Womaz
1000+ Head-Fier
Great review so thanks for this . I have sent you a PMHello Everyone,
First thing, since I have three pairs of headphones I am testing against each other right now if anyone wants me to compare them in a certain way I haven’t thought about just let me know. I got them about a week ago and this is my first time posting and comparing headphones in this way. I am an amateur closet musician ha, so no pro advice really.
I am testing the Beyerdynamic Lagoon ANC, Shure 1000XM3, and Shure AONIC 50s right now. I am in my second year of medical school and since we are studying at home 100% now I need absolute quiet - I have four children under 8!
So far, I am not a big fan of the Lagoons - to glitchy with the on off switch not working all the time. The sound is great with solid noise canceling though. I really really want to like these headphones but just can’t. I cannot get the Lagoons to charge with a straight USB-C cable either. I have to use a USB-A to USB-C cable to charge it. This is annoying when you are on a MacBook with no USB-A ports! I have to use my older computer to plug into or the wall. No idea why it will not recognize that cable. Also, this is extremely annoying. The left ear has a spring or something that makes a creaking sound when I open my mouth. So the construction of the Lagoons is not what I would expect since it squeaks when the headset moves slightly in a lateral direction. I contacted Beyerdynamic about it but haven’t heard back yet. I have the DT880s and those are amazing, so I expected a lot more from this company. When I purchased these three headphones I expected to favor the Lagoons but that didn’t happen at all.
The Sony 1000XM3s don’t sound as good as the Lagoons but the noise canceling is better. There is an odd hiss coming from the right headphone only when ANC is on. So, if you aren’t listening to music with ANC on then the left is silent but there is a hiss on the right. Not sure if defect and I haven’t contacted company yet about it. I don’t know why but I just don’t enjoy these headphones that much. After wearing the Lagoons and AONICs I just didn’t care to even try the 1000 XM3s. It isn’t that they are inferior or anything. I still haven’t put my finger down on that feeling towards them. All I can think is that the user experience isn’t as exciting. I really really like the look of the AONIC 50s and the feel of them. The XM3s just feel ho-hum or something.
The AONIC 50s are rock solid, look killer, and I like that the headphone joints are more stiff compared to the others. The XM3 and Lagoons just feel floppy and rotate too easily for me. I like that the AONIC 50s are stiffer and hold their shape when you take them off. They rotate easily but just feel more solid. I can connect to both my MacBook Pro and iPhone at the same time, but I have to reconnect the Bluetooth to my MacBook after a call takes the audio to my phone. The AONICs wont swap back and forth easily between the devices. Could be something about my setup - not sure. After the call is over, I have to turn off the Bluetooth on my phone to get the headphones to come back to the MacBook. I also have the SE846s with BT2 and they dynamically swap between devices with no problem at all. I was wearing the SE846s too long though and got sore ears - that’s why I am testing over the ear headphones now. Since the BT2 works just fine and these don’t I am not sure if that leans more to a bug in the AONICs or not.
The AONIC 50s feel expensive, the Lagoons feel a little cheap, and the 1000XM3 don’t feel as nice as the AONIC 50 but better than the Lagoons. I can wear the AONIC 50 for a long time (6 hours) and my ears get a little warm but not bad. The sound quality is great. I don’t have that great of an ear but I would say the AONIC 50s are competing with the Lagoons for sound while the 1000XM3 were not as good as those two. I am studying too much to really dive into a sound test though. In comparing audio quality I would need to listen to the Lagoons and AONICs more.
The call quality with the AONIC 50s is fantastic. I have the Presonus Studio 26c and a CAD e300 condensor Mic. When I was on FaceTime with my brother on the MacBook Pro (not using a phone) he couldn’t tell the difference in voice quality when I swapped from the AONICs to the condensor mic. That really surprised me but I don’t understand if FaceTime degrades audio quality for the call so it was not a pure test but the person on the other side couldn’t tell. So that says a lot for call quality. I need to do a sound recording test with each though.
I really like the buttons on the AONIC 50. I don’t like the touch sensors on the other headphones and prefer real buttons. The AONIC 50 does not have a touchpad and the buttons feel nice and solid with good response. The XM3s buttons were good but too gentle for me if that makes sense. I hate the Lagoons buttons. The on off switch was completely unreliable. In regards to the touch sensitive controls on XM3 and Lagoon, they work well but I don’t like that feature. I always found my self accidentally changing songs or pausing when I touched the headphones for other brands, so I am biased to dislike touch sensitive.
Once you plug in the charger to the Lagoons they turn off. You can listen to the AONIC 50s with the USB-C cable plugged in. I have not tested the headphones while plugged in with a wire because I will never use them that way.
If you are considering the three, my recommendation is to get the AONIIC 50s and you wont be disappointed. The XM3 seem to have the best noise canceling but I wan’t able to really pinpoint how the XM3 compared to the AONICs - they are close in noise canceling ability and I don’t have time to really setup an experiment. When comparing the XM3 to the Lagoons the XM3 were noticebly better at reducing sound. With music on they were the same though. With my home situation having four kids running around all day I have to use noise canceling with music to get quiet and be able to focus. The SE846 with custom in ear sleeves are my best option but the in ear soreness started up after wearing them for a week straight about 10 hours a day!
While testing, I found myself wearing the AONIC 50s longer and not really wanting to test against the other two anymore. So, I eventually gravitated to only using the AONIC 50s after a few days of swapping them out without really realizing it. I ended up finishing up one night and thinking ”Wow, I wore the AONICs almost the whole day.” So, take that for what it is worth. I didn’t plan on selecting one pair and wanted to do a 6 day long thorough test of swapping them out. So far, I plan on returning the Lagoons - the on off switch is not reliable and it takes several attempts to get them on sometimes. Also, the left ear creaks when I open and close my mouth which can be heard when listening to music with ANC turned on of course. I plan on returning the XM3s because of the odd hissing noise in the right headphone with ANC turned on. I can sometimes hear this hiss when listening to music at a lower volume. At first, I kept wondering what was making that noise in my room. So, it was distracting. The only complaint I have about the AONIC 50s is that it doesn’t keep a solid Bluetooth connection to my MacBook Pro and iPhone at the same time. It will pick up audio from the computer, but then will not reconnect to the computer easily after the iPhone sends an audio signal and it swaps over automatically. Not a big deal, will probably fixed by firmware update (I am going to contact them to see what they say). AONIC is my favorite.
I really appreciate this forum and have used it a lot to help me make audio decisions.
Last edited:
