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Favourite Bluetooth Headphones?

Ste_S

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Mar 17, 2024
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As these aren't discussed this much on this forum, I wondered what everyone's favourite Bluetooth headphones are?

I've tried the Sennheiser HD350BT and Momentum 4; and Sony WH-CH720N without any of them really hitting it out of the park for me.
 
For flights Momentum 3 since they are metal and real leather + high end tuning mode. The M4s are a step down if not in sound quality in materials for sure. AirPods Pro for gym etc.
 
My son had Razer Opus great sound, poor built and now has momentum4 now with decent sound and great built and both randomly turning off, never had that problem with Bose 700 which my wife loves. ... also tried QC45 which where are downgrade in every way to the previous series... anyway sticking with Bose for now!
 
The AKG N700NC M2 are still my fave. Stock sound is good/great and using the AKG app you can EQ them fairly precise with a graphic interface.
 
Qudelix with IEMs.
Sony WH-1000XM5
 
For flights Momentum 3 since they are metal and real leather + high end tuning mode. The M4s are a step down if not in sound quality in materials for sure. AirPods Pro for gym etc.
The materials in the Momentum 4 give a battery life more than 3 times higher than that of its predecessor, how is this a step down?
 
The materials in the Momentum 4 give a battery life more than 3 times higher than that of its predecessor, how is this a step down?
17 hours on the M3 is plenty for me, I dont know why you need any more than that. Ill trade the extra hours for metal and sheepskin leather premium build quality. They can also run in passive mode with a 3.5mm cable without using battery, or via USB-C cable to charge and listen same time through the cable. Never once did I run out of battery while using them normally, but to each his own.
 
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For flights Momentum 3 since they are metal and real leather + high end tuning mode. The M4s are a step down if not in sound quality in materials for sure. AirPods Pro for gym etc.
Real leather doesn't mean anything if the top (headband) padding is almost non existent (and slightly hard) and because of that they are pretty uncomfortable, so it's a strange recommendation for flights.
Also, cup position adjustment 'mechanism' is not secure enough for my liking.
Btw. I would recommend bass -3.4 instead of high end tuning.

I have a question for people that have used also different pairs with ANC. Is it better on other headphones? I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I'm slightly disappointed. On the other hand it's a game changer for a train ride.
 
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I've tried a few Over Ear Headphones, like the Sennheiser Accentum and Momentum 4 as well as the Final UX3000 and some others.

While I found those all right, I just couldn't get over the "closed back sound", even with EQ. I always found they sounded a little weird, closed in and not very well separated or "high fidelity", whatever that means. Especially the midrange was always a little off, somehow.

So I still mostly use IEM's and especially my Airpods Pro Gen 2 when on the go.

I was really surprised and still am quite amazed how good those Airpods sound and also how much better they sound than the Over Ears I've tried.
It's just a well balanced sound imo.

I also own a lot of other wired IEM's of different price categories and still find the Airpods Pro Gen 2 as one of the best all-rounders.

It's also quite comfy, really lightweight, has good ANC and I also like and use its natural sounding transparency mode a lot, sometimes I even forget I have them in my ears.

If you own an Iphone I really recommend trying them for yourself. I can't comment on the android experience though.

Keep in mind that there are 1st and 2nd Gen Airpods Pros, I also tried the first Gen from a friend and didn't like it nearly as much.
 
Real leather doesn't mean anything if the top (headband) padding is almost non existent (and slightly hard) and because of that they are pretty uncomfortable, so it's a strange recommendation for flights.
Also, cup position adjustment 'mechanism' is not secure enough for my liking.
Btw. I would recommend bass -3.4 instead of high end tuning.

I have a question for people that have used also different pairs with ANC. Is it better on other headphones? I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I'm slightly disappointed. On the other hand it's a game changer for a train ride.

For me the fit is quite comfortable so I guess it depends on your head shape.

In regard to the cup adjustment, I agree they can be a little loose, I made inserts that prevent the cups from coming out of alignment. Happy to make a set for you if you like.
 

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I had some time to think about the fact that some people dont find headband very comfortable. I make suspension straps for HD600 series and replacement straps for Dan Clark from stretchy material for better comfort.


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I figured I can make one for the Momentum 3 as well.

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Ill throw it up on my Etsy store in case you are not the only one with comfort problems, just wanted to show it here.
 

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I bought today Airpods 4, quite happy with them.
I red they use AAC-ELD codec, but don’t know about it.

Is supposed to be better than regular AAC in quality or just in latency?

They sound better than ancient versions IMO but don’t know if codec has something to do
 
AirPods Pro 2 for myself, every time I use them I wonder why i bother using my wired iem’s whilst continuing to buy one/two per year.

But I then realise I’m not rational,

;)
 
AirPods Pro 2 for myself, every time I use them I wonder why i bother using my wired iem’s whilst continuing to buy one/two per year.

But I then realise I’m not rational,

;)
I think most of us can (even is perhaps is not the more popular opinion) detect the codec distortions against a true FLAC 16/44.1

I always listen on the regular “humble” 20€ EarPods cabled.

Any recommendations for other IEMs?

The only use I make to the AirPods is moving free from cables at home or in quiet places, mainly I listen to speakers or if not to the cabled Earpods
 
^Have you ever tried blindtesting flac vs mp3 320/aac256? I think you’d be surprised what you learn.
Up until now I have never witnessed anyone being able to distinguish between the two….without cheating that is.
There are quite a few free ABX plug-ins out there. Foobar2000 has one I believe.
Just remember to use the same file/master as well as volume matching the two before start.

Let’s get this myth buried via proper blindtesting.
 
^Have you ever tried blindtesting flac vs mp3 320/aac256? I think you’d be surprised what you learn.
Up until now I have never witnessed anyone being able to distinguish between the two….without cheating that is.
There are quite a few free ABX plug-ins out there. Foobar2000 has one I believe.
Just remember to use the same file/master as well as volume matching the two before start.

Let’s get this myth buried via proper blindtesting.
I have tested; no issue identifying 320 kbps mp3 against loseless WAV.

Specially in classical music, is surprising how different they sound or perhaps is because I’m very perceptive in harmonics of instruments I know well or I play (piano, I last less than 5 or 6 seconds on guessing the CD quality track on the test, that was a Mozart piano concerto by Murray Perahia).

In rock and voices, more difficult but I finally guessed other 3 tracks.

The only I failed in the test was techno music, I think because I lack on references or perhaps because I never listen to that kind of music.

Test was online, volume equalized and 3 formats per track: low quality mp3 (120 kbps if I remember well), 320 kbps mp3 and finally WAV original file.

But I’m not stating that the file encoding is the only difference, but as the author of the post I was answering, I finally cannot avoid going to cabled transmission again and again. In my case without buying more IEMs, my old Earpods work perfectly fine to me.

More quality and cheaper, the only inconvenient of IEMs is the weight of my phone in the pocket and a little disturbed by cables in some occasions.
 
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