[Kelleytoons]

It's hard to beat those Sony even though they do have NC (you can always turn it off). Excellent comfort, sound, portability and great battery life (30 hours).

If you just mean "cheap" then you will sacrifice some of those things (like we used to write on the software blackboard for our users -- "Good, cheap, fast" and then ask them to pick any two). I suspect you can find some very reasonably priced phones that have crappy battery life, or aren't comfortable, or don't have great sound, but you'd have to specify here what you are willing to give up.

 

[gazzington]

Better than Bose?

 

[Kelleytoons]

Yes, I recently compared the Bose Quiet Comfort II to the Sony WH1000m3, and the Sony was superior.

Now, there are a LOT of factors that go into that decision, and YMMV. Quite a bit, in point of fact. For me the showstopper was comfort -- I could wear the Bose no more than about 15 minutes, whereas I could wear the Sonys for hours, but, again, YMMV. Everyone's head and ears are different. While I don't consider myself having extremely large ears, they certainly don't seem to fit inside most modern on the ear BT phones, and the Bose are no exceptions. The Sony, though, are much larger and thus work for me. If you have small ears (or a small head, as even that makes a difference) you may find the Bose to be just fine.

You didn't want NC but I find the Sony to be far superior in this regard.

The sound is almost a dead heat -- given each's app to control it, you can make either sound just about identical. Sometimes I preferred the Bose, sometimes the Sony, but when I would go back and forth I would then doubt my first decision. I don't think anyone would be unhappy with the sound from either (given they are BT -- comparing to wired isn't fair).

The Sony's controls aren't "buttons" but electronic slides on the earpiece, whereas the Bose are indeed hard buttons. I prefer the latter but I use my Apple watch to control all my music so it's a non-factor for me. The Sony does win on it's "hold your hand to your right earpiece and I'll mute both NC and sound" so you can easily talk to someone in a flash. But the big difference in performance is battery life, with the Sony having 50% more than the Bose (and with ten minutes of recharge you get five hours of playing time, so it's easy-peasy for a quick charge).

But, as I said, everyone is going to find these different depending on their needs. If you can audition both for an extended period of time (I had a month before I had to return the Bose, and keep the Sony) I would advise you to do so. Either one is a superb electronic device, and each has their own advantages and disadvantages.

 

[ruthieandjohn]

Which has brighter (more Grado-like) treble -- the Microsoft Surface BT headphones or the Sony WH 1000xm3?

 

[trellus]

The Koss BT540i.

 

[waynes world]

Still really like my cheapo August EP650's (with EQ), and my cheapo Soundblaster Jams. Both sound very good for the price!

 

[BRSxIgnition]

Interested to see how the new Beyerdynamic and Jabra headphones compare to the Bose and Sony.

 

[jeffri]

Just got myself a Surface Headphone.

Sound quality is average, but I'm pretty happy with it because it aligns with the sound I prefer. Quite bassy and it bleeds into the mid a bit, but overall a pretty fun and engaging sound. It won't win any award in sound quality, but it is pretty good for what it is.

But more importantly is that this is good product, well polished, everything works great. The connection is solid, ANC works beautifully and the ability to tune it in 12 steps (+1 amplify) is pretty helpful. The dial on either side is solid, smooth and satisfying to slide. Touch control works fine too, although there is no gesture, but it's okay since the dial works much better for volume control. Even Cortana works great, but it's a feature I won't use so I hope Microsoft allow us to disable it in future.

Also I like how it automatically pause music when I take it off, and play it again as soon as I put it back to my head. It's only for convenience but it works great. It means it won't eat up the (rather short) 15 hours battery life when it's hanging on my neck as the ANC also automatically turn off.

Having tested Bose QC35ii before, I think this is a better product (unless you want the Google Assistant). But I haven't tried the Sony 1000XM3, so I can't comment on that.

 

[JoshG1217]

This thing died it seems.

Looking forward to Beyer Lagoon... If they ever release.

Amiron wireless are good, but don't seal well and that degrades bass. A pad change may change this.

HP70 sound terrific, but look terrible.

Both outperform the XM3, which is the top dog, otherwise.

 

[uncletim]

I wonder about the lagoon also.

want to hear Denon AH-GC30

 

[Sonic Defender]

This thing died it seems.

Looking forward to Beyer Lagoon... If they ever release.

Amiron wireless are good, but don't seal well and that degrades bass. A pad change may change this.

HP70 sound terrific, but look terrible.

Both outperform the XM3, which is the top dog, otherwise.

The XM3 are stellar once you trim the bass back a little via EQ (but not the Sony app equalizer). Yes I wanted to get the HP70, and nearly did, but man they are not very aesthetic at all. Mind you despite owning the XM3 I am not going to call them lovely either, rather bland really. Personally I love the look of the PX myself but had to sell them due to abysmal comfort for me.

 

[hifi80sman]

The XM3 are stellar once you trim the bass back a little via EQ (but not the Sony app equalizer). Yes I wanted to get the HP70, and nearly did, but man they are not very aesthetic at all. Mind you despite owning the XM3 I am not going to call them lovely either, rather bland really. Personally I love the look of the PX myself but had to sell them due to abysmal comfort for me.

Totally agree. The XM3 are perfectly good, but rather boring. Can't put my finger on it, but just does not have the "it" factor. Still very good at what they do and still sound very good when EQd. More natural sounding than the XM2 (I keep DSEE HX turned off). For pure audio enjoyment, wirelessly, I'd place the PX at the top of the mountain (ANC off), but I too had comfort (and fit) issues, so ended up returning them. If you can deal with the discomfort, which I thought I could and tried for a few weeks, they don't hold a seal well, meaning they tend to slip and dislodge when moving your head or chewing gum, food, etc.

I tried the Denon AH-D1200, which looks like basically a wired version of the wireless ANC AH-GC30. If the AH-GC30 is anything like the AH-D1200, the build quality is lacking and it's going to feel pretty darn cheap. They try to use metal here to give it a premium feel and finish, but it just feels like a recycled Chi-Fi design with cheap hinges, sliders, etc.

 

[JoshG1217]

The XM3 is a good all arounder for sure, but it does lack a bit of clarity, and the soundstage is narrow. Would love a version of the Amiron that's more portable and has ANC. Hoping that's the Lagoon.

 

[Sonic Defender]

@hifi80sman I agree that the XM3 lack a little character as compared with the PX, but for me the XM3 are still very good sounding and overall extremely close to the PX in sound quality even if they get there a little differently. Going by memory the PX has a little more tilt towards the mids so the music has a very engaging and immediate quality to it.

 

[329161]

Lagoon is available now apparently.