Sennheiser Consumer Audio HD 450BT Bluetooth 5.0 Wireless Headphone with Active Noise Cancellation – 30-Hour Battery Life, USB-C Fast Charging, Virtual Assistant Button, Foldable – Black

The sennheiser HD450 BT is the successor to the 4.50. it’s an improvement in every way.Comfort.The 450 BT has a thin headband but it never dug into my head at all. This is all plastic but it’s well constructed and folds to a very compact size. The one thing i wish is that the earcups were a smidge wider, but i can think of a number of people i know and who i had try these headphones on, of varrying builds and none of them felt comfort was an issue. Truthfully it isn’t anything i can’t live with and i am nitpicking, but also comparing to other headphones i own.The headphones charge via USB-C and also have an analog cable with a 2.5 MM plug for the headphones, and a 3.5 MM for your headphone jack.The codecs they support are SBC, AAC, APTX and APTX-LL. The latter is designed to sync the audio from a TV or movie with what you see on screen.Note; IPHONES AND IPADS DO NOT SUPPORT THIS FEATURE.noise canceling. The headphones do well illiminating the whirring from AC units, busses etc, but with Air Conditioners for example, you’ll still hear the fan noise, though it will be reduced. These also don’t block voices very well, though they passively block them out enough so that with music playing at low-medium volumes and higher of course, you likely won’t hear any of these noises well. There are headphones that cost double who’s ANC is not as good as the Sennheiser HD450 BT.Sound. You can customize the sound via the Sennheiser Smart Control app, available on IOS and Android, via a dot EQ. The eq implementation is 2 stars only because i am able to get a sound i enjoy with these and other Sennheiser products i have which also use the Smart Control app, but from a programming and customization standpoint, it earns a solid half a star.By default the sound has an emphasis on bass in all it’s forms, but these are not muddy by any means. The mids are full and the treble is rolled off slightly, but fortunately all this can be refined to some degree with the eq. Theres still a veil to the sound if i compare them to higher priced models like the NAD Viso HP70 or Shure Aonic 50, but those cost twice as much as the $200 MSRP Sennheiser placed on these. that said, these have some real potential and if you use an app that has a multiband eq, you could really make these shine. AS is, they have a good sense of space for instruments to have separation and sounds in tv shows to have their place as well.Functionality.The Sennheiser 450 BT uses buttons for it’s functions.on the underside of the left side of the headphone just above the earcup, there is a braille L to indicate left. The right earcup is where all the buttons and ports are.you have the analog adapter mentioned earlier, the USB-C port, on the bottom edge of the right earcup. The volume button has a dot on one end, that’s volume up. the other side closest to you while wearing them is volume down. Details like this help when you want to use them without looking, especially because while the buttons aren’t hard to use, they are a little cramped in some instances. Fortunately they’re distinct enough that it shouldn’t be hard memorizing each one and what it does. Back to the layout, the next button over from volume moving towards your ear while you’re wearing them is a toggle which rewinds and fastforwards by flicking it it up for fast forward, and down for rewind. Fun fact, if you hold the toggle in either direction, you can scrub through the track bit by bit. perfect if you miss something while listening to a podcast or audiobook. some devices and apps don’t support this functionality however. pressing inward on the toggle pauses or plays music and also answers and ends calls. next button up, right near where the headphone band connects to the earcup is an assistent button. This worked 100% of the time. I didn’t need to set it up like i have to with some products. This is using google Assistent. on the opposite side of the right earcup from the assistent button is the power/noise cancelation button. You press and release to turn ANC on and off and hold for 2-3 seconds to power on and off. Hold for 5 seconds to place in pairing mode.These also support multipoint connection, so you can have them connected to a tablet for music and a phone for calls for example. If you have music playing on one device, and recieve a call on another device the headphones are paired to, the music will pause, and the call will come in. you can hold the function button for a couple of seconds to reject the call. IF you do, your audio from the previous device will start playing again.Call quality. While these headphones don’t have a transparency mode available while listening to music etc, they do use it for phone calls. This is a wonderful feature because you can clearly hear yourself and your environment while on a call. Vital while you’re walking or might otherwise be occupied. The callers i spoke with in most cases didn’t know beforehand i was using headphones for the call. And they never ask me to repeat myself or if i were on bluetooth. while speaking with them i did every day tasks, washing dishes, talking with my birds, vacuuming etc. The people i did ask for feedback on how i sounded said they could hear these noises in the background, but the sounds didn’t overpower my voice and they could always hear me clearly. I left my phone in a room most the time while i wandered through my apartment and it never cut out on the call or while listening to music.These are a fantastic buy. If you want a well built headphone that has a lot of features but doesn’t have a premium price, this is the one to get right now.

I am using my review as a way to communicate a confusing problem that I was able to figure out on my own.As for my review:- Sounds amazing- a bit tight (I have a medium/smaller sized head), will have to break them in more before extended periods of use.- The ANC is just as I expected and the fact they work as a headset is great too!- The mic quality is not ideal and terrible in the wind. It’s nice to have in a pinch so you don’t have to raise your phone to your mouth, but I wouldn’t recommend trying to do any business that needs high-quality audio).- Battery life is solid and the USB-C is so convenient! Plus a clear voice that lets you know if they are powering on or off.- Easy to connect, a bit confusing to master (hence the second part of this review)Great Value Headphones, Meh as a Headset.———- How to toggle “Transparency/pass-through Mode” & “ANC Mode”? ————I found a few comments mentioning that you are unable to turn it off the “Transparency Mode” or the pass-through sounds that are made ambiently around you, like voices, crinkling paper, and typing. This is not the same as ANC(Active Noice Cancellation) which removes only the ambient hum of the room like a fan, refrigerator, or airplane.This particular headset actually has two BlueTooth Connections or “drivers” on windows and mac.”Headphones (LE-HD 450BT Stereo)” & “Headset (HD 450BT Hands-Free AG Audio)”Mobile devices seem to auto-switch between these depending on if they are utilizing the mic in the Headset or not.Headphones (LE-HD 450BT Stereo): Does not utilize Transparency Mode, however ANC can be toggled. (Set this as “Default” if you do not want to here the Transparency mode)Headset (HD 450BT Hands-Free AG Audio): Seems to default Transparency Mode ON, and ANC can also be toggled when this is active as well. (If you make a lot of calls and utilize the mic setting this to “Default” may be more useful) If you use the Assistant button, this will automatically switch to this driver, but will revert if you have the headphones selected as “Default”.**Extra Notes**If you have a 5.0 BlueTooth (internal or as an adapter) for your computer both of these are able to connect and you can toggle between these in your sound settings. Most modern mobile devices as of July 2016+ have this installed but you may use the AIDA64 app on the Google Play store to see if it’s in your device.Apple Users: iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, HomePod, and the 2018 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar all (and newer devices) utilize the 5.0 or newer BlueTooth.I do not know what happens if you have an older version of BlueTooth, however, I speculate that switching between the two drivers may be clunky, and slower than it already is. However they will still connect, you may just run into issues connecting other devices simultaneously like a mouse and keyboard.The S 450BT WILL usually prioritize headphone mode, however, I hope this helps if you were confused.If you use the Headphone Jack it will put the headphones in Flight Mode and deactivate all BlueTooth Connections.

I love this headphone, the only problem is that it does not shutoff automatically, you need to press the button.

I bought these mainly for air travel and to use in my deer hunting stand.on my first 3 hr flight i got the unit out to try. unfortunately i did not bring along the (very poor) instructions. after 20 minutes i didn not even figure out how to turn them on. (3 second button push) .It has several buttons and switches all cranmed together on the earphone.I still havent figured out how to use most of them.i could not get the bluetooth to marry up with my samsung phone so i used the hardwire to connect to my phone.the USB port is proprietary an does not plug into any device with the standard mini USB portThank god the european union now demands all USB ports be the same for all products. Did you see the apple 15 now has removed their proprietaty USB port and has installed the standard USB mini port

Nice, comfy and excellent sound. Smooth listening.