Need recommendation


Looking for wireless, noise cancelling headphones.     Who makes the best, and who makes the best "Value for Dollar"?  Make and model.

Any opinions appreciated!!

hifinut51

What will be your usage? I am a dyed in the wool audiophile and have an amazing headphone setup for home, with many high end headphones (see my userID for virtual systems, it’s shown there). But for travel or noisy environments I always use Bose Quiet Comfort headphones. They have an incredibly pleasing (not accurate, kind of cartoonish) sound and great noise cancellation. You get what you pay for.

For decades I traveled and listened to music attempting to use “high end” equipment and any level of noise completely screws that up.

@ghdprentice I’ll use them mostly for airplane travel.  Sounds like the Bose might be best suited for my needs.  Thanks!

Absolutely. I put them on the moment I enter the airport, with just the noise cancellation turned on… then on the plane music or nothing. 
 

‘’When you look around planes… most of the seasoned travelers have them. Even great in the hotel.

OMG,WTH would anyone who has heard decent sound want to listen to a cartoonish SQ(@ghdprentice words) like Bose when you can get something like Sennheiser Momentum 4 for the same or possibly less $ ?
 My God,I would even look at something from Bang & Olufsen before craping my $ away on Bose...

Don’t overlook the Sony WH-1000XM5. Excellent noise cancelling and very good sound. I’ve had a pair of the WH-1000XM2 since those were current, and I’ve been very pleased with them.

The Sonys support probably the best bluetooth codec out there, LDAC, for sound fidelity. However, iDevices don’t support LDAC, presumably because of Apple’s strong NIH culture.

@hifinut51 - I assume that the Sonys will connect to an iPhone just fine. What it means is that it won’t connect using LDAC, but it will connect using the best Bluetooth codec that the headphones and the iPhone have in common. Since there are so many iPhones, I expect that will be whatever the best Bluetooth codec is that Apple has provided.

I am not an expert, especially on Apple devices, so I suggest you check the specs and/or buy from a place that will let you return the headphones if you don’t like them.

Since I've actually owned both the Bose & Senheiser mentioned above, I second the Bose.  I couldn't sell the Senheiser fast enough.  

Bose also makes some of the best noise canceling headsets for pilots as well.  I believe experience trumps hearsay as far as recommendations go.  

Right. Bose and Sony are the two most often recommended, at least in the comparative reviews I've seen.

FWIT, I was at my wife’s office and found multiple pairs of the Sony WH1000XM4’s NIB gathering dust in a cabinet. I grabbed a pair as I’m starting to fly more often. I installed the Sony app on my IPhone and let them play for a few hours. I’m not a big headphone user but I was pleasantly surprised by their SQ. I stream Tidal and Qbuzz from my IPhone using the Sony app and they play fine. I recently went on a multi day tuna trip from San Diego and the bunks are pretty loud when the boat is traveling. The Sonys did well with the low frequencies and vibrations of the boat with or without music. I can’t comment as far as comparisons to the audiophile brands, but they were definitely more comfortable than my Audeze 2’s I have at home, especially while laying flat. Since they’re discontinued you should find attractive pricing. I hope this helps , Mike B.