[FlatListener]

I have had my audiophile periods (HiFi sets, vynil, speakers) in the past but I have never tried any ANC cans or IEMs. Now that apple has released the AirPods Pro 2 I am considering to try. however, I have slight tinnitus in-ear damage in both ears and don’t want to make it worse. ANC might enable me to listen to music in noisy environments (train) and actually hear the music, not the noise, even at lower volume levels. I currently use a pair of beyerdynamic DT 1350s, which are more studio monitors. Lots of ambient noise still comes through as they’re on-ear, not over ear.

My wishes and constraints:
- ANC (I am on a commuter train several days a week)
- high level of musicality at low volume levels
- portability (air vs max) : i would in fact be willing to haul larger HPs if sound quality / sound stage is noticeably better
- wires: I would not even really mind wires if convincingly beneficial for sound or budget (DT1350 has wires)
- I don’t like ear plugs that apply too much pressure to my ear channels, am not overly sensitive but it can bug me a bit after a while
- I have an iPhone 14 Pro on order, I like apple products but I am quite open to other brands, why would apple, as a computer and phone company, offer the best sound package? Whereas other more specialised brands could offer more pure musical quality
- I have a 1st gen FiiO X5 but it's wheel is getting very old and finicky. Could consider a new model but prefer to stick with the iPhone if quality is good enough

i have seen the airpods Pro 2 reviewed against the Sony WF 1000 XM3 4 and 5. The Sonys appear to be more musical by a small margin. Then there are the WH 1000 over ear series by Sony. even though Sony has never played any role in my audiophile days as it was always more mainstream than the rigs I listened to, for headphones it appears to be a nice middle tier player. Apple's Airpods max might be an option too.

What would you recommend?

Thanks a lot!

 

[joshamk]

Hi, allow me to give an opinion regarding your slight tinnitus in-ear damage, I will give friendly opinion as headfi-er pals/buddies

A better option to find / choose over ear ANC cans, are, Airpods Max, Bose QuietComfort 45 - Bose 700, Sony XM4/XM5 and Sennheiser Momentum 3/4 as humble opinion choices.

And yes, all of choices above, might not be 100% best choice / option regarding size of head, size of ear, comfortable score and features, but your ear need to have very detailed protection before you choose ANC cans.

Hope it helps.

 

[FlatListener]

Dear Joshamk,
Thank you so much for your advice. And I apologise for taking my time to respond.
I'm afraid I don't understand your advice completely. Are you saying that the full size ANC options you mentioned are more protective to my ears? What kind of protection are you referring to?

My intention is to keep the volume low so I need the best isolation I can get, hence the ANC.

Meanwhile I can say this:
1. I am currently evaluating the Apple AirPods Pro 2 and the Airpods Max. Still within return window.
2. I used Mimi to create a profile of my ears and selected that profile in the airpods settings menu
3. My tinnitus is an ultra high constant sound. Think of the sound a tube TV made in the 80's. When entering a room, I could hear a TV was on even if volume was muted. Is this around 16kHz? It gets worse (more audible) when I have a cold.
4. My intention is to keep the volume low (using APP2 on iPhone 14 PM at 25-40% depending on the source)
5. I just started a new topic asking for advice re Etymotic IEMs.

Cheers.