Wireless Headphones Recommendations

Looking at cutting the cord and jumping on the Bluetooth bandwagon. Ideally I need two sets, one for general home/office/out and about listening, and one for exercising/running.

I’ve had a listen to the Beats Studio Wireless and was pleasantly surprised. And the Powerbeats wireless seem to come in recommended also. One thing that’s become apparent to me is thatbbetween two sets of wireless headphones, I’m not getting away for under $750.

Anyone else done this? Are there any other sets I should be checking out?

I’m reviewing the Bose SoundLink II headphones at the moment. Review will be up in the next week. (Spoiler: they’re awesome.)

I can’t seem to find any Bluetooth earbuds (ear canal type), they are mostly in-ear and I HATE that because they tend to fall out easily.

I use the Apple EarPods and BeoPlay H3 (best purchase ever) for my daily commute, Plantronics BackBeat Go when I go for my ride/jog, at home I use an old Bose over ear (wired). I wouldn’t recommend the Plantronics though, not a fan of Beats at all so I got the Plantronics instead.

Do you want noise cancelling or just Bluetooth in general or both + sound quality? Bose SoundLink Bluetooth is around $250 - $350, very comfortable, sound quality is okay if it’s just for home/office use I guess?

I bought a set of BackBeat Go2’s about 6 months ago:
http://www.plantronics.com/au/product/backbeat-go-2#fndtn-overview

Sound is pretty good to my ears, only issue is I do find they fall out a bit if you’re moving about. Maybe I’m using the wrong tips or something? In any case they didn’t bother me enough to take them back (that and I use them on the train so don’t move).

FYI, don’t bother with the charging case, you may as well have your $$ and buy a decent USB battery thing instead for the little power they provide. Also, I don’t know that I could cram them into that case anyway, it seems overly small.

I’m always paranoid about forgetting to charge them and have a spare set of wired headphone in my bag… just in case.

Probably not too fussed on noise cancelling for a few reasons:

  • battery life
  • when I use them at work most of the time I’ll have one headphone off so I can hear surrounding conversations
  • when they would be useful (on planes etc) I’d probably find the lack of background noise eerily quiet (and get paranoid about my bag in the overhead locker)
  • I’m the kind of guy who’d get hit by a car walking down the street with noise cancelling headphones.

I’ll check them out. They’re probably the more tricky ones (being $450+).

The trouble is JB listening stations aren’t the best place to sample each.

I would recommend the Plantronics Backbeat Sense which were just recently released. Great battery life, great design and some cool features (e.g. automatic pause when you take them off). The sound quality is also very good for BT headphones.

For sport headphones have look at these Backbeat Fit, you can pick then up in the early $100 price range when on special.

If you want to get the Bose SoundLink II, you can get it from JB Commercial cheaper than RRP elsewhere, at least AU stock - https://www.jbcommercial.com.au/familyandfriends/product/Bose_SoundLink_Around-Ear_Wireless_Headphones_II_(Black)/11389

This is the On-Ear version - https://www.jbcommercial.com.au/familyandfriends/product/Bose_SoundLink_Bluetooth_On-Ear_Headphones_(BlackBlue)/8067

Not sure of the new/old models though? Is the SLII a newer model?

This is pretty much how I feel about Beats now: http://www.head-fi.org/products/beats-studio-wireless-over-ear-headphone/reviews/11432. I am tempted to bite the bullet tomorrow. It’s $750 all up though :frowning:

Have bought a couple of these…
https://www.mobileciti.com.au/jabra-move-wireless-headphones-black
Good value & half the price of JH!

My son recently (May this year) bought a set of the Beats Solo 2 wireless headphones from the Apple Store and swears by them, though he has sworn at them too! In August, after no more than 4 month’s of use, one side of the headphones started to crack, with the crack tracing up the headphone band! To Apple’s credit, they were replaced, but he had to be without them for just over a week so that they could be sent off for analysis.

Not sure whether it is a good thing that a $400 set of headphones would break so soon after being bought.

Upon sharing this story with the audiophiles in my office, I received lots of suggestions for my son to ditch the Beats and go for something - anything really - by Bose.

Good review of a couple sets over on Reckoner that Peter Wells did recently that can be had at reasonable prices.
Reckoner Review

I have the Bose headphones which I use at the gym. I bought them because the Plantronics ones kept falling out of my ears. I find them really good, however I don’t know how they would go if you are running (I walk on the treadmill or use the bike due to a back problem).

Ended up going with Beat Studio Wireless and PowerBeats for running. Really happy with them. They’re probably not the best, but the days of Beats being purely for fashion are long gone.

Not having to fuss around with cables is infinitely worth it. Unexpected change: my phone spends more time in my messenger bag and less time in my pocket. This in turn means I spend less time fiddling with it.

Biggest annoyance with the Beats Studio Wireless is there’s no way to activate Siri wirelessly, holding down the big button activates Bluetooth discovery. I don’t think the PowerBeats have this issue (didn’t really go running when I was away).

Bumping an old thread as I just reviewed a pair of pretty good noise-cancellers that were originally on Indiegogo.

And to bump it again, what’s good in Bluetooth headphones today?

How do people find the AirPods?

AirPods are brilliant little things. Well worth the cost.

Can’t find my pair at the minute to take a pic… But these Philip SBC3917 bad boys (on the right) submerged me into the last proper original Star Wars (VHS) Trilogy… I wore them to watch 1996’s Doctor Who Telemovie… they are amazing… block out the world around you, and allow you to enjoy the simulated reality of your choice… and still worked fine last time I tried them out… though could use some new fake leather ear pads… :}

As such, I’m going to recommend any thing by Philips.

Now where did their box go…