Sennheiser MM60 iPhone Headset

Sennheiser is a frequent guest in our labs, with so many of their products being covered last year. They keep innovating, got to give them that. Now today we have a special headphone by them, designed and marketed for the iPhone, but of course they can be used with other devices too. It’s called the MM60 iPhone. They also have a model called the MM60 Nokia, which we’re assuming will be similar in performance. So let’s see what these mobile phone oriented headphones are capable of.

Design
A classic supra-aural design, these sit on the pinna of the ear, but don’t engulf them. They are not at all heavy, but not flimsy too, I like the build quality. Though one point has to be made here: by virtue of their design itself, it's not that perfect for a commute, at least not as much as in-ear canalphones would be. The color scheme is black with metallic lead colored frames. The round earpads are covered with regular black foam, something that will tear off after hard use, but that cannot be avoided. 

The headband is slim, and consists of a metallic strip covered outlined by the black body that extends all the way down to the earpieces. The contours on the surfaces, the slick Sennheiser logo on the headband, neat padding on its under side etc. are all factors that make this unit look really good.

The design is foldable, thus easily carryable, plus included is a stout little hard plastic carry case. The cord is modular, with an extension bundled up specially created for use with an iPhone, and contains the  4-poled, 3.5mm stereo plug ideal for Apple’s iPhone (all generations) and iPod. There is a mic to speak during a call and a dedicated call answer switch - all this is incorporated in the extension cord.

The frequency response of the headphones is 15 – 27,000 Hz, Impedance is 32 Ω and Sound pressure level (SPL) is 96 dB.  The omnidirectional mic’s frequency response is 80 – 15,000 Hz, while the Impedance is 2.2 KΩ.

Performance
I plugged the MM60 in to our test iPhone, and first just started listening to music to see the sonic capabilities it could handle, especially frequency response wise. And here we found out that the bass is quite boomy over the rest, and creates ‘muddiness’ in the low mids. 

The volume on the player needs to be kept moderately high, not blasting, as these are quite sensitive already. Otherwise you will hear spiking mid frequencies that will make you cringe. Once a perfect volume setting is done, the sound is quite good. Only the bass is still very hard for my taste, and it sounds overpowering.

Electronic music sounds good; rather it’s the well recorded pop/rock/jazz that sounds quite brilliant.  There is a depth and thickness in the sound for sure. The highs are impressive, in perfect control and providing just the right amount if sibilance, though this is on hearing MP3s. The detail in the sound is there, and finally while making voice calls the headphone did a very good job, and so did the mic. The main thing I looked for in the mic was sonic dirt like hiss, hum and feedback, out of which none were issues. Little feedback is there, but not an issue.

Conclusion
This unit costs Rs. 4,990, which is slightly more for an average mobile user, but an iPhone user might not mind the price. The only thing that really makes this iPhone friendly is the 4-pole EP plug, instead of three. Sound wise it is more suited to a mobile phone accessory, and not a music listening device, as the frequency response is not upto the mark. The looks are decent, and portability is good. Mic works well, but headphones could have been better performing.