by Greg King on October 6, 2006 in Audio & Media
We took a look at the PC150s big brother a few weeks ago, but these are more apt to be perused due to the fact that they cost half of the price. You’d expect these to sound far worse than the 165s… but they don’t.
It’s that time again and today, we have our second set of headphones from Sennheiser. Last week we had taken a look at the PC165 USB headset and in all accounts, it was a winner. Today however, we are taking a look at its little brother.
Sennheiser has been around for a long time. 61 years to be exact. In that time, they have become one of the leading manufacturers of audio equipment. Known for their high quality audio product, it’s nice to see them not focus on top dollar equipment because not everyone has the money to purchase top tier hardware. The PC150s are designed for gamers who game on a budget. How well will the 150s stand up to the 165s?
Upon arrival, the PC150s came to me in their retail packaging. Like the 165s, the packaging is informative but not over the top. On the front, you see the headset in all it’s glory and on the back, all the information one could ever need can be found’ and in 6 different languages!
As you can see, the hardware specs for the 150s are all over the back of the case but for your viewing pleasure, the specs will now be listed.
- Adjustable headband for total comfort
- For IP based communications
- Microphone can be adjusted and bent
- In-line volume control/Microphone mute switch
- Single sided cable wont bug your neck or chin
- Noise-cancelling microphone
- Can be used with CD/DVD/MP3 player
- Compatible with Win98SE and above
- Headphones
- Frequency response: 18 ‘ 22,000Hz
- Impedance: 32Ω
- SPL: 114dB
- Cable: 3.0m
Microphone
- Frequency response: 80 ‘ 15,000 Hz
- Pick-up patter: Uni-directional
- Sensitivity: -38dB
- Impedance: -2Ω
Features
- Adjustable headband for perfect fitting
- Adjustable, bendable and pivotable microphone makes the voice more clear and increases comfort and flexibility
- The noise-cancelling microphone provides for high speech-clarity and voice recognition by filtering out the noise around you.
- With the in-line volume control and the microphone mute switch, you can keep sound at the right level or have a side conversation in privacy.
- Equipped with a single sided cable for maximum freedom of movement.
If you paid attention to the specs of the PC165s, the only glaring difference aside from them being a bit smaller, is the headphone impedance with is double that of the 165s. Aside from that, they appear to be the exact same headset’ on paper.
Once we had the headset out of the packaging, the similarities to the PC165 headset are noticeable. You can tell that their engineers came up with a good design and stuck with it.
As you can see, the microphone has almost a 180 degree range. When you don’t need to use it, you can pivot it up. When you need it, just pivot it down. It’s as simple as that.
When we get to the top of the headset, there is a pad on the inside. This allows you to comfortably wear this headset without being to uncomfortable over long periods of wear. Shown below is a comparison between the 165s and the 150s. As you can see, the padding on the 165s is of a nicer material but both are equally as soft. The 165 is on the top and the 150 is obviously on the bottom.
For another comparison, we will see the difference in size of the 165s and the 150s. The smaller ear bud in both pictures is the 150s.
Finally, I want to show a side by side a picture of the 165s right next to the 150s. Overall the size is the same, aside from the earpods.