The Sennheiser PC350 · Apr 8, 02:14 PM
Sennheiser PC350 Headset.
Well I finally got around to testing one of these out, and I was kind of vaguely looking forward to it.
Every now and then a product comes along that makes me stop and go “wow!”
Well, the PC350 did that for several reasons.
First, the packaging made me go “wow! they sure don’t want you getting to your headphones, do they?” Seriously, this has to be the most retardedly difficult packaging to get into ever. It’s even worse than plastic blister packs. There are even instructions on the box that tell you how to get into the box, but they’re not very helpful as I still had to struggle to get them out. Maybe I got a faulty box.
But I think Sennheiser have the right idea, because the packaging looks great. It’s as if they wanted you to stop and just admire the packaging, leave your headphones in there and put them on the shelf. Kind of like buying action figures to leave in the box and admire, not to take out and play with.
Which is fair enough too, because the second thing that made me go “wow!” was the sound quality.
Wow, it’s really bad for the price!
These basically have the sound characteristics of the HD515, with less soundstage than the HD215.
Bass is probably something gamers might like, it’s not very powerful, or prominent, or well defined, but it’s boomy. So basically in games explosions will give you plenty of one-note action.
Midrange is actually ok, so for a headset they’ve done a good thing here because voice comms should be fairly clear, if you can hear them over boomy explosions. But you know what, if you’re just using your headset for voice comms, and you don’t care a bout other aspects, you can get away with spending a lot less than these things cost.
Treble is dull and lacks definition or detail, so again I suppose for games and voice comms it means you could listen to them forever and not get listening fatigue, but that’s if you can manage to stay awake.
Soundstage is poor, which makes me wonder why gamers would want them in the first place. Positional audio in games relies on soundstage and definition of sound, the PC350 lacks both of these things.
I grabbed a pair of Alessandro MS-1 just to quickly compare and it was like a breath of fresh air. The MS-1 had much better soundstage (and that’s saying something), much better separation, clearer and more punchy bass, better midrange, better treble, in fact there’s not one thing that the PC350 did that the MS-1 didn’t do better, oh except isolate. The MS-1 is also a lot lighter and, to me, about 10x more comfortable than the PC350.
I thought that the PC350 would at least have decent soundstage seeing as it IS designed for gaming use, but alas.
The microphone on these isn’t very adjustable either, it sticks out quite a long way and the bendy bit in the middle isn’t very bendy. I know a lot of people want a headset that has a nice flexible mic, well you won’t get it here.
So what do I like?
Well… they offer good isolation from outside noise, and they seem pretty rugged overall, although being able to fold up introduces some more weak points.
The volume control and mic mute is always handy to have, but in my experience it’s the very first thing to fail on headsets that have such a feature.
The packaging looks cool, I guess they might make a good collectable, but they won’t be worth much in 10 years time, unlike your New In Box Star Wars figurines that I know you have shelves full of.
I realise that a lot of people are going to ask how this compares to the Beyer DT234pro, because they’re what I normally recommend, but instead of giving a straight answer, here are some pros and cons:
Pro DT234pro – lighter than the PC350
Con DT234pro – supra-aural instead of circumaural.
Overall – some might find the DT234pro to be more comfortable, others will prefer the PC350.
Pro DT234pro – more accurate bass response, better treble detail.
Con DT234pro – PC350 has heavier bass, which some people might like.
Overall – If you absolutely must have a bit more bass, the PC350 will probably be slightly more suitable.
Pro PC350 – better isolation than the DT234pro.
At a LAN, this will matter, otherwise it probably won’t.
Pro DT234pro – soundstage is slightly better than the PC350.
This is a no brainer really, there’s no counter point for the PC350.
Con DT234pro – not as durable as the PC350.
If you have a habit of mistreating your headphones, the PC350 will likely take a bit more of a beating.
Bottom line: the PC350 is not better than the DT234pro in enough ways to justify the price. If you want better sound than the DT234pro, you can get it easily by using a separate headphone and mic combo.
Pick your favourite pair of fullsize headphones and attach a mic to them and you’ll get better results. Remember: the DT234pro is just a DT231pro with a mic, so something like the AD700 with a $10 clipon mic is going to blow them away. Even if you’ve got something like the Sennheiser HD555 or 595, you’re going to have better sound than the PC350.
Not recommended.
Posted in: Headphones at Apr 8, 02:14 PM
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