Get Them Here
So like I said in the full review I did not see the Sennheiser CX Plus coming… but I am really glad that they are here. For me these are my top pick earbuds if your main priority is sound in this price range. But today we are going to compare the CX Plus to what I feel are their most direct and more popular competitors… the Galaxy Buds 2 and Beats Studio Buds.
Now when it comes to pricing, both the Galaxy Buds 2 and Beats Studio Buds retail for $150. And just knowing Samsung and Apple… I expect the price of these earbuds to be in lock step. Where as the CX Plus retail for $180, which I feel is reasonable. Now depending on your needs you’ll might be better off with one of these earbuds over the other… but nonetheless if you want to pick any of these earbuds up they’ll be linked down below.
Now first lets address these cases because these three cases are very different from one another. Now all of these cases are decently small and they aren’t too noticeable when they're in your pocket. Making them great for everyday carry earbuds. However the galaxy buds 2 have the least noticeable case here when its in your pocket. Now technically the Studio Buds case is the thinnest case here. But it does have a larger foot print than the Galaxy Buds 2. And then there’s the CX’s case which is decently small… but this shape makes this case very noticeable when it in your pocket. However the main differentiating factor about all of these cases is that the Galaxy Buds 2’s are the only earbuds here that have wireless charging. Where as both the Studio Buds and CX Plus only charge via their USB C ports.
But now lets talk about battery life… Both the CX Plus and Studio Buds have and advertised combined battery life of 24 hours with their active noise cancelation turned off. The earbud themselves can go for 8 straight hours and the case can supply 2 additional charges. Where as the Galaxy Buds 2 do manage to edge out ahead here because they have an advertised combined battery life of 29 hours with their active noise cancelation turned off. The earbuds themselves can go for 7 and half hours and the case can supply 3 additional charges. Which I feel is impressive because this case also have wireless charging.
However with their active noise cancelation turned on both the Studio Buds and CX Plus have a combined battery life of 15 hours. The earbuds can go for 5 straight hours and the case can supply those 2 additional charges. Where as the Galaxy Buds 2 have a combined battery life of 20 hours. The earbuds themselves can also go for 5 straight hours… but their case can supply those 3 additional charges.
But now lets talk about the earbuds themselves. Regarding fit these earbuds do fit rather differently from one another. Now both the Galaxy Buds 2 and CX Plus fit like your standard pair of in ear ear buds. As in they go into your ear canals a decent amount. However the CX plus do go into the your ear canal just a little deeper than the Galaxy buds 2. Where as the studio buds are a pair of shallow fitting in ear ear buds. So they don’t go in as deep as these other two earbuds. Which results in a more natural and comfortable fit. Now personally I do prefer the fit of the Studio buds here… but since these earbuds are more shallow fitting they do like to wiggle out the most here. But nonetheless personally I would mainly recommend all of these earbuds for casual use. Neither of these earbuds would be ideal for working out because they do like to wiggle out.
But now lets talk about connectivity, on all of these earbuds each earbud establishes a connection with your phone. So if you jut want to use one earbud at a time you can use either one it doesn’t matter. And this is the connection set up that we expect to see on our earbuds nowadays.
However if you’re a Samsung power user you’re going to be able to hot swap between all of your Samsung devices with the Galaxy Buds 2 thanks to seamless ear buds connection. But even if you’re not heavily invested into Samsung’s eco system, both the Galaxy Buds and Studio Buds are good for power users that might have different devices running different operating systems.
With both the Galaxy buds and Studio Buds if you want to go from using one device another… all you gotta do is go into your other devices bluetooth menu and establish a new connection. And then the earbuds will automatically switch over.
Where as with the CX plus these earbuds are better suited to be used with one primary device. If you want to switch from one device to another you either gotta put these earbuds into pairing mode or you gotta go into these earbud’s app and switch connections from there. Which is more cumbersome than what you have to do with these other two earbuds.
However, when it comes to performance… all of these earbuds have zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone or and android device. And when it comes to audio codecs both the Galaxy Buds and Studio Buds only have support for SBC and AAC… where as the CX Plus have support for more higher quality audio codecs like APTX and APTX Adaptive which you will be able to take advantage of if you’re using these earbuds with an android device.
But now let's talk about actually listening to music with these earbuds. Now both the Galaxy Buds 2 and Studio Buds sound great for entry level earbuds. Now personally I think the Galaxy buds sound best when they're set to their dynamic EQ. Out of these box these earbuds can sound a little bright. But while in their dynamic EQ the mids and highs get a little relaxed and the bass comes in stronger. But overall I do prefer how the studio buds sound over the Galaxy Buds 2. With the studio buds, these earbuds sound more open and their bass resonates much more. Leading to a much more dynamic and simply put more fun listening experience. Where as with the Galaxy Buds 2 they just don’t sound as open and even though their bass does resonate a a good amount when set to their dynamic EQ… its nowhere near as dramatic as the Studio Buds. But then there are the Sennheiser CX Plus which are just on a whole other level. These things simply just sound more open and have better instrument separation than the Galaxy Buds and Studio Buds… and they also have better clarity. But the really fun thing about these earbuds is that is that if you want, they can have a whole lot of bass as well that resonates harder and deeper than the bass on the Studio Buds… but it doesn’t muddle the rest of your music. So with the CX Plus whether you want a neutral, or vocals focused EQ, or if you want a bass heavy EQ they can do it all. And the really important thing here is that with the CX Plus you can adjust their EQ to your liking. And this app works on both Android and iOS. Where as with the galaxy buds 2 this app only works if you're on an android device. And without this app you aren’t going to get the most out of these earbuds if youre and iPhone user. And then there are the studio buds which do have app support on both android and iOS… but this app doesn’t allow you to directly customize your EQ. So with the Studio Buds you are stuck with their bass heavy EQ. Which personally I don’t mind because these earbuds are a lot of fun to listen to… but definitely if you want the best sound… the simple answer here is go with the CX Plus.
But now lets talk about the media controls on these earbuds. Both the Galaxy Buds 2 and CX plus are using touch pads where as the Studio Buds are using physical buttons. And this alone could be a deciding factor for some people. Nonetheless the touch pads on both the Galaxy Buds and CX plus are accurate and easy enough to use. But also with both the Galaxy Buds and CX Plus… you get more control over your media directly from the earbuds themselves than you do with the Studio Buds. With the Galaxy Buds and CX Plus you can play or pause your media, skip through your music, adjust the volume of your music, cycle between your ANC settings and even activate your voice assistant if you have them configured properly. So even though the physical buttons on the Studio Buds are more accurate the touch pads on these other earbuds do allow for more control without having you use your phone.
Now when it comes to voice assistants, the Galaxy Buds have support for bixby which really only applies to Galaxy users. Where as the Studio Buds have support for Hey Siri… but given that the Studio Buds are mainly meant for Android users… I don’t think that matters that much. Nonetheless neither of these earbuds have Hey Google Support, but you can always active your voice assistant by pressing an holding on your earbud.
But finally I do want to address that the studio buds are the only earbuds here that don’t have proximity sensors… so they won’t automatically pause your music if you take your earbuds out of your ears. Which is a very standard feature that you really miss when you don’t have it any more. Now even though the Galaxy Buds 2 do have proximity sensors… they won’t pause your music unless you take both of your earbuds out. And then there are the CX plus which will pause your music if you take just one earbud out, which I feel is the correct way to do it.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancelation on these earbuds. Now right off the bat I am going to have to say that these earbuds don’t block out anywhere near as much noise as the big boys. Because when it comes to ranking there are the Sony WF-1000XM4’s which block out ton of noise… albeit they do have a slight advantage because of their foam ear tips which can get itchy. Below them are the Jabra Elite 85T’s which also block out a ton of noise while being more comfortable so I do prefer them. Below them are the AirPods Pro and Sennheiser Momentum 2’s which I feel as neck and neck. And below them are the Galaxy Buds pro.
Now below the Galaxy Buds Pro there are the Beats Studio Buds, below them are the Galaxy Buds 2, and below them are the CX plus. Now overall the CX plus block out some noise… but not a lot. And all of these earbuds mainly just block out constant low frequency sound like the constant hum of an AC unit. So I definitely wouldn’t pick up any of these earbuds if ANC is your main priority… but the studio buds are your best best here.
But like I’ve mentioned in the past, I only use the active noise cancelation on my earbuds when I have to and what’s really important to me is the quality of their ambient mode. Now the ambient modes on both the studio buds and galaxy buds are very similar. They both sound fairly natural with zero hissing in the background. Where as with the CX Plus, even though its sounds good as well with zero hissing in the background… it is a little more amplified than these other two earbuds. So things will sound louder than they do in real life.
Now unfortunately you can’t adjust the ambient mode on either the CX plus or Studio Buds like you can with the Galaxy Buds 2. But over all I am going to have to say that the Studio Buds have the best performing ambient mode here mainly because they do the best job here of rejecting wind noise when walking out doors. Now the CX Plus also do a good job of rejecting wind noise… but the studio buds are just better.
But finally here’s the microphone test. Now all of these earbuds have good sounding microphones for phone calls while in a quiet room.
However I do want to point out that the Studio Buds don’t have a slight hiss to them in the back ground like the CX Plus might have.
But then there’s the Galaxy Buds 2 which I feel do sound slightly better because they do have a little more amplification to them.
But the real difference here is when it comes to blocking out noise pollution. The galaxy bud 2 do the best job of blocking out chatter. Now you can still hear a little chatter in the background and I’ll might sound a little robotic but you can still understand me.
Where as with the studio buds you can clearly hear a little bit of chatter in the background…
And you can also hear a noticeable amount of chatter in the background with the CX Plus.
So over all both the CX Plus and Studio Buds have good microphones on them… but I would rather try to take phone calls with them in a quieter environment. Where as with the Galaxy Buds 2 you can get away with a little more noise pollution.
But with all that being said… if you are trying to choose between any of these earbuds they are all great options. However the CX plus really are the stand outs here when it comes to sound quality. These things truly are on a whole other level and whether you like a neutral EQ or Bass heavy EQ these earbuds have you covered. So if sound is your main priority then you will definitely want to go with these. Now the Beats Studio Buds also sound great and I like their bass heavy EQ as well… but these earbuds stand out a little bit here because they do block out the most amount of noise and they have the best performing ambient mode here. And the studio buds also have the more comfortable fit here because of their fitting ear tips. And finally there are the Galaxy Buds 2 which I would say are the most convenient earbuds here. They have the least noticeable case here which also has wireless charging, they have the longest combined battery life and they also have the best sounding microphone here.