I’m doing something a little different for this post. Given the Teams-Time I’ve put in this year, I thought I’d do something for my ears. And when I was offered a chance to review Sennheiser’s new wireless earphones, I jumped at it.

Let’s start with the basics. Sennheiser makes good audio equipment. I own a host of products from the brand, including my first wireless headphones, the MM400, as well as a set of gamer headphones, the GSP670 (my ears have never felt better in that padding). I had high expectations for the CX 400BT, and the company didn’t disappoint.

There’s a host of technology in a very small design (each earbud weights in at six grams). The earbuds are charged through a charging case, which is powered via a USB-C wire. The CX 400BT’s 7mm dynamic drivers deliver a frequency range of 5Hz to 21kHz, and the microphone frequency response is from 100Hz to 10kHz.

The earbuds connect via Bluetooth. While there’s no active noise cancellation, the design does a good job of blocking out ambient noise. I’ve read that you can get up to seven hours of usage on a single charge, but I’ve never had the earbuds run empty. And if you have an iPhone or an Android phone, you can download the Sennheiser Smart Control application. This app lets you control, update and personalize the earbuds.

Design-wise, the earbuds are square-ish, and I’d screw them into place. They do look different, especially compared to stem/droplet designs (my daughter thinks they look like the girl robot from WALL-E). The color choices are simple – it’s either white or black. The earbuds are very comfortable, especially when worn for a long time, thanks to the silicon tips. However, I have had them drop out once or twice when I’ve made a sudden, sharp movement; given that, they’re maybe not the best for the gym.

The earbuds are controlled by touch-sensitive panels. The design is very, very simple and easy to pick up. Tap once on the left earpiece for playback, and one tap on the right answers a call or activates your voice assistant. Two quick taps on the left moves you back a track, and two taps on the right skips forward or ends the call. A long press and hold on either earbud adjusts the volume up or down. The controls are brilliant – they’re always responsive. If you don’t like the setup, you can change the controls via the mobile phone app.

Now, let’s talk about the most important issue, namely sound quality. The audio put out by the earphones is crisp and rich. There’s no distortion, and the bass levels are perfect for me. You’ll have no problem using these earphones for webinars, video conferencing, or your run-of-the-mill phone calls (remember those?). The microphone picked up everything I was saying clearly, and I didn’t have any drop-off in the connection when using the earbuds.

To sum this all up, my ears are much happier with the Sennheiser CX 400BT; my sound has been upgraded. If you’re looking to treat yourself to a better audio experience that’s both comfortable and customizable, then look no further than the Sennheiser CX 400BT.