It's been a while since I've posted on here but I thought you guys might like to hear my opinion on some of the latest Bluetooth headphones I've had the pleasure of trying out.
For a bit of background I've been on the near impossible task of finding the "perfect" set of Bluetooth headphones for the last 5 years or so. After trying out a huge amount of the very best money can buy I've finally settled on a pair (at least for the time being!) that almost perfectly satisfy my needs, and it may surprise you as to which Ive chosen.
Obviously everyone's taste in which headphones sound the most pleasing is highly subjective, and can also vary depending on what genre you listen to, and what their intended usage is, so what may work for me may not work for you.
My headphone usage is evenly split between music and movies and I like to listen to a wide variety of genres, but mainly electronic, alternative, popular, hip hop, and not too much rock, jazz, or classical etc. My preferred signature is one that's fun, dynamic, warm, smooth, airing slightly more on the darker than brighter side, with a well extended but punchy bass, clear mids, and slightly rolled off highs. Comfort is extremely important, as is Bluetooth stability, background hiss, and low latency.
For reference my favourite sounding Bluetooth headphones to date have been the B&W P7 Wireless, followed by the recently released Sennheiser Momentum M3, the B&O Beoplay H4, the Philips Fidelio M2bt, and the Onkyo H500BT. All but the H4's have a very similar signature, very close to what I'm looking for.
The P7's sound the best to me but their comfort, or lack there of is a huge deal breaker.
The M3's are the closest to the P7's in sound signature with the main differences being that the M3's have more sub bass extension, and the P7's have a touch more upper bass giving them a little more warmth.
The M3's are definitely more than comfortable enough over prolonged listening, with very soft lamb skin leather which fully encompass the ear, and minimal clamping force, however you'll never forget your wearing them due to their not insignificant weight. I did experience a few Bluetooth drop outs over the week I had them although I should mention there's a lot of interference in my flat and other headphones have fared much worse in the same environment. My main reason for deciding against them however is that the sub bass could actually become fatiguing at times both during music and movies. Although initially it was quite pleasing to see how low the bass could extend, on some bass heavy tracks it just became too much. I also found that vocals within movies could sound too thick and unnatural, and action scenes with lots going on could start to sound muddied. I did find that by switching off the ANC it would noticeably even out the responsive curve, but in doing so they lost a chunk of that exciting dynamic sound that made them so fun to listen to in the first place. Even after adjusting their sound profile through the Sennheiser app I couldn't get them to sound quite how I wanted. Unfortunately the non parametric EQ could only make minor adjustments to the sound and I found I wasn't able to make a significant difference to the signature. However, if it wasn't for their high cost, and if I was solely to use them for music I would probably have kept them as most of the time they sounded great and it was only with certain genres of music and dialogue in movies that I had a problem. They sounded incredibly detailed, with a fun dynamic signature, low latency, low background hiss, and were pretty comfortable, but for the price it was hard to overlook their small shortcomings.
Both the Fidelio's and the Onkyo's while maybe not sounding quite as detailed as the M3's or P7's, did sound pretty great, but they did suffer from more background hiss, poorer Bluetooth stability, and they were both 'on ear' which isn't a fit that I find particularly comfortable especially as a glasses wearer.
Now we come to the Beoplay H4's which are actually the headphones I've decided to give a permanent home to! At first listen they weren't what I'd call my ideal signature, and certainly out of the box they were far too bright, and too forward in the mids. However, after a bit of tweaking within the very useful B&O app, I've grown to absolutely love them.
I'd auditioned the Beoplay H8's several years ago and found them to sound quite pleasing and I absolutely loved their athesetics, however the lack of volume, poor Bluetooth stability, 'on ear' design and high price tag put me off.
Over the years I'd read various comments about how the whole Beoplay range suffered from low volume output so I'd completely overlooked the H4's until recently. It wasnt until I'd heard news that they had released the H4 Gen2 with updated Aptx and USB type c that I decided to look into them. I just happened to be passing a B&O store shortly after reading about them and decided to pop in for a listen despite the fact I'd already auditioned the Momentum M3's the previous week and decided to pull the plug if I could get them in the sales.
My first impressions when putting on the H4 Gen2's were just how light and extremely comfortable they were, especially after coming from the relatively heavy Momentum M3's. Unlike the M3's the pads do touch the ears in places but due to the lamb skin leather, the softness of the foam, the extremely light weight, and the low clamping force, they can easily be forgotten that your wearing them. In terms of sound I immediately noticed the openness, and detail in the mids and I was also surprised to find how loud they went. However, as I've already mentioned they were much brighter than what I generally prefer to listen to and out of the box the bass seemed to be lacking somewhat. They did however sound much more fun, and much louder when comparing them side by side with the H7 and H9 in store, but based upon my limited listen I decided the momentum M3's were still for me.
A week later and after finding the M3's at a small discount they were on their way to me and ready for a more extensive listen. After the initial excitement of finding just how great they sounded with a selection of my go to test tracks I soon started to discover some of their shortcomings and for the price they were asking I just couldn't overlook those few small things despite how enjoyable they could be. I thought back to the H4's and wondered if they might be worth another listen at home with a bit of adjustment to the EQ. After looking for them in the sales I came across the H4 gen1 at the extremely discounted price of £119! Even though they lacked noise cancelling, Aptx, and usb type c, I thought at that price they were definitely worth a listen especially as the Gen2's were still sat at £250.
Once I had them home I was ready to try them back to back with the M3's. I immediately downloaded the b&o app and set to work adjusting the eq. Even though it's not parametric it is surprisingly effective and I was pleased to find that you can store several profiles unlike the Sennheiser app. After making some adjustments I found I was blown away by the potential of these things! Set how I wanted they now sounded much warmer, with great bass extension, and better balanced mids. Compared to the M3's they sounded more open, with a wider soundstage and great imaging. The bass was deep, almost extending to M3 levels, but in this case only when the song called for it. What surprised me was how punchy they were, the bass is never bloated, just tight and impactful. Due to the forward mids vocals are clear and very natural, and the highs are never overcooked resulting in a signature that's never fatiguing. The M3's do sound slightly cleaner, and more detailed, but considering the H4's don't use Aptx I'm amazed that they're as close as they are. As much as they impress with music, it's when using them for movies that they really shine. Despite lacking Aptx there's barely any latency, barely any hiss, the slightly forward mids are perfect for dialogue, and the richness to vocals never sound unnatural. Bass is deep and punchy, perfect for explosions etc in action movies. I've never heard better for film!
Now for those of you who do a lot of travelling or listen to headphones in a noisy environment you might want to look else where, these do let in a reasonable amount of outside noise, and they obviously lack ANC. Personally I've used them in public myself and it hasn't really bothered me as they go plenty loud enough, but to be fair, for me these are more for home use.
Out of the noise cancelling headphones I've tried I'd probably still recommend the Momentum M3's over headphones like the Sony WH-
1000XM3 or offerings from B&W. Even though the Sony's do sound really nice they're nothing on the M3's sonically. The bass on the Sony's are boomy in comparison, the M3's are much tighter and well controlled, the soundstage is wider and the mids are far clearer. The Sony's are lighter, slightly more comfortable, and have the best ANC around, but if sound is more important to you then I'd go with the Sennheisers. I haven't experienced the PX or PX7 from B&W but from what Ive heard they've taken a step backwards from the performance of the P7 Wireless, and neither seem to have addressed the lack of comfort b&w are starting to get a reputation for. Controversially I also think the Bose QCII's are worth a mention, they are probably one of the most comfortable headphones I've tried, they still have amazing ANC even to today's standards, and even though they may not sound as dynamic as the M3's they do sound very open and detailed, with a relatively neutral signature and a small but reasonably pleasing bump to the bass. They can also be found dirt cheap these days.
Before I go, I thought it was worth mentioning that I've discovered an incredibly useful 10 band parametric EQ for Android if you want an alternative to something like Viper4android that requires a root. It's called 'RE Equalizer 10-band' and it's worlds apart from any other equaliser on the Play Store. It's not free but it's well worth the small fee, you only need to check out all positive reviews to see how great it is!
Anyway, I hope this helps with your decision making!
