Wireless headphones between £150-£200 for reference / general listening.

[WillThePlank]

Hi folks.

 

I am trying to do some research on behalf of my friend who is looking to find a set of wireless headphones that will be good for both general and reference listening.

To give context, she is a singer song writer who also loves listening to music in general, I am working on the recording side of her songs in my small studio so it would be handy to have something that can give a decent representation of what I’ve been mixing.

 

Budget is between £150-£200, would be required to work with both an iPad where she writes some of her music on and her phone which I believe is a Google Pixel (6 or 7 I think), so a set of headphones that can work nicely with multiple devices would be handy.

 

They need to be over ear and not in ear, also she is smaller woman and she has voiced concerns about large headphones looking silly or not fitting properly (my studio cans have to be on the smallest setting)

Also something durable would be great too, both her iPad and Phone have broken screens, so something that can take a beating will help lol.

 

I have suggested Sony WH-100XM4 which seems to mostly fit the bill, but they’re in the upper range of her budget so I am hoping to see some decent quality alternatives (even if it is a large ask at this price point)

Thanks everyone in advance

[mMontana]

Wait for other answers, please.

Sony WH-100XM4 are "old enough" to find some long term impressions/review from multiple sources.

Also, unless something strange happen, due to being "former high range product" might receive a bit longer support about firmware updates and app compatibility.

Last but not least, they were "really fine" as allrounder, including NC, reasonable voice quality (as microphones) and reasonable battery. The only plus should be... is there any iFixit guide for battery replacement?

 

 

[Raytsou]

Xm4 are great. Also consider Bose qc45, they have differences but basically fill the same role. If you don't care about ANC, consider ATH-m50xBT, although they're quite lacking in base imo.

[Spuriae]

Which studio headphones are you looking to match the sound of, or are you more interested in a certain neutral reference curve?

 

Are ANC, latency, or passive isolation important? Will she be wearing the headphones over long hair and/or glasses?

[WillThePlank]

1 minute ago, Spuriae said:

Which studio headphones are you looking to match the sound of, or are you more interested in a certain neutral reference curve?

 

Are ANC, latency, or passive isolation important? Will she be wearing the headphones over long hair and/or glasses?

 

 

So no particular set we're trying to match towards, just something that doesn't have an overly coloured sound, all actually proper mix downs are done on my Yamaha HS8 studio monitors, just want something that will do it's best to sound fairly representative of what I am churning out of Logic Pro if possible.

 

I am not sure if she is planning to watch media with them or just use them for music or not, I don't think ANC is super important, however it is a very nice feature to have, environment wise I imagine she will probably listen at home or out while commuting which is where some kind of isolation would help, she does have long hair and I think she only wears glasses while driving.

 

These are all good questions that I don't know the answer to and I will have to ask her and check on her general use case and report back!

[mMontana]

If Logic Pro is a user case, probably Bt is not a good choice.

Even with the best codec available, Bluetooth still apply compression, which could colour the sound or create compression artifacts.

[WillThePlank]

2 hours ago, mMontana said:

If Logic Pro is a user case, probably Bt is not a good choice.

Even with the best codec available, Bluetooth still apply compression, which could colour the sound or create compression artifacts.

There won't be any working with Logic Pro while wearing them, only listening to MP3 and or WAV files shared over Google Drive.

 

Wired isn't an option here I am afraid.

[WillThePlank]

2 hours ago, Spuriae said:

Which studio headphones are you looking to match the sound of, or are you more interested in a certain neutral reference curve?

 

Are ANC, latency, or passive isolation important? Will she be wearing the headphones over long hair and/or glasses?

I have spoken to her and they will be worn directly on ear, no media where latency will be an issue (apart from maybe Garage band) and some form of noise cancellation/ isolation would come in handy as she will be using them in noisy places.

[Spuriae]

17 hours ago, WillThePlank said:

So no particular set we're trying to match towards, just something that doesn't have an overly coloured sound, all actually proper mix downs are done on my Yamaha HS8 studio monitors, just want something that will do it's best to sound fairly representative of what I am churning out of Logic Pro if possible.

 

I am not sure if she is planning to watch media with them or just use them for music or not, I don't think ANC is super important, however it is a very nice feature to have, environment wise I imagine she will probably listen at home or out while commuting which is where some kind of isolation would help, she does have long hair and I think she only wears glasses while driving.

 

These are all good questions that I don't know the answer to and I will have to ask her and check on her general use case and report back!

14 hours ago, WillThePlank said:

I have spoken to her and they will be worn directly on ear, no media where latency will be an issue (apart from maybe Garage band) and some form of noise cancellation/ isolation would come in handy as she will be using them in noisy places.

 

Normally your use case would be ripe for something like the M50X wireless or K371 wireless, since those are meant to be studio headphones with added bluetooth. But in this particular circumstance I'd probably go with a Bose QC35, if the market for those is reasonable where you are. The XM3/XM4/QC45 are also good options.

 

There are a couple of factors here that favor ANC headphones:

• Isolation is useful
• Long hair is likely to breach the headphones' seal which completely changes the bass response of closed-back headphones; feedback ANC microphones correct for this effect
• Latency isn't an issue

The downsides of ANC still remain:

• Worse mid and treble timbre (but not necessarily wideband frequency response) due to imperfect correction signals
• Possible "cabin pressure" discomfort depending on the person
• Poor perceived soundstage due to internal microphones "correcting" the listener's pinna response
• Only sound good with ANC on

I think the QC35 is a slightly better fit than the other consumer ANC headphones because:

• It is close to Harman neutral, with the exception of grainy high treble above ~7kHz
• The bass correction on the Sonys is underdamped, which means they have more rolloff and unexpected midbass peaking if the seal is compromised (though still not as bad as most passive closed-backs)
• At least in the US, the Bose models are cheaper
• Better controls (IMO)

The Sony models still have a couple of upsides worth considering:

• For most people the Bose is more comfortable due to the reduced clamp force, but the higher clamp force on the Sonys may be a positive for someone with a small head if too little clamp force is an issue with other headphones
• More consistent high treble, though the bass is boosted and the mids are subdued compared to neutral (though not extreme by any means)
• Weaker at the hinges but otherwise difficult to damage in a cosmetically obvious way, whereas the Bose metal cups are prone to purely cosmetic denting
• Better-looking (IMO)

 

Overall, I don't think any of the headphones listed above are bad choices, and it really comes down to weighing the benefits of each vs your local pricing.