The Sennheiser CX 685 headphones In-Ear Canal Headphones are designed to deliver high-performance sound while meeting the needs of active users. Combining Sennheiser’s renowned audio quality with a rugged, sweat-resistant build, these headphones are ideal for fitness enthusiasts and athletes seeking durable, secure, and comfortable earphones for workouts. With a focus on delivering powerful bass and clear audio across all ranges, the CX 685 ensures a motivating listening experience, whether you’re running outdoors or hitting the gym. Built to stay in place through intense activity, these headphones blend functionality, style, and performance to keep your soundtrack going strong, no matter how hard you train.
The field of sports headphones is becoming increasingly crowded, so finding the best possible pair for specific activities at a reasonable price is tough. These particular headphones have a lot to recommend them but ultimately are not likely to be the first choice for many people. Read the rest of our Sennheiser CX 685 Adidas Review to find out why.
Table of Contents
Sennheiser CX 685 Headphones
Design
The design is probably the best thing about these headphones. There is an elongated piece of flexible plastic extending above and below the earbud. The bottom piece of this elongated plastic connects to the cord, but the upper piece is a wing that hugs the upper curve of your ear to help secure the earphones in place while you work out.
This is a tremendously good idea, one that helps make the earbuds feel securely attached to your ear, even when doing fast, jagged movements, like running or playing basketball. The headphones also come with three sizes of inserts for the earbuds themselves, allowing you to pick the size that best fits your ears.
The CX685s also seem fairly tough and durable, which is an added bonus for people who put their headphones through a lot in the course of their workout, especially those who work outside and expose their headphones to the elements.
The cords do become tangled easily, which is a real annoyance. You will have to make a definite point of carefully coiling them and storing them that way between workouts or you will lose some time each day untangling them before you can work.
The biggest design drawback, which is a significant one, is that there is no in-line remote or microphone. Most sports headphones now come with an in-line remote that at a very minimum allows you to adjust the volume of your music, and may include the additional ability to skip forward and backward on your music tracks some also include a microphone and the ability to take and make calls without getting your phone out. In this environment, a set of headphones that does none of those things seems like a dinosaur.
Comfort of Fit
Image Credit: Amazon.com
Considering that you can pick the size of your earbud insert, you would expect the Sennheiser Adidas Sports headphones to be among the most comfortable of the headphones we have reviewed on this site. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
After about half an hour, the earbuds become uncomfortable. Really uncomfortable. The problem, we suspect, is not the size of the earbud inserts but rather the materials used. Unlike most headphones that use soft silicone for their earbud inserts, for some inexplicable reason, the Sennheiser cx685 headphones use rigid plastic.
If you expect to do shorter workouts at high intensity, this issue might not be a problem for you, but for people who spend more time in the gym, this could be an ongoing annoyance.
Sound Quality
The sound quality of these headphones is top-notch. These headphones maintain true sound until you get to the loudest audio settings. The bass sounds come through true and clear, and so do the higher pitches. You can listen to opera or Jay-Z, and both will sound as good as you can expect from in-ear headphones.
Price
The price is another point where these headphones seem a bit like a failure. They are listed at around seventy dollars retail, which is on the high end of the average for a pair of sports headphones. And indeed, you could spend that and get a less durable pair of headphones with lower quality sound.
However, you could also spend that–or less than that, in some cases–for a pair of headphones with greater comfort and the in-line remote that is useful. If you just set your audio and never adjust it during your workout, these are probably a good choice for you.
Similarly, if your workouts are short enough that the discomfort of the rigid plastic earbuds is not an issue for you, these are probably a good choice for you. But if you like to adjust your music’s volume and skip tracks, or if you work out for longer periods, the Sennheiser CX 685 might eventually annoy you. If that is the case then you might want to check out a more comfortable pair, like the Jaybird X2’s.
