The in-ear headphone market is filled with a plethora of choices, and it can be hard to pick a set beyond the complementary set that you generally receive with your phone, no matter how bad they are. Furthermore, not all headphones are available with a mic for use with mobile phones and not many of these have useful in-line controls. The Sennheiser MM70s is one such in-ear headphone that includes these conveniences and has the audio pedigree to boot. Let’s see how they shape up.
In The Box
Right out of the box, you’ll everything you’ll need to get set up with your MM70s. This includes:
- 5 types of ear cushions, in addition to the standard sized ones already attached;
- A small leather pouch (that doubles as entertainment on public transport);
- An earphone winder for storing your earphones;
- An adapter for specific phones (i.e. Nokia, Sony Ericsson);
- And a shirt clip
All-in-all, a very well equipped set of earphones that should have you set up comfortably in no time. The highlight for me among this bunch of accessories is the bag and the earphone winder. Not all in-ear headphones will come with such generous and helpful extras, but they make a world of difference when so many of my own earphones, and I’m sure everyone’s, have broken due to bad winding and storage.
The bag, as I mentioned earlier, can be a source of entertainment as well as a handy storage bag. The mouth of the bag has two rigid piece of plastic inserted inside it, allowing you to close the bag without the fear or errant objects getting inside it. The entertainment factor comes about when you start opening and closing the bag with your preoccupied hands. It’s somewhat therapeutic if I may say so myself… The bag is great quality too, and has sustained multiple days being abused at the bottom of my backpack without so much as a scuffle.
Appearance and Design
The Sennheiser MM70s are a simple set of earphones; they don’t look overly complicated, with a simple black & silver colour scheme, it doesn’t have braided cables or anything fancy. If you’re looking for loud and outrageous, the MM70s aren’t going to blow you away, but if you want simple and understated, it has this in mounds.
This simple vibe extends even to the leather (probably not real leather though) pouch you can store your buds once you’re finished listening; a simple black bag with a subtle Sennheiser logo engraved into its surface is the perfect bag to hide your earphones away from prying eyes, and impress those know the logo.
Of course, the primary interest in the MM70s earphones (apart from the sound quality, of course) is the in-line microphone and controls. It’s a very frugal affair: you get the microphone in the top of the in-line section, an Answer/Play/Pause button and volume control. The volume control is actually a little inconvenient to use as the volume pusher is almost flush with the face of the controls. This mean that pushing it, especially with one hand, can occasionally be  a painful affair as you accidentally change the volume too high, or too low. The alternative is to fiddle with the controls with two hands, but the in-line controls are mounted higher than most microphones are and so you’ll be fiddling with something around your face. Not the biggest concern, and it’s more convenient that the controls are there at all, but it can take a little getting use to.
The microphone is a decent piece of kit, but as it was said earlier, is mounted quite high on the cable. This can cause some awkward moments when the person you’re calling can’t hear you because the mic is hangin somewhere beside next to your neck, though the included cable clip and definitely aid with this.
The Beats
Despite the MM70s’ demure appearance, they sound darn good. The whole audio range is well catered for, though if anything it’s geared towards the bassy side. I had no issues listening to a whole range of music, going from bass-ier dance and pop music to good ol’ classical music, and had a good time of it too.
The sound is very full, though as they are in-ear headphones, they did lack some depth compared to open-back headphones, though that’s to be expected. As far as in-ear headphones go, you wouldn’t be disappointed in the audio quality if you bought the MM70s.
Overall
The Sennheiser MM70s is a very complete package: from the in-the-box inclusions to the audio quality, you’d be hard pressed to find a better equipped set of earphones that caters to so many different use cases. At a RRP of $149.95, they aren’t the cheapest pair of earphones around, but they are Sennheiser, and with that you get the audio quality, you get a mobile compatible headset, and you get some nice extras to make your life easier; a pretty good deal if in-ear headphones are your cup of tea.
For more information about the Sennheiser MM70s or Sennheiser’s other products, visit their website at the links below:
Sennheiser HD 219s product page
Also, don’t forget Sennheiser’s social media outlets:
Gallery of Photos
