmute the microphone. Similarly, the volume can be increased by holding down the right earbud and decreased when holding down the left earbud. Now, it is worth mentioning that though these are the original out of the box settings, you can customise the touch controls to any command you would like to either earbud and the app will sync the new settings immediately. If you need to pair another device, you can hold down both earbuds for 3 seconds to enable Bluetooth pairing. It takes about 1.5 hours to charge both the case and the earbuds from a dead battery. However, if you are in a rush, there is always quick charge which will allow for 1 hour of playback with a 10 minutes charge. Both earbuds bear the Sennheiser logo and have subtle LED indicators on the inside that will only light up when necessary such as in situations of pairing them. In normal usage of music playback or calls, they never light up to attract unwanted attention. In the box, there are extra sizes of silicone ear tips to ensure a tight seal and secure fit. Even though the CX Plus SE isn't a sports earbud, it boasts a decent IPX4 water resistance for those intense workouts or rainy days, giving users the ultimate peace of mind. The earbuds itself also do a great job at resisting fingerprints smudges with a matte finish. 

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Sound Quality

Exciting, bass-focused and energetic is how I would describe the sound of the CX Plus SE. Let's start off with the bass response. In short, it is deep, punchy, and tight. It never managed to distort at loud volume and never bleeds into the mids when it is at a low volume level. It hits as deep as the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless series thanks to the 7mm TrueResponse transducers. The highs sound decently bright and filled with plenty of details. The mids do sound extremely crisp especially with the help of the equaliser tuning that is found in the Sennheiser Smart Control app that really help to configure the sound to your ears. The soundstage isn't quite as wide as the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless series but definitely on par with the similarly priced Nothing Ear (1) or the Jabra Elite 3. The instrument separation is excellent with distinct left and right channels being heard clearly. If you are not so much of an EDM or Hip-Hop fan, I am glad to report that the CX Plus SE works perfectly with all other genres ranging from Pop to Jazz after you fiddle with the customisable sound settings in the Smart Control App available for download from the App & Play Store. In the app, you will first see the My Devices page where you can select which compatible Sennheiser device to delve into. Thereafter, you will be greeted with the selected devices' settings where the battery life status is shown as well as the option to manage your earbuds' connections to your devices. Next, there is the Equaliser setting which you can choose to customise your very own or choose from the presets. There are presets like Rock, Pop, Dance, Hip Hop, Classical and Movie. Different presets do work well with different music genres and I personally prefer the Dance preset. You may also select any presets available and further tune and rename it to become your custom setting. Additionally, there is the Bass Boost option which I greatly enjoyed using to boost my low frequencies as well as the Podcast mode where the equaliser will be disabled fully and set to Sennheiser pre-made Podcast mode. Should you happen to mess up doing custom presets, a simple tap on the Restore all Sennheiser presets will revert all changes made. Now, you can further take this experience deeper using the Sound Check feature where you can play your favourite songs in the background while you choose from the 3 options in the low, mid and high frequencies that the app boosts to compensate for your hearing needs. Personally, I find that amongst the 3 options of A, B and C, I could hardly tell a difference, but you will definitely hear a slight difference in the sound if you pay attention and listen closely. At the end of it, I couldn't tell a huge difference before and after I use the Sound Check feature. Well, some additional tuning is definitely better than nothing, I guess. Moving on, we have the Transparent Hearing option where you can change the setting from Off to using it With Music or enable Pause Music to stop the music every time you enable it. Transparent Hearing is Sennheiser's version of Transparency Mode to allow you to hear your ambient surrounding sounds so you can always hear the next train announcement or traffic noise to stay safe, however in the case of the CX Plus SE, we do not get any customisation of specifically how much noise or voices to let in. Noise Cancellation is next with the simplest option of all, just a simple Off or On. No advanced customisation like earbuds of much higher price point. Just below these options, you will see the newest feature here, known as Sound Zones where the app will automatically switches to a certain equaliser and ANC or Transparent Hearing setting when it detects that you have reached a frequent destination like your office, school or at home. You can set up to 20 different zones and each can be from a close radius accuracy of 100m to 1km from the selected location. The Noise Control settings will tap into existing equaliser presets that you have and you will need to set what happens when you arrive and leave the location. Personally, I don't use this feature as it can be quite gimmicky as well as making it a great way to give away your location to Sennheiser too. Back to Home page, you can enable or disable the Touch Controls or switch SideTone from Off, Minimum or Maximum. SideTone is basically how loud you would like to hear yourself in your earbuds when you talk to another party over the call. Onto the Discover tab, you can read and catch up on the latest Sennheiser press release and news where they will share their latest product offerings and possibly entice you to buy them? In all case, its possibly the least important and useful feature in the app. In the settings, you can enable Smart Pause if you prefer the faster way of removing one earbud to pause the music to hear someone and that you may turn off if you don't want it enabled. You can also enable or disable the ability to auto accept calls when the earbuds are removed from the case as well as set the duration for auto power off ranging from 15 minutes to an hour. Lastly, you choose to use both tones and voice prompts, use tones only or just turn it off completely. At the bottom, a factory reset of the app settings is possible together with the ability to show or hide the individual tiles to show on the homepage. You can easily check the current codecs used or the model name too. In terms of call quality, the CX Plus SE uses 2 beam-foaming mic arrays of 4 mics to capture your voice. In my opinion, the quality is usable though it can be easily affected by wind or traffic noise and my voice sounds a little robotic and muffled. However, all things considered, the mic pickup quality was indeed on par with competitors of the same price point like the Jabra Elite 3 or the Nothing Ear (1).

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Connectivity & Portability

The earbuds support the latest and greatest AptX, AptX Adaptive, AAC and SBC codecs together with Bluetooth Version 5.2. The earbuds also automatically power on/off when docked and taken out from the case. The battery life peaks at 8 hours per use with ANC and up to a maximum of 24 hours with the case. The package also comes with a USB-C cable for charging and if you ever wished for wireless charging, the CX Plus SE unfortunately does not support it. If you are looking to use only one earbud at any one time, either earbuds will allow for one-sided listening. The headphones' connectivity to the app is perfect as it is able to detect my headphones when its already connected via Bluetooth all the time. If you try to watch videos or movies with these, they do not have any latency in audio transmission.

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PROS​​

• Durable Construction

• Ergonomic Fit

• Low Profile

• Customisable Equaliser

• Energetic, Bass-Focused Sound Signature

• Sound Check Customisation

• Active Noise-Cancelling

• Transparent Hearing

• Responsive Touchpads For Music Play & Calls

• Bluetooth 5.2 with AptX Adaptive

• Quick USB-C Charging

• Long Battery Life

• IPX4 Water Resistant

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CONS​​​​

• Only One Colour Available

• No Wireless Charging

• Low Quality Case Materials

• No Multi-Device Bluetooth Pairing

The Bottom Line

In all, the Sennheiser CX Plus SE is an essential everyday earbud with strong yet straightforward features that keeps its users happy. The top features why it is so sought-after in a saturated market of true wireless earbuds has got to be its signature Sennheiser sound signature, decent noise-cancelling as well as overall user experience. It is indeed a seamless and hassle-free experience that Sennheiser has nailed after going through a few iterations of perfection. The Sennheiser CX Plus SE is definitely the way to go if you need a complete package with an attractive price tag to match.