First Lieutenant 
Drives: 2015 MW M4
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: NE
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Arcades
Quote:
Originally Posted by minn19
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arcades
Anyone know about some recommendations for wireless over-ear headphones?
Looked at Sony Wh1000XM2 and Bose QuietComfort 35 Series 2 since they seem to be on top of every list but... anything else? B&O? Sennheiser?
Lups Except for me, I'm lactose intolerant.
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I love my Bose QC 35s and I'm not a Bose fan at all. |
Quote:
Originally Posted by GrussGott
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arcades
Close to Audiophile quality good enough. yeah i would love to get lost in the music and ignore the outside world. That's why I pointed to the two headphones I listed. They seem small enough I can put in my car and from what I can tell the Bose as a carjack ability that I can recharge in my car. I don't know if the Sony has that or not.
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Well no wireless headphone will be close audiophile quality, so FYI there. If you want better mobile sound with a wireless headphone when wired, then you can get an external DAC or DAC/amp to plug into your phone like the Dragon Flys, Chord Mojo, iDSD nano black label, etc. That also gives you the ability to buy some high quality wired headphones and drive them from your phone.
For wireless noise cancelling headphones you've got the usual suspects which I'd rank this way:
* Sony WH-1000XM2
* B&O Beoplay H9i
* Bowers & wilkins PX
* Bose QC 35 2
* V-moda crossfades
* Sennheiser Momentum
The top 3 will all provide excellent sound, the Bose are best at noise cancelling.
What's not on this list is my beloved B&W P7s - for me these are the best sounding wireless on market, but they're hard to find now. They're not noise cancelling, but they're quite isolating and oh lord are they great for EDM, Deep House, and anything with a beat. You WILL PARTY. If I air travel, I bring the P7s. I'm considering getting the H9i just for wireless variety - the rest just didn't have a sound profile that appealed to me and I find noise cancelling to be mostly useless - I'd much rather have (my version) great sound.
I would say those top 3 are all great sound but more "neutral" whereas I find Bose to flat. For me the Bose were so bad I put them back in the box in under 2 minutes and that might not be fair, but the P7s ruined me. They are not neutral, but way "warm" with a suppressed treble. They not bass heavy crap like beats, but more bass heavy awesome - super clean. They are extremely forgiving and will make any recording sound great. When I go from the P7s to just about any other low-fi headphone including any on this list I almost cry. Audiophile quality wireds like the Senn hd600/50/60s or Massdrop's Fostex Th-x00 will show you the shortcomings of the P7s, with the THx00 provider a similar profile but much more resolving (those all require decent DACs and Amps)
The P7s are directly responsible for me spending thousands on mid-fi audio gear. Later on this year I'm probably going to buy one of Zach's hand-made ZMF Atticus headphones ... I'm kinda waiting for him to bring back cocobolo wood, but I'll take paduk or purple heart.
Anyway, a few other notes:
Hi-Res Music
As defined as anything higher than CD quality (16/44), is mostly worthless unless you've got $15,000 of headphone gear and 5+ years of analytical listening experience. That said, even the best paid spotify / google play streams are 4x+ crappier than CD quality and you can definitely hear it with decent headphones. Basically if you're under CD quality you'll be missing an emotional component to the music which you can tell once you start going back and forth. The emotional piece, once you realize it, becomes addictive (see $$$ above). Personally I used Tidal Hi-Fi which steams at CD and higher, and I shockingly really like Tidal. I don't like Jay-Z or any of the marketing bullshit around the company - it's a bad brand for me ... but I really like the app, the Mac app, etc and the quality can't be beat so ... I'm in on Tidal and would definitely recommend it. On a PC it allows you skip your PC's shitty DAC and send a "bit perfect" stream down USB directly to an external DAC. nice!
Bluetooth Encoding
They matter. AptX (AptX-HD isn't needed), or Sony's LDAC are good, but your device needs to support them as do the headphones. Personally I can hear a difference between aac, AptX, and SBC and have an almost 100% blind test success rate. For me there's a difference. with AptXHD I wasn't picking it any better than random chance.
Sorry you asked? |
Audio stuff is like Exhaust noise, it honestly differs from person to person but I'll try to see if I can get my hands on either one.
Maybe a Bose store... Wouldn't know about the Sony one though.
I like Sony headphones, Bose is generally more base heavy though aren't they? |
Quote:
Originally Posted by minn19
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arcades
Anyone know about some recommendations for wireless over-ear headphones?
Looked at Sony Wh1000XM2 and Bose QuietComfort 35 Series 2 since they seem to be on top of every list but... anything else? B&O? Sennheiser?
Lups Except for me, I'm lactose intolerant.
|
I love my Bose QC 35s and Im not a Bose fan at all. |
Quote:
Originally Posted by GrussGott
Quote:
Originally Posted by minn19
I love my Bose QC 35s and Im not a Bose fan at all.
|
Yeah, we're all different, but for me those are the worst sounding headphones I've ever tried - they sound shittier than $20 headphones to me. just horrific. They're the only headphones I've tried where I can literally find nothing good to say about their sound. I have underwater earbuds for swimming that sound better.
On the plus side  they're the most comfortable headphones I've ever put on except for the Aeon Flows and I'd say the AFs aren't better, just similar in comfort.
Also, noise cancellation is worthless for me, but Bose is the best at it.
And I'm not a Bose hater, some of my best friends use Bose ... plus I have a pair of Bose on-ear soundlinks that I use every day and like them quite a bit. They also come with me during travel because they're great at the gate or for taking calls on the go - they're excellent at that - lots of people say I sound better through those than using my phones microphone. And they're pretty good for shows and movies when you want a simple light headphone. My P7 are excellent, but i only use them when I'm settled in for awhile because they're big and isolating, otherwise I use the Bose on-ears.
This is the problem recommending headphones - it's like recommending vacation spots or DCT vs MT - too many preferences and trade-offs.
BTW, for hiking and working out I use the MEE X7+ (they have newer now) and they're pretty damn good: great isolation, working in rain and wet, easy to control and ultralight. I usually just put one side in unless i need to jam to some tunes.
Anyway, I understand why you have to do this Tri thing, and I'm here for you. |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arcades
Quote:
Originally Posted by minn19
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arcades
Anyone know about some recommendations for wireless over-ear headphones?
Looked at Sony Wh1000XM2 and Bose QuietComfort 35 Series 2 since they seem to be on top of every list but... anything else? B&O? Sennheiser?
Lups Except for me, I'm lactose intolerant.
|
I love my Bose QC 35s and I'm not a Bose fan at all. |
Quote:
Originally Posted by GrussGott
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arcades
Close to Audiophile quality good enough. yeah i would love to get lost in the music and ignore the outside world. That's why I pointed to the two headphones I listed. They seem small enough I can put in my car and from what I can tell the Bose as a carjack ability that I can recharge in my car. I don't know if the Sony has that or not.
|
Well no wireless headphone will be close audiophile quality, so FYI there. If you want better mobile sound with a wireless headphone when wired, then you can get an external DAC or DAC/amp to plug into your phone like the Dragon Flys, Chord Mojo, iDSD nano black label, etc. That also gives you the ability to buy some high quality wired headphones and drive them from your phone.
For wireless noise cancelling headphones you've got the usual suspects which I'd rank this way:
* Sony WH-1000XM2
* B&O Beoplay H9i
* Bowers & wilkins PX
* Bose QC 35 2
* V-moda crossfades
* Sennheiser Momentum
The top 3 will all provide excellent sound, the Bose are best at noise cancelling.
What's not on this list is my beloved B&W P7s - for me these are the best sounding wireless on market, but they're hard to find now. They're not noise cancelling, but they're quite isolating and oh lord are they great for EDM, Deep House, and anything with a beat. You WILL PARTY. If I air travel, I bring the P7s. I'm considering getting the H9i just for wireless variety - the rest just didn't have a sound profile that appealed to me and I find noise cancelling to be mostly useless - I'd much rather have (my version) great sound.
I would say those top 3 are all great sound but more "neutral" whereas I find Bose to flat. For me the Bose were so bad I put them back in the box in under 2 minutes and that might not be fair, but the P7s ruined me. They are not neutral, but way "warm" with a suppressed treble. They not bass heavy crap like beats, but more bass heavy awesome - super clean. They are extremely forgiving and will make any recording sound great. When I go from the P7s to just about any other low-fi headphone including any on this list I almost cry. Audiophile quality wireds like the Senn hd600/50/60s or Massdrop's Fostex Th-x00 will show you the shortcomings of the P7s, with the THx00 provider a similar profile but much more resolving (those all require decent DACs and Amps)
The P7s are directly responsible for me spending thousands on mid-fi audio gear. Later on this year I'm probably going to buy one of Zach's hand-made ZMF Atticus headphones ... I'm kinda waiting for him to bring back cocobolo wood, but I'll take paduk or purple heart.
Anyway, a few other notes:
Hi-Res Music
As defined as anything higher than CD quality (16/44), is mostly worthless unless you've got $15,000 of headphone gear and 5+ years of analytical listening experience. That said, even the best paid spotify / google play streams are 4x+ crappier than CD quality and you can definitely hear it with decent headphones. Basically if you're under CD quality you'll be missing an emotional component to the music which you can tell once you start going back and forth. The emotional piece, once you realize it, becomes addictive (see $$$ above). Personally I used Tidal Hi-Fi which steams at CD and higher, and I shockingly really like Tidal. I don't like Jay-Z or any of the marketing bullshit around the company - it's a bad brand for me ... but I really like the app, the Mac app, etc and the quality can't be beat so ... I'm in on Tidal and would definitely recommend it. On a PC it allows you skip your PC's shitty DAC and send a "bit perfect" stream down USB directly to an external DAC. nice!
Bluetooth Encoding
They matter. AptX (AptX-HD isn't needed), or Sony's LDAC are good, but your device needs to support them as do the headphones. Personally I can hear a difference between aac, AptX, and SBC and have an almost 100% blind test success rate. For me there's a difference. with AptXHD I wasn't picking it any better than random chance.
Sorry you asked? |
Audio stuff is like Exhaust noise, it honestly differs from person to person but I'll try to see if I can get my hands on either one.
Maybe a Bose store... Wouldn't know about the Sony one though.
I like Sony headphones, Bose is generally more base heavy though aren't they? |
This is where tinnitus comes into play...built in noise cancelling, can't "hear the wife/kids"...
if I were to spend more than $20 on a pair it would be waist of money! LOL...
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