Bluetooth Headphones

[Mark C Flick]

My Sony Pulse Elite headphones finally died so, the search is on.
Does anyone make a good bluetooth headphone? Not really looking for high fidelity (cause it is bluetooth) but listenable, always thought the Pulse Elite sounded pretty good (and had a ton of connectivity options), now I'm convinced they sounded pretty good. I picked up a... very popular bluetooth headphone the other day. Really sounds terrible!!! And I won't even get into the connectivity issues like a person walking in front of you disrupts the signal. Anyway, really didn't want to spend $300 for a set of casual cans but, so far the Sony WH‑1000XM2 is at the top of my list. Anyone know of or recommend something else to look into?

 

[Matthew J Poes]

My Sony Pulse Elite headphones finally died so, the search is on.
Does anyone make a good bluetooth headphones? Not really looking for high fidelity (cause it is bluetooth) but listenableI, always thought the Pulse Elite sounded pretty good (and had a ton of connectivity options), now I'm convinced they sounded pretty good. I picked up a... very popular bluetooth headphone the other day. Really sounds terrible!!! And I won't even get into the connectivity issues like a person walking in front of you disrupts the signal. Anyway, really didn't want to spend $300 for a set of casual cans but, so far the Sony WH‑1000XM2 is at the top of my list. Anyone know of or recommend something else to look into?

The best I’ve heard so far are the PSB M4U 8 headphones. Paul did a great job tuning these. The Bose QC35 is also very good and has better noise canceling. The nice thing about both of these is that their Bluetooth is of the latest generation so the sound is good enough to take advantage of the rest of the capabilities of the headphone. As much as I don’t like Bluetooth, I have to admit having a hard time telling a difference between wired and wireless connections with these.

I’ve heard a few cheaper models that I wasn’t impressed by, I’m yet to hear anything outside of those two that I considered very good.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Agree with Matt... don't discount Bose.

A few years ago I reviewed a pair of XTZ bluetooth headphones that I still use. They have a DSP app that you can use in conjunction with music stored on a phone. It really kicks sound into high gear.

 

[tesseract]

Yes, Matt and I listened to the PSB Bluetooth effort at AXPONA and the new Bluetooth generation sounded great on these.

 

[Mark C Flick]

That gives me a couple more options to look at. I'm really not wanting to spend that much money on bluetooth headphones but I do like the convenience.

 

[Mark C Flick]

Yeah, no progress at all on this. Seems to be a bit of analysis paralysis going on here. Maybe some AirPods ...

 

[Matthew J Poes]

Yeah, no progress at all on this. Seems to be a bit of analysis paralysis going on here. Maybe some AirPods ...

They don’t sound as good as the full size over the ear NC types we mentioned but very convenient.

There are a ton of these “truest wireless” headphones coming out now, maybe worth looking at all the options. My impression has been that the Apple’s are a really nice pair of headphones with some miraculous engineering. That some other brands are offering some that aren’t that much lager and provide better sound.

 

[AudiocRaver]

The RBH Sound ProStereo H2 In-Ear headphones are Bluetooth with Sony LDAC technology and 24/96 equivalence. Cleanest Bluetooth I ever heard. Love em.

 

[Matthew J Poes]

The RBH Sound ProStereo H2 In-Ear headphones are Bluetooth with Sony LDAC technology and 24/96 equivalence. Cleanest Bluetooth I ever heard. Love em.

Wayne these look really interesting. They also support APTX HD and an AKM DAC that seems of higher quality than typical. It’s one of the most audiophile feature packed headphones I’ve seen and they aren’t all that expensive.

I’m reviewing a pair of headphone with APTX HD and when I switch to that, I feel like there is a small improvement. Unfortunately my only means of testing this is by switching in a different transmitter.

Are the RBH’s noisy at all? Audible hiss. All of the Bluetooth NC headphones I have here make a small hiss. I’ve been told it’s in the chips themselves and can’t be fixed. I’m curious if a higher quality set of internals and no NC chip fixes that.

 

[AudiocRaver]

With my LG V30, NO HISS. and SUPER clean. When I got mine they were at intro price of under $100.

I will be reviewing them in a couple of weeks, one more review comes first.

 

[Matthew J Poes]

With my LG V30, NO HISS. and SUPER clean. When I got mine they were at intro price of under $100.

I will be reviewing them in a couple of weeks, one more review comes first.

Can’t wait to hear about them. Also a good reminder that I should try a few different sources to be sure of the hiss. I was surprised to find that even with a Bluetooth connection, if my phone is charging, the headphones hum.

 

[Mark C Flick]

I'm a huge fan of RBH but I hear (no pun intended) that the H2 generates a lot of microphonic noise from the cable. I'm just about ready to pull the trigger on the Bose QC 35 II. Have not purchase anything from Bose since the late '80s, a pair of 601 Series III that I thought sounded pretty good. Anyway...
I'm curious if anyone knows of a USB dongle, similar to the Pulse dongle, that works with any BT device?

 

[Matthew J Poes]

Let us know what you think. The Bose are still among the best in that price point