[Laxman9192]

Just ordered the Sony WH-1000XM3 from Amazon.in at Rs. 18,500! (including a bank specific card discount). This thread was really helpful in narrowing down the choices to the Bose QC II and the XM3s. Chose the XM3 for its overall better noise cancellation capabilities.

[Sebring]

Amazon earned my trust with this one. Ordered the Bose QC35 (Silver) during the recent 'SALE', for around 19K - with a lot of trepidation. This is my first high value buy from them, (and I usually buy it direct from showroom). In this case it just did not make sense because the Bose Store was still charging 10K more (Wonder why they do not support their own stores with regards to pricing). Then I thought maybe these are old stock, but that was negated as these are manufactured in March 2020 (Else I'd have sent them back). Opened it, registered, and fired away (they work as expected). The box lettering suggests these are from Germany. Feeling relieved!
Couple of reasons why I opted for Bose over the Sony 1000 XM3;
Bose is the pioneer when it comes to Noise Cancelling tech. (My cousin, who is a pilot, still uses the top end product for in flight communications).
These are super comfortable
Support is better (as, Sony service is 'iffy')
Wear n Tear parts are easily available, over the counter
Bose products last long (My last Bose headphones, wired but with battery powered NC, are 8 years old and still perform well)

[sameerg]

Hi All,

Looking for some help from fellow members. I have never been big on headphones. Infact the only ones I have ever used are ones that come along with phones and those to very rarely, hence not very knowledgeable about them.

WFH has led me to spend considerable amount of time each day (>4 hrs) on calls and online meetings. Hence sudden need for a good quality headset. I am looking for a headphone/earphone with following requirements.

What matters to me:

1. Call Quality: Prime purpose is calls phone/online meetings (zoom/google meet). Hence call quality and microphone quality are big requirements. Most reviews I see online talk about music and gaming but those are not my primary or even secondary use cases. I currently use wired earphones and lot of times end up holding the mic next to my mouth.
   
   
2. Since calls happen on either phone or computer, need a Bluetooth device which can connect with 2 devices simultaneously. Would want to avoid wires, primarily because laptop has 3.5 mm jack and phone has type c. Having 2 headphones creates not just clutter and at times I end up speaking into the wrong one for a few seconds before realising the mistake.
   
   
3. Decently long battery, real life performance of more than 4-5 hrs is required since I have lots of calls and don't want to end up with a discharged headset in between calls.
   
   
4. Comfort: Since i will be wearing them for 5-6 hrs a day. Couple of people suggested Jabra UC, but it seems like the ear piece is on the ear. I am worried that it will press continuously on my ears and will cause pain.

What doesn't matter

1. Mobility/Style/Formfactor: Since i will be primarily using it on my workstation, mobility is not a concern. Am agnostic form factorwise or style wise to Earphone/TWS/Headphones as long as they are comfortable and do their job.
   
   
2. Music quality: With the amount of time i am anyways spending on calls, i generally avoid headphones for music/videos etc. So as long as i can hear the other person on call clearly, i am happy.
   
   
3. Brand: Boat or boss, doesn't really matter. As long as it does the job and lasts long enough to justify the cost.

Any suggestions on which one should l should buy. Budget wise I am pretty flexible. I would prefer to spend as low as possible, but if required can go upto 25k odd.

TIA

[raksrules]

Originally Posted by sameerg

Hi All,

Looking for some help from fellow members. I have never been big on headphones. Infact the only ones I have ever used are ones that come along with phones and those to very rarely, hence not very knowledgeable about them.

Well you have generous budget so you may get lots of options. I was in exact same boat about 2 months back. I wanted bluetooth earphones (not headphones) with multipoint connectivity. This was my primary requirement and a deal breaker if the earphone didn't have it. Not many bluetooth earphones have multi point. So tread carefully and make sure you confirm the feature exists.

I finally went with Samsung Level U earphones and got them from amazon for Rs. 2500. They are not highly rated and my only purpose was for office calls and simultaneous connection to my amazon tablet as I watch shows sometimes while doing work.

Here is a short review I wrote on another tech forum about this, just few days back.

https://techenclave.com/community/th...phones.193357/

[alexgv]

Originally Posted by sameerg

Looking for some help from fellow members. I have never been big on headphones. Infact the only ones I have ever used are ones that come along with phones and those to very rarely, hence not very knowledgeable about them.

I was in the same boat. I had similar purpose, call quality , wearing for long hours.
I found rtings.com useful for research. I had a requirement for connecting to 2 devices as well.
Considered:
https://www.rtings.com/headphones/re...5btnc-wireless
https://www.rtings.com/headphones/re...-btnc-wireless
https://www.rtings.com/headphones/re...r/hd-4-50-btnc
https://www.rtings.com/headphones/re...00xm3-wireless

Had narrowed down to:

Finally i narrowed down to JBL E65BTNC considering call quality in noisy environment, noise cancelling, economy (compared to sony 1000xm3) , 2 device connections.
Ordered the same from flipkart for 7k. It is available in Amazon for 8k. I am expecting the delivery on Monday.

[gusfring]

I hope someone who has had experience using true wireless headsets could tell me if it is good enough in the long run. I have shortlisted the Soundcore Life Note from Anker (main requirements are battery, good connectivity and decent to good calls and sound).

Of course, just like any other battery device, these are susceptible to reduced cycles as time goes. Theoretically, TWS is affected a bit more due to the higher number of charging/discharging cycles which deteriorate the battery further. My question is, how does this translate in real life?? Is it as bad as in theory?

[lapis_lazuli]

My trusted partner of 14 years, had to be retired this June. It was a Roland RH50 studio monitor headphones. I liked it's sound signature and it was a reference for me. It has been replaced with an Audio Technica AT-H-M30! It's comfortable, has a nice build quality and a fairly flat response (can't be compared with a free field on axis response of a proper speaker, a headphone response will never be ruler flat unlike some good monitor speakers). It has a very good decay at the bass mid bass region. However, the sound stage is very aggressive. It's like in your face....not neutral or laid back. The only "cure" is to dip the mids a bit...from 1200-2500Hz...about 2/3dB! Now I am not mixing a track, so it is OK for pleasure or non critical listening. Not really studio monitor grade even if it claims so. It sounds very good though...sweet, on certain tracks, but by no means clinical!!

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by lapis_lazuli

It has been replaced with an Audio Technica AT-H-M30! It's comfortable, has a nice build quality and a fairly flat response (can't be compared with a free field on axis response of a proper speaker, a headphone response will never be ruler flat unlike some good monitor speakers)

The M series of A-T monitor cans have a mild to noticeable 'V' shaped frequency response curve. The flattest curve is on the M70x and the brightest on the non-studio budget-audiophile level MSR7/MSR7b.

But heck, I tell you these M30x, M40x & even the very popular M50x (before its recent price hike) cans are real value for money and really well built for their price.

But one caveat A-T's support in India is virtually non-existent when it comes to replacement ear pads etc. Not to worry though, the aftermarket ones from Brainwavz are very comfy though they affect the sound quality primarily the bass.

PS - Dekoni and Wicked Cushions two pretty well known aftermarket brands of ear pads are sold here the former at headphonezone dot in and latter at Amazon India. That said it's best to stick to genuine pads on all cans if you are particular about maintaining factory SQ.

[creative420]

I want to buy an on-ear or over the ear wired headphone. Yes, a wired headphone, under 2k. Now I don't want the ones with art-leather/rexine material on ear cups which starts coming off after a year's worth of usage. I had an i-ball headphone with me for over 12 years which had a fabric ear-cup cover. But can't find them on any ecom portal. Please advice. No bluetooth headphones please.

[carlosTHEjackal]

Originally Posted by sameerg

WFH has led me to spend considerable amount of time each day (>4 hrs) on calls and online meetings. Hence sudden need for a good quality headset. I am looking for a headphone/earphone with following requirements.

Any suggestions on which one should l should buy. Budget wise I am pretty flexible. I would prefer to spend as low as possible, but if required can go upto 25k odd.

TIA

sameerg, I think Jabra elite active 75t suits your requirement to the Tee.
I also had the similar requirement about a year ago and have brought Jabra elite active 65t an older version than the currently recommended. It works like a charm. Daily 4 hrs of calls, and I charge just twice a week (start of the week and mid-week). This also has other features which isn't part of your requirement.
The cost might be around 16K on Amazon.

[padmrajravi]

I bought the Galaxy buds live a month back. Initially I was seaching for non in-ear buds with auto-switching/multi-point capability. After a research, I found none of the open earbuds support that ability except for neck band based ones and decided to compromise. Eventually settled for buds live with some discount from by HDFC card for about 12k. I liked the unique design and the fact they were open ear type. Only downside is you have to switch between devices manually if you are not using Samsung devices as source.

For the first few days , I had a slight discomfort in the right ear because of the fit, but now I have gotten so used to them that I realize they are in my ears only when someone asks about them. I use it with my Note 10 lite and Thinkpad running Windows-Fedora dual boot and it works quite fine. Without noise cancellation, I get more than 6 hours of battery life.

The linux machines do not seem to support the mic out of the box. I had to install some additional libraries to get the mic to work in Fedora and Ubuntu. This is nothing to do with buds live specifically, no bluetooth earbud mic is supported out of the box by Fedora and Ubuntu. You also have the option of using laptop mic if you don't want to install the additional libraries.

[sagpatel]

Hey guys,
I am looking for in ear wired earphones.
My budget is 2k-3k.
I was thinking about,
1)sennheiser cx 275s
2) RHA MA390 (but its sold out on headphonezone)
3) one of the local shops have Marshall mode EQ for Rs. 2600/-
4) sony XB-55AP

any other suggestions are also welcome.
My main priorities are sound quality and comfort.
Currently using Bose soundsport in ear wired since 5 years but the cable has started to fall apart/break.

Thanks
Sagar

[adityarobb]

Originally Posted by sagpatel

Hey guys,
I am looking for in ear wired earphones.
My budget is 2k-3k.
I was thinking about,
1)sennheiser cx 275s
2) RHA MA390 (but its sold out on headphonezone)
3) one of the local shops have Marshall mode EQ for Rs. 2600/-
4) sony XB-55AP

any other suggestions are also welcome.
My main priorities are sound quality and comfort.
Currently using Bose soundsport in ear wired since 5 years but the cable has started to fall apart/break.

Hello Sagar,

I have been using the the Sound Magic E11C for the past 2 years and have used the E10C's before, did not have any issues with them. Coming to the sound signature, they sound very similar to the RHA MA390 which my sister uses. Do check'em out, they pretty much fall in your budget.

[Sebring]

Unfortunately Bose did not live up to their brand name and I had to return the headphone to Amazon for a full cash-back (After lot of arguing and stating the reasons). The flaws are; Multipoint connection stopped working. If I'm on the laptop watching video and a call comes through on my phone, it just did not recognize. B. Using it for long hours made my ears sweat. C. The much vaunted Noise Cancellation canceled about 70% of noise coming from the road/construction, that's all. D. Call quality was hopeless with the other end not hearing me at all. E. there is no sound EQ like in Sony F. Most of the times Alexa feature would not work. Luckily, the Sony XM4 is just launched and have ordered those. Will be getting them tomorrow

Originally Posted by Sebring

Amazon earned my trust with this one. Ordered the Bose QC35 (Silver) during the recent 'SALE', for around 19K - with a lot of trepidation. This is my first high value buy from them

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Sebring

Unfortunately Bose did not live up to their brand name and I had to return the headphone to Amazon for a full cash-back (After lot of arguing and stating the reasons). The flaws are; Multipoint connection stopped working. If I'm on the laptop watching video and a call comes through on my phone, it just did not recognize. B. Using it for long hours made my ears sweat. C. The much vaunted Noise Cancellation canceled about 70% of noise coming from the road/construction, that's all. D. Call quality was hopeless with the other end not hearing me at all. E. there is no sound EQ like in Sony F. Most of the times Alexa feature would not work. Luckily, the Sony XM4 is just launched and have ordered those. Will be getting them tomorrow

Even I am not excited about over the ear for the very same reason, that I cant wear them for long. It tends to cover the entire ear and makes me sweat. I got the Senheisers near equivalent ones at good price, but still could not find myself using them.

But i do love the in ear ones. Have been using the Bose sound sport wireless for some years now. Got another pair over current sale at a steal. Definitely amazing for running. (Soundsport wireless). I think the sale (flipkart) is still on through the day. You may want to have a look. Of course there is no noise cancelation.