Recommendation: Headphones both BT and Cabled

[MRC01]

My daughter has had Jabra 85H for the past several years. She likes them a lot but they are dying. She's replaced the pads a few times but now the internal battery is dying (only lasts an hour), the ANC doesn't work as well. If she lived nearby I'd fix all that for her but she lives thousands of miles away.

She has an old JDS Atom and Subjective 3 EQ (which I built and upgraded) that still work, so she'd like to keep using them. This means a headphone that is cabled, but also has Bluetooth. This seems rare, though the Jabra 85H does this. The 85H also have good sound quality - not SOTA but better than most noise cancelling BT headphones. She wants to keep it under $300, willing to get refurbished if in "like-new" condition.

Seems like a set of unicorn requirements, any suggestions?

 

[Somafunk]

If i was looking for a bt/wired option then I think I’d be interested in the Nothing A model below,

Budget big-battery bass cannons: Nothing Headphone (a) review

Nothing follows up its flagship headphones with a less-expensive option, but is it any good? Find out in our Nothing Headphone (a) review.

www.soundguys.com

Nothing Headphone (1) Review

The Nothing Headphone (1) are the company's first over-ear wireless headphones. They have 40 mm drivers designed in partnership with KEF and carry over the brand...

www.rtings.com

Or perhaps the Nothing One headphone….

Nothing Headphone (a) vs Nothing Headphone (1): Budget ANC battle

Nothing fans will likely want to know, who wins when it's the Nothing Headphone (a) vs Nothing Headphone (1)? We tested.

www.soundguys.com

 

[MRC01]

Thanks for the suggestion. The Sony WH-1000XM5 looks pretty good too.

 

[Redacted]

A very hotly debated subject. Can get emotional....
For home music listening, as opposed to music mastering, go for comfort.
No matter how well regarded X or Y headphones are, they will literally sound different according to the physical shape of your ears. You can easily end up in the revolving doors of headphone changes...

As for BT, don't go there unless you have to - sooner or later you'll get dropouts and even if yours are solid, there is usually some loss owing to compress/decompress. Half of my friends with BT don't realize they are running lowest common denominator connectivity owing to incompatible codecs - it's a minefield for those who don't know.

I run Austrian Audio with my main rig (for comfort, although ears will get hot), The Crinacle Zero2's (or whatever they are called) with my phone, and Truthear Gates on my PC via a Topping DX1 (the latter two are well reviewed on ASR as it happens or if anyone cares). They all sound fine, and are sufficiently inexpensive for me to not get upset if I break them or lose them.... In the end you can't beat proper stereo speakers, as opposed to binaural gear on, or in, your ears.

 

[MRC01]

I run Austrian Audio with my main rig (for comfort, although ears will get hot), The Crinacle Zero2's (or whatever they are called) with my phone, and Truthear Gates on my PC via a Topping DX1 (the latter two are well reviewed on ASR as it happens or if anyone cares). They all sound fine, and are sufficiently inexpensive for me to not get upset if I break them or lose them.... In the end you can't beat proper stereo speakers, as opposed to binaural gear on, or in, your ears.

She doesn't want anything IN her ears. Headphones (over ears), not IEMs.

 

[Redacted]

Fine, not everyone can do IEMs, but I for one like the sound!
Nevertheless, a budget of $300 seems huge to me.

 

[zonk]

For example Sennheiser Momentum 4 with actually very good prices in online stores.
Sennheiser has an outlet store as well with refurbished headphones at reduced prices.