Bluetooth Headphones

[Deckard]

Well hubby chose the Bose Soundsport Wireless in a rather fetching aqua - I am just setting them up now and boy tbh they sound fantastic (testing with Chicane and Vangelis) - in-line control is a bit platsticy for a Bose product but everything else about them is first class - Hopefully unlike the previous 3 Jaybird X3's they'll survive a sweat drenching otherwise I am a loss really to find a decent pair for him - you think it would be easy as every fucker with a new iPhone would need decent BT earphones.....even on amazon music at 320kps they sound awesome probably as good as my old faithful Parrok Zik2s and they are huge

[WiteWulf]

I've been sitting on the fence for a while after trying a pair of a friend's Nuraphones. I was blown away by the performance but really put off by the price (£349 rrp!). Anyway, Black Friday came around and Amazon were doing 20% off (plus 9% Quidco) so I exercised my flexible friend and got a pair.



Now I've had chance to tailor them to my hearing properly and let the earbuds soften up and fit my ears properly I'm even more impressed than I was before. The overall sound quality is stunning (particularly when paired to my Mac and using AptX) and the active noise cancellation is great (I've never used Bose QC35s, but I've heard they're better).



The multi-driver, over-ear/in-ear approach makes these sound like no other headphones I've ever used, and the amount of isolation while using them is great.

It's still a very high ticket for a pair of headphones but I personally think they're worth it. You've got to try them to understand. If you're in the market for a pair of high end headphones I'd urge you to get these from somewhere you can easily return them to try a pair out.

[Firefox]

Kind of like what Stone used to do, where he'd wear earbuds and then put super high-quality ear defenders over the top.

[Deckard]

They're about the only brand I've not tried this year so will have to find somewhere that stocks them to give them a go - Between the rest I still prefer my Sony WH-1000XM2 to the Bose, Parrot, Sennheiser, B&O equivalents - I still find their audio resolving and noise cancelling the best and AptX with my AK70 is an audio experience 5 years ago I would have thought impossible via BT.

[WiteWulf]

...and AptX with my AK70 is an audio experience 5 years ago I would have thought impossible via BT.

THIS!

I finally got these Nuraphones to pair with my Macbook Pro using AptX and was absolutely stunned. I mean, AAC sounds great on my iPhone, but AptX and streaming some hi-res audio from iTunes on a proper Mac is unbelievable. I've always poo-poo'd Bluetooth as an audio solution, but it's clear that very much get what you pay for!

I'm at an absolute loss as to why Apple doesn't enable AptX in iOS as I believe the bluetooth chips they use support it

[WiteWulf]

Had a devil of a time trying to get my Nura's to use AptX on my 2017 5k Retina iMac (10.14.1). My two Macbook Pros both defaulted to AptX as soon as the headphones connected. I tried all the usual stuff with Bluetooth Explorer on the iMac but no dice. I eventually had to actually disable AAC to get it to fallback to AptX. All working now, though, and daaaaaaamn do they sound good

[Chontler]

I've been on the fence about them for ages. Been put off mainly because some of the reviews mention that the non-profiled sound quality is deliberately poor to make the personalization stand out all the more. But as they've recently had a firmware upgrade that's added active noise cancelling I'm back to being interested. I'd only use them for work and would have to trade in the Sony, but that's no biggie.

How comfy are they after a couple of hours?

[Deckard]

I wore my Sony WH-1000XM2 for 4 hours solid last week on the train and zero discomfort and with the noise cancelling on. I find them just so good even compared to my Sennhiser wired HD700s - I see the Xm3's have just won about every headphone award this year too -

https://www.whathifi.com/sony/wh-1000xm3/review

[VNVObit]

I wore my Sony WH-1000XM2 for 4 hours solid last week on the train and zero discomfort and with the noise cancelling on. I find them just so good even compared to my Sennhiser wired HD700s - I see the Xm3's have just won about every headphone award this year too -

https://www.whathifi.com/sony/wh-1000xm3/review

regularly use them too though mainly with iPhone for phonecalls and find them great.
Prefer to use the cable provided when using my AK70 (which is now routed through a Chord Mojo which really is excellent )

[WiteWulf]

I've been on the fence about them for ages. Been put off mainly because some of the reviews mention that the non-profiled sound quality is deliberately poor to make the personalization stand out all the more.

That's still true. The demo it gives you straight after the profiling runs is making the unprocessed audio sound worse and they've, rightly, taken a lot of stick for this. A much better demonstration is, after you've set them up, you can turn the processing on and off. The unprocessed audio at this point is a *lot* more like a regular pair of headphones. The effect when you turn the processing back on isn't as pronounced, obviously, but someone who's used to good headphones it's a much fairer comparison. I really hope they remove that bad comparison in a future update.

But as they've recently had a firmware upgrade that's added active noise cancelling I'm back to being interested. I'd only use them for work and would have to trade in the Sony, but that's no biggie.

I didn't buy these for the noise cancelling, and didn't think I "needed" it, but after using them in the office for a few days I NEED it I was worried the noise cancelling would negatively affect the sound quality when music was playing but I honestly can't tell the difference. I've read, however, in a few places that the Bose QC35s are considered better at this than the Nuraphones.

How comfy are they after a couple of hours?

It takes a while to get used to them, I'll say that! I'm certainly not in discomfort, as some people claim to be, but I find them a lot less uncomfortable than proper IEMs but not as comfortable as the simple pair of over-the-ear Sennys that I'm used to. But I'm used to it now and happily wear them all day at work. The rubber on the in-ear section is very soft, it feels more weird than uncomfortable.

You get three different sizes of ear tips, with the medium ones fitted and small and large in a sealed packet. One thing I noticed is they seal really well around my glasses arms, and the soft rubber part of the ear cups have lots of little breathing holes int hem so you don't get sweaty inside (although I wouldn't use these in a gym environment or out running, they're too heavy).

One thing to note: this is the Bluetooth Headphone thread, so it goes without saying that they do Bluetooth, but they have a proprietary socket on them for all cabled connections. You get a regular USB cable in the box for charging, but that also presents them as a USB audio device to any computer you connect them to (16-bit/48kHz, if you want HiRes audio you'll need the 3.5mm audio cable to connect them to a DAC). You can also buy USB-C, Lightning and 3.5mm audio cables for around £15 each if you need them.

Last thing! If anyone's considering buying a pair, ask me first! Existing owners can give out referral codes and you get 20% off the RRP. If I refer 6 people I get a free pair and I'll sell them and give the money to charity in the unlikely event that happens

[Chontler]

You bring up a really good point that has always bugged me and no-one really mentions. How good they fit with glasses on!
I have the first gen of the Sony 1000x and they are really comfy, but they do get an annoying pressure and I have to keep moving my glasses arms up and down even so often. The only over-ears I've had where that isn't an issue are Grados with G-cushions, but they are the least work friendly cans you'd ever get. Someone needs to invent a headphone glasses attachment - preferably one that stops them resting on the bridge of the nose...

...I'm definitely tempted. I'll probably have to wait until after Christmas to see how the cash flow is

[Rhythm]

Heads-up, Nuras are 20% off again at the mo (through Amazon, at least).

Found out because I'm having to spend more time in the office at the moment and the sales guys I sit near are utter cunts. Started looking up ANC headsets and these were promoted today.

On the subject of ANCs, are there any vaguely fairly priced wireless ANC headphones out there right now (decent budget contenders)? Bose charge a £200 surcharge for the bluetooth gubbins and everything else is then priced in accordance with them as market leaders... I can stomach the idea of £100-150 for the right headphones but £250+ just seems mental

[Chontler]

Heads-up, Nuras are 20% off again at the mo (through Amazon, at least).

Found out because I'm having to spend more time in the office at the moment and the sales guys I sit near are utter cunts. Started looking up ANC headsets and these were promoted today.

On the subject of ANCs, are there any vaguely fairly priced wireless ANC headphones out there right now (decent budget contenders)? Bose charge a £200 surcharge for the bluetooth gubbins and everything else is then priced in accordance with them as market leaders... I can stomach the idea of £100-150 for the right headphones but £250+ just seems mental

Sony MDR-1000x from eBay? I keep trying to convince myself to upgrade mine but there really isn't any point. As they are my work cans the've used the most and, over 2 years in, they are still in A+ condition.
I'll probably just wait for them to die a natural death. I'm pretty sure having magsafe styled micro-usb charging cables has helped that no-end.

While on the subject I finally got my kickstarter Kokoon sleeping headphones a few weeks back. Over 3 years of waiting.. Was it worth it? Nah. They are nice and comfy but are pretty useless for side sleeping - ok for a nap I suppose but no chance for a full nights kip. They might get more interesting once they activate the EEG stuff and release the SDK as promised. The real shame is that they sound really bad. I'd put it down to the materials being used but after faffing with the Sonos app and getting a decent eq, it seems that they've been tuned that way for some stupid reason.

[Deckard]

These ?

https://www.techradar.com/reviews/sennh ... d-450-btnc

Between 130 and 150 quid and quite a few very good reviews.

[Rhythm]

Boo! Killed my Jaybird Run buds after only 400 miles/5 months. As they were refurbs I've got shag all chance of getting them replaced by the store/manufacturer so I've had to order another set to replace them (new, this time, with a *long* warranty).

So, question: my new ones will come "Alexa-enabled" and I'm kind of confused by that. What would that give me over, for example, just using the Siri assistant? And don't Apple tend to lock out non-Siri interactions anyway?