Best headphones for a commuter?

[Sebastian Kurpiel]

What's up guys, I've been thinking about getting a good pair of headphones for when I'm at home or traveling. I take the subway,train, and airplane a lot so I was wondering if the Bose quiet comfort 35 would be a good fit. My biggest concern is the audio quality, I was looking at Sennheiser headphones in the same budget. My budget is around the same as the quiet comfort. Thanks for the suggestions and help in advance.

[Sack]

11 minutes ago, Sebastian Kurpiel said:

What's up guys, I've been thinking about getting a good pair of headphones for when I'm at home or traveling. I take the subway,train, and airplane a lot so I was wondering if the Bose quiet comfort 35 would be a good fit. My biggest concern is the audio quality, I was looking at Sennheiser headphones in the same budget. My budget is around the same as the quiet comfort. Thanks for the suggestions and help in advance.

Would be easier to give you advice if you gave us a dollar amount to work with as the price of QC 35 can be vastly different depending on what country you live in.

[SSL]

To the OP - Bose makes the best ANC headphones in terms of sound quality and ANC quality. If they are within budget I would definitely recommend them.

 

 

Edited December 9, 2016 by wkdpaul
cleaned up

[Pomfinator]

If the priority is audio quality, the QC35 would not be the best choice.  They sound okay with ANC on, but without ANC and digital processing they just sound like ass.  Momentum Wireless or Sony MDR-1000x are better sounding options for that price.

[kokakolia]

Pure sound quality doesn't matter when you're commuting. You need something with elevated bass and toned down treble. Ambient noise makes treble more noticeable, especially at higher volumes and bass gets lost. IMO, the Philips M1 sound phenomenal when you're out and about, but only average at home. They're kinda dark and recessed. But that's very desirable at higher volumes in noisy environments. 

 

Noise cancelling headphones are ideal because they bypass that problem. You can simply hear more, so the argument of having better sound quality you can't hear is completely moot. So, yeah go with the Bose QC 35. 

 

You may want to consider a pair of headphones for the house, but the Bose are just good enough'. 

 

 

[POSIX23]

Some alternatives to Bose QC35:

- Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 Wireless

- Parrot Zik 2.0

- Parrot Zik 3.0

- Sennheiser PXC 550: These have a lot of nice features for traveling (https://en-us.sennheiser.com/wireless-headphone-headset-bluetooth-noise-cancelling-pxc-550-travel)

- Sony MDR-1000X

[GamerDude]

Normally, I'd say QC35 IF ANC is a big factor, audio is rather meh though.....but, as of late, I've heard good things about the MDR-1000X. According to my friend (ANC's more his thing) the MDR-1000X has comparable ANC to the Bose but with better audio reproduction. Though I ain't looking for any ANC can, I'll admit I'm curious about the Sony MDR-1000X, gonna try to find some spare time to audition it......too busy now as it's year end.