Earphones / Headphones: Where to try, what to buy?

I’m after a Bluetooth speaker for the garden and don’t want to spend a lot has anyone got any suggestions for a £50ish speaker?

Not fussed what it looks like but would like decent sound

Wonderboom.

Can be had cheaper on amazon. They're excellent.

https://www.johnlewis.com/ultimate-ears-wonderboom-bluetooth-waterproof-portable-speaker/subzero-blue/p5065443?sku=236844113&s_ppc=2dx92700055386104524&tmad=c&tmcampid=2&gclid=CjwKCAiA1eKBBhBZEiwAX3gql_Vbf8cMXu2io2JY9F8mGUQcOxfFEwCFrCo7i1aHvjGJsOtcXAGULhoC8-MQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I had some Jabra 65Ts for work calls that were great. Until they stopped properly charging in the case. I bought the below as a replacement as they were an extra fiver off. Sound quality for me was not as good, but the magnetic snap back into the charging case and the wireless charging of the case itself has been great. However, I think they may be causing some slight delay on my voice on work calls, as I'm now seemingly talking over or being interrupted by the customers I speak to.

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08HVQKLM3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I don't think it's a problem with my laptop, and both these and the Jabra's are BT5.0

Could it be something else or just cheap shit earbuds?

does anyone have a recommendation for replacement sure SE215 cable the ones at sure are £50. there must be decent ones out there the last one i got from ebay was terrible fell apart after a week

Is there a forum approved set of headphones that are comfy to wear for 8+ hours?

I’ve got some AirPods which fit the bill but run out of battery after 2 hours which is a huge pain.

Any other criteria?

If you want true wireless, might be easier to get a second pair of airpods.

So, any suggestions for over ear headphones bluetooth with mic for gaming/work ? and ideally ~100 quid ?

This is for my brother, and I know the UK has a different range than the US so I'm kinda lost. I do not use bluetooth for gaming at all (nor integrated mic!).

Been using the Steelseries Arctis 7 for the last year, like every day for many hours and they have been really good and comfortable for meetings, music and gaming. They are not bluetooth but use a 2.4 GHz wireless dongle - basically I don't think you could e.g. connect to your phone.

The issue now is finding them at a decent price. Paid about £110 at the start of the pandemic but they are much more now. There are also the 1/3/5 models.
https://steelseries.com/gaming-headsets/wireless

yeah I was looking at the 9's ($$$). I know BT has generally highish latency on cheap headphones so would cause gaming problems. He's pretty much a pure PC gamer so compat with PS/Xbox isn't a huge thing

I have the Steelseries Arctis 1. Got them from Amazon Warehouse for about £70 which was a bargain. There are some on there at the moment for £66 with cosmetic damage which is normally pretty minor.

I find the USB transmitter way better than bluetooth. No annoying bluetooth issues and if you wander out of range the USB receiver stays connected so you don't have any issues with having to repair or all the sound suddenly coming out of your speakers.

The transmitter is USB C so can plug direct into my Android phone for that as well. Not quite sure about console compatibility, I think think the Xbox may be a bit picky.

Actually, what would be a reasonable Bose QC35 alternative ? He really would settle for over/on ear (just not IEMs) that work good for meetings. Basically work gave him IEMs and he hates them, and his AKG N60's broke (and they won't repair them twice). It's really annoying as I have a pair of QC35's here I'm not using, but I'm in California and he's in Yorkshire!

Maybe the Soundcore 20 ? .... hmmm I realize I'm kinda talking to myself here but they (Q20)'s look like a good stop gap till i can give him my QC35's later this year (I don't want to post them)

In the end ordered the Anker Soundcore Life Q20's. Figure they will tide him over till I can give him the Bose QC35s

Any recommendations for lightweight, on ear, Bluetooth headphones? I have a small pea head and would therefore prefer something low profile, although I understand that the additional batteries give Bluetooth headphones greater bulk. I did buy some AKG Y50BTs, but they were too big for me - also sound quality wasn't great.

A few years ago I picked up some Grado SR80e's after hearing about them for years. They sounded great - especially for the rock bottom sale price I got them for in Chicago... But the cable sucked and they were uncomfortable. The new SR***x line seems to have maybe rectified that so I've ordered some SR80x's. I have high hopes for them, especially considering they're so cheap. Thoughts to follow!

Not sure if you’d consider just over 300gms light but the Momentum 3 is pretty well regarded, and you can shut off the noise cancellation which I regretfully cannot do on my M2 set.

Are there any opinions on here about 'true wireless' earbuds? I've moved and will now be travelling in by train+bike rather than just bike, so my bone conduction headphones aren't really the right tool any more, despite them being excellent (Trekz Aeropex - thoroughly recommend).

It's kind of hard to recommend a TWS bud because the fit is such an important aspect of them. It's also something that is improving all the time with new buds coming out every month. The Sony WF1000XM4 are there best tws money can buy, if your budget is lower i suggest reading the excellent reviews on http://www.scarbir.com.

Thanks - that's confirming what I've read elsewhere that it's best to order a few and try them. I've got some Jabra Elite 85T arriving and had spotted that the WF-1000MX4 have just launched but I can't seem anywhere to buy them though, so it may end up a moot point.
I hadn't come across scarbir - useful website.

I have some Sony WF1000XM3. They're good but they don't necessarily feel 100% solid in my ears. Swapping the tips has helped. Also have nice features in terms of letting background noise through or proper noise cancelling.

Decent NC is a must - the Jabra are well thought of for that and have similar pass-through features. I'll try to get hold of some WF-1000XM4 to see how they are.

If you have an iPhone, AirPods Pro are excellent.

I had a pair of WF1000XM3 and really didn't like the fit or the case. The mics were also complete trash which meant phone or conference calls were impossible. Especially when out and about as they didn't cancel even the slightest wind noise.

I've only used the mics indoors but they were fine, even in a reasonably busy office.

Maybe they've improved the firmware? I had mine for about 3 months when they first launched and they were unusable in all situations.

Could be, they've definitely had quite a few software updates.

WF1000XM3

They are consistently well reviewed - so was surprised to hear such a negative experience. I can certainly imagine some reviews being either paid for, or less than thorough, but it’s hardly an edge case!