Wireless earbuds have been all the rage since Apple launched its AirPods a few years back. For audiophiles who don't want to deal with Bluetooth interference or possibly losing earbuds, though, Sennheiser has got your back.
The German maker of high-end audio products kicked off 2021 with the launch of the Sennheiser IE 300 wired earbuds. Yes, you read that right: A new pair of high-quality wired earbuds. You can skip your phone's Bluetooth menu and jump straight to the part where you're annoyed that it doesn't have a headphone jack anymore with these bad boys.
You can do that if you're willing to shell out $300 for wired earbuds, anyway. So do Sennheiser's newest earbuds deliver on that hefty price tag, or should you invest that money somewhere else?
The Good: Brilliant sound, versatile ear tips
I feel the need to reiterate that the Sennheiser IE 300s cost more than AirPods Pro despite being wired and including little in the way of special features. With all that in mind, you'd expect them to sound incredible. Why else would they cost so much?
The good news is, yes, the sound quality here is a real highlight. (Warning to non-audiophiles: You might want to skip the rest of this paragraph because it's going to be heavy on specs.) For those of you still on board: Sennheiser jammed a 7mm transducer and a 6Hz to 20kHz frequency response into the IE 300s to help them make songs sound like they should.
If you actually skipped that last paragraph or you soldiered through despite not understanding it, let me put it in plainer terms: The IE 300 earbuds might be the best-sounding earbuds I've ever used. They're certainly better than any of the cheap wired buds that I used to survive college. And while some of the wireless earbuds I've covered recently were certainly excellent, I'm not sure any of them surpass the audio output on the IE 300s.
Snare hits are crisp, bass hits you with a satisfying thud, and everything in between puts its best foot forward to produce an ideal listening experience for pretty much any music that's played. I was especially impressed with anything that made use of stereo to yank sound from one side to another.
Again, I can't say that any other big-name earbuds are bad at that, but the IE 300s do a fantastic job of switching sides without making it sound fake. If an instrument favors the left side in an audio mix, it'll sound naturally louder on that side without artificially muting the other side.
That level of nuance is just as kind to the dulcet tones(opens in a new tab) of the soundtrack to the1995 SNES classic Chrono Trigger as it is to anything with real instruments, by the way. Just in case you were wondering.
Sennheiser's excellent audio quality is the obvious selling point here, but the IE 300s also deserve props for including six different ear cup options to make sure just about anyone can wear them comfortably. You have the option of using silicone or memory foam for the ear cups, with small, medium, and large sizes for each in the box.
While I don't love the forced use of a physical ear hook (more on this in a bit), the actual in-ear fit is solidly good, if not spectacular. I felt the need to take a break after wearing them for a couple of hours, but you might tolerate having something in your ears more than I do. There was certainly no pain or obvious discomfort involved.
Sennheiser didn't include active noise cancellation with the IE 300s, but in my testing, both the silicone and memory foam did a nice job of keeping ambient noise where it belongs. The memory foam option, in particular, did a heck of a job creating a physical seal so I never really missed ANC.
Unfortunately, noise cancellation isn't the only thing you'll miss if you're used to all the bells and whistles that come with many wireless earbuds.
The Bad: Few frills for the price, ear hooks can get in the way
Sennheiser's IE 300 earbuds are a very straightforward product. The box comes with the earbuds, an unremarkable zip-up carrying case, the aforementioned ear tips, and a cleaning tool that's essentially a tiny metal scoop for earwax. That last one is actually a pretty nice inclusion that I wouldn't mind seeing other companies adopt, to be fair.
But anyone who buys these needs to understand that they're for listening to audio and little else. There are no touch panels for playback or volume controls on the earbuds. You won't pair these to a mobile app to control equalizer settings or shift noise cancellation levels up and down. These are meant to be plugged in, inserted into the ears, and otherwise left alone.
On one hand, it's sort of refreshing to not have to worry about a half-dozen different "smart" features of varying usefulness. On the other hand, it's nice that other earbuds like the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro can connect to a GPS tracker in case they get lost. Different people have different priorities, so it's totally fine if that's not a deal-breaker for you. But at $300, you typically expect a little more from a pair of earbuds.
The only other real criticism I have of the IE 300s is that they have flexible ear hooks that you can't really get around using. I've never liked earbuds with ear hooks because, ideally, I want to put in and take out an earbud in one second or less. Ear hooks require a few seconds of fiddling at best, and the IE 300s are no different.
The problem is made a bit worse if your hair goes down to ear level. You'll have to do some tactical maneuvering anytime you want to wear the IE 300s, turning what should be instantaneous into a 10-second process. That said, they feel very stable in the ears and you can probably use them while working out, so I get the thought process behind including ear hooks. I just don't love it, personally.
The Verdict
If you're an audiophile looking for something to take on walks or runs, you could certainly do a lot worse than the Sennheiser IE 300 earbuds. They (mostly) successfully marry comfort and stability with truly excellent sound quality, with the end result being some of the most impressive wired earbuds I've ever used.
Still, these might be a hard sell to just about anyone else. If you've become accustomed to basic quality-of-life features that are now standard in other prominent earbuds, then you might feel a little lost with Sennheiser's straightforward design. On top of that, $300 is a really heavy price to pay for any earbuds, much less a pair that requires a headphone jack and doesn't come with much in the way of bonus features.
The final boss music from Chrono Trigger sounds fantastic with them, though. And you can't beat that.
