[starfly]

I had px7 carbon and shure and I went comparing both with AirPods Max. Loved the sound signature of px7 but lack of detail in highs made me return them. Comfort and anc on shure made me return them. Airpods Max are fine on all fronts but sound is not that energy for me. But it has great anc and good amount of detail. Does px7 s2 has that level of detail?

I haven't heard those other headphones, but the OP @Maukey has.

 

[starfly]

Alright, I decided to also pick up the Bose QC45 today at a local store, as I just wanted to be able to compare.

These are by far the most comfortable headphones out of all the ones tested. Like, head and shoulders above the rest. Ear cups are 62 x 41 mm. Drivers are angled and at the deepest part are 27mm deep, shallowest part 16mm deep - this is before any earpad compression, so actual depth probably a bit lower. My 67mm long ears have plenty of room inside these deep earcups.

PX7 S2 are 18mm deep at shallowest part, 28mm at deepest part (so, even slightly deeper than the QC45). But at 56 x 37mm size ear cups, definitely on the smaller side.

So the trick for headphone comfort without making really huge earcups is to have angled drivers, where the deepest part is at least 25mm deep. The back of your ear can then go under the earpad (provided the manufacturer ensures that part has no sharp edges or rough material - but that's not the case on the QC45 or PX7 S2).

ANC on the QC45 is excellent, on par with the XM4. Sound profile is neutral with emphasized highs. Main downside is no higher quality codecs than AAC. Baffling why Bose didn't decide to at least include AptX as well. And if that would've meant they needed to bump the price by $10, that would've been completely fine. They're pretty ugly headphones to look at, very utilitarian design (the Bose NC700 look much sleeker, but the QC45 should be more comfortable than those).

It's going to be really tempting to just keep the QC45 and call it a day, as I'm primarily looking for comfort and good ANC in these kinds of headphones. And well, at least it comes with a 2.5mm > 3.5mm cable - and my phone still has a headphone jack, so I can still get good quality audio that way. But these headphones are light and just very comfortable.

I love the sound on the PX7 S2 - but I don't think I could wear them for 8 hours straight on a long flight. I could wear them for 2 hours, maybe 3. QC45 I can already tell I could wear them for that long - and the ANC is superb. But the PX7 S2 at the same time has a certain coziness that almost feels like coming home when putting them on again (and adjusting for just the right fit). I think it partly has to do with the ear cup pads being wide, and distributing the pressure over a larger area, and then of course the very deep cups where my ears don't touch the drivers or any fabric covering it. Kudos to B&W for either way getting the most out of smaller ear cups. Would've been a home run with ear cups at least 5mm longer/wider. (I so hope the PX8 will have bigger ear cups).

I'll make up my mind this week - but for sure the 5909, EAH-A800 and Momentum 4 are all going back. 5909, while sounding absolutely fantastic, just not worth the cost when it has poor ANC - comfort is decent, but could've been better had they used angled drivers, as the ear cups are otherwise pretty big. EAH-A800 has great ANC, but the implementation combined with music is poor, really badly affecting SQ. Momentum 4 has great ANC and SQ, but poor comfort.

 

[nunomeneses]

I had px7 carbon and shure and I went comparing both with AirPods Max. Loved the sound signature of px7 but lack of detail in highs made me return them. Comfort and anc on shure made me return them. Airpods Max are fine on all fronts but sound is not that energy for me. But it has great anc and good amount of detail. Does px7 s2 has that level of detail?

@Maukey can you please help on this? I appreciate it!

 

[Maukey]

I have finally added the Momentum 4 to the comparison. I also went ahead and added the Sony 1000XM5. It's a headphone I've had a while but hadn't taken the time to add it. I figured I should since it is a popular consumer headphone. I've also changed some of the rankings in the categories to account for my feelings after spending more time with each of these, as well as no longer owning some.

 

[Maukey]

@Maukey can you please help on this? I appreciate it!

The PX7 S2 is definitely more energetic than the AirPods Max. As far as detail, I give the slight edge to the AirPods Max. I do think the PX7 S2 sounds more natural and less digitized than the AirPods Max though. It's more laid back, but more balanced in the highs than the AirPods Max. I prefer the PX7 S2's overall sound signature to the AirPods Max.To me, it's what the original PX7 should've been.

 

[Maukey]

Alright, I decided to also pick up the Bose QC45 today at a local store, as I just wanted to be able to compare.

These are by far the most comfortable headphones out of all the ones tested. Like, head and shoulders above the rest. Ear cups are 62 x 41 mm. Drivers are angled and at the deepest part are 27mm deep, shallowest part 16mm deep - this is before any earpad compression, so actual depth probably a bit lower. My 67mm long ears have plenty of room inside these deep earcups.

PX7 S2 are 18mm deep at shallowest part, 28mm at deepest part (so, even slightly deeper than the QC45). But at 56 x 37mm size ear cups, definitely on the smaller side.

So the trick for headphone comfort without making really huge earcups is to have angled drivers, where the deepest part is at least 25mm deep. The back of your ear can then go under the earpad (provided the manufacturer ensures that part has no sharp edges or rough material - but that's not the case on the QC45 or PX7 S2).

ANC on the QC45 is excellent, on par with the XM4. Sound profile is neutral with emphasized highs. Main downside is no higher quality codecs than AAC. Baffling why Bose didn't decide to at least include AptX as well. And if that would've meant they needed to bump the price by $10, that would've been completely fine. They're pretty ugly headphones to look at, very utilitarian design (the Bose NC700 look much sleeker, but the QC45 should be more comfortable than those).

It's going to be really tempting to just keep the QC45 and call it a day, as I'm primarily looking for comfort and good ANC in these kinds of headphones. And well, at least it comes with a 2.5mm > 3.5mm cable - and my phone still has a headphone jack, so I can still get good quality audio that way. But these headphones are light and just very comfortable.

I love the sound on the PX7 S2 - but I don't think I could wear them for 8 hours straight on a long flight. I could wear them for 2 hours, maybe 3. QC45 I can already tell I could wear them for that long - and the ANC is superb. But the PX7 S2 at the same time has a certain coziness that almost feels like coming home when putting them on again (and adjusting for just the right fit). I think it partly has to do with the ear cup pads being wide, and distributing the pressure over a larger area, and then of course the very deep cups where my ears don't touch the drivers or any fabric covering it. Kudos to B&W for either way getting the most out of smaller ear cups. Would've been a home run with ear cups at least 5mm longer/wider. (I so hope the PX8 will have bigger ear cups).

I'll make up my mind this week - but for sure the 5909, EAH-A800 and Momentum 4 are all going back. 5909, while sounding absolutely fantastic, just not worth the cost when it has poor ANC - comfort is decent, but could've been better had they used angled drivers, as the ear cups are otherwise pretty big. EAH-A800 has great ANC, but the implementation combined with music is poor, really badly affecting SQ. Momentum 4 has great ANC and SQ, but poor comfort.

Love the thoughts on the QC45. They are on sale today for $250. Think I'm going to pick them up again and add them to my comparisons. I had picked them up when they first were released and really liked them, ended up selling them to try others. Looking forward to see how they stack up.

 

[acroyear]

Love the thoughts on the QC45. They are on sale today for $250. Think I'm going to pick them up again and add them to my comparisons. I had picked them up when they first were released and really liked them, ended up selling them to try others. Looking forward to see how they stack up.

Ear pads not being large enough is a consistent problem for me and many in this community. Could you tell me the ear hole dimensions of the Mark Levinson 5909? I'm very tempted to try these but they're expensive and I need to know if the ear pads will be large enough to go around my ears first. Are the holes larger than 40x60?

 

[starfly]

Ear pads not being large enough is a consistent problem for me and many in this community. Could you tell me the ear hole dimensions of the Mark Levinson 5909? I'm very tempted to try these but they're expensive and I need to know if the ear pads will be large enough to go around my ears first. Are the holes larger than 40x60?

I tried those and they're 63x40. The largest out of all the ones I tested. But the drivers aren't angled, so if your ears also stick out a bit it'll still touch the fabric covering the drivers.

 

[acroyear]

I tried those and they're 63x40. The largest out of all the ones I tested. But the drivers aren't angled, so if your ears also stick out a bit it'll still touch the fabric covering the drivers.

Purchased. Thank you for that. These are definitely going to fit because my ears don't stick out. Hopefully the bass will be to my satisfaction with the bass enhancement enabled

 

[Ikhemsek]

Got the ML 5909, the earcups are quite deep and cover my (admittedly somewhat big) ears rather nicely. Definitely concur with the OP regarding weight distribution, I was kinda worried about the overall weight and clamping force when I first tried them on but they seal around my ears well and I don't feel noticeably more encumbered than I did with my old cans, which were about 90g lighter. The bass contour controls on the app do feel like they give a palpable effect, but it's not a huge difference IMO and I do notice that some metal songs don't sound quite as nice without the punchiness of a more consumer-oriented sound profile. Symphonic metal and anything with female vocals do benefit tremendously from the 5909's upper mid focus though, which I appreciate immensely.

EDIT: Kinda unrelated, but does anyone know how to redeem that 3 month Qobuz trial that ships with the 5909’s? The QR code doesn’t seem to work or lead to a valid URL
EDIT2: Nvm, the URL shortener they used for the QR code doesn’t work, but try.qobuz.com/marklevinson leads to the intended page it seems

 

[starfly]

Purchased. Thank you for that. These are definitely going to fit because my ears don't stick out. Hopefully the bass will be to my satisfaction with the bass enhancement enabled

I liked the sound with bass enhancement enabled. It mainly boosts the sub-bass region. Definitely no bleeding into mids with it enabled.

 

[posnera]

How do the Momentum 4 compare to the HD450? I'm borrowing the 450s now from my kid as a demo.
I'm most concerned about the earcup size. The 450 is a little small for my ears.

 

[raymanh]

How do the Momentum 4 compare to the HD450? I'm borrowing the 450s now from my kid as a demo.
I'm most concerned about the earcup size. The 450 is a little small for my ears.

Just tried tried the Momentum 4's in a shop. Ear cups were very roomy, more so than the Sony line. IIRC, the HD450 were more like on-ear for me.

 

[Ikhemsek]

Looks like more info on the B&W Px8’s just dropped, any interest in trying them out in the future given the glowing praise for the Px7 S2? Looks like the biggest changes are driver and housing, while the ANC unit is more or less inherited wholesale from the Px7 S2. The gray and tan colourways look quite nice, if not perhaps as eyegrabbing as the blue/gold Px7 S2, and the aluminium frame does seem evocative of the M&D MW75. Price point is also definitely pushing the envelope at $699, which puts it just under the Beoplay H95 and the ML 5909 at the premium end of the ANC market. While I’m excited to hear how it performs, I’m kinda skeptical that the improvements will be worth nearly twice as much as the Px7 S2; the S2 might remain competitive for its price-to-performance ratio still.

 

[FlyingFungus]

Really struggling to decide between the B&W, Senns and the Sony. Everything I read about the first two (the ones I'm a little more interested in) is that they are relatively evenly matched (on other sites as well).

I do enjoy both of their sounds although I haven't heard anything from them in years. I had the B&W P7 wired headphones and loved them. I do regret selling them, but they weren't getting enough use and were on-ear. Sennheiser, I own the ie80, but haven't used them in a long time, cables need replacing but I really enjoy them. As for the Sony, I heard their flagship headphones years ago, and enjoyed them.

I don't need the greatest sounding headphones ever, since I still have some great wired headphones and gear. But a great all rounder, that I can use mainly at work. While I do sit at my desk quite a bit, I am on the move around the office as well (IT). Plus work gives $500 a year for office spending or exercise and other things etc.