Help needed choosing a good pair of noise cancelling earphones

I'm still on the Sony XM4. No reason to upgrade really.

I bought the XM4 somewhat recently, because it's like half the price of the XM5 new. And from reviews it supposedly has minor upgrades, so not worth the difference.
- I got the xm5 after I lost my 4's and the differences aren't that great. The bass seemed better on the 4's too.
The XM4s fold nice and flat too.

I've got Bose QC35 ii or something. If you've got big ears or a big head, they're great.

I didn't do many tests myself comparing the noise cancellation, but they do a good enough job for me at cancelling our steady noise (like wind, engine noises, computer fans, etc).

I can wear them all day and not feel like I need to take a break for my ears or head.

Here's my experience, this could get quite lengthy:

I was in the market for earphones a couple of week a ago. After reading and watching many reviews I still couldn't decide which to buy, so in the end I bought a couple.

My first priority at the time was sound quality. My choices of earphones ware the Sony WF-1000XM5, the Technics EAH-AZ80 and the Samsung Galaxy Buds FE which are a third of the price of the other two to make sure I could even "hear the difference".

The XM5's and the Galaxy Buds had a very similar sound profile, a "classic" earbud sound, something you would expect from normal earbuds if you've used any before.

The Galaxy Buds were good with adequate noise cancelling. Good for sporting with the wingtips.

The Sony XM5's sound was very good with a bass heavy profile but became very uncomfortable in my ear after half an hour of use, bringing comfort into the equation, something I never even considered before. Their noise cancelling is outstanding, even dangerous as passing cars on the street became almost inaudible.

However the sound of the AZ80's ABSOLUTELY BLEW ME AWAY! They sound so much better to my ears than the other two pairs. I suddenly understood what the reviews meant by "clear open soundstage" and "instrument separation". Before this experience I had no point of reference, so these subjective terms in the reviews didn't really mean anything to me. Their noise cancelling is also very good.

My take always from this experience are:

earphones can sound vastly different depending on their construction and tuning
comfort is way more important than I previously though
active noise cancelling has gotten very good even on cheaper models
sound profiles like "open" or "closed" sound completely change the listening experience
unless you listen to high resolution FLAC, you won't notice a massive difference in sound reproduction quality especially over Bluetooth
if you just want to "listen to something" and "block out outside noise" save you money and get lower to mid range ANC earphones

The only way to actually know which earphones you like the most, is to try them. If you are able to return purchased goods in the first few weeks, go and buy like 3 or 4 pairs and try them all.

TLDR; I stuck with the Technics EAH-AZ80 for sound enjoyment. I was very disappointed with the Sony XM5's comfort and would recommend the Galaxy Buds for casual listening and sporting activities.

Hope this is helpful.

Aha! I've had both of these types.

Got a set of the Sony ones. Comfort 10/10, sound quality 12/10, stupid fuckin touch sensors instead of physical buttons that trigger constantly when you put the headphones down round your neck and you can't switch them off and it drives you so fuckin mad you sell them on eBay at a massive loss 0/10

So I got the Bose QC 45, comfort 12/10, sound quality 10/10, physical buttons, was 5/10 because there was no way to check battery level but they updated them last week so now long-press on the left button does that 10/10

The Bose ones even feel more well-made than the Sony and were €100 less

The noise cancelling on the Sony was slightly better but the Bose ones aren't as tight so that could be why

I will never, ever buy a set of headphones with touch sensors ever again

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- Not sure why you got downvoted but you're right 😅

sennheiser always makes good products. i have an old pair of BT 4.50 ANCs that have been kicking for more than 5 years. they’re great

I would agree, but I would not want to sleep with them on as OP requested.

I should also add that the gesture control on Sony is almost worthless. To turn the volume up or down a significant amount, you have to swipe up or down like 20 times. Half the time it ends up reading one of the swipes as forward or backward and skips to another song.

At least on the XM3 over-ears, you can swipe up and keep holding it at the top of the swipe to keep adjusting the volume up.

(I just use my computer or phone volume control though, depending on what it's connected to.)
For me it works 80% of the time. It's only if your hands are slightly moist when you're in trouble.
The volume is slow but I use the play/pause, next features all the time without issue. I think you need to fix the direction you swipe your finger
- Haha, could be. I just find it super annoying. I think I’ll probably go back to Bose, as it just worked without any real fuss. That’s more important to me than a marginal improvement in sound quality.
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I have both. The way Bose handles bluetooth with multiple devices is so awful that I gave up on them and bought the Sony's. They would probably be fine if you only intend to ever pair them to one device. However, for me, I just never figured out what they were trying to do. I'd turn them on and they'd wake up a sleeping iPad in another room, or closed laptop, and then refuse to connect to my phone (using the phone's built in Bluetooth menu) until I opened the Bose App to reconfigure them. The last straw was on video calls for work-- they'd randomly re-connect with a random device.

The Sony's just don't do that. They don't wake up random sleeping or idle devices, and if they do connect to the wrong device I can use the OS Bluetooth menus to manually connect them to a given device -- rather than opening the app in my phone.

Interesting, I’ve had the opposite experience. Bose worked pretty seamlessly for me between 3 devices. The Sony headphones constantly get confused on which device I’m trying to use and I have to manually fidget with my devices to get the correct one to play.

I had the 1000XM4 until recently and it was fantastic, too. My SO would often get mad at me for not paying attention when I was in the computer.

To be fair, they can't really expect you to be able to hear them with your tiny ears when you're encased like that..
- You'd think so....

I have Bose and like them a lot. They’ll probably do exactly what you want, however, noise cancelling is not all noise cancelling. Mostly lower frequencies. It makes things quiet but if you’re in a loud environment with lots of mid to high frequency like talking, they’re not gonna help much. Haven’t used the Sony’s for a long time but I think the noice cancelling is the same.

I know you want to use them for sleep, but since these are big headphones already, I’d recommend a pair of noise protection earmuffs and use earbuds or shove some speakers from another set of headphones in there. This will be the best noise cancelling but least comfortable.

But the XM5 Im talking about are earphones not headphones
- Unfortunately, I have both the headphones and the ear buds and I think the cans isolate noise better than the buds. It could be a problem due to a bad fit though. With the buds I could not get a decent fit with the foam tips so ended up getting some tips on Amazon so I lose a little noise isolation there. The size of the buds for the xm5 isn't the greatest for me either so THAT doesn't help - I get a little bit of slipping while eating for example. All said, I still think the xm5 does OKAY, but my link buds surpass it due to a better fit.
  
  The bose might have an overall edge imo going by their reputation of having a good and comfortable fit. My brother has a pair and says they fit real well. I just can't do the bose because the case is too large for me to carry in my pockets (even the newest model is rather large. The last generation was ridiculous - Bose is kind of crazy with their cases).
  
  I would make sure you buy a pair from a store with a good return policy so if the fit does not work well for you you can exchange for something else. Everyone's ears are different so there is no way to say how it will fit for you till you try them on.
- My bad. Try the earbuds then. Gonna be the most comfortable with decent noise cancelling.

If you might also care about the socioeconomic manufacturing process and fair payment for these necessary resources, I can recommend the Fairbuds in-ears or Fairbuds XL for over ear.

https://shop.fairphone.com/fairbuds

Both have noise cancelling as an option and an equalizer via app.

That'd be great but can you comment on the comfort and sound/ANC quality?
- They're underwhelming especially for the price. You trade performance for sustainability and repairability... But they do work.
- Better than individual experiences I like to present some reviews, but there doesn't seem to be that many technical reviews in english, at least I did not find them. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/apr/11/fairphone-fairbuds-review-ethically-made-earbuds-with-replaceable-batteries
  
  However, for in-ears, I find them comfortable, but I am more an over ears person. ANC is alright, I'd say. A bit annoying if I am using it on the train and keep hitting the wall or head rest. But either I adapt to these sounds or the hardware takes a bit more time to filter these vibrations out.
  
  For the tradeoff of better sustainability and exchangability if something breaks or the batteries need replacing, I find the price fair.
Tbh fair phone really turned me off when they removed the headphone jack on their phones. All for sustainability but they force you to use wireless earbuds that never seem to last more than a few years, or buy their sustainable, overpriced mediocre headphones.
- That's fair to be annoyed about. I can understand their approach and their tradeoff for a bit of better water-/rain protection and having less components inside. With an USB-C adapter I am using my analog ear buds, even though I switch more and more to bluetooth as I find them more comfortable.
  
  Mediocre headphones, I would not say. They are definitely not top of the line technology wise, but I find them sufficient and sometimes even more than I expected fairly produced hardware to be.

I had QC 2s and liked them a lot. I tried out the Sony ones as well which are very good.

However these days I have Air Pod Pros which are easier lay down on a pillow with and also have excellent noise cancelling.

Full headphones can get hot and uncomfortable in warm weather, so I prefer earbuds these days.

What?? I can’t hear you sorry

I sleep with my AirPods Pro in every night. I can’t live without them.

Both the Bose and Sony are considered top but Sony is more expensive.I have the Bose and like them but a known defect is the earpad that will break very quickly (buy Chinese replacement for those)

Sony has best in the world noise cancelling and better audio quality than Bose pretty much any day of the week. In fact, I wouldn't recommend Bose almost ever, for anything. Not for the price. They're like Monster cables (maybe not quite as evil though).

Really wanted to love the WF-1000XM5, but I had issues with the left earbud constantly hissing and worse still, they have a habit of turning themselves on while in the case (cutting off any media playback and draining the battery if I didn't notice)

Clean the contacts inside the case or maybe adjust them with a pin. Make sure the buds fit snugly in the case. Had a pair of bluetooth buds that had a similar problem, and it was because one contact was barely touching when the buds were in the case. Any jiggling of the case would make the bud think it was being removed.

I have the QC 2 and they’re fantastic. I can’t imagine them being better.

Can you sleep with them active?
- I’ve been using AirPods Pro for sleeping and, aside from the low battery tone, they’re amazing for this.
  
  Earbuds don’t cancel noise as well as the over-ear models, but you can keep them in your pocket and use them wherever you are.
- I can’t imagine why not. Though, you probably shouldn’t in order to protect your hearing.

I'm using Jabras at the minute they have much worse NC than the Sonys they replaced. Their one plus point is range and waterproofness but yeah for NC avoid Jabra.

Also have a look at Anker earphones. I had a pair of its headphones and it was awesome.

I'm on Sony WH-1000XM3 and recently also bought WF-1000XM5 that are always with me whenever I go outside. Very satisfied with both.

Since you mentioned WF specifically:

Very portable
Great battery life
Seamless switching between different devices
Flush with (my) ears, you could easily lie down on your side with them in
Fine noise cancelling. Not as powerful as in the over-ears, but good enough when you've got some sound going. I use them to prevent sensory overload by playing rain and thunder sounds with noise cancelling while I'm commuting with a full metro.
Great sound quality. I find them to be very neutral, albeit a bit light on the bass when compared side-by-side to my over-ears. On their own (not side-by-side) there's nothing I can complain about and my music is very enjoyable.
Wish the controls were more customizable or just better in general. You quickly end up tapping a LOT.
I've seen another comment mention comfort. My ears get fatigued if I wear them for 3 or 4 hours straight, e.g. when I'm working from a library. For long periods of time I prefer to tag my over-ears along, which I'd normally leave at home due to bulky size. I understand buying two kinds of expensive headphones is not an option, but just be wary of prolonged usage on the WFs. You can definitely get more used to them though over time, so you can wear the for longer before discomfort/pain starts creeping in.

For what it’s worth, I’ve had both. When my Bose were stolen last year, I switched to Sony. The Sony sound great, but don’t work nearly as well. Between multiple devices I fairly constantly need to disable Bluetooth on my iPad so they work on my phone. Or vice versa. The Bose just always worked how I wanted them to.

I’d go Bose again all day.

I fairly constantly need to disable Bluetooth on my iPad so they work on my phone.

If you put the headphones in pairing mode, you can just re-pair with the phone without having to touch the iPad.

Use earmuffs and in ear monitors. And, to mess with your noisy environment, play drums as well. And I mean genuine, acoustic drums. The earmuffs will certainly help.

Otherwise blast some loud sleeping music with some loudspeakers to potentially put you to sleep when you need it.

If you can get your doctor to prescribe noise cancelling earphones to help you sleep, they can be bought using money from an FSA or HSA.

At first seemed like an interesting and useful comment but how very specific and bold to assume OP is from the US
- Yeah I'm in Vietnam which is why the environment is noisy almost everywhere 😄

I've been using bose 700s for a long time. They do occasionally have goofy bluetooth behavior and the earcups have to be replaced if you use them heavily, but the bose sound profile I like a lot more than the sony.

I've tried XM5's recently for more codecs, and I love them except for one thing, which was that the band over the top had hard plastic parts and not enough soft padding, so the headphones with my head shape had a tendency to painfully squeeze. Wearing a hat or putting something on the band helped though. Headphones were light and breathed a bit better than the 700s anyway (haven't tried the QC 2).

I'm using Jabra Elite 7 Active for almost everything, and I love them.

Air travel: They have decent active noise canceling
Listening to music: Good sound quality
Showering: They're waterproof (I've even worn them while in the pool, swimming. Still works great, but bluetooth signal doesn't work very well under water.
Sleeping: If I leave one in the charging case, the other one automatically switches to mono.
Working: Works great as a handsfree headset for phone, teams, or any of the other VoIP methods in use
Driving: Simple controls to allow for volume, call control, next track, previous track.

I've had them for a little over a year, and despite using them in several ways not covered by warranty, they're still working great. Good battery life, and no issues. I take care to clean them (and the case) regularly, making sure that there's no gunk to block the charging contacts or the microphone.

Sennheiser, jabber. You’ll need to buy into their up-market products though.

Sennheiser always make good quality cans.

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tools/table/137391