Wireless headset advice

[0xzz]

Hi,

im currently looking for a new headset but there is just so much stuff out there and i dont want to go through the process of ordering a bunch just to test them and send them back, so i thought i could get some advice here.

Im currently using a Sennheiser PC 363D and im very happy with the sound but its starting to fall apart.

I will mainly use it for watching movies/tv shows on my pc and some gaming, plus i would like to listen to music on my phone.

My budget is around 200-250€.

What im looking for is:

 

A microphone (quality is not important, only using it a couple times per year)

Wireless (Bluetooth so i can also use it on my phone)

Some form of surround sound

Over-ear style

 

Im happy for any suggestions.

 

Edit: should probably mention that im not an audiophile, just your average consumer

[rice guru]

Budget?

 

[KING OF THE DIRTY DANS]

Corsair Void Pro

[0xzz]

26 minutes ago, rice guru said:

Budget?

 

Budget is around 200-250€

[0xzz]

22 minutes ago, KING OF THE DIRTY DANS said:

Corsair Void Pro

From what i can see, it doesnt have bluetooth

 

[Chris V]

I'd recommend a Bose Headset. I've been using Bose since like 2015ish and using it daily for hours and hours. It has 1 big advantage IMO and thats: its super super comfortable to wear. Bluetooth is perfect, battery life too, once you have a mic like that u'll probably use it more frequently for phone calls (at least that was my experience). So summarizing:

- Good quality mic is given

- Overear style is given

- Super comfortable to wear

- Wireless is given

- AND as its not a gamer esque kinda headset, you can actually wear it in public

 

For gaming: Discord can actually run via speakers, without the other parties hearing themselves. If you're using another program that doesnt come with that functionality: I just used sth like a Samson Meteor Mic, where you can just plug the 3.5mm in. (or simply directly to your pc). Right now I am using a more advanced Audio Interface as Im making music now.

 

Kinda off topic, but I cant stress enough how happy I've been with my Bose AE2 SoundLink. My brother has a newer QC 35 (i think thats the name, it comes with noise cancelling).

If i remember correctly, 200-250€ should be exactly enough.

 

Greetings,

Chris

[0xzz]

44 minutes ago, Chris V said:

I'd recommend a Bose Headset. I've been using Bose since like 2015ish and using it daily for hours and hours. It has 1 big advantage IMO and thats: its super super comfortable to wear. Bluetooth is perfect, battery life too, once you have a mic like that u'll probably use it more frequently for phone calls (at least that was my experience). So summarizing:

- Good quality mic is given

- Overear style is given

- Super comfortable to wear

- Wireless is given

- AND as its not a gamer esque kinda headset, you can actually wear it in public

 

For gaming: Discord can actually run via speakers, without the other parties hearing themselves. If you're using another program that doesnt come with that functionality: I just used sth like a Samson Meteor Mic, where you can just plug the 3.5mm in. (or simply directly to your pc). Right now I am using a more advanced Audio Interface as Im making music now.

 

Kinda off topic, but I cant stress enough how happy I've been with my Bose AE2 SoundLink. My brother has a newer QC 35 (i think thats the name, it comes with noise cancelling).

If i remember correctly, 200-250€ should be exactly enough.

 

Greetings,

Chris

Thanks for your suggestions, the qc35 look really good, its just that i dont want noise canceling to that degree, i still need to know whats going on around me.

As far as i can tell, the AE2 SoundLink only have 7h of battery life, thats not enough for longer "sessions" on the weekend.

[Chris V]

1 hour ago, 0xzz said:

Thanks for your suggestions, the qc35 look really good, its just that i dont want noise canceling to that degree, i still need to know whats going on around me.

As far as i can tell, the AE2 SoundLink only have 7h of battery life, thats not enough for longer "sessions" on the weekend.

Hey there

i think you can disable the noise cancelling feature, if I'm not mistaken.

As I've owned the headset for years now, 7hrs seem like a vast underestimation, but I'll try it out tomorrow morning from full charge to 0 and get back to you

(i usually find myself not having to charge up for a week at least and I'm sure i use the headset 2-4hrs daily)

 

Greetings, Chris

[rice guru]

my favorite bluetooth headphonesfor around that price are b and o beoplay h7 h8 and h8i for around that price

[0xzz]

47 minutes ago, Chris V said:

Hey there

i think you can disable the noise cancelling feature, if I'm not mistaken.

As I've owned the headset for years now, 7hrs seem like a vast underestimation, but I'll try it out tomorrow morning from full charge to 0 and get back to you

(i usually find myself not having to charge up for a week at least and I'm sure i use the headset 2-4hrs daily)

 

Greetings, Chris

I think you can only disable the noise canceling when using them with the 3.5mm cable, not on bluetooth.

8 minutes ago, rice guru said:

my favorite bluetooth headphonesfor around that price are b and o beoplay h7 h8 and h8i for around that price

Those are on-ear headsets except for the h7, which costs 300€

[rice guru]

4 minutes ago, 0xzz said:

I think you can only disable the noise canceling when using them with the 3.5mm cable, not on bluetooth.

Those are on-ear headsets except for the h7, which costs 300€

how about the b and o h4? also completely forgot the Sennheiser PXC 550 and momentum 2 are around that price and also sound great

[0xzz]

11 hours ago, rice guru said:

how about the b and o h4? also completely forgot the Sennheiser PXC 550 and momentum 2 are around that price and also sound great

the b and o h4 looks really good, but it doesnt have surround sound.

the pxc 550 has noise canceling, dont know if this can be disabled or how strong it is. 

i cant find a wireless version of the momentum 2, afaik there are only wired models

[rice guru]

2 hours ago, 0xzz said:

the b and o h4 looks really good, but it doesnt have surround sound.

the pxc 550 has noise canceling, dont know if this can be disabled or how strong it is. 

i cant find a wireless version of the momentum 2, afaik there are only wired models

All headphones are suround sound it's just called sound stage and imaging but if you want 7.1 suround stuff best to look at programs like Dolby Atmos for headphones. Because no Bluetooth headphones I can think of really do that except maybe the audeze Mobius but that's way out of budget

[0xzz]

2 minutes ago, rice guru said:

All headphones are suround sound it's just called sound stage and imaging but if you want 7.1 suround stuff best to look at programs like Dolby Atmos for headphones. Because no Bluetooth headphones I can think of really do that except maybe the audeze Mobius but that's way out of budget

yeah you are probably right, i decided to not pay attention to surround in my choice.

the noise canceling on the pxc 550 can be adjusted and they seem like a great choice all around so i think im gonna give those a try.

thank you for your help

[Chris V]

so I've used em from 14:00 to 20:30 right now which is 6.5 hrs and I'm at a solid 70% of my battery remaining. Trust me, if you want longer sessions neither battery nor comfort of wearing Bose is gonna disappoint you. Im not a reviewer so I cant speak about all headsets, but usually I find they are just not as comfortable as the Bose ones . That is also the conclusion I think Linus makes in one of his videos.

 

Buy ones without Alexa, fancy touch stuff, or whatever. Buy what you want - good quality audio and a comfortable wear for hours and hours.

These 6.5 hours over bluetooth - that was at about 80% volume, with music, voice chat, phone calls. All sorts of stuff. And even if you assume that 6.5hrs of music at 100% (which I hope you wouldnt use in real life) cost twice the battery. That would still leave me with 40%, so I could assume getting at least 12 hours of full 100% music time with this headset - all that under the assumption that my numbers were 50% of what could be maximum drain of battery.

 

in short - dw about battery life. even if its shorter than what i experience, then show me any headset that beats my bose ones by anything significant. Only upside could be a kinda quickcharge function - if that exists.

 

What im tryna say is dont worry too much about side benefits. If you want sound, battery, comfort - man just go with bose. my mate bought sth from sennheiser - theyre great, cant complain. but theyre more expensive and less comfy.

 

greetings chris

[rice guru]

12 minutes ago, Chris V said:

so I've used em from 14:00 to 20:30 right now which is 6.5 hrs and I'm at a solid 70% of my battery remaining. Trust me, if you want longer sessions neither battery nor comfort of wearing Bose is gonna disappoint you. Im not a reviewer so I cant speak about all headsets, but usually I find they are just not as comfortable as the Bose ones . That is also the conclusion I think Linus makes in one of his videos.

 

Buy ones without Alexa, fancy touch stuff, or whatever. Buy what you want - good quality audio and a comfortable wear for hours and hours.

These 6.5 hours over bluetooth - that was at about 80% volume, with music, voice chat, phone calls. All sorts of stuff. And even if you assume that 6.5hrs of music at 100% (which I hope you wouldnt use in real life) cost twice the battery. That would still leave me with 40%, so I could assume getting at least 12 hours of full 100% music time with this headset - all that under the assumption that my numbers were 50% of what could be maximum drain of battery.

 

in short - dw about battery life. even if its shorter than what i experience, then show me any headset that beats my bose ones by anything significant. Only upside could be a kinda quickcharge function - if that exists.

 

What im tryna say is dont worry too much about side benefits. If you want sound, battery, comfort - man just go with bose. my mate bought sth from sennheiser - theyre great, cant complain. but theyre more expensive and less comfy.

 

greetings chris

Sony wx1000m3 , audeze Mobius  I would say beat Bose in the sound department

[Chris V]

On 6/18/2019 at 8:51 PM, rice guru said:

Sony wx1000m3 , audeze Mobius  I would say beat Bose in the sound department

cant assess that, since Im not a reviewer or anything and I havent owned these other products. What I can evaluate though is that you can probably get a deal on AE2 Soundlink and get them for maybe 150€ ish?

 

If im not mistaken the Sony ones are around 300 like the QC35. So if AE2 Soundlink gets me comparable sound and comfort, I'd say go for it if its 50-75% the price. All that of course - given u dont need noise cancelling. The mobius ones are way more expensive.

 

 

edit: I personally wouldnt be sure of noise cancelling being an absolute requirement and I for sure dont want Alexa in every single damn device.

Edited June 21, 2019 by Chris V

[rice guru]

1 hour ago, Chris V said:

cant assess that, since Im not a reviewer or anything and I havent owned these other products. What I can evaluate though is that you can probably get a deal on AE2 Soundlink and get them for maybe 150€ ish?

 

If im not mistaken the Sony ones are around 300 like the QC35. So if AE2 Soundlink gets me comparable sound and comfort, I'd say go for it if its 50-75% the price. All that of course - given u dont need noise cancelling. The mobius ones are way more expensive.

 

 

edit: I personally wouldnt be sure of noise cancelling being an absolute requirement and I for sure dont want Alexa in every single damn device.

B and o h4. Guarantee to sound better and be really comfortable. Bose isn't known for their sound in the hifi world for a reason. People buy Bose as travel cans for anc. And pretty much it.

[JJB]

I will recommend the PXC 550. Excellent noise cancelling and battery life. Also you can adjust the amount of noise cancelling with a slider via an app.

I have them myself and I can go multiple days without charging. Excellent bluetooth you can connect up to 2 devices at the same time.

[Spuriae]

3 hours ago, rice guru said:

B and o h4. Guarantee to sound better and be really comfortable. Bose isn't known for their sound in the hifi world for a reason. People buy Bose as travel cans for anc. And pretty much it.

People are far too harsh to Bose, and I really don't get why. The QC35's measured performance is excellent compared to most closed-backs. Subjectively, they sound better than most closed-backs too.

 

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tools/compare/bose-quietcomfort-35-ii-vs-b-o-play-h9i/565/813?usage=4997&threshold=0.01

This sort of performance from B&O wouldn't be acceptable in a $50 headphone. But since it's from a "hi-fi" brand, it's okay for them to charge $500 for it?

 

 

[rice guru]

4 hours ago, Nimrodor said:

People are far too harsh to Bose, and I really don't get why. The QC35's measured performance is excellent compared to most closed-backs. Subjectively, they sound better than most closed-backs too.

 

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tools/compare/bose-quietcomfort-35-ii-vs-b-o-play-h9i/565/813?usage=4997&threshold=0.01

This sort of performance from B&O wouldn't be acceptable in a $50 headphone. But since it's from a "hi-fi" brand, it's okay for them to charge $500 for it?

 

 

measurements dont mean anything for heapdhones. as measurements dont tell you soundstage imaging and separation. look at the already well recieved tin P1's their measurements are awful. 

[rice guru]

4 hours ago, Nimrodor said:

People are far too harsh to Bose, and I really don't get why. The QC35's measured performance is excellent compared to most closed-backs. Subjectively, they sound better than most closed-backs too.

 

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tools/compare/bose-quietcomfort-35-ii-vs-b-o-play-h9i/565/813?usage=4997&threshold=0.01

This sort of performance from B&O wouldn't be acceptable in a $50 headphone. But since it's from a "hi-fi" brand, it's okay for them to charge $500 for it?

 

 

also they are like $200 headphones not 500

[Spuriae]

3 hours ago, rice guru said:

measurements dont mean anything for heapdhones. as measurements dont tell you soundstage imaging and separation.

Even if that were the case (which it isn't; there is good scientific literature on the subject), that wouldn't make what I said any less true. Those headphones have unacceptable flaws which are blindingly obvious in measurements. And there are more types of measurements than pure frequency response; soundstage and imaging, for instance, can be analyzed surprisingly well by comparing diffuse field measurements to the headphone's HRTF.

 

Of course, nothing is going to beat directly listening. But as for comparing measurements to subjective listening impressions? People are untrustworthy, and not many people are able to put their experience into useful words anyhow. When someone says "clear", does that mean elevated treble, peakiness, or uniform damping? Impressions tend to be ambiguous, while a good CSD tends not to be.

 

If you're having trouble correlating frequency response with subjective evaluations, you may want to try out Harman's critical listening training software.

3 hours ago, rice guru said:

look at the already well recieved tin P1's their measurements are awful. 

Learn to interpret a frequency response chart. You have to account for systematic test rig artifacts in uncompensated graphs, especially for IEM's. Even when looking at a compensated FR graph, always be aware of the test rig and compensation used. If you're talking about In-Ear Fidelity's measurements, compare the P1 to the KSE1200 and it should become fairly obvious where the amplitude data stops being reliable as phase distortion takes over.

3 hours ago, rice guru said:

also they are like $200 headphones not 500

Way to show you didn't read through the link. MSRP on the H9i, which I compared the QC35 to, is $500. I was not referring to the H4 – I haven't had any headtime with it and there are no good measurements out there. I only assume that it will measure (and sound) similar to the rest of the B&O lineup – that is to say the muddiness of old-style Beats paired with the grain of Grados.

[rice guru]

4 hours ago, Nimrodor said:

Even if that were the case (which it isn't; there is good scientific literature on the subject), that wouldn't make what I said any less true. Those headphones have unacceptable flaws which are blindingly obvious in measurements. And there are more types of measurements than pure frequency response; soundstage and imaging, for instance, can be analyzed surprisingly well by comparing diffuse field measurements to the headphone's HRTF.

 

Of course, nothing is going to beat directly listening. But as for comparing measurements to subjective listening impressions? People are untrustworthy, and not many people are able to put their experience into useful words anyhow. When someone says "clear", does that mean elevated treble, peakiness, or uniform damping? Impressions tend to be ambiguous, while a good CSD tends not to be.

 

If you're having trouble correlating frequency response with subjective evaluations, you may want to try out Harman's critical listening training software.

Learn to interpret a frequency response chart. You have to account for systematic test rig artifacts in uncompensated graphs, especially for IEM's. Even when looking at a compensated FR graph, always be aware of the test rig and compensation used. If you're talking about In-Ear Fidelity's measurements, compare the P1 to the KSE1200 and it should become fairly obvious where the amplitude data stops being reliable as phase distortion takes over.

Way to show you didn't read through the link. MSRP on the H9i, which I compared the QC35 to, is $500. I was not referring to the H4 – I haven't had any headtime with it and there are no good measurements out there. I only assume that it will measure (and sound) similar to the rest of the B&O lineup – that is to say the muddiness of old-style Beats paired with the grain of Grados.

Their is a reason I never reccomended the h9i I knew that headphone was not very good of the price and instead reccomended Sony's and Sennheisers. The band o h4 to h7 on the other hands are actually good products. The h4 h6and h7. Features a tight low end great present mids with nice highs. Theh8 and h9 suffer from a lot of problems I agree.  Every company has a bad product somewhere look at audio Technica the have great products like the ATH ad series msr7s, the m60, m40, yet the managed to produce the m50x.