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Opinion on AirPods Pro and Studio/overear set. Looking for an overear recommendation.

Alaxlmartin

Alaxlmartin

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 20, 2018
314
124
So I saw the Pro and bought them at my cell phone dealer. They exceeded my expectation!!! They are the best microphones I used, and the quick charge and Apple comparability is excellent.

However, I would still like an over ear set. I don’t know if the Studios are coming out. This year seems slow for apple products and the rumors have been not 100% true. I thought of the Beats, but wonder if I should wait until September. Looking for an overear recommendation.
 
For true wireless yeah, Apple is definitively one of the best.

But for anything over ear, I wouldn't trust them. In fact, I've always had Sennheiser Momentum. Bought them 7 years (!!!) ago and they still work perfectly. For sound quality, I trust more Sennheiser, Grado, Beyerdynamic, Audeze (also have a pair of LCD-2), Hifiman.
 
I’m also interested in The Studio as well, especially for the spatial audio when watching movie. Would be awesome.
 
Given Apple's sound engineers track record with the HomePod and the AirPods Pro, the likely convenience of the Studios in operational terms over other over-ear headphones (which given your first post is something you seem to value highly), and their likely extra features such as spatial audio, I'd definitely wait as long as possible.

Wireless over-ear headphones are otherwise increasingly numerous and it's going to be difficult to recommend anything to you without knowing how you intend to use them or your own preferences.
 
MayaTlab said:
Given Apple's sound engineers track record with the HomePod and the AirPods Pro, the likely convenience of the Studios in operational terms over other over-ear headphones (which given your first post is something you seem to value highly), and their likely extra features such as spatial audio, I'd definitely wait as long as possible.

Wireless over-ear headphones are otherwise increasingly numerous and it's going to be difficult to recommend anything to you without knowing how you intend to use them or your own preferences.
Click to expand...


Want ANC to be top notch, multidevice paring, walking
 
I'm in the same boat as you, I have the APP, used to have a pair of bluetooth over-ear headphones (without ANC), and am now looking for another pair of BT over-ear headphones for when I'm at home or when there is enough space in my bag.

Multi-device pairing already narrows down the search quite a lot, but multi-device pairing behaviour can actually vary quite a lot between headphones, and this is the killer detail as some will not behave in a way that you like. Personally on that matter I think that Apple's approach with the APP's upcoming update is a better bet (they don't have multi-device pairing, but other devices talk to each others and will switch the APP for you, meaning that in effect you have limitless multi-device pairing, with a behaviour that's most likely to be quite polished).

Each of us might differ a bit in terms of what we're looking for as far as noise cancellation (whether active or passive) is concerned.

If you want good mic quality just like the APP that narrows down the search even more.

The headphones I can think of, some of which I've tried :

Sennheiser Momentum 3 (did try) : beware mic quality, ANC OK-ish, sound signature very different from APP (quite V-shaped in comparison).
B&W PX7 (did try) : beware mic quality, ANC OK-ish, sound signature very different from APP (V shaped in comparison with a lot of peaks and valleys in the upper mids / trebles).
Dali IO-6 : apparently mics and ANC are perfectible
Shure Aonic 50 : apparently ANC perfectible.
Bose 700 (did try) : Mics OK, ANC very good, sound signature a bit closer to the APP.
Not released yet but rumoured and very likely to be released soon : Sony WH-1000XM4. The XM3 doesn't have multi-device pairing and the mics are crappy, but it is rumoured that the XM4 intends to fix that.

None of them fully correspond to everything you're looking for, but, provided you find the SQ to your liking, the Bose 700 might be the closest to the APP in over-ear form in terms of operational qualities, mics quality, ANC, etc.

Personally I wouldn't spend €399 for the three headphones I've already tried in the list above, I don't like their SQ quite enough compared to my previous BT over-ear headphones. I intend to wait for as long as possible as it seems that what Apple sound engineers consider to be good SQ and my own tastes are quite well aligned, so crossing fingers they're working on a pair of over-ear headphones indeed.
 
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MayaTlab said:
I'm in the same boat as you, I have the APP, used to have a pair of bluetooth over-ear headphones (without ANC), and am now looking for another pair of BT over-ear headphones for when I'm at home or when there is enough space in my bag.

Multi-device pairing already narrows down the search quite a lot, but multi-device pairing behaviour can actually vary quite a lot between headphones, and this is the killer detail as some will not behave in a way that you like. Personally on that matter I think that Apple's approach with the APP's upcoming update is a better bet (they don't have multi-device pairing, but other devices talk to each others and will switch the APP for you, meaning that in effect you have limitless multi-device pairing, with a behaviour that's most likely to be quite polished).

Each of us might differ a bit in terms of what we're looking for as far as noise cancellation (whether active or passive) is concerned.

If you want good mic quality just like the APP that narrows down the search even more.

The headphones I can think of, some of which I've tried :

Sennheiser Momentum 3 (did try) : beware mic quality, ANC OK-ish, sound signature very different from APP (quite V-shaped in comparison).
B&W PX7 (did try) : beware mic quality, ANC OK-ish, sound signature very different from APP (V shaped in comparison with a lot of peaks and valleys in the upper mids / trebles).
Dali IO-6 : apparently mics and ANC are perfectible
Shure Aonic 50 : apparently ANC perfectible.
Bose 700 (did try) : Mics OK, ANC very good, sound signature a bit closer to the APP.
Not released yet but rumoured and very likely to be released soon : Sony WH-1000XM4. The XM3 doesn't have multi-device pairing and the mics are crappy, but it is rumoured that the XM4 intends to fix that.

None of them fully correspond to everything you're looking for, but, provided you find the SQ to your liking, the Bose 700 might be the closest to the APP in over-ear form in terms of operational qualities, mics quality, ANC, etc.

Personally I wouldn't spend €399 for the three headphones I've already tried in the list above, I don't like their SQ quite enough compared to my previous BT over-ear headphones. I intend to wait for as long as possible as it seems that what Apple sound engineers consider to be good SQ and my own tastes are quite well aligned, so crossing fingers they're working on a pair of over-ear headphones indeed.
Click to expand...
These models are still “mass available, mass consumer” ones.
For “real” audio listening, none of them are good. They simply don’t belong to that class.
Noise cancellation affects sound reproduction.
 
MayaTlab said:
I'm in the same boat as you, I have the APP, used to have a pair of bluetooth over-ear headphones (without ANC), and am now looking for another pair of BT over-ear headphones for when I'm at home or when there is enough space in my bag.

Multi-device pairing already narrows down the search quite a lot, but multi-device pairing behaviour can actually vary quite a lot between headphones, and this is the killer detail as some will not behave in a way that you like. Personally on that matter I think that Apple's approach with the APP's upcoming update is a better bet (they don't have multi-device pairing, but other devices talk to each others and will switch the APP for you, meaning that in effect you have limitless multi-device pairing, with a behaviour that's most likely to be quite polished).

Each of us might differ a bit in terms of what we're looking for as far as noise cancellation (whether active or passive) is concerned.

If you want good mic quality just like the APP that narrows down the search even more.

The headphones I can think of, some of which I've tried :

Sennheiser Momentum 3 (did try) : beware mic quality, ANC OK-ish, sound signature very different from APP (quite V-shaped in comparison).
B&W PX7 (did try) : beware mic quality, ANC OK-ish, sound signature very different from APP (V shaped in comparison with a lot of peaks and valleys in the upper mids / trebles).
Dali IO-6 : apparently mics and ANC are perfectible
Shure Aonic 50 : apparently ANC perfectible.
Bose 700 (did try) : Mics OK, ANC very good, sound signature a bit closer to the APP.
Not released yet but rumoured and very likely to be released soon : Sony WH-1000XM4. The XM3 doesn't have multi-device pairing and the mics are crappy, but it is rumoured that the XM4 intends to fix that.

None of them fully correspond to everything you're looking for, but, provided you find the SQ to your liking, the Bose 700 might be the closest to the APP in over-ear form in terms of operational qualities, mics quality, ANC, etc.

Personally I wouldn't spend €399 for the three headphones I've already tried in the list above, I don't like their SQ quite enough compared to my previous BT over-ear headphones. I intend to wait for as long as possible as it seems that what Apple sound engineers consider to be good SQ and my own tastes are quite well aligned, so crossing fingers they're working on a pair of over-ear headphones indeed.
Click to expand...


Clubhouse leaders:
Sony WH1000XM4- Will fix multi device problem, hopefully more durable and better mic quality.
Apple
 
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