Does this pair of headphones exist?

June 7, 2019 6:50 AM

I work from home across multiple devices and need a new set of headphones, probably cans. I've got a very special snowflake set of needs though, do they even exist?

Hello... I'm a work from home IT guy who runs multiple PC's + hvac in my home office in a relatively busy little town. In particular I have my on-work-network machine and my home-network machine side by side. I like to listen to spotify on my home network machine but I take VOIP calls from the work PC as well as via bluetooth to my cell phone. I've got a spot of hearing loss, just specifically in the range where background noises like cars/fans/restaurant chatter make it completely impossible for me to hear anything that's happening.

I currently have a silly $400 Jabra Pro that handles my phone calls and voip calls but necessitates switching headsets if I want to listen to music/browse reddit/etc. They're also just on-ear pillows that sound meh at best, plus there's a very audible click/pause when it switches devices. Oddly the range is TOO good too, like, it'll pick up when I'm three floors away in the house next door and take over phone calls.

SO, I think what I want are bluetooth cans, but the only sets of cans I've ever had made my ears wildly hot---not that they were remarkable. I've got two sets of ANR earbuds but one is wired (Audio-Technica's, which I love minus the cords) and some weird Aukey's that I don't hate but that use weird sized tips that I've never been able to find comfy comply-like tips for, and they hurt my ears pretty quickly.

I see the monoprice ANR's for $60, I see the TaoTronics for $50, I see the Sony's for ~$140 and the Bose for ~$300, plus other stuff in the middle. Is there something that meets my needs?

TL;DR: Bluetooth, Cans?, ANR, Not hot, allow multiple simultaneous connections. Does exist? Maybe?

posted by TomMelee to Shopping (4 answers total)

For simultaneous connections you want bluetooth multipoint capability. This won't allow you to play audio from 2 devices at the same time, instead you'll have to pause the audio on one source before playing it on the other. Active noise cancellation gets better the more you spend and under $200 it won't be that great. It's impossible to tell what will be hot for you personally because that depends on so many factors.

The Plantronics Backbeat Pro 2 are highly rated and have multipoint capability and ANC. The ANC is mediocre.

Bose just came out with a new flagship headphone so the excellent QC35s are constantly getting sales. They have best in class noise cancellation and multipoint bluetooth connections; On sale you're looking at around $275.
posted by mattholomew at 7:43 AM on June 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Mattholomew- Thanks. I keep returning to the Bose, solid ANR is very very important. I only worry about the closed back cooking my brain, but I guess I give them a shot and see what happens?
posted by TomMelee at 8:30 AM on June 7, 2019

FWIW I have the Bose and live in Arizona and they've been pretty good for me heat wise.
posted by mattholomew at 8:42 AM on June 7, 2019

Response by poster: Picked them up friday, today's the first real trial of them. ANR is pretty great, we'll see how the rest of it goes. :) Thanks again.
posted by TomMelee at 6:32 AM on June 10, 2019