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BT Headphones. What would you do?
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OAW
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Sep 24, 2016, 12:40 PM
 
I'm a Bluetooth headphone user. I have been for at least the last two years. Hence why my attitude towards the absence of a headphone jack on my iPhone 7 is ... whatever. In any event, I currently use these ...


Beats Studio Wireless Headphones (Matte Black) | Beats by Dre

- "Over the ear" design
- 12 hours of battery life
- Noise cancelling
- Standard 30 ft range

But I'm torn about whether I should ditch them and go with these ...


Beats Solo3 Wireless Headphones (Matte Black) | Beats by Dre

- "On the ear" design
- 40 hours of battery life
- No noise cancelling
- Extended 400 ft range

Please spare me with all the "Bluetooth sucks!", "Beats sucsk!", and/or "Dr. Dre sucks!" commentary. I like the way the headphones sound especially since I primarily listen to R&B, Hip Hop, Downtempo, Deep House, and Reggae. The reason I'm torn is because my previous BT headphones were an "on the ear" design ... and I upgraded to the Studio Wireless primarily because of its "over the ear" design. It was a comfort thing since I often wear headphones several hours a day at work. I'm not really sure how I feel about noise cancelling. I suppose I'm sort of ambivalent about it. I didn't have it before and I do now. But it's been so long I don't really recall what it was like without it. I tend to notice it more on planes than in the office. But I fly several times a year ... whereas I'm in the office every week day. What I do know is that the noise cancelling feature is preventing Apple from bringing the W1 chip to the Studio Wireless. And that 40 hours of battery life on the Solo 3 is really tempting!

So what would you guys do? Sacrifice the comfort of the "over the ear" design and noise cancelling of the Studio Wireless for the vastly superior battery life and range of the Solo 3? Stick with the Studio Wireless and hope for a W1 upgrade in 2017? Or split the baby and consider the "over the ear" design, superior noise cancelling, and 20 hour battery life of the Bose QC35 ... even if I have to sacrifice the "boom bap"?

OAW
( Last edited by OAW; Sep 24, 2016 at 09:17 PM. )
     
P
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Sep 24, 2016, 01:19 PM
 
Personally I would never go back to on-the-ear, and active NC is a godsend when you need it (although, as you say, it doesn't do much in an office). Since the model you are considering isn't really a great fit for what you need, just wait. Beats isn't going to stop making new headphones.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
Paco500
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Sep 24, 2016, 07:39 PM
 
Originally Posted by OAW View Post
So what would you guys do? Sacrifice the comfort of the "over the ear" design and noise cancelling of the Studio Wireless for the vastly superior battery life and range of the Solo 3? Stick with the Studio Wireless and hope for a W1 upgrade in 2017? Or split the baby and consider the "over the ear" design, superior noise cancelling, and 20 hour battery life of the Bose QC35 ... even if I have to sacrifice the "boom bap"?
OAW
My $.02. I have the QC35s and they are (mostly) fantastic for why I bought them. I travel a shit-ton, many long haul flights. I can wear them for 10 hours and they don't get uncomfortable and the noise cancellation is really, really good.

But they really don't sound that fab for music. My son has some wired on-ear V-Moda's and some BT Beats Solo 2's, and I tend to swipe either of those if I'm listening to music.

The Bose are great for what they are, but unless you really want the noise cancellation and/or hours and hours of comfort, there are better sounding headphones out there for the money.

Have you considered the V-Moda Crossfade Wireless? They get awfully good reviews.
     
OAW  (op)
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Sep 24, 2016, 09:27 PM
 
Hmmm ....

You guys are giving some great input. I really appreciate it.

P has reminded me that comfort was why I went with the Studio Wireless in the first place. And Paco500 had confirmed what I have been reading which is that the Bose QC35 are a lot better at noise cancellation than music. Just checked out the specs of the V-Moda. But with just 12 hours of battery life I might as well sit tight with the Studio Wireless.

Does anyone have any insight on the comfort factor with respect to the Beats Solo Line? Previously I had a pair of Beats Studio Wireless. "On the ear" design. And they would just get uncomfortable after a few hours of wear. Which is why I upgraded to the Beats Studio Wireless "over the ear" design. Just wondering if the Beats Solo line are more comfortable than that now defunct model that I used to have.

OAW
     
Paco500
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Sep 25, 2016, 11:08 AM
 
Originally Posted by OAW View Post
Does anyone have any insight on the comfort factor with respect to the Beats Solo Line? Previously I had a pair of Beats Studio Wireless. "On the ear" design. And they would just get uncomfortable after a few hours of wear. Which is why I upgraded to the Beats Studio Wireless "over the ear" design. Just wondering if the Beats Solo line are more comfortable than that now defunct model that I used to have.

OAW
Assuming they are roughly the same physical design of the Solo 2's which I wear semi regularly, they seem perfectly comfortable for casual listening- an hour here or there. Never worn them beyond that.

My son's V-Moda on-ear, on the other hand, start to hurt after 30-45 min.

Frankly, unless you have a burning need to switch right away, I would wait. I imagine the BT headphone market is about to explode.
     
Thorzdad
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Sep 27, 2016, 12:00 PM
 
Honestly, when I'm in a situation where I need to keep my music personal, I prefer my non-Apple in-ear buds. So, BT is a non-starter for me. And BT drains the iPad's battery something terrible. When I want good fidelity, I opt for either the Polks in my studio, or the JBLs in the living room.

I do miss my ancient, long-destroyed Sony MDR-V1s, though. Nice, *very* comfortable on-ear cans. Took a hell of an acoustic pounding and never complained or distorted. The surround pads finally turned to dust.
     
Jawbone54
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Sep 27, 2016, 12:59 PM
 
On-ear sucks, and I think it'd be hard to give up noise-cancellation, even with the added battery life.

Stick with what you've got.
     
OAW  (op)
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Sep 27, 2016, 01:16 PM
 
Originally Posted by Thorzdad View Post
Honestly, when I'm in a situation where I need to keep my music personal, I prefer my non-Apple in-ear buds. So, BT is a non-starter for me. And BT drains the iPad's battery something terrible. When I want good fidelity, I opt for either the Polks in my studio, or the JBLs in the living room.

I do miss my ancient, long-destroyed Sony MDR-V1s, though. Nice, *very* comfortable on-ear cans. Took a hell of an acoustic pounding and never complained or distorted. The surround pads finally turned to dust.
See that's the thing. I mainly use my BT headphones at work connected to my MacBook. So I don't have that issue of it draining my iPhone battery. The only time I use the headphones to my iPhone is at the gym or some other sort of workout. But that's the kicker. The W1 chip is supposed to resolve the battery draining issues. Hence why I'm sort torn about it. Right now I have to recharge my headphones every other day. Which is a PITA. But I'm just not sure if the once a week recharging that the Beats Solo 3 give me is worth the discomfort of "on the ear" headphones.

OAW
     
OAW  (op)
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Sep 27, 2016, 01:17 PM
 
Originally Posted by Jawbone54 View Post
On-ear sucks, and I think it'd be hard to give up noise-cancellation, even with the added battery life.

Stick with what you've got.
That's definitely how I'm leaning.

OAW
     
Dex13
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Oct 5, 2016, 03:12 AM
 
I'm a huge fan of the MDR series from Sony, I'm planning on grabbing a pair of these as soon as they become available.

It's nice to see the new rollout of bluetooth headphones, forcing sony to create an MDR w/ bluetooth.

Hopefully we can get some solid bt headphones at the $150 to $200 range in the next couple of years.
     
   
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