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

Yeh I think so but you might want to double check before you open. I might be wrong and Amazon’s return policy may apply to all.

I'm picking up some Sony xm3s tomorrow to use in the office. Does anyone know if I can connect to two devices at the same time? Ideally I'd like listen to music on my phone and answer calls but also answer calls from my workphone. I've searched the Internet but the Sony support forums are full people answering questions that have never been asked.

Yeah I'll double check. Seems pretty crazy if you can't test something like sound quality on something that's primary function is sound!

Sorry, yes, fulfilled by Amazon is fine. It just has to come from an Amazon warehouse, basically.

50% off some Master & Dynamic models here for Cyber Monday:

https://www.masterdynamic.co.uk/collections/cyber-monday

Thanks, I think I will skip them though. Damn Amazon... Down here in aus I'm getting $37 plus $59 shipping hahaha, no thanks. Will have to go for trusty sennheiser again.

Pretty sure the Sony's only allow one connection

That's disappointing.

Seems pretty crazy if you can't test something like sound quality on something that's primary function is sound!

I don't agree with 'pretty crazy'.
In ears are intimate items, personally I would refuse to purchase an item with someone else's ear gunk on it. Once tried and returned, the earphones would have to go in the bin. Not great for the environment.

As for getting an idea of sound quality.... there is a reason why a thread about ear phones on a cycling forum has 80+ pages.

If one is so poor that it's not worth the money then sure. But buying 5 and returning all but your favourite isn't the same as buying something and returning it if it's shit.
If four were 8/10 and the one you chose was 9/10 then I expect the retailer would feel fairly hard done by to get 4 pretty great pairs back that could only be sold as used (or written off if cheap)

@bobble which did you go for in the end?

@starfish&coffee @duncs Both of you made very valid points that I hadn't considered.
Went with the best rated ones from the Amazon reviews and so far so good. No one shall be experiencing my ear gunk...

New ‘budget’ recommendation is the Etymotic E2RXR. Mine were $125, have a single dynamic driver and sound absolutely fantastic. So fantastic that I sold my FiiO FH7s and ordered a pair of Sennheiser x Massdrop HD58X’s. The FH7s by comparison were $450 and have 4 balanced armature and 1 dynamic driver. Just shows how good a real audio brand that has decades of experience can be. Less is definitely more in this case.

I have the Seenheiser x Massdrop HD6xx and very very happy with them. Paired with a Topping D10 and JDS Atom amp.

Do have to use gain a bit but I can't hear any degradation of audio

Yeah, happy with the 58X’s. Chose them over the 6XX’s as I wanted something more neutral and less dark. Only amp I have at the moment is more Radsone ES100 Bluetooth dongle but tbh, the amp isn’t really doing much with either the Senn’s or Etymotic’s. The DAC however, is.

@Fyoosh went for the QC 35 II and I am reallu enjoying them. Yet to wear for like 2+ hours outside of the office to properly try out.
I went to try on the sony ones and the noise cancellation was unreal (in PC world on black friday and couldn't hear a thing). However, the sound didn't seem that special to me even compared to the £30 ebay shitters I had been using, so I decided against them. Couldn't justify the money for just noise cancellation, not like I'm flying every week. I then went back to the office and found out one of my colleague's mate works for mercedes f1 who get discount on bose beating even black friday stuff. Was £170 for the QC 35 II so went for them

Yeh that’s exactly how I felt about the Sony’s, was very underwhelmed with the sound. Glad to hear you found a pair you liked though, that’s a great price on the Bose.

Got the AirPod pros today - xmas present. I’ve resisted up to this point for fear of looking like a total tech bro/midtowner but they’re smaller and have the tips so I succumbed 🙈

They do look dece. What’s the noise cancelling like loins?

I was totally on the fence between the two but then there was a special extra off on the 6xx's so was like sure. I like the open back for gaming as gives me slightly better awareness of where people are.

The funny thing, this all started as I broke the headphone jack on my PC and couldn't face taking it all apart to solder the jack!

I have the QC 35 (not II) and cannot fly without them. Even without any music playing the noise cancelling is amazing. Just wore them 10 hours on a flight US->EU... the only bit is they aren't easy to sleep in

I did have to dial the noise cancelling back a little (via the app) as I found it a bit much for my ears at the start

@Kirth I've set the left cup button to adjust the noise cancelling high/low/off via the app! Battery life hasn't been 10 hours but I haven't properly ran them flat yet so will do that and give them a full charge.

@Fyoosh yeah exactly! Also a button person, all works perfectly and they take calls great

First day of wearing.
General commuting and walking round London
Gym

Noise cancelling is good - the features for pausing and changing sound mode automatically are really nice too. I’m happy with them, just need my Garmin 945 to arrive and ITBS to fix itself and I can test them on a nice long run!

If anyone is looking to get Bluetooth headphones, avoid Bose QC35ii like the plague.

Fucking shit.... They constantly drop. Every time I unlock my phone. ...As if they're prioritising connecting to their overlords. And im talking an easy 5 seconds of pause.
They also drop connection when in my pocket and I turn my head. (basically my body is getting in the way of the signal.)

In other news, totally unrelated...I'm selling a set of Bose QC35ii - amazing headphones... Must buy! (Joke btw for those that get confused easily.... like my bose headphones.)