There's no shortage of exercise-focused Bluetooth earphones on the market, but there's always room for one more if the price and sound quality are right.
Sennheiser's CX Sport earphones are a bit on the expensive side, at $129.95, but they offer a balanced sound signature with some solid bass presence and sculpted highs.
They also offer a lightweight, moisture-resistant design that pairs well with working out.
There's really not much to complain about, although they don't do much to stand out from the competition.
Design
The CX Sport earphones have a thin, flat black neckband with neon yellow highlights on the earpieces and inline remote control.
A built-in cable cinch makes it easy to adjust slack and achieve the ideal fit, and the inline remote is counterweighted with an inline plastic compartment near the left earpiece.
Each earpiece utilizes both silicone eartips and removable fins to stabilize the fit.
Sennheiser includes four total pairs of eartips and three total pairs of fins, all in various sizes.
The in-ear fit is light and secure, ideal for exercise, and Sennheiser claims the earphones carry a rating of IPX4, which means they are resistant to water, although not completely waterproof.
The inline remote, located just below the right earpiece, houses a microphone and three buttons.
A central multifunction controls playback and call management, while the outer two plus/minus buttons are for volume control and track navigation.
The mic offers better than average intelligibility.
Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 6s, we could understand each word recorded easily, and the mic provided a better sense of bass presence than most Bluetooth earphone mics.
The recording still suffered a tad from fuzzy audio artifacts, but this is typical, and it was actually less pronounced than we often hear.
The earphones can be paired simultaneously with two devices, so you can field calls from one and stream audio from another.
An exceptionally short USB charging cable connects to the covered micro USB port on the inline remote control compartment.
In addition to the cables and eartips and fins, the earphones ship with a shirt clip and a black, zip-up neoprene storage pouch.
Sennheiser claims roughly six hours of battery life, which is on the lower end of the spectrum.
Some pairs, like the JBL Reflect Mini 2, are closer to 10 hours.
Your results will vary with your volume levels.
Performance
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the earphones deliver substantial low frequency depth, and at top volumes, don't distort.
At more moderate volumes, the bass depth is still conveyed with power, though it doesn't overwhelm the mix—the highs and lows are nicely balanced.
Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the CX Sport's overall sound signature.
The first thing we notice is a strong boosting of the highest frequencies—the tape hiss is pushed forward in the mix dramatically.
Callahan's baritone vocals get a pleasant low-mid richness that's matched by a crisp high-mid presence, giving the vocals some treble edge.
The drums on this track get some extra thunder, but don't sound boosted to the point of overwhelming the mix.
Despite some obvious sculpting in the highs and boosting in the lows, the overall sound signature feels balanced, crisp, and full.
On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," we once again hear the high frequency boosting, which pushes the vinyl crackle forward in the mix.
The thump of the drum loop is powerful, more so than the loop's attack, which typically has more of a high-mid presence than it does here.
The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with gusto—the lows are powerful, once again, without overtaking the balance of the mix.
All three vocal performances are delivered with solid clarity, though the sculpting in the high-mids and highs results in some added sibilance.
Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, receive some added bass presence, pushing the lower register instrumentation forward in the mix a bit.
The higher register brass, strings, and vocals, however, are delivered with brightness and clarity, and they own the spotlight in this mix.
Even with the boosted lows, the lower register instrumentation plays more of a supporting role.
Conclusion
There are many solid, gym-friendly earphones out there to choose from.
The CX Sport's standout feature is probably its audio performance, which is balanced, if sculpted.
However, plenty of our favorites in this general price range offer similar or better sound performance and designs.
The Jaybird X3, the Bose SoundSport Wireless, the JLab Epic Sport Wireless , and the aforementioned JBL Reflect Mini 2 are all worth your attention.
Sennheiser's CX Sport earphones can certainly hang with the competition, but they can't top this list with so-so battery life and a comparatively high price.
Pros
Powerful bass depth matched with bright, clear highs.
Moisture-resistant, lightweight design is ideal for exercise.
The Bottom Line
The Sennheiser CX Sport earphones deliver a solid, bass-forward sound signature in an exercise-focused design.
There's no shortage of exercise-focused Bluetooth earphones on the market, but there's always room for one more if the price and sound quality are right.
Sennheiser's CX Sport earphones are a bit on the expensive side, at $129.95, but they offer a balanced sound signature with some solid bass presence and sculpted highs.
They also offer a lightweight, moisture-resistant design that pairs well with working out.
There's really not much to complain about, although they don't do much to stand out from the competition.
Design
The CX Sport earphones have a thin, flat black neckband with neon yellow highlights on the earpieces and inline remote control.
A built-in cable cinch makes it easy to adjust slack and achieve the ideal fit, and the inline remote is counterweighted with an inline plastic compartment near the left earpiece.
Each earpiece utilizes both silicone eartips and removable fins to stabilize the fit.
Sennheiser includes four total pairs of eartips and three total pairs of fins, all in various sizes.
The in-ear fit is light and secure, ideal for exercise, and Sennheiser claims the earphones carry a rating of IPX4, which means they are resistant to water, although not completely waterproof.
The inline remote, located just below the right earpiece, houses a microphone and three buttons.
A central multifunction controls playback and call management, while the outer two plus/minus buttons are for volume control and track navigation.
The mic offers better than average intelligibility.
Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 6s, we could understand each word recorded easily, and the mic provided a better sense of bass presence than most Bluetooth earphone mics.
The recording still suffered a tad from fuzzy audio artifacts, but this is typical, and it was actually less pronounced than we often hear.
The earphones can be paired simultaneously with two devices, so you can field calls from one and stream audio from another.
An exceptionally short USB charging cable connects to the covered micro USB port on the inline remote control compartment.
In addition to the cables and eartips and fins, the earphones ship with a shirt clip and a black, zip-up neoprene storage pouch.
Sennheiser claims roughly six hours of battery life, which is on the lower end of the spectrum.
Some pairs, like the JBL Reflect Mini 2, are closer to 10 hours.
Your results will vary with your volume levels.
Performance
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the earphones deliver substantial low frequency depth, and at top volumes, don't distort.
At more moderate volumes, the bass depth is still conveyed with power, though it doesn't overwhelm the mix—the highs and lows are nicely balanced.
Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the CX Sport's overall sound signature.
The first thing we notice is a strong boosting of the highest frequencies—the tape hiss is pushed forward in the mix dramatically.
Callahan's baritone vocals get a pleasant low-mid richness that's matched by a crisp high-mid presence, giving the vocals some treble edge.
The drums on this track get some extra thunder, but don't sound boosted to the point of overwhelming the mix.
Despite some obvious sculpting in the highs and boosting in the lows, the overall sound signature feels balanced, crisp, and full.
On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," we once again hear the high frequency boosting, which pushes the vinyl crackle forward in the mix.
The thump of the drum loop is powerful, more so than the loop's attack, which typically has more of a high-mid presence than it does here.
The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with gusto—the lows are powerful, once again, without overtaking the balance of the mix.
All three vocal performances are delivered with solid clarity, though the sculpting in the high-mids and highs results in some added sibilance.
Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, receive some added bass presence, pushing the lower register instrumentation forward in the mix a bit.
The higher register brass, strings, and vocals, however, are delivered with brightness and clarity, and they own the spotlight in this mix.
Even with the boosted lows, the lower register instrumentation plays more of a supporting role.
Conclusion
There are many solid, gym-friendly earphones out there to choose from.
The CX Sport's standout feature is probably its audio performance, which is balanced, if sculpted.
However, plenty of our favorites in this general price range offer similar or better sound performance and designs.
The Jaybird X3, the Bose SoundSport Wireless, the JLab Epic Sport Wireless , and the aforementioned JBL Reflect Mini 2 are all worth your attention.
Sennheiser's CX Sport earphones can certainly hang with the competition, but they can't top this list with so-so battery life and a comparatively high price.
Pros
Powerful bass depth matched with bright, clear highs.
Moisture-resistant, lightweight design is ideal for exercise.
The Bottom Line
The Sennheiser CX Sport earphones deliver a solid, bass-forward sound signature in an exercise-focused design.
