Dealmaster: Take $50 off Sony’s excellent 1000XM3 noise-cancelling headphones
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I keep seeing these "deals" for noise canceling bluetooth headphones for $250-$350.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a decent set of bluetooth headphones (NOT earbuds!) in the $50 range? Noise canceling not required.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a decent set of bluetooth headphones (NOT earbuds!) in the $50 range? Noise canceling not required.
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Can someone in the know tell me if the Sony...
1) gives "hi-res" audio on an iPhone?
2) works ok with siri? I am not clear if the references to Alexa are simply a button that would also work on the iPhone.
1) gives "hi-res" audio on an iPhone?
2) works ok with siri? I am not clear if the references to Alexa are simply a button that would also work on the iPhone.
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I like the Urban Ears brand, had their wired headphones back in the day. The Bluetooth ones range from 60-100 depending on sales on Amazon.
For anyone wondering about the Gamecube style controller for the Switch, I have it and it's pretty decent. It doesn't feel exactly like a gamecube controller but for a third party controller it's really good. I still prefer the Nintendo Pro controller but the Gamecube one is a nice change of pace.
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I have these Mpow earbuds for the gym, which range from $21 to 27 USD as of the time of this posting depending on the color, and a pair of the aforementioned WH-1000XM3 for other times. Their audio is perfectly acceptable and, for that price, it's a minor irritation if you lose them, not rage inducing. I have the Amazon protection plan but something tells me if I ever try to make use of it, I'm going to regret it.
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We've bought the Corwin's for our teenage son. They were good, but he did end up breaking them. They lasted almost a year of heavy use and abuse.
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One thing about those Sony's is that the mics on them are utter trash. If you want to use them for just listening they're awesome, but if you want to try to use them as a Bluetooth calling device, watch out.
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Well, after two recommendations for the Cowins, and seeing that they currently have a 10% off coupon on them, I pulled the trigger.
Thanks for the advice!
If anyone else has more, feel free to continue plugging your favorite affordable bluetooth headphones.
Thanks for the advice!
If anyone else has more, feel free to continue plugging your favorite affordable bluetooth headphones.
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Yes, this x 1 million. Came here to also warn people about this. No one will be able to understand you when you call them, so don't bother trying.
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Wow. That's super disappointing. I really like my cheap wired Sony headsets. The mics on those are crappy... but they're $25.
The fact that something over 10x the cost suffers the same issue is a major let down.
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Just bought this MPow H5 noise cancelling headphone about three weeks ago. Bought it for a tablet, not phone, so I can't speak to phone function. As audio, I'm basically happy. First ever noise cancelling for me, so no baseline from which I can compare. But I feel the noise isolation.
Three weeks tells me nothing about durability, but no hiccups so far. Color me happy for around US$45.
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If you don't have the Grand Theft Auto V game yet (or any longer) and are considering purchase, this is very good. The included Criminal Enterprise Starter Pack is US$20 purchased separately. Many YouTubers warn that it's not worth the price. I did, however, buy that and feel like it got me started very well.
The virtual properties that it gives to you are far from ideal, but it *does* say that it's a starter pack. I got to the point that I moved to better locations for each property where location has mattered (i.e. the MC clubhouse not really).
To reiterate: Worth it if you're already of a mind to try out the game and its online side as well.
The virtual properties that it gives to you are far from ideal, but it *does* say that it's a starter pack. I got to the point that I moved to better locations for each property where location has mattered (i.e. the MC clubhouse not really).
To reiterate: Worth it if you're already of a mind to try out the game and its online side as well.
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I bought a pair of Sony 1000xm3s and was thoroughly disappointed. As mentioned by another poster, the mic isn't great. Worse, the headphones would occasionally, briefly, lose sound. It was worse while outside in the winter when I'd wear the headphones under a thick hood.
I gave them two weeks before returning them. Massively overrated IMO.
I gave them two weeks before returning them. Massively overrated IMO.
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It's twice your budget, but I picked these from a real headphone company with decades of experience:
Sennheiser HD 4.40 Around Ear Bluetooth Wireless Headphones (HD 4.40 BT) - $95 at Amazon - ASIN B01MSZSJE9
No active noise canceling but they're around-the-ear so you get some passive isolation. It also comes with a wired cable.
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The intermittent failures in cold weather were well documented at the time - last winter. I don't know whether a firmware fix came out which improved the situation, as the finicky touch controls on the MX3s were made worse and unresponsive, some users reported, in low temperatures. But no-one disputed the sound quality.
I picked up a pair of their predecessor, the MX2, for $160 from eBay shortly after the MX3s came out. It's the best purchase I've made in a long while. The noise cancelling is excellent, the sound is superb. I hardly ever make calls on my phone so I would believe you if you told me the mic was sub-par. It just doesn't matter to me. For walking in the noisy city, the ability to really listen clearly to a variety of music, it has been a revelation. I use them at least once a day every day.
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My lawn mower is almost completely silent to me while wearing these and mowing the lawn.
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About the Sony's.. Ive owned a pair for a few months. Oddly I dont get the mic problems but... The sound is... Well its not worth $400 with or without noise cancelling. (The noise cancelling is very good.) The actual sound is about the equivalent of $150 in the wired headphone world. However I will say the sound is very versatile. Like its great for movies, games and stuff like that but for music its merely "acceptable." Im not sorry I bought them because I like the versatility but $350 is a bit high for that. I do have several wired sets in the $80-$150 range that destroy them in terms of pure music though. If the mic were say... Jabra quality I'd have no issue with the price though. Most of your money is going to the noise canceling.
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Are there any over-ears that have good mics? The three I've had (one being the WH-1000XM2) all weren't great at picking up my voice in loud environments. I've only had good luck when using wired earbuds (not even wired over-ears unless I was using the V-Moda BoomPro which turns a pair of wired headphones into a full headset outright.)
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I have those - they're good but the speaker's supports are a little weak though. They're made of plastic and can break easily with the wrong applied force. Always remove the headphones grabbing both speakers
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Another point to consider is I don't believe the Sony headphones allow you to charge and listen at the same time. Yes only x minutes to get y hours of charge bla bla but sometimes it's a useful scenario to not wait at all. Having USB-C however is a big advantage if you have that in your ecosystem or plan to soon.
The sound is good, it's comparable to other expensive, non-audiophile consumer wireless headphones. Think Beats Studio or what have you. It's not that they sound the same. they have different characteristics, but the sound quality is roughly in the same ball park.
Someone asked if they allow full quality sound on a iPhone and that's not a dumb question because all bluetooth is not equal to all bluetooth for sound quality.
It comes down really to what codecs are supported. If you have an iOS device, any bluetooth implementations better support the AAC codec (iirc) or you're going to be missing out. Apple I believe still doesn't support AptX, although the best AptX codec can give excellent quality on Android or other devices. Forget all of this if you don't care about the best quality, everything mostly just works with everything else, it's just the edge cases or certain use cases may work better depending on which devices you combine.
The sound is good, it's comparable to other expensive, non-audiophile consumer wireless headphones. Think Beats Studio or what have you. It's not that they sound the same. they have different characteristics, but the sound quality is roughly in the same ball park.
Someone asked if they allow full quality sound on a iPhone and that's not a dumb question because all bluetooth is not equal to all bluetooth for sound quality.
It comes down really to what codecs are supported. If you have an iOS device, any bluetooth implementations better support the AAC codec (iirc) or you're going to be missing out. Apple I believe still doesn't support AptX, although the best AptX codec can give excellent quality on Android or other devices. Forget all of this if you don't care about the best quality, everything mostly just works with everything else, it's just the edge cases or certain use cases may work better depending on which devices you combine.
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If you get on their mailing list, they have sales a couple times a year for 50% off. I have a Plattan 2 I got for $50 and a model of wired earbuds that they don't sell any more (can't remember the name) for $20, this way. The Plattans seem a little muted but are quite comfortable on my big head for Teamspeak and Discord, if not so exciting for Spotify and Pandora. The wired ones I use when I'm out for everything, though the microphone isn't that great. Oh, and the Plattans have washable bits on them, but I've not needed to do that.
edit: noticed the comment just above about Sonys not being able to charge and listen at the same time. The Plattans can do this, though the mic won't work. Found this out the hard way during a raid last week.
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Can anyone who's used both the Logitech Crayon and the (first-gen) Apple Pencil tell me if there's a big practical difference between the two? I'm very close to just buying the regular iPad (since they didn't refresh it this week and it's still on sale), and want to know if the Pencil's really worth twice as much if I'm wanting to doodle, but am not an artist?
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They're nigh useless outdoors, and you have to talk pretty loudly inside, but I have found them to be usable. Not good at all, but usable. Luckily I don't use them to talk very often. If you do, I wouldn't buy them for that purpose.
My thoughts on these guys:
For listening purposes they've replaced my Audio-Technicas and my earbuds for daily use: at work, on the subway, and at home. The noise cancelling is really good. It kills the sound from the loud ass HVAC system at work and most of the rumble on the train, and it's near complete silence at home. It's more comfortable to use over long periods than my old Bose noise cancellers, which I only really ended up using on planes, there's no audible static or pressure feeling from them.
Audio quality is fine, not as good as my ATs or my open cans -- both of which were much cheaper -- but for practical listening purposes the noise cancelling makes up for that in my mind unless I turn off the HVAC and close the windows at home for complete silence. If you listen in a super quiet environment or listen with the volume very high this might not make a difference for you. I almost always prefer using these over my other pairs though, whether for games or watching videos or listening to music or anything else. The wirelessness is also a great plus.
The ~300 ms (???) latency on the sound can be distracting for video and games. If you can't correct the sync, you can use them wired if need be. I do this for playing PC games sometimes. You can use them wired without powering them on but the audio quality takes a nosedive.
They're okay outside because of ambient listening mode (pipes sound through the microphones instead of or in addition to using them for noise cancelling). Like someone noted above the touch sensors get confused in cold weather -- mostly around or below freezing -- and they'll get jammed in "full palm on the right cup" mode, which mutes the sound and turns ambient mode on (normally for when you need to quickly hear something).
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Well, dang. I just bought those Life 2 noise cancelling headphones for my mother as a gift, and paid the full price for them. And I just checked and that particular credit card no longer offers price protection.
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