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Huge Comparison of [almost] all the Best Bluetooth Headphones - post your own comparisons here
Oct 22, 2015 at 10:41 AM Post #1,531 of 3,643
deskdiver said:
would you recommend the Sennheiser URBANITE XL wireless or the Bose SoundLink around-ear wireless headphones II?
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It depends what sound signature you prefer. The Bose headphones lean more toward neutral, and from what I've read, the Sennheisers have more of a focus on bass. I'm trying out the Bose set right now, and I like them quite a bit. Still not sure whether I like them better than the Sony MDR1ABT though.
 
Oct 22, 2015 at 10:51 AM Post #1,532 of 3,643
I'm looking to buy some BT over the ear headphones that have good quality sound (no specific profile). Good sound isolation is possible (no need for active noise cancelling but it's a bonus). Under 230$.
I tried the plantronics back beat pro but they are uncomfortable. My ear measures 6.3cm from top to bottom, so after an hour or so they become uncomfortable. Been looking at the Sony mdr-10bt or the Air-Fi Matrix2[size=10.8333px].[/size]
With the matrix I think I would have to follow this, http://www.head-fi.org/t/727045/meelectronics-airfi-matrix2-af62-bigger-earpads-mod
Are the Sony ear pads bigger and is it worth the extra $ in regards to sound quality?
 
Oct 22, 2015 at 5:13 PM Post #1,533 of 3,643
sanchaz said:
  I'm looking to buy some BT over the ear headphones that have good quality sound (no specific profile). Good sound isolation is possible (no need for active noise cancelling but it's a bonus). Under 230$.
I tried the plantronics back beat pro but they are uncomfortable. My ear measures 6.3cm from top to bottom, so after an hour or so they become uncomfortable. Been looking at the Sony mdr-10bt or the Air-Fi Matrix2[size=10.8333px].[/size]
With the matrix I think I would have to follow this, http://www.head-fi.org/t/727045/meelectronics-airfi-matrix2-af62-bigger-earpads-mod
Are the Sony ear pads bigger and is it worth the extra $ in regards to sound quality?
Click to expand...

Your ears are not bigger than mine, strange, i had no issues with the Backbeat.
Sony and Air Fi would be similar for dimensions of earpads.
AirFi are lighter and feel and look a bit cheaper.
Sony 10 are not really premium, but looks cooler to me and feel also more solid.
Sony are more on the low region, with some muddiness. Good bass, nothing special, but ok.
AirFi are quite neutral. They sounded a bit bright to me (maybe because my ears look for more bass. InnerFidelity found them excellent. But, well, to each his own).
So it may just depends on the signature you prefer, after all. You say you do not care, but, both would give you what you want. So, the choice is price, look, and signature.
I personally would go for the Sony. They also had the best Carrying Bag ever.
But if you listen to music where a more neutral headphone, without accent on the low region, is to be preferred, than Air Fi is better.
 
Better than both would be the Pendulumic Stance S1+, still in your budget. The isolation is less effective, but the sound much better (to me). Sort of middle way between Sony and AirFi, warm but somehow neutral sound, with enough bass.
 
Oct 22, 2015 at 5:58 PM Post #1,534 of 3,643
giogio said:
  Your ears are not bigger than mine, strange, i had no issues with the Backbeat.
Sony and Air Fi would be similar for dimensions of earpads.
AirFi are lighter and feel and look a bit cheaper.
Sony 10 are not really premium, but looks cooler to me and feel also more solid.
Sony are more on the low region, with some muddiness. Good bass, nothing special, but ok.
AirFi are quite neutral. They sounded a bit bright to me (maybe because my ears look for more bass. InnerFidelity found them excellent. But, well, to each his own).
So it may just depends on the signature you prefer, after all. You say you do not care, but, both would give you what you want. So, the choice is price, look, and signature.
I personally would go for the Sony. They also had the best Carrying Bag ever.
But if you listen to music where a more neutral headphone, without accent on the low region, is to be preferred, than Air Fi is better.
 
Better than both would be the Pendulumic Stance S1+, still in your budget. The isolation is less effective, but the sound much better (to me). Sort of middle way between Sony and AirFi, warm but somehow neutral sound, with enough bass.
Click to expand...

 
Thanks for the reply.
The pendulum Stance S1+ has the same size ear pads as the back beat pro or are they bigger?
I think the most important thing for me is comfort and noise isolation (if possible).
 
Oct 22, 2015 at 6:06 PM Post #1,535 of 3,643
orion23rigel said:
It depends what sound signature you prefer. The Bose headphones lean more toward neutral, and from what I've read, the Sennheisers have more of a focus on bass. I'm trying out the Bose set right now, and I like them quite a bit. Still not sure whether I like them better than the Sony MDR1ABT though.
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Thank you for your reply! I will look for a MDR1ABT to audition. They seem to be about $100 more than the Sennheiser or Bose in NZ.
 
Cheers!
 
Oct 22, 2015 at 7:04 PM Post #1,536 of 3,643
sanchaz said:
Are the Sony ear pads bigger and is it worth the extra $ in regards to sound quality?
Click to expand...


The Sony ear pads might be slightly bigger, but they are not replaceable like the Air-fi. I significantly preferred the sound of the Matrix2 over the 10RBT. The Sony sounded muffled and congested in comparison. I think the Sony set looks much better, but the Matrix2 sounds much better.

The Pendulumic headphones sounded good, but I didn't care for the aesthetic and the ear pads were too small for me (and not replaceable). I couldn't wear them for more than an hour without discomfort.
 
Oct 23, 2015 at 4:00 PM Post #1,537 of 3,643
sanchaz said:
   
The pendulum Stance S1+ has the same size ear pads as the back beat pro or are they bigger?
I think the most important thing for me is comfort and noise isolation (if possible).
Click to expand...

I've borrowed my friend's BBP and for the both of us, we felt it was really more on ear than over (would pinch the lobes) so wasn't very comfortable although we both agreed, it's one of the best fun sounding BT cans (albeit not neutral). The Stance S1+ comes with new larger pads (vs. the original Stance S1). I find them very comfy though if isolation is what you're after than the S1+ isn't great in that department.
 
Oct 25, 2015 at 2:24 PM Post #1,539 of 3,643
sanchaz said:
  The pendulum Stance S1+ has the same size ear pads as the back beat pro or are they bigger?
I think the most important thing for me is comfort and noise isolation (if possible).
Click to expand...

I agree with @turbobb, the S1+ are the worst of the three in isolation. For my personal tastes are anyway the better sounding. I found the Matrix a bit too unemotional. The S1+ are warmer.
Not sure if @orion23rigel was talking of the S1 or S1+ but the S1+ are bigger than the Plantronics, yes. They can still be small for people with very big ears.
As orion said, Sony sound muffled compared to Matrix2, but imo Sony are the best of the three for comfort and isolation.
So, you may have to buy both, Matrix and Sony, and decide by yourself (and then post your opinion :) )
 
Oct 28, 2015 at 9:52 AM Post #1,540 of 3,643
Hi guys, i sell my Parrot Zik 2.0 and Plantronics Backbeat Pro before the summer and now i would buy/try another premium over ear headphone under 500€.
I need a wireless/bluetooth headphone with the best sound isolation (really important for airplane and train travel), premium deepest bass and good design.
I don't like the design of Sennheiser Momentum, ATH-WS99BT, Pendulumic Stance S1 and Sony MDR1ABT.
I see many headphone (B&O H7, Bose Soundlink II, JBL Everest) but i'm uncertain.
Any suggestion for me? =)
 
Oct 29, 2015 at 12:33 PM Post #1,541 of 3,643
enzo90x said:
 
Any suggestion for me? =)
Click to expand...

 
I would suggest trying out the MDR1ABT, but you said you don't like the design. I'm about to post my comparison between them and the Bose SoundLink II. If you are looking for an emphasis on bass, you'd prefer the sound of the 1ABT I think, but it's really a matter of what you value more: a specific sound, the visual aesthetic, or the isolation. Maybe the recently announced Zik 3 will suit you, but I haven't seen any write-ups on those here yet.
 
Oct 29, 2015 at 12:38 PM Post #1,542 of 3,643
I've been auditioning the Bose SoundLink Around-Ear II (AE2) for the past couple weeks, and here are my impressions:

Very light and very comfortable. My only quibble with the comfort is that the plastic housing on the back of the inner ear cup projects out on both ears, which comes into contact with back of my ears and causes slight discomfort when wearing them for a long time. These are still the most comfortable Bluetooth headphones I’ve tried.

Solid multi-point connection, implemented very well. When I go out of range of one of the connected devices, it announced that the device disconnected, and continues playing from the device I’m using. This is the first set of headphones I’ve used that actually handles this well.

Sounds a bit smoothed over, particularly when listening to string instruments. You don’t get all the texture/detail that’s in the recording, but it doesn’t sound bad by any means.

These are the first non-aptX headphones I’ve tried that do not sound conspicuously worse over Bluetooth.


AE2 vs Sony MDR1ABT

I’ve been comparing the AE2 with my current daily drivers, the Sony MDR1ABT. Considering the 1ABT has aptX and the AE2 doesn’t, I was really surprised at how hard it was to decide which I liked better. I think the AE2 has a slightly more neutral sound, or at least the bass is less present. It is still there though.

The AE2 is significantly lighter, but the battery life is shorter. I still got around the advertised 15 hours of listening time, which is really impressive considering its weight. The lightness combined with the ear cup design makes the AE2 slightly more comfortable for long listening sessions.
The 1ABT has more detail/texture and better separation. This could be due to its support for aptX or just simply its design, but either way the Sonys won in A/B testing to my ears.

I much prefer having an on/off switch (AE2) rather than a button you have to hold down (1ABT).

The multi-point support on the AE2 combined with the ease-of-use of the on/off switch and the slight improvement to comfort made it really hard to pick a winner. In the end, the difference in sound quality is just too significant, so I’ll be sticking with the 1ABT and returning the AE2. I will, however, be second-guessing this decision for weeks.


* EDIT: I was convinced this morning, but now I'm already second-guessing whether I really want to return the AE2. Sometimes the bass in the 1ABT is a bit much for me, and the light weight of the AE2 is surprisingly nice. It's a really close call between these two.
 
Oct 29, 2015 at 5:24 PM Post #1,543 of 3,643
orion23rigel said:
I've been auditioning the Bose SoundLink Around-Ear II (AE2) for the past couple weeks, and here are my impressions:

Very light and very comfortable. My only quibble with the comfort is that the plastic housing on the back of the inner ear cup projects out on both ears, which comes into contact with back of my ears and causes slight discomfort when wearing them for a long time. These are still the most comfortable Bluetooth headphones I’ve tried.

Solid multi-point connection, implemented very well. When I go out of range of one of the connected devices, it announced that the device disconnected, and continues playing from the device I’m using. This is the first set of headphones I’ve used that actually handles this well.

Sounds a bit smoothed over, particularly when listening to string instruments. You don’t get all the texture/detail that’s in the recording, but it doesn’t sound bad by any means.

These are the first non-aptX headphones I’ve tried that do not sound conspicuously worse over Bluetooth.


AE2 vs Sony MDR1ABT

I’ve been comparing the AE2 with my current daily drivers, the Sony MDR1ABT. Considering the 1ABT has aptX and the AE2 doesn’t, I was really surprised at how hard it was to decide which I liked better. I think the AE2 has a slightly more neutral sound, or at least the bass is less present. It is still there though.

The AE2 is significantly lighter, but the battery life is shorter. I still got around the advertised 15 hours of listening time, which is really impressive considering its weight. The lightness combined with the ear cup design makes the AE2 slightly more comfortable for long listening sessions.
The 1ABT has more detail/texture and better separation. This could be due to its support for aptX or just simply its design, but either way the Sonys won in A/B testing to my ears.

I much prefer having an on/off switch (AE2) rather than a button you have to hold down (1ABT).

The multi-point support on the AE2 combined with the ease-of-use of the on/off switch and the slight improvement to comfort made it really hard to pick a winner. In the end, the difference in sound quality is just too significant, so I’ll be sticking with the 1ABT and returning the AE2. I will, however, be second-guessing this decision for weeks.


* EDIT: I was convinced this morning, but now I'm already second-guessing whether I really want to return the AE2. Sometimes the bass in the 1ABT is a bit much for me, and the light weight of the AE2 is surprisingly nice. It's a really close call between these two.
Click to expand...

 
Thanks very much for your impressions and comparison notes.
I'd had a chance to audition the Bose SoundLink around-ear wireless headphones II, but this was wired to the Bose demo stand - so not ideal - and unfortunately the connector to demo them using my iPhone as a source with my own music was faulty, so I couldn't even try that!
I could not find the Sony MDR-1ABT to look at them, let alone demo them.
I thought the Bose sounded nice, but I wasn't sure how loud they could go.  I've read some reviews that lead me to question their power, and maybe they don't sound as 'dynamic'?
 
Cheers!
 
Oct 29, 2015 at 6:15 PM Post #1,544 of 3,643
I'm in bit of a dilemma, I just recently got a pair of ATH-WS99BT and Beats Studio 2.0 wireless to see which one I like better and I can't tell the difference on my iP6s Plus. I'm not really an audiophile so don't kill me for saying that. 
darthsmile.gif
 Anyone know of a good iOS EQ app / music player that supports Apple Music and has a built-in EQ so I can fully take advantage of those cans?
 
Oct 30, 2015 at 12:55 PM Post #1,545 of 3,643
I just preordered JBL´s new Everest Elite 700 headphones:
http://eu.jbl.com/jbl_product_detail_eu/jbl-v700nxt-black.html
 
The negatives are the size and weight and I´m not big on the plasticky look compared to eg. my Sennheiser Momentum AE Wireless and Parrot Zik 2.0s, but if the sound and noise cancellation is great they might be a pair of winners for my usage at least. 
 
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