Recommendations for headphones, £200 budget maximum.

Middle child has indicated she’d like some over-ear  headphones for Christmas (not the in-ear type).

We set a strict budget for all three kids and this year it will be around £200, so that’s the absolute maximum, but anything up to there with bang per buck considered.

She wants something fairly low profile too.

Black Friday seems to have started already but I’m thinking there might be good deals on the official day.

Sennheiser Accentum was a possible, at £129?

What are they mainly for? Music (what type?), films, gaming, Zoom calls, etc? It’ll make a difference.

Also, should they block out surrounding sound?

I have 2 pairs that are quite different, one is a closed back and sits on my ear, the other is open back and is properly over the ear (as in the padding sits on my head and the entire ear is inside). The open back one lets you hear other things as well, which can be good or bad depending…

I like the reviews on https://www.soundguys.com

It’s hard to go wrong with the traditional big names for outright sound quality, eg Shure, Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic. But active noise cancelling and call features generally seem to be better from Sony, Apple and Bose.

My daughter has a pair of Shure Aonic 40, which sound great but have very mediocre noice cancelling compared to my AirPod pro 2, which also sound great if over-processed. My wired Shure IEMs and Beyerdynamic cans beat them both hands down for outright clarity.

Wired or Bluetooth?

For gaming / video editing you can’t beat these

No mic so a normal trs connector

beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO Studio Headphones – 250 Ohm https://amzn.eu/d/6RzV9wn

I had a pair of Rode ones that broke in warranty and replaced them with these

Grado make some really quality sounding headphones.

A very smart retro look as well. IMO.

https://petertyson.co.uk/grado-sr225x-headphones

Grado make gloriously precise headphones that really bring out the clarity and detail in a recording. They’re amazing for classical music or the like.

However….

They are a bit of an acquired taste, they’re not terribly bassy and being open back they leak like a sieve so are unsuited for public transport or noisy environments.

The ‘1940’s air traffic controller’looks are also something you’ll either hate or think is the coolest thing ever. They are pretty comfy though.

Wireless needed. Just for listening to music and films while mobile.

Don’t go with the Grado’s then, as hatter posted, they are open and very leaky.

Take a look at the Dali IO4

decent quality headphone from a fairy well known HiFi co.

no noise cancellation but that equates to massive battery life.

RRP is just over budget but you can find them under fairly regularly in certain colour options.

DALI IO-4 Wireless Headphone Review

https://www.audioaffair.co.uk/dali-io-4-headphones?c=30343&92=3140#92=3140

You can get the Sennheiser Momentum 4 for your budget now. My son highly recommends them for sounding awesome + they have all the usual tech – wireless, noise cancelling, transparency etc.

As per @benos, would recommend Sony at that budget for that user class, and Black Friday should bring decent deals on the versions 4 & 5. Both my two daughters bought WH-1000 (v4) and use them with laptops & ‘phones. I enjoy the low sound leakage they provide.

Another good choice could be the AKG (now under Samsung) Y500

One of my daughters has a pair of these ( in pink / rose gold) and they’ve been great. Decent sound ( not up to the Dali level) but a nice smaller design for younger users. Noise cancelling and battery life is good too.

If wanting to go more budget and keep a bit of cash for something else, the Soundcore (Anker) stuff is very very very good IMO

Searching for the sennheoser, these came up….

https://store.ee.co.uk/products/beats-studio-pro-wireless-headphones—sandstone-mqtr3zm-a-HCXF.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc%20product%20search&utm_campaign=Sound%20and%20Vision%20-%20Portable%20Entertainment%20-%20Electronic%20Book%20Readers&ReferrerID=RR00&utm_source=ee&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=GS&utm_content=EEPC&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAqgcCLCCrBfUSnCZdsRLY5j7eCl_-&gclid=EAIaIQobChMImM_t-sfjiQMVdppQBh3amSWsEAQYDCABEgItuvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Decent discount.

How much are B&W P5’s nowadays? Bought mine refurbished about 10 years ago and have been perfect throughout. They still sound and look great.

X2 for Sony wh-1000-xm4. They’re amazing.

Bose 700 here, used them every day 5+ years now and replaced pads as they disinegrated. Sub 200 gbp on amazon, noise cancelling so good on public transport.

I jusy got some Bose QuietComfort for about £165, and I’m really happy with them. Was a tossup between those and the Sony XM4, but the Bose are apparently more comfortable (and fractionally lighter).

At that price point, sound quality is usually a given, IMO, unless you’re a proper audiophile.

Searching for the sennheoser, these came up….

Most Beats headphones I have listened to have been poor.  I would go for the Sennheisers personally

Audio technics ath-m50x.

Brilliant headphones. I use them for music, podcasts but mostly on my electronic drum kit. I won’t ever get anything else. Mine are Bluetooth and wired.

https://www.audio-technica.com/en-gb/ath-m50x?srsltid=AfmBOooYgsUcWeNGR9j_xD2jmTZUAxoySSKElmGVkScLlZkKDMAVIyST

I recently replaced a pair of Marshall headphones with Edifier WH950NB as I was happy with the speakers. Really impressed with them and might tick all your boxes.

If she’s looking for noise cancelling and bluetooth it’s very hard to look past the Sony WH-1000-XM4’s, they can be had from £213 new from John Lewis (if you don’t mind them in Navy) so it’s an ever so slight breaking of the budget but they are astoundingly good headphones for what she wants them for.

Make her wash your car a few times to make up for it.

Black Friday is just around the corner. Wait till then and get the Sony wh-1000 xm4.

I have some AKG K612 PRO in that price range – over-ear and wired. They have an excellent soundstage and are quite flat in their frequency response, making them fairly versatile. I’m a basshead and love them because of the detail they reveal (as opposed to some bass-heavy headphones that sound a bit mushy).

I got some Sony xm5s from Amazon for £125. They were from Amazon resale and the only difference is they didn’t come with the outer cardboard sleeve.
They replaced a set of AirPods Pro that I’d had for the best part of 5 years and had developed an annoying rattle. They really are very good and the noise cancelling is better than the AirPods and the sound quality is so much better. I’m now thinking of getting some of the over ear xm5s too for listening at home and when on long coach journeys to away games.

Got both Wh-1000XM4 and Wf-1000xm5 – So the over-ear and the in-ear jobs.

The over ear lock out the outside world completely – the in ear ones are super handy – the NC isn’t that good though in comparison. Fairly comfy but not sure I’d recommend them over a cheap pair of huawei freebuds given the cost…

Sony or Bose, both really good at around the 200, check black Friday deals

A lot of the ‘kool kidz’ are embracing the simplicity of wired headphones and earphones, partly because they’re cheaper, music sounds better, because you can listen to lossless audio, and you won’t be having to bin them once the battery dies.

Having said that, some, like the Sony’s, can be used with a cable, but you lose the NC features; some, like B&W, allow the use of a cable, but if the battery goes flat, they don’t work, which is bloody stupid! The Beats headphones are pretty good these days, and they allow a cable connection when the battery goes dead, IIRC, and the latest version is apparently really very good indeed. I got fed up of the battery dying when I was in town and unable to recharge the cheap BT ‘phones I had, and so I went back to regular wired headphones, and bought a pair of Røde NTH-100 studio headphones, which get outstanding reviews, and can be had on Amazon for about £120. They’re covered backs, don’t have NC, but the sound quality is superb, basically because I’m listening in actual Lossless. I do use a Fiio KA5 DAC, but it does drain my phones battery somewhat. They don’t creak like the plastic ones tend to do, either. I love ‘em to bits they’re pretty neutral in their sound, but do have good solid bass and a nice, clean and detailed top.

Sony WH1000 in black on offer at the EE store for £148 – https://ee.co.uk/products/atp-sony-wh-1000xm4-over-ear-headphones

Sony WH1000 in black on offer at the EE store for £148

That’s worth a PSA ?

Thanks for the heads up on those Sony ones. Ordered a pair.

Ideally, they would be the silver, but that was a good price. If similar comes up in BF next week in silver I can send back (or maybe keep) the black.

Grado make some really quality sounding headphones.

Demo’d a pair and the sound was fantastic, far better than what I eventually bought.  However, the major issue for me was the weight and there was no way I could wear those for a couple of hours.  Was really glad to take them off.

I have the XM4. Upgraded from the 700n, and I thought they were good but the XM4 are a different league. Much better noise cancelling.

because I’m listening in actual Lossless

Do you think you can tell a difference between a lossless wired connection and say LDAC?

I’m not suggesting you can’t, *I’ve never used wired headphones* so just asking.

If the difference is negligible, I’d much rather do without the cable tbh

*My Sony XM3’s have a wired input (not sure if it works with a flat battery), but they sound rubbish compared to BT. You wouldn’t think this would be the case, but I’m sure I’ve read similar online for this particular set of cans. Or maybe the feed DAC just wasn’t as good as the one in the headphones – think I just tried a cheap one?

Good NC is a must for me though

I think XM5’s will likely be my next pair, or XM6 when they appear

Sony WH1000 in black on offer at the EE store for £148

Dang that’s a bargain!

Suggests that the XM6’s are imminent and the XM5’s will soon drop in price.

Can’t go wrong with any of Sony’s 1000 series IMHO, they’re one of those things that are justifiably popular.

Most Beats headphones I have listened to have been poor.

Beats is IME universally crap. They put weights in the headphones to make them feel more like a premium product. I had the Beats “upgrade” to the stereo in the car, I wish I hadn’t bothered. At full volume I can’t hear audiobooks properly over road noise.

Not sure who the OEM is for beatz, but they are much more a ‘trendy’ brand and overpriced for what you get by all accounts, and tend to be bass heavy if you’re into that sort of thing… I much prefer a more balanced and detailed sound across the board.

That’s not to say they are bad, it’s just there are better options for less money.

Do you think you can tell a difference between a lossless wired connection and say LDAC?

This was actually a concern of mine when switching from wired Sony buds to Sony Bluetooth ones… Due to my current phone having no headphone socket.. I was concerned about loss of fidelity playing FLAC etc. Over blootooth.

I needn’t have been concerned.. I actually prefer wireless now due to the convenience.. I know I’m comparing apples to oranges as I use buds rather than over ears, but the buds carry case has a built-in battery which tops up the battery in the buds themselves so it’s kinda difficult to get get caught out with a flat battery(s).

Do you think you can tell a difference between a lossless wired connection and say LDAC?

I’d say that very much depends on the DAC of the wired connection. For reference, I use Sony XM4s and a Huawei Mate 10 Pro for indoor listening, and a Pixel 7 for on-the-go listening. Because the Huawei has a decentish built in DAC, the Pixel doesn’t. And the Huawei is better at LDAC, too.

I can’t tell the difference on the Huawei, except the LDAC is more prone to dropping out than the wired connection.

I can tell the difference between boggo Bluetooth on the Pixel, and LDAC on the Huawei, though it’s not mega pronounced. The difference between Tidal at its highest res and Spotify is much more pronounced.

So I guess my point is that it’s worth checking what output your device supports!

Technics EAH-800. Good sound and fantastic battery life. Can be found for a bit under £200.