Review of Sennheiser MM70s headset w/in-line remote and vol slider w/lots of pics!!!

[twister6]

This is a review of Sennheiser MM70s headset with in-line remote and universal volume slider. Sennheiser MM 70s - Stereo headset for Smart Phones - Integrated volume control, Call control, in Ear acoustic design

Sub $100 headset market is saturated with a lot of choices. Often these are not exactly audiophile quality, and instead offer smartphone friendly functionality with extra design details to make them stand out from the crowd. From the moment I started to review MM70s headphones, I quickly realized how much effort Sennheiser invested into it's features to put them ahead of competition. Let's take a closer look at what I have found.

Starting from the box these came in, you can see right away this is a premium product. You can literally take a virtual tour of these headsets and included accessories but simply turning and reading around this box. Along with headsets you get a decent amount of quality accessories such as two sets of eartips (in three common sizes each), a cable clip, a high quality leather storage pouch with a spring loaded closing mechanism, 3.5mm adapter for Nokia and Sony Ericsson smartphones, and a cable winder with two built-in earphone cups. I actually found this cable winder to be very unique, something I haven't seen with any other headphones I reviewed before, definitely something with a touch of German-engineering. Moving to headset itself you can't help but notice how light these are weighting only 10 grams. Although a very modest design, they still feature nice details of plastic and aluminum finish with a signature S-stamp that looks like a flipped Z. Earbuds itself are very small and literally disappear in your ears, followed by strain relief sleeves and tangle-free flexible cable with a soft rubberized touch. Another very unique element of the design that caught me by surprise was asymmetric cable length between earbuds and y-splitter which actually doubles as in-line remote. Being not familiar with such uneven cable design, it actually took me a minute to figure out the purpose of it. Left ear short part goes straight down while longer right ear part conveniently goes around the back of your neck. This way a cable dangles down only from the left side rather than a middle. I found this cable arrangement to be very practical.

Such cable arrangement and in-line remote serving as a y-splitter put the integrated mic close to the level of your face to easy pick up your voice when making/receiving phone calls. Phone calls turned out to be crystal clear and person on the other side couldn't even tell it was in-line remote mic. Looking closer at this in-line remote you noticed right away another feature which I haven't seen anywhere else - a volume slider!!! Most of the today's headsets with in-line remote come in two flavors, either with a single multi-function button or with addition of volume up/down buttons for iPhone. These volume buttons don't work with Android phones. MM70s features a single multifunction button that works perfectly with a single click to play/pause/call, double/triple click to skip next/prev, and long press to start Google Now. To top it off, Volume slider makes this remote 100% universal and fully functional with either Android or Apple devices. Besides adjusting the volume directly on your phone, now you can also slide it up/down on in-line remote for an additional control to attenuate the sound level. The feature worked very well, although I found slider button to be a bit shallow which makes it harder to control with one hand, but not a problem with two hands. Either way, Android users will be very happy that finally they can adjust the volume from in-line remote without taking your phone out of the pocket.

Since we are on a subject of volume, I guess its a good time to bring up the sound test. I did some burn-in by running white/pink noise loop for a couple of hours, but it actually didn't make much of a different in this case - its neodymium drivers were set and ready from the get go. Originally I had standard silicone eartips and dismissed the second set which had double-flange design. I'm personally not a fan of flanged eartips and find them to be too intrusive. But I decided to give a try with these Sennheiser double-flange tips, and actually found them to be very comfortable with a best fit and noise isolation. The passive noise isolation of these headphones was actually not bad at all, attenuating outside noise while still being aware of what's going on around you. Such isolation also helps with a sound quality, and that was my next point of review focus. From the spec, these headphones cover a wide dynamic frequency range of 18Hz-22kHz, wider than typical 20-20k. I found the sound signature of these to have V-shape with enhanced bass and treble, and recessed mids. MM70s delivered enhanced bass response with a nice warm sound. I wouldn't call it a super bass, but it was definitely not your typical flat balanced low end, and I felt a low frequency tight punch. I was a bit surprised mids were recessed since at first I assumed MM70s going to be a "borring" smartphone headphones. Treble was slightly enhanced but not as much. These drivers were definitely tuned to have "fun" sound biased toward low end.

Overall, I was very impressed with a performance of MM70s and found all extra design details outstanding. These in-ear headphones, also referred to as ear-canal headphones, delivered a fun sound signature with enhanced bass response, they had very practical asymmetric cable design for a one-sided cable management, included great set of accessories with unique cable winder and comfortable double-flange earips, and provided a truly universal volume control in addition to multi-function button. Currently on sale for under $80, it definitely offers a fantastic value and a set of features to stand out from the crowd!

Here are the pictures.

 

[NeoGrandizer]

Thanks for the nice review Twister. I was planning on getting this initially, but settled with the Klipsch S4A instead. I do not like the asymmetrical design of the earphones. Used many of them in the past and never had any joy with them especially when stowing them away. Also it was awkward to use if you are only using one earphone. I also do not like volume sliders. I prefer the rotary dials better. Have better and more precise volume control with a dial and one handed operation.

But that's my own personal preferences.

 

[twister6]

Thanks for the nice review Twister. I was planning on getting this initially, but settled with the Klipsch S4A instead. I do not like the asymmetrical design of the earphones. Used many of them in the past and never had any joy with them especially when stowing them away. Also it was awkward to use if you are only using one earphone. I also do not like volume sliders. I prefer the rotary dials better. Have better and more precise volume control with a dial and one handed operation.

But that's my own personal preferences.

Sennheiser is really into these volume sliders. I also got their CX985 unit for review, its a higher class IEM and have volume slider as well (although no multi-function button). I should publish my review later today. Per your other comment with in-line remote extension, its a great solution but it requires attachment to the chord at 3.5mm connector which is all the way down. In this case it's right by your ear, although for volume slider I would recommend using both hands.

Regarding asymmetric cable, it does catches you by surprise especially when you used to winding the cable with the usual wrap around 3-fingers loop starting from earbuds. But when these on and you have one wire going behind your neck, it leaves nothing hanging in front of you since everything comes down from one side. Also makes it efficient with in-line remote and y-splitter being combined.

With Klipsch S4A II, I was never able to get a good seal. Everybody raves about their oval eartips, but it wasn't working well for me. Seems those are best used with wire over the ear which I typically not a big fan of myself.

What other headphones beside S4A do you have or used before? Just curious since I have been more into audio reviews lately

 

[NeoGrandizer]

I've used Sony and Yamaha earbuds and over-the-ear headphones from years ago (sorry, can't recall what models they were; just that they are a few years old). They lasted me a long time because I didn't use them much and are starting to 'wear' out (the rubber is degrading and becoming quite sticky). They weren't high end as I never bothered with sound quality. I really couldn't wear the earbuds for long before they become uncomfortable. Also the over-the-ear headphones become uncomfortable after a while as well (only because of my glasses causing a bit more pressure from the arms).

They were asymmetrical designs which really bugged me. Behind the neck, wearing in the front, I couldn't find a good setup where I was really comfortable with them. But this was before I became more aware of cable management and clips. Might visit them again with these in mind to see if I can get a more comfortable setup.

The S4A is probably my first real set of earphones I've actually put an investment in (also because it was an older model and cheaper). I also could not use any of their earbuds as they were uncomfortable. So decided to try the Comply ear foams with them. I'm actually amazed with the huge difference. I can actually start wearing them for a long time without having any irritation or discomfort (like my previous experiences). They are very comfortable. I also don't need to blast the volume to hear the music.

I am not an audiophile and probably couldn't tell what a good pair of head/ear sets are. But when I used the Klipsch S4A and Comply, I was quite surprised with the sound quality. I felt like I missed out on a lot of things. LOL. I'm quite happy with the S4As and hope these last me a few years.