Best Alternative to Bos QC25?

[AtariST]

My headphone journey has gone from exciting and informative to frustrating. My Bose QC1s just don't sound good and I want something better. Unfortunately I can't find something that meets my objective and I'm hoping the Head-fi folks can help.I know a lot of you don't like Bose, that's fine, just direct me to something better but, please, see my requirements below!
 
#1 I need light weight (sub 200 gram, sans cable). It's just genetics but the shape of my head makes heavy headphones uncomfortable no matter how much cushion they have. This is critical!!
 
#2 I need noise Isolation. Noise Cancelling is OK too (I know the difference) but I don't want to hear the outside world when walk the neighborhood and no one wants to hear my music. That puts me in the Over-ear category.
 
#3 I want mic support for a phone.
 
#4 Sound quality and detail.If you can, listen to Black Sabbath's War Pigs. At 53 seconds and again at 59 the guitar and sirens pause and everything goes silent, or so it seems. In truth, Bill Ward is tapping symbols but I can't hear him unless I make the rest of the song painfully loud. What else am I missing in my music with these headphones?
 
Right now, the Bose QC25 nails the bulls eye for #1-3 and I am having difficulty finding anything else to compete on those three categories. I know there are better headphones for #4 but I want it all. If I had to sacrifice something, it would be the cable requirement but I don't want a 10' coiled cable (thank you Sony MDR 7506), that's more than I can handle.
 
So, please, if you have experience with headphones that meet these requirements, I would love to hear it. I'm not too enthusiastic about spending $300 on headphones but, at this point, I'm ready for just about anything.
 
Headphones that are close but not quite right as far as I can tell from reviews. These top my current list.
 
1. Bose QC25 (Expensive and questionable sound quality)
2. ATH-M40x (a little heavy an no mic)
3. Soul Combat+ (I would love some good running headphones but I've read that the detail on these is lacking)
 
I am open even to the ones listed above I just cannot try them all.
 
Thanks in advance.

 

[cel4145]

#2 I need noise Isolation. Noise Cancelling is OK too (I know the difference) but I don't want to hear the outside world when walk the neighborhood and no one wants to hear my music. That puts me in the Over-ear category.

Or an IEM. There are some IEMs with excellent isolation. Have you considered going with an IEM for your walks?

 

[Beyakusenn]

  #1 I need light weight (sub 200 gram, sans cable). It's just genetics but the shape of my head makes heavy headphones uncomfortable no matter how much cushion they have. This is critical!!

That can be done. On ears are quite light by the way.
 

Originally Posted by AtariST /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
#2 I need noise Isolation. Noise Cancelling is OK too (I know the difference) but I don't want to hear the outside world when walk the neighborhood and no one wants to hear my music. That puts me in the Over-ear category.

There are also quite a few on-ears that provide good noise isolation like my Beyerdynamic t51p. Nothing will beat the noise cancelling from Bose, but there are quite a few on-ears that provide good passive noise isolation like the KEF M500, t51i and Beats Solo 2. All these are quite light, so that shouldn't be a problem. Even though all headphones I mentioned are very comfortable to me, I know on-ears can become less comfortable for long listening sessions (>1.5 hour) because of the pressure on your auricles. An exception would be the M500 because it's padding is incredibly soft.
 

 
#3 I want mic support for a phone.

The t51i, M500 and Solo 2 all have microphone support for phones.
 

  #4 Sound quality and detail.If you can, listen to Black Sabbath's War Pigs. At 53 seconds and again at 59 the guitar and sirens pause and everything goes silent, or so it seems. In truth, Bill Ward is tapping symbols but I can't hear him unless I make the rest of the song painfully loud. What else am I missing in my music with these headphones?
 

I listened to that song with my t51p (sonically identical to the t51i) and I could easily hear the cymbals without turning the volume up. The same tapping of cymbals goes on till 1:45. At 4:30 and 4:36 the same quiet cymbals play again and these go on in the background till 5:23. If you listen carefully, you can hear faint cymbals at 5:52.
 
All my opinions are based on personal experience. There are more options than just on-ears of course, but I know more about on-ears than I know about other types of portable headphones. If the pressure on your auricles is not that much of an issue, I can provide a larger variety of lightweight on-ear alternatives.
 
If you can listen to headphones yourself, that's the best you can do. I can't guarantee you'll hear the same things I hear.

 

[AtariST]

I appreciate the thought but IEMs are just not for me. Thanks.

 

[AtariST]

  That can be done. On ears are quite light by the way.
 
There are also quite a few on-ears that provide good noise isolation like my Beyerdynamic t51p. Nothing will beat the noise cancelling from Bose, but there are quite a few on-ears that provide good passive noise isolation like the KEF M500, t51i and Beats Solo 2. All these are quite light, so that shouldn't be a problem. Even though all headphones I mentioned are very comfortable to me, I know on-ears can become less comfortable for long listening sessions (>1.5 hour) because of the pressure on your auricles. An exception would be the M500 because it's padding is incredibly soft.
 
<SNIP>
 
I listened to that song with my t51p (sonically identical to the t51i) and I could easily hear the cymbals without turning the volume up. The same tapping of cymbals goes on till 1:45. At 4:30 and 4:36 the same quiet cymbals play again and these go on in the background till 5:23. If you listen carefully, you can hear faint cymbals at 5:52.
 
<SNIP>

 
Your recommendations generated a slew of mixed feelings. First, I really appreciate the fact that you listed to the song in question. Thanks for confirming the sounds and the reasonable expectation of being able to hear them.
 
I had an opportunity to try the M500.The moment I put them on I was amazed at how light and comfortable they were. They are beautiful in their simplicity too (to me). They sounded better than anything I have tried so far as well. I have not been able to find a place to try out the T51s.
 
I'm not 100% enthusiastic about on-ear models (yet) and 3 times the price of the ATH-M40X is a tough nut, but they are really, really nice.
 
So nice that I have started looking for deals on the M500. Sadly none exist unless I want open box or used.
 
You seem to have confirmed my fear that it is going to cost $300 to get what I want. As I sit hear listening to Fluff during my second hour in my QC1s, I'm starting to believe that getting the right set will be money well spent.
 
Thanks very much for your input and the effort.

 

[Beyakusenn]

My own experience with the M500 is that they were a bit too bassy for my tastes and they lacked resolution, mostly in the mids. When I was looking for portable gear, I compared many on-ears. Here is a comparison of 3 of the better headphones I made on another thread:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/733228/bowers-wilkins-p5-series-2/165#post_10971424
 
These are all expensive headphones, but you might also want to consider the much cheaper Beats Solo 2 (similar sound to the M500), Momentum on-ear (great sound and it can be found for less than $90 nowadays), V-Moda M-80 (Heard many good things. Haven't had a listen myself), Philips Fidelio M1 (not my personal choice, but it might float your boat).