Bluetooth Headphones Recommendation
3Can anyone recommend a nice pair of bluetooth headphones for less than $100? I’m looking for something to use with audiobooks and music while doing housework.
I would prefer over-the-ear and closed back. Comfort is the most important thing.
I ordered a pair of Skullcandy Crushers from Best Buy and my son laughed at me. Maybe I should return them.
Oh yeah, no active noise cancelling.
Thanks!
- 16 comments, 31 replies
- Comment
I just bought a pair of Cowin E7s that rock. If you look around you can score them for about $40.00. They have noise cancelling, but I never use it.
@Flipit Thanks but I was hoping for something a bit nicer.
@sammydog01
The Sony Bluetooth over ear headphones I have are quite decent for music over Bluetooth.
They go on sale under $100 kinda all the time. Esp at Woot.
Or do you want wired?
The music will be better with wired.
I am not safe with wired headphones unless I am lazing around on the couch or something.
–
You will almost certainly see some really good deals on Sennheisers or other high end wired cans ($200+) black Friday - Monday. Esp at Amazon.
If you want wired cans under $100, Sony makes some nice ones also. Reasonably comfortable - very popular with studio people and broadcasters who wear them for hours.
I’ll have to dig out the model numbers.
@f00l Now that I have that LG Tone coming I may look at wired headphones for music. I have to think about it.
I think I saw you already ordered some but I have really enjoyed my lg tone headphones. The form factor is nice enough that it’s been ripped off tons of times. The body is big enough to hold a decent battery while resting on your neck so you don’t have something heavy hanging from your ear or excessively long cables. And they stay charged for months if I don’t use them.
I may have to order a backup set from your link.
@djslack I figured for $17 I would give them a try. And if I like them that’s $83 bucks to spend on candy corn. Thanks!
@djslack
Love my LG Tones, for audiobooks.
Only must replace. After, say, 7 years, I finally tore one if the earbuds off.
Only they still hold a charge, so …
@djslack
Re the LG Tone ripoffs.
When they were introduced, the original Tones were around $100. So the ripoff market went nuts.
I tried a few. Most of them were utter garbage back then. They sounded horrible, were difficult to use, barely held a charge, and did not have the needed audiobook controls
(FFD and REW),
Which in the audiobook player I set to operate as “jump forward” and “jump back” (usually 30 seconds), instead of “next track” and “previous track”.
Now you can usually get the genuine article at a good price a refurbished on Amazon on Newegg (esp 3rd party sellers) for under $25.
Or in Ebay (tho the search is tricky because many sellers list knockoffs there with the text “for LG, Samsung, Iphone …” so that their knockoff will show up in the LG search results.
The LG real deal is just the thing for audiobooks.
I wouldn’t spend $ on the high end ones tho. Those earbuds don’t fit well enough in the ears to give the kind of audio quality for music that would just paying terribly much for these.
—
Also, have tried a few name brand knockoffs of the LG form factor, such as Samsung. Often they are just not as good. Not as easy to operate. Can lack the FFD and REW controls.
So I stick with LG.
What phone do you use?
Recently I got a phone with no headphone jack, and went looking for a good pair of bluetooth earbuds that don’t blue-mangle the sound.
Ended up with a pair of BeatsX which I picked up for $99 (well $109 and a $10 off + 5% off with my card).
They sound great on my iphones, they sound great on my androids… also the operating range is pretty amazing compared to normal bluetooths.
the wings are optional, I don’t use them and they haven’t fallen out yet.
@thismyusername I generally use a tablet which is with a jack- thanks for the recommendation!
@sammydog01 well there are also these to consider:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075F1DV91
I had picked one of these up while researching the BeatsXs… this model works great with my iphones (no blue-mangle) but I cannot get the android devices to send “high quality” audio to it… just standard blue-mangle. I heard that if I were to get one that supports apt-x it might work with android high quality audio, but I am not sure that is correct as the android sees the BeatX’s as High Quality: AAC so perhaps this adapter just doesn’t present itself to the android devices properly.
One downside to the adapter is that if you are using ear buds with a mic there is a slight hiss… but if you are using normal earbuds/headphones the hiss goes away. I think it is likely due to interference that gets picked up due to that extra connector bit for the mic… but it’s just a guess I haven’t tested… it could just be that it always does it and only the earbuds pick up on it.
Otium Bluetooth headphones. Great battery life decent sound for what they are. Fit well on my ears. I have owned them since May 2016 for $20 I recommend them. Bluetooth Headphones, Otium Wireless Sports Earphones w/ Mic IPX7 Waterproof HD Stereo Sweatproof In Ear Earbuds for Gym Running Workout 8 Hour Battery Noise Cancelling Headsets https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018APC4LE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_4ePbAbEEQJ3RR
@Jasonf1984 Thanks! I’ll check them out.
If you want value for money, and decent quality, here is the Monoprice selection, sorted from high price to low.
Very nice for the price. If you want to see reviews, check Slickdeals and Amazon for comments.
The opposite of paying for a showy name. Instead, pay not much $ for good quality.
Not luxury. Not best of the very best. But prob as good as you can buy for the price. They dont make garbage.
https://www.monoprice.com/category/electronics/headphones-and-earphones-and-bluetooth-speakers/headphones?&itemsort=salepricedesc
PS they have the cheapest Planar Magnetics (audiophile) I know of.
Not a “Luxe” brand. But very good for the price.
@f00l Thanks!
You can get a pair of $399.95 Sennheiser PXC 550 wireless headphones for free with purchase of $599.99 or more at Helzberg Diamonds, through December 24. Such a deal.
https://www.helzberg.com/product/headphones+gwp+2296266.do
@heartny I’ll just buy myself something sparkly to go with them.
Here is a Slickdeals search link for
“Sony Bluetooth Headphones”
https://slickdeals.net/newsearch.php?q=Sony+bluetooth+headphones&rating=&previousdays=-1&searcharea=deals&searchin=first&sort=relevance
–
There are some up for under $100 today. (For the non-noise-cancelling ones)
I own these and like them.
Focus camera is a good and trustworthy vendor. They prob have excellent US-based 800# CS also.
Someone says Amazon is price matching.
I haven’t checked. But at focus camera you prob won’t have to pay sales tax, I think.
At some of these big NYC audio/video and camera stores, if you miss a sale, and then you call in and ask nicely, sometimes they will give the you the sale price manually.
–
Don’t pay more than $100 for Sony 9xx and 7xx Bluetooth over-ear headphones, drive they hit that price on sale all the time.
Altho usually you can only get the black ones at that price.
https://slickdeals.net/f/10756295-sony-wireless-xb950-extra-bass-headphones-98-xb950n-noise-canceling-headphones-123-srsxb20blk-bluetooth-speaker-48-free-s-h?src=SiteSearchV2Algo1
There are better headphones, and better BT headphones out there. Sony makes some. Bit not for under $100
And then you get into Audiophile territory, and the neverending search for the “perfect sound”.
Lots of time and money and no final resolution.
Since your kid laughed at you, perhaps get him some phones from Dollar Tree?
Ok. Sony wired headphones.
All these are designed for studio use and are actually studio favs. I mean breadcasting, podcasting, editing, recording. You see the all over tv and radio stations and recording setups.
Which means they don’t suck and they are classic and confortable for hours at a time.
(These two are very close in comfort and audio profile.)
Sony MDRV6 Studio Monitor Headphones
https://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDRV6-Studio-Monitor-Headphones/dp/B00001WRSJ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1510422222&sr=8-3&keywords=sony+mdr-v6
Sony MDR7506 Professional Large Diaphragm Headphone
https://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDR7506-Professional-Diaphragm-Headphone/dp/B000AJIF4E/ref=pd_sim_23_5?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=Y7CW4D0F327NF60NCD2F
Check around on price. Costco, Sams, Newegg, Amz, the big NYC and New England audio/video stores. Local camera stores.
These don’t go in sale as often as the BT ones but they do go on sale.
If I wanted decent of better comfortable over ear cans at a good price, well-reviewed and widely used, and I didn’t want to spend endless time researching, I would get some of these Sony’s, or some from Monoprice.
Both will be good choices.
Another option will be to do a Slickdeals search. But so much comes up. Just ignore anything where you don’t recognize the brand. (either is junk or is Audiophile or is decent but you have no time to figure that out).
Or watch what headphone deals come up in Slickdeals as Front Page or Popular and ignore the rest.
There is an active headphones community on Slickdeals. So any headphones listing that is more than 4 hours old and doesn’t have some decent # of comments isn’t worth your time. Let the crowd-filtering do your work there.
Oh, in Slickdeals, skim the comments. 2/3 are junk or questions. The other 1/3 are worth it.
Related question for everyone:
Excellent Bluetooth earbuds for music.
Not necessarily noise cancelling.
Not necessary noise isolating
Not jam-them-way-into-your-ears.
Have some bass.
Have some definition.
Have some clarity.
Decent for classical and jazz as well as rock.
Comfortable.
Easy to use.
Hard to break.
Tolerable battery.
Not necessarily for sport.
Have some volume, dammit!
My LG Tones are great for spoken word, but not so much for this.
Have tried wired. Am too big a klutz.
Two categories:
Under $100 (they had better be good)
Over $100 (they had better be amazing)
Thoughts?
@f00l what phone?
if you need them to work with both iphone and androids and to have high quality aac the BeatsX… (well and any beats/apple that has the apple W1 chip) fit the bill, also see above for the adapter… it works great with my plain ol wired headphones (on iphone anyway).
@thismyusername
Mostly iPhone 6s at present. Some Android.
@f00l The Target Black Friday ad has urBeats half price ($50). @thismyusername Are those good?
@sammydog01 I saw those in the case the other day, as far as I can tell they are wired only… in 2 versions… 3.5mm and lightning connector.
From my previous research the ones in their lineup with the W1 Bluetooth chip right now are the BeatsX (ear buds, wings optional), Power Beats 3 wireless (ear buds, wings built in?) Beats Solo 3 (over ear), and the Beats Studio 3 (over ear).
To be honest in the past I never ever considered beats… when they were new they were great but over priced, then they got turned into mass production mode and remained overpriced, and now they are slowly going back to being great again and seem to be dropping prices… they are still a bit bass heavy… but… the only reason I landed with them is because of the high quality audio mode. I can equalize the bass down, I can’t magically fill in the missing bits from the standard bluetooth audio mangling. So far I’m impressed but I have only had them for a couple months so time will tell.
The key to any of the more expensive ones is make sure there is a good return policy
@thismyusername
I wasnt up in the latest in BT chips. Thx will look at this.
You know any pricing history?
@f00l I know I saw one of the over ear (I assume solo 3) for $219 at costco… also the beatsX seems to fluctuate between 149 and 109… my guess is they will hit 99 for black friday. they are on the neck and the wires do sorta stick out in front of your face, they don’t bother me, and it puts the mic in a good location for calls… but they might look goofy.
by the way… in oreo (android
they seem to have added support for sony’s LDAC so if you are in an android 8 ecosystem the sony one with LDAC support should also have high quality audio.
@f00l wired only. Oops.
@thismyusername
My Android is old. Perhaps I’ll update on the next few months. Undecided.
@sammydog01
It’s cool. It’s just, i bump the wires all the time.
I can handle big weird cans of I’m sitting down.
@f00l also apt-x is popular on android for high quality audio mode, so in theory you are looking for aac (for your iphone) and aptx/aac (depending on model/version/etc android) support… the one downside with the W1 chip used in the beats products is the lack of apt-x
also if you are the 1 in a million people who can wear apples ear pods comfortably they have those AirPods that also are using the W1… I didn’t even try them due to 1. shape of earpods would be pain for me, 2. I would loose one
@thismyusername
No interest at present at completely wire free ear/things. Ick.
I take them out or off and then replace them constantly. All day.
I do have some buds with apt-x.
Do beatsX have both apt-x and acc?
Do BeatsX sound as good with an iPhone 6s as with an iPhone 7-X?
I want great BT earbud sound that’s comfortable and doesn’t involve messing with the earbuds all the time.
And has easy controls including FFW/Rew or jump track controls. (I use this all day). They controls must be incredibly way to use without looking or thinking about it.
And wont fall down my back or get lost.
I don’t care about “easy pairing” except as an extra.
@f00l
no only aac as far as I can tell
have only compared with 6s and 8… sound very similar… I tried with a friends 5s and they also sounded like the aac was kicking in.
Highly recommended:
Sennheiser’s new Orpheus headphones cost $55,000
https://www.engadget.com/amp/2015/11/03/sennheiser-new-orpheus-headphones/
/giphy money
@sammydog01
For your precocious and opinionated child:
From The WireCutter
(New York Times)
The Best Wireless Earbuds Under $50
UPDATED NOVEMBER 10, 2017
Your guide
Lauren Dragan
https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-cheap-bluetooth-earbuds/
@f00l Thanks. I will make sure he sees that. I actually have some Skullcandy headphones and earbuds that I like.
@f00l I just looked at that article and they have two pair of wireless headphones that meet my criteria. I’ll watch for a sale.
@sammydog01
sometime a parent needs a comeback, right?
@sammydog01
Nov-dec are huge for earbuds and headphone deals.
Slickdeals is the place.
Just ignore any brand or store you do not recognize. Unless skads of positive comments in Slickdeals.
And only those with a number of good comments are worthy.
And if it’s an Amazon DOTD and the people on Slickdeals are salivating, then it’s a good thing.
I still think El Brilliante Childe needs some from Dollar General or Dollar Tree tho.
Hope El Brilliante Childe has a sense of humor.
@f00l He has a Klipsch speaker dock I got at Goodwill. And some gaming headphones he rants about. It must be nice to know everything.
@sammydog01
OK I bought the LG Tones for audiobooks and went with these wired headphones for music:
https://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-1062411-0-R6-On-Ear-Headphones/dp/B0169N84LI/ref=sr_1_sc_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1510460344&sr=8-3-spell&keywords=klipsch+headohones
They should be much better than all my existing headphones which I bought here for cheap. Thanks everyone!
@sammydog01 Bose had a VIP/Pre-Black Friday event Saturday and I got a pair of respiffied SoundSport Wireless Headphones for $99, regularly $149. So far they are very nice for music and radio and are quite responsive to graphic equalizers on my phone. They will again be $99 at Bose on Black Friday, if the LG Tones don’t work out for you.
https://www.amazon.com/Bose-SoundSport-Wireless-Headphones-Black/dp/B01L7PSJFO
And if the wired headphones don’t work out, these Audio-Technica over the ear wired headphones I got from Meh are surprisingly good for the price:
https://www.amazon.com/AudioTechnica-ATH-AX3IS-SonicFuel-Over-Ear-Headphones/dp/B00IF6WSLK
@heartny
The reason for the Tones is going out and about and for spoken word.
The form factor and controls are perfect for those.
Not so great for music. But I don’t use them that way.
The 808 AUDIO DUO WIRED + WIRELESS HEADPHONES- I got from Meh are my go-to over-the-ear Bluetooth headphones. I just can’t use them when I’m using my chainsaw because for some reason the ignition causes static that fries my ear bones. My SWMBO likes the GEAR HEAD BLUETOOTH HEADPHONES on-the-ear ones I got later, so even though I bought them thinking they were over-the-ear’s, I lucked out.
I’ve been using a pair of Bluedio F2’s for about a week and they have done a fantastic job of blocking out my coworkers’ profound ramblings of how the media is personally out to get them, and how all past, current, and future personal problems are the fault of everyone else but themselves. That is my loss however the Bluedio F2’s meet your conditions of being bluetooth, over-the-ear, closed back, comfortable, and well under $100.
Here is the Amazon link. Scroll down on the page for a 25% off coupon. I paid $37 for them and I think it was worth it. Most common complaint is about the active noise cancelling but I don’t use ANC so it wasn’t a deal-breaker for me.
Your son was right, perhaps a little cruel, but right. Skullcandy makes INCREDIBLY cheap headphones, and on that note, you should usually get your headphones online.
Here’s an audiophile’s recommendation:
https://www.amazon.com/MEE-audio-Bluetooth-Wireless-Headphones/dp/B00DOP3NPW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1510548828&sr=8-2&keywords=mee+audio+matrix2
These aren’t AMAZING, but they’re a jack of all trades. They find a way to do everything WELL but aren’t the best at anything. Seriously, if you want a good pair of Bluetooth headphones, these are it.
If phone calls are important to you… And you want a comfortable affordable pair of headphones… I love these… and they are cheaper than when I first bought them now. Wireless Headphones,
Anker SoundBuds Curve Bluetooth 4.1 Sports Earphones with 12.5 Hour Battery, AptX Stereo Sound, Waterproof Nano Coating, Workout Headset with Built-In Mic and Carry Pouch https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0721MP41Q/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_SIscAbC5P5MDW