I’ve found a good number of negative reviews of Bose QC 2 and quite a few good things said about Sony WF-1000XM5 so I’m leaning towards buying them but would love to hear the general recommendation on Lemmy first.
I live in a very noisy environment and need earphones for my sleep, when I work or relax, and for listening to podcasts as well as a bit of music. And since sleep is most important for me, I have in-ear comfort as the top priority.
Here’s my experience, this could get quite lengthy:
I was in the market for earphones a couple of week a ago. After reading and watching many reviews I still couldn’t decide which to buy, so in the end I bought a couple.
My first priority at the time was sound quality. My choices of earphones ware the Sony WF-1000XM5, the Technics EAH-AZ80 and the Samsung Galaxy Buds FE which are a third of the price of the other two to make sure I could even “hear the difference”.
The XM5’s and the Galaxy Buds had a very similar sound profile, a “classic” earbud sound, something you would expect from normal earbuds if you’ve used any before.
The Galaxy Buds were good with adequate noise cancelling. Good for sporting with the wingtips.
The Sony XM5’s sound was very good with a bass heavy profile but became very uncomfortable in my ear after half an hour of use, bringing comfort into the equation, something I never even considered before. Their noise cancelling is outstanding, even dangerous as passing cars on the street became almost inaudible.
However the sound of the AZ80’s ABSOLUTELY BLEW ME AWAY! They sound so much better to my ears than the other two pairs. I suddenly understood what the reviews meant by “clear open soundstage” and “instrument separation”. Before this experience I had no point of reference, so these subjective terms in the reviews didn’t really mean anything to me. Their noise cancelling is also very good.
My take always from this experience are:
- earphones can sound vastly different depending on their construction and tuning
- comfort is way more important than I previously though
- active noise cancelling has gotten very good even on cheaper models
- sound profiles like “open” or “closed” sound completely change the listening experience
- unless you listen to high resolution FLAC, you won’t notice a massive difference in sound reproduction quality especially over Bluetooth
- if you just want to “listen to something” and “block out outside noise” save you money and get lower to mid range ANC earphones
The only way to actually know which earphones you like the most, is to try them. If you are able to return purchased goods in the first few weeks, go and buy like 3 or 4 pairs and try them all.
TLDR; I stuck with the Technics EAH-AZ80 for sound enjoyment. I was very disappointed with the Sony XM5’s comfort and would recommend the Galaxy Buds for casual listening and sporting activities.
Hope this is helpful.
Also have a look at Anker earphones. I had a pair of its headphones and it was awesome.
Sennheiser, jabber. You’ll need to buy into their up-market products though.
sennheiser always makes good products. i have an old pair of BT 4.50 ANCs that have been kicking for more than 5 years. they’re great
I would agree, but I would not want to sleep with them on as OP requested.
I’ve got Bose QC35 ii or something. If you’ve got big ears or a big head, they’re great.
I didn’t do many tests myself comparing the noise cancellation, but they do a good enough job for me at cancelling our steady noise (like wind, engine noises, computer fans, etc).
I can wear them all day and not feel like I need to take a break for my ears or head.
I had the 1000XM4 until recently and it was fantastic, too. My SO would often get mad at me for not paying attention when I was in the computer.
To be fair, they can’t really expect you to be able to hear them with your tiny ears when you’re encased like that…
You’d think so…
Aha! I’ve had both of these types.
Got a set of the Sony ones. Comfort 10/10, sound quality 12/10, stupid fuckin touch sensors instead of physical buttons that trigger constantly when you put the headphones down round your neck and you can’t switch them off and it drives you so fuckin mad you sell them on eBay at a massive loss 0/10
So I got the Bose QC 45, comfort 12/10, sound quality 10/10, physical buttons, was 5/10 because there was no way to check battery level but they updated them last week so now long-press on the left button does that 10/10
The Bose ones even feel more well-made than the Sony and were €100 less
The noise cancelling on the Sony was slightly better but the Bose ones aren’t as tight so that could be why
I will never, ever buy a set of headphones with touch sensors ever again
Um, I believe OP was talking about earphones, not headphones. :)
Not sure why you got downvoted but you’re right 😅
Sony has best in the world noise cancelling and better audio quality than Bose pretty much any day of the week. In fact, I wouldn’t recommend Bose almost ever, for anything. Not for the price. They’re like Monster cables (maybe not quite as evil though).
I’m still on the Sony XM4. No reason to upgrade really.
I bought the XM4 somewhat recently, because it’s like half the price of the XM5 new. And from reviews it supposedly has minor upgrades, so not worth the difference.
I got the xm5 after I lost my 4’s and the differences aren’t that great. The bass seemed better on the 4’s too.
Both the Bose and Sony are considered top but Sony is more expensive.I have the Bose and like them but a known defect is the earpad that will break very quickly (buy Chinese replacement for those)
Sennheiser always make good quality cans.
I sleep with my AirPods Pro in every night. I can’t live without them.
I have Bose and like them a lot. They’ll probably do exactly what you want, however, noise cancelling is not all noise cancelling. Mostly lower frequencies. It makes things quiet but if you’re in a loud environment with lots of mid to high frequency like talking, they’re not gonna help much. Haven’t used the Sony’s for a long time but I think the noice cancelling is the same.
I know you want to use them for sleep, but since these are big headphones already, I’d recommend a pair of noise protection earmuffs and use earbuds or shove some speakers from another set of headphones in there. This will be the best noise cancelling but least comfortable.
But the XM5 Im talking about are earphones not headphones
My bad. Try the earbuds then. Gonna be the most comfortable with decent noise cancelling.
I’m on Sony WH-1000XM3 and recently also bought WF-1000XM5 that are always with me whenever I go outside. Very satisfied with both.
Since you mentioned WF specifically:
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Very portable
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Great battery life
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Seamless switching between different devices
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Flush with (my) ears, you could easily lie down on your side with them in
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Fine noise cancelling. Not as powerful as in the over-ears, but good enough when you’ve got some sound going. I use them to prevent sensory overload by playing rain and thunder sounds with noise cancelling while I’m commuting with a full metro.
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Great sound quality. I find them to be very neutral, albeit a bit light on the bass when compared side-by-side to my over-ears. On their own (not side-by-side) there’s nothing I can complain about and my music is very enjoyable.
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Wish the controls were more customizable or just better in general. You quickly end up tapping a LOT.
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I’ve seen another comment mention comfort. My ears get fatigued if I wear them for 3 or 4 hours straight, e.g. when I’m working from a library. For long periods of time I prefer to tag my over-ears along, which I’d normally leave at home due to bulky size. I understand buying two kinds of expensive headphones is not an option, but just be wary of prolonged usage on the WFs. You can definitely get more used to them though over time, so you can wear the for longer before discomfort/pain starts creeping in.
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