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Updated April 11, 2024·
If you're on a budget, the Creative Labs Outlier Air V3 offers good sound, comfort, and battery life for everyday use, and they're versatile for exercise or travel, featuring sweatproof certification and wireless convenience. However, they are less suited for immersive music listening or a rich soundstage compared to Sennheiser IE600. The Sennheiser IE600, being the pricier option, excels in overall sound quality, comfort, and has a detachable cable, making it preferable for audiophiles and those who prioritize music and TV/video experience despite lacking wireless capabilities. Neither is ideal for gaming due to latency issues. If you make calls often, the Outlier Air V3 performs better; for noise isolation on flights or in noisy settings, the IE600 is the stronger pick. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the Creative Labs Outlier Air V3
Good for phone calls
Very good for exercise
Very good for air travel
Very good for podcasts and audiobooks
Advantages of the Sennheiser IE600
Very good for music
Excellent for TV and video
Key differences
Music
5.7/10
8.3/10
The Sennheiser IE600 is very good for music, while the Creative Labs Outlier Air V3 is poor.
Gaming
5.1/10
6.7/10
The Sennheiser IE600 is only fair for gaming, while the Creative Labs Outlier Air V3 is poor.
Phone Calls
7.6/10
3.5/10
The Creative Labs Outlier Air V3 is good for phone calls, while the Sennheiser IE600 is poor.
Podcasts and Audiobooks
8.9/10
5.4/10
The Creative Labs Outlier Air V3 is very good for podcasts and audiobooks, while the Sennheiser IE600 is poor.
TV and Video
5.4/10
9.3/10
The Sennheiser IE600 is excellent for TV and video, while the Creative Labs Outlier Air V3 is poor.
Battery
10.0 Hours
N/A
The Creative Labs Outlier Air V3 has 10 hours of battery life. The Sennheiser IE600 does not have a battery.
Cost
$30
$600
$0
$100
$200
$300
$400
The Creative Labs Outlier Air V3 has a price of $30 and the Sennheiser IE600 costs $600.
Although they have very similar scores, PerfectRec considers Sennheiser IE600 to be good for noise reduction, while the Creative Labs Outlier Air V3 is only fair.
Build Quality
9.0/10
9.0/10
The Creative Labs Outlier Air V3 and Sennheiser IE600 both have excellent build quality.
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How the Creative Labs Outlier Air V3 and the Sennheiser IE600 compare to other earbuds and headphones
"The V3 present the best version of the Outlier Air series yet. The new features such as Active Noise Reduction and Ambient mode are integrated well; the performance of both is as good as you’ll get below £100. The design is less bulky and more comfortable thanks to being smaller and lighter, and the Outlier Air V3 eke out more clarity, detail and definition from music."
"If you've got the bucks, the Sennheiser IE 600 is a nice, upscale set of in-ear monitors made of a lightweight metal with an unusual texture. It comes with a suite of extras, and performs well at virtually every task."
Get a great deal on the Creative Labs Outlier Air V3 or the Sennheiser IE600
About Creative Labs
Creative Labs is a Singaporean technology company specialized in the manufacture of multimedia products. They created the world-famous Soundblaster soundcard back in 1989 which was a staple of the gaming community for a long time. Nowadays, besides still marketing their discrete audio systems, they offer a wide array of headphones, gaming headsets and speakers that still preserve that same heritage.
About Sennheiser
A family-owned company, Sennheiser is a German, high fidelity, audio equipment manufacturer founded in 1945. Their consumer audio division is now owned by the Swiss hearing aid and cochlear implant manufacturer Sonova. Sennheiser offers a wide variety of, very high quality, audio equipment solutions, from headphones to earbuds, full sets of monitoring speakers, amplifiers and microphones. They also make what is widely regarded as the best, and most expensive, headphones in existence, the HE-1 Orpheus, costing a whopping $59,000 dollars.
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This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec earbuds & headphones team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest earbuds or headphones information and makes it digestible for you.
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Joe is an entrepreneur and lifelong electronics enthusiast with a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan.
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