ANC Headphones Suggestion (400 USD)

[Mike393]

I know im asking a lot but im looking for a pair of headphones that meet these specifications

- ANC or great natural isolation

- aptx HD (or ldac maybe?)

- able to be used as wired headphones

- decent battery life

- Flatish frequency response

Any suggestions welcome

[The_russian]

I've been the Sony WH-1000X M4 and have been very happy with them. They have ANC, no APTx support but they do support LDAC, you can use them wired, battery life is great (I work 12 hour shifts and they last multiple days for me). I'm not the biggest audiophile so not sure about the flat frequency response, but I did have to tweak the equalizer settings to make them sound better. 

[ShearMe]

Shure Aonic 50 meet your criteria much better than the typical Sony or Bose recommendations. The Shure's aren't quite as nice (imo) for usability, but if you want a flat FR and good wired input, they beat all the others.

[Mike393]

14 hours ago, ShearMe said:

Shure Aonic 50 meet your criteria much better than the typical Sony or Bose recommendations. The Shure's aren't quite as nice (imo) for usability, but if you want a flat FR and good wired input, they beat all the others.

thanks for the reply! These look great but ive seen some reviews that say the noise cancelling isnt too good. Do you have firsthand experience with these? Also have there been updates or any revisions that make the noise cancelling better? or if there are any other headphones that have  a bit better ANC?

[ShearMe]

5 hours ago, Mike393 said:

thanks for the reply! These look great but ive seen some reviews that say the noise cancelling isnt too good. Do you have firsthand experience with these? Also have there been updates or any revisions that make the noise cancelling better? or if there are any other headphones that have  a bit better ANC?

Based on measurements, the Aonic 50 performs pretty good. https://www.soundguys.com/shure-aonic-50-vs-bose-noise-cancelling-headphones-700-32083/ In the typical home or office setting, you'll never have a problem with it. The headphones themselves offer decent but not amazing passive isolation on their own, and Shure's superior microphone tech just makes the ANC perform great. Comparing mine with a pair of Sony WH-1000Xm4's I was pleased with them in various hotel rooms with noisy air conditioners. 

It does fall short in a few scenarios. I've personally found that in some very loud automobiles (construction work vans), the microphone on ANC headphones will clip when a bump is hit and tools clang together. I don't know why, but my Xm4 handles this clipping well and it is unobtrusive. My Aonic 50 does NOT handle the clipping well, and outputs the clipped microphone signal into the ears. (not dangerous, but annoying) This is an edge case I don't expect many people to run into.

 

Checking on the firmware, there was just an update on April 13th. guess I need to download that and test it out.  

 

 

Ultimately it's gonna be a judgement call on your part how important the flat frequency response is to you. 

[Mike393]

33 minutes ago, ShearMe said:

Based on measurements, the Aonic 50 performs pretty good. https://www.soundguys.com/shure-aonic-50-vs-bose-noise-cancelling-headphones-700-32083/ In the typical home or office setting, you'll never have a problem with it. The headphones themselves offer decent but not amazing passive isolation on their own, and Shure's superior microphone tech just makes the ANC perform great. Comparing mine with a pair of Sony WH-1000Xm4's I was pleased with them in various hotel rooms with noisy air conditioners. 

It does fall short in a few scenarios. I've personally found that in some very loud automobiles (construction work vans), the microphone on ANC headphones will clip when a bump is hit and tools clang together. I don't know why, but my Xm4 handles this clipping well and it is unobtrusive. My Aonic 50 does NOT handle the clipping well, and outputs the clipped microphone signal into the ears. (not dangerous, but annoying) This is an edge case I don't expect many people to run into.

 

Checking on the firmware, there was just an update on April 13th. guess I need to download that and test it out.  

 

 

Ultimately it's gonna be a judgement call on your part how important the flat frequency response is to you. 

sounds good thanks for all of the info.