Sennheiser Conversation Clear Plus Review
Sennheiser’s Conversation Clear Plus is an exceptional pair of in-ear headphones. Although these caps can be used to make calls and listen to music, that is not their primary function or intended purpose. What is their precise purpose or intention? To assist you in concentrating on conversations during challenging situations. This gives the impression that the set functions similarly to a hearing aid, but if our understanding of Sennheiser is accurate, this is not entirely the case.
“These are not hearing aids,” writes the audio manufacturer Sennheiser on its website, emphasizing that the wireless earbuds are not designed for individuals who have hearing loss. The intended audience member can hear the ‘birds chirping’ outside and has no trouble following conversations at a normal volume in quiet environments without the use of assistive technology. Briefly, Sennheiser’s Conversation Clear Plus is designed for individuals with average hearing who desire to follow conversations effortlessly in challenging environments. Consider locations with a great deal of ambient noise, such as a crowded pub or a conference, where engaging in conversation can be a tiresome endeavor due to the surrounding chatter.
Strengthen conversations
The operation of these in-ears, however, is broadly comparable to that of a hearing aid. That is not surprising given that Sennheiser’s consumer division was acquired by Sonova a few years ago. This Swiss group, for example, sells hearing aids under the brand names Phonak and Unitron and owns the Dutch hearing care chain Schoonenberg. While the Sennheiser brand name is prominently displayed on the packaging of these in-ears, the parent company’s name is displayed on the side.
The Conversation Clear Plus works by amplifying the sound of conversations that you focus on. Voices that are nearly directly in front of you are amplified more than voices that are behind you. Meanwhile, the in-ears attempt to muffle sounds with different frequencies. The main difference between real hearing aids and imitations is that real hearing aids provide more amplification and are more tailored to the individual user. These devices can also be much more expensive, though Sennheiser’s set, with a recommended retail price of 849 euros, is not exactly cheap. We investigated whether these in-ears are effective at facilitating difficult conversations and whether they are worth the high price.
Appearance and wearability
The Conversation Clear Plus isn’t your typical set of in-ears, but it does include a charging case and two earphones. The box and caps are substantial; the charging case for Apple’s AirPods Pro is nearly twice the size of Sennheiser’s conversation booster. The weight of the ears, on the other hand, is not too bad; they weigh 5.7 grams each, which is about average. Except for the white Sennheiser logo and the gray-colored silicone on the ears, the in-ears and charging box are completely black. The earphones are splash-proof but not dust-proof, thanks to their IPX4 rating.
A larger and smaller size are included in addition to the standard installed medium silicones. The in-ears are outfitted with so-called ear fins, which come in three sets. The extra ear fins help the caps stay in place, in our experience. This is also true for moderately strenuous sporting activities. Furthermore, the in-ears do not press too hard against your ears and are light enough to allow you to walk around for hours without being bothered.
App and touch control
You can press the top half of both earplug stems. Because only the top is compressible, the earphones do not become loose or fall out of your ears. You can easily switch between the three usage modes by pressing and holding them for a few seconds. When you press a button, you will receive immediate auditory feedback. That’s great. It’s a shame you can’t customize the operation of the handles to your liking.
The in-ears can, of course, be controlled by the accompanying Conversation Clear app. It clearly displays the charging status of the earphones and is well-organized, but it has a few annoying quirks. If you change a setting and then lock your phone, the buds will return to the previous setting for about three seconds before applying the new setting. The earphones must be connected again every time you minimize the app and then restore it to your screen. The same holds true if you lock your phone while using the app and then unlock it later. That connection was sometimes restored in two seconds, but we also had to wait more than ten seconds on a regular basis. That quickly becomes tedious.
Furthermore, before you can use the software, you must first create a Sennheiser account. The reason for this is that the app creates a unique sound profile for you. If you link this to an account, you can access it again via the cloud if you change smartphones, for example. That could be useful, but Sennheiser should have given the user the option to disable it.
Call amplification, music and calling
The in-ears have three usage modes: ‘relax’, ‘conversation’, and ‘stream’. The middle function is, of course, the most important. Consider it a type of extended transparency mode. The caps allow sound from outside to enter, and you can control how loud those external sounds are. Unlike other in-ears, the conversation mode here only listens to sounds in the middle of the frequency range, where the human voice can be heard.
Relax, conversation and streaming
This voice’s amplification can be adjusted in fifteen steps. There is also a clarity boost function that you can enable or disable. This function amplifies the higher range even more. This makes voices sound even clearer, but other sounds in the same frequency range, such as tapping on keyboards or rustling paper, are amplified just as much. There is no noise cancellation in this mode, except for the passive noise cancellation caused by your ears being closed.
In relaxation mode, active noise cancellation is used. This mode is designed to temporarily disconnect you from the outside world. You can also specify how much information you want to receive from the outside world.
When you play music on your paired phone, the Conversation Clear Plus goes into stream mode. You can also adjust how much outside noise you want to hear, from as much as possible (the music volume is low and you hear almost everything that happens around you) to as little as possible (the music sounds louder and the noise cancellation works its hardest). to muffle outside noise).
Regardless of mode, the earphones continuously measure the amount of noise in your environment and classify it as loud, medium, or quiet. They adjust the damping and amplification based on the amount of ambient noise. You can clearly hear when the system switches from loud to medium, for example. This did not bother us at all.
Call Enhancement
In general, this Sennheiser set performs admirably in real-world conversations. Interlocutors’ voices sound very clear and natural. The focus function, for example, ensures that speakers more or less directly in front of you are amplified more than talking people behind you. It works accurately and intuitively. When you turn your head, you can hear the system intervene and adjust the volume, but you get used to it.
This is not to say that the voices behind you are not amplified in any way. You can easily listen to a conversation held ten meters behind you if you set the conversation amplification to maximum in conversation mode. The excellent placement of voice sound is one of Conversation Clear Plus’s strongest points. It’s impressive that you can pinpoint where votes come from. All of this actually makes it easier to follow conversations, even in noisy environments.
However, there are some disadvantages to using conversation reinforcement. These Sennheiser earphones not only amplify but also make voices sound nice and full. This means that a relatively broad frequency range has been chosen to amplify. This spans the mid-range to the upper end of the range. One significant disadvantage is that, in addition to voices, a lot of noise is amplified. You can hear the paper crunching as your conversation partner flips through his notes. In an air-conditioned room, you can hear the air conditioning system constantly, in the form of an ominous hum that reminded me of a muffled version of the vuvuzela sound from the Football World Cup thirteen years ago in South Africa.
Playing Music
The options for listening to music or watching a video stream are limited. There is no equalizer control, and you cannot select different codecs or activate a lower latency mode. You can only change the playback volume and the mix with ambient sound.
The playback quality is adequate but not exceptional. The Conversation Clear Plus is primarily intended for conversations, and it attempts to give voices a central place in the stereo mix in order to make them as understandable as possible. This results in a fairly narrow stereo image, which is unfortunately also present when playing normal audio.
The conversational focus of this set also has an impact on the sound character. The midrange, in particular, is quite loud, which is not ideal for music. For example, in the songs in question, I heard higher overtones on bass drums and low tones that I had never heard before. Overall, the stream mode is adequate for watching a video on social media or listening to music. However, if you’re looking for a pair of in-ear that can play music, these Sennheisers aren’t for you.
Making a phone call
The sound quality of telephone conversations is excellent. Your conversation partner’s voice sounds full, and the warmth of voices remains. The opposite is true: my conversation partner was impressed by the clarity of my voice over the phone. Calls sound clearly better and warmer when made from a quiet environment than when made with the in-ears from our recent round-up.
These Sennheiser microphones also perform admirably in terms of noise reduction. When you call from outside, your conversation partner will hear wind noise and traffic sounds, but these will not drown out the conversation.
When we tested the noise cancellation of the microphones in our lab, we noticed the same thing. We played a voice recording into the earphones’ microphones while loud noise was played through a speaker 95cm away from the in-ears. The paired phone called another device, and the resulting voice was recorded. The noise is continuously audible in the recording, which you can listen to below. However, the voice is barely interrupted, allowing the message to be delivered. This means that the microphones’ noise suppression is perfect.
Noise cancellation
Active noise cancellation (ANC) is also a letdown. It’s worth noting that the ANC on these in-ears works a little differently than we’re used to. After all, there is no ANC setting in the earphones or the app: you simply adjust the balance between a lot, a little, and no ambient noise in the three available modes. You can’t turn off noise cancellation without also turning off transparency. The only way to get the most out of the ANC is to use the relax mode with minimal ambient noise. This was also measured.
The outcome is depicted in the graph below. The performance of the ANC is quite good. The damping in the mid and high ranges is only slightly less powerful than on the Sony WF-1000XM5. This is supported by our practical experience. The motor makes a slightly louder sound when vacuuming. Walking outside, passing traffic sounds soft, and the wind rumbles slightly in your ears. Passers-by conversing are also slightly audible, but not intelligible.
Latency and battery life
Sennheiser claims that when used in conversation mode, these in-ears can last up to nine hours. To push the ANC, we tested the battery life while playing music in stream mode with as little ambient noise as possible. The Conversation Clear Plus has a battery life of 9 hours and 20 minutes in this scenario. That’s a fantastic score. The JBL Tour Pro 2, which had the longest battery life with ANC enabled in our recent round-up, stopped working after 8 hours and 45 minutes. The charging box allows you to charge the Sennheisers twice more.
When we played a video in VLC for Android on our Samsung Galaxy A53, we measured a latency of 417ms. This is a fairly typical rating for wireless in-ears. As a result, the caps are unsuitable for fast-paced action games, and when playing video, it is best to compensate for the delay between image and sound with a lipsync option.
Conclusion
The Sennheiser Conversation Clear Plus is designed to enhance in-person conversations, and it excels at this task. The in-ears, in particular, amplify voice sounds that come directly from the front, which makes it easier to follow conversations, especially in noisy environments. Furthermore, even during phone conversations, voices come through loud and clear. You can concentrate more easily on the content, making a series of difficult conversations less exhausting. The vocal placement is also very precise; this allows you to indicate where sounds come from.
However, I was bothered by the amplification of noise in conversation mode, such as keyboard tapping, footsteps, and wind and air conditioning noise. The last two have a consistent tone that I didn’t enjoy. However, you use that mode to strengthen conversations. And when you’re talking intently, those noises are less bothersome than when it’s otherwise quiet.
The main question remains, however: is such a chat buddy worth 850 euros? The fact that the set isn’t a star when playing audio doesn’t help, nor does the app’s erratic connection. Furthermore, the ANC performs admirably, but not as well as in-ears which cost between 200 and 300 euros. In the end, this set is primarily a one-trick pony. The prices may be reasonable for business talkers, but I fear that the Sennheiser Conversation Clear Plus, with its hefty price tag, will be relegated to the realm of niche products.
