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

I would say they're the best headphones sub £100.

Not a bad shout - a shame as they're pretty but better in use than not. I am forever guilty of having one ear on/one off and it was the months of twisting that did for them. Another reason why the A50X are looking good seeing as how flexible they are.

Can anyone recommend some wireless, can be run wired, over ear noise cancelling headphones?

My Lindy BNX 60s came to an undignified end recently. I've had them for years and they were...ok but I'd like to upgrade but not 3 x the price upgrade.

My Soundcore (Anker) Q30 headphones are still holding up.
Pretty good sound for the money, apparently still the best in their current range. NC is not great.

If anyone is interested in the extreme budget end of the wired headphone market (for my sins they have to be treated as disposable because I can't stop losing them, whether running after the dog/constantly bending down to pick up shit/general forgetfulness etc) so my price point had to come right down. these Lenovo on AliX are (as far as I can tell) genuine branded product and as good as anything I've been spending £20+ on recently via Amazon. For less than £4 its a no-brainer and I've bought 4 pairs for stocks. Do recommend: https://vi.aliexpress.com/item/1005005066882969.html

I'm after some bluetooth earbuds(?) for general use and occasionally when on the bike.

Don't need to be audiophile quality and I'd actually like some noise leakage so I can keep an ear on the world around me. I have found that in the past, my (not expensive, wired) earphones would get drowned out by the wind whooshing past them on the bike. Maybe my expectations of some noise leakage but no whooshing are mutually exclusive, dunno.

I'd mainly be listening to music and podcasts/talk stuff.

Any recommendations?

I found for awareness that the best compromise was good isolation and only using the left bud. Gives reasonably good audio quality, and most of the noise you need to be aware of should come from your right shoulder anyway.

That said I rarely listen to music whilst riding these days

I have some amazon, wirelessly earbuds 5.3 tc, etc. They are £19.99. I use them more than my soundcore p21 ones or philips headphones. For podcasts etc they’re great

Earfun are good at the inexpensive end of the market.

Never tried them, but what about bone conduction earphones?
Would definitely still allow for awareness of your surroundings.

JLab buds are surprisingly good. To the extent I'm a convert, for workshop use. They also have a "be aware" setting which eliminates the noise cancelling. Can't vouch for bike use.

Thank you earphone users of LFGSS. I borrowed my wifes JLab ones a few weeks ago and they were OK but one did fall out, actually.

I might be tempted to go with the high-quality-but-only-in-one-ear option. I believe these devices recognise if just one is being used and switch sound to mono, right?

if you want to try this, I have a single Anker earbud in its charging case. you would need to source a new tip, or i might have some unused rubber ones i could chuck in.

the other earbud fell out of the case whilst I was on a train, and i didn't realise until I was on another train.

let me know if interested - happy to pop them (it) in the post.

Sony linkbuds, finicky to get a fit but have donut shaped driver so you can hear everything around you.
Very light as well.
Battery life is about 4 hrs per charge

my aging Sony (mdr-1000x) are on the way out, so am thinking it is sale season and might be the right time to replace. Any recommendations for over ear, active noise cancelling headphones?
I would very like a headphone cable option, as I use them with non-Bluetooth hardware on occasion.

Based on good experience with the 1000x, I am leaning towards whatever the current gen is (5x?) from Sony, unless there are some noticeably better ones for similar money

@DethBeard If you're an EE customer you can get WH XM4's for £148 paid over 11 months as a Black Friday deal until 6th Dec.

The XM5's get better reviews and also have a deal but the XM4's pack smaller.

I have B&W P7S2 which also include headphone option and sound ace, the ANC isn't as good as the XM4 (or 5).