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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Headphone Thread 5: Beats are good now?
 
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Setec_Astronomy
Mar 10, 2003

there's nothing wrong with you that an expensive operation can't prolong

 I have a pair of Sony WH-1000XM3's that have seen near-constant use for about 4 years. They're perfect but they're dying (I've replaced ear pads and battery at this point, but now the ANC is failing and causing loud random crackling).

I'm looking to replace them and I assume that the answer is WH-1000XM5's, but I wanted to check whether there is anything else out there that fits the bill now in a similar price range. What I care about:

- Wireless
- Over-the-ear
- Fast charging
- Microphone sound quality (XM3's are awful for this)
- Audio pass-through

To clarify the last point: I want to be able to chat with my wife and hear what's going on around me while wearing these. The XM3's have an "ambient sound" mode that works quite well for this. If there are open-back headphones that do this better I would be interested.

* # ¿ Apr 17, 2024 17:50
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# ¿ May 16, 2024 08:16
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Setec_Astronomy
Mar 10, 2003

there's nothing wrong with you that an expensive operation can't prolong

Zorilla posted:

The Bose QC 45 are a bit more barebones feature wise, but they are way more comfortable and more portable due to their slim profile and foldability. They have an "Aware" mode that the previous generation (QC 35 II) didn't have, but they took away the ability to disable ANC (why???). The sound quality is also a bit worse than the QC 35, putting it back down into the same territory as the Sony WH-1000X series.

How are they for audio pass-through? I don't actually care about noise cancelling except when flying, which I do like 2x annually.

Any open-back wireless headphones I should be considering that would be better for this?

* # ¿ Apr 17, 2024 20:47
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Setec_Astronomy
Mar 10, 2003

there's nothing wrong with you that an expensive operation can't prolong

Zorilla posted:

I've honestly been disappointed by the passthrough mode of just about everything except the demo unit AirPods Max I tried out at Best Buy briefly. Apple seems to be the only ones who can do this convincingly for the time being.

Hmm, maybe I should consider a set of AirPods Max then. If the passthrough is noticeably better it's probably worth the extra price to me.

Thanks for all the info; I'll do a bit more research and see if I can find some direct comparisons.

* # ¿ Apr 18, 2024 00:21
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Setec_Astronomy
Mar 10, 2003

there's nothing wrong with you that an expensive operation can't prolong

 Tried out the AirPods Max today. The passthrough is incredible; SO much better than the XM3's. Ordered a set when I got home.

* # ¿ Apr 19, 2024 08:23
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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Headphone Thread 5: Beats are good now?