- David and David here.
Let's talk about the best over-ear headphones of 2021.
This is a six-month followup video
to one we made earlier this year.
- Right, and this is probably the number one example of us
listening to you and reading your comments
because we've included so many headphones
that you have requested.
The JBLs, the Koss, the Sennheisers,
Weiss, House of Marley even.
And we spent over $8,000 of our own money
on headphones at this point.
So we think that you could trust our reviews.
We hope you enjoy them.
- We listened to eight tracks also tested
for portability, durability, comfort.
If you wanna- - Stability.
- Could be systematic, (upbeat tune)
hydromatic. (upbeat tune)
- If you wanna skip right to our top and bottom three,
timestamps are in the description.
- Yep, and if you enjoy,
please consider joining our channel
and please subscribe to our channel.
We really appreciate it. Thank you.
- Apple AirPods Max.
- Why is the case so big?
Because the headphones are so fragile.
- Look how flimsy this case is.
How flimsy this case is.
And we've talked about this before,
but if like it got exposed to water,
I mean, your ports exposed right there.
And the mesh here probably the most fragile part.
Totally exposed.
- Real sturdy, feeling all metal. It's nice.
Good rubber at the top.
If we had square heads, they would fit perfectly.
- Headphones number 35 are great headphones.
- Yeah, they're excellent.
- I think it might've been the best Daft Punk
I've heard so far.
- Yeah, the "Billie Jean" and the Beck song
I felt could have used a little more bass.
- AKG K371. Do we have a case?
We do have a pouch.
They are headphones that can wear them in different angles.
These ones look sleek more than in all sorts of angles.
And I'm not really a big fan of the...
They got the AKG that looks like three hearts overlapping,
kind of like a...
- [David] Those are cardioid microphone patterns.
- Okay. - David.
- What if I bent up too bad?
That might break pretty easily.
- Yeah. - They're light.
- I thought they're very comfortable.
- Pretty comfortable.
I'm not a big fan of these.
- Colin, you failed us.
There's really no high end of these.
No high end.
There's no high end.
Very mid-range focused.
I thought the guitar sounded good
because that's where these headphones
are optimized to shine.
- Anker Soundcore Life Q30.
We did the Q20s in our last round of videos.
Good case. - Nice case.
- [David] Everybody's doing that design now,
copying the Sony's. - Yup.
- And I actually really liking how these adjust.
Ooh, they're snug. Very comfy.
- Yeah. I think I can just break these.
Not convinced the durability piece of this.
Ooh, nice and light.
Like they're good set.
- You're getting that depth,
but it doesn't necessarily sound super great.
- Yeah, I just thought it sounded kind of thin.
I didn't think there was a lot of depth actually.
I wanted more bass. I wanted more oomph.
- [David] Interesting.
I have the bass but it's slightly overpowering.
Beyerdynamic Lagoon ANC.
Not sure you toss this into the lagoon, if they'd hold up.
Interesting case design their.
Looks like pear.
- [David] It's also a bicycle seat.
- Yep. Sturdy though. Very sturdy.
I'm kind of concerned about the padding in the ear cups.
It's thin, and firm, and I'm not sold on it.
I'm not a fan of how these feel.
- Yeah. I'm not a huge fan of the style right off the bat.
There is a tone when you go like that.
- Oh yeah, this was my least favorite Beastie boys.
I mean the 3D space and the songs we're listening for it,
I just didn't really get it.
They just didn't really do anything well.
- [David] Just sounds flat. Kept having to turn them up.
It wasn't very inspiring.
- [David] Swing and a miss on these ones.
- [David] Yeah.
- Bose Noise Canceling Headphones 700.
When we did our first round of videos,
these are one of our favorites.
Here's the box. Take that right out.
- Great case. - Really good case.
- Yeah. - I'm still not sold
on the little antenna design for the sliders.
Nice soft padding. They're soft ear muffs
Fit well on your head. They're not loose.
They don't move around. They've held up extremely well.
- Slight treble boost,
maybe a little bit more bass on the Beck.
- Excellent noise cancellation. Excellent sound.
- Yeah, you won't be disappointed. Very comfortable.
This was the first one that I listened to today
that really captured the tone of the cello.
Like it sounded like a really nice instrument.
- House of Marley Exodus.
So we've got a pouch.
we got a little - Yep.
- roster going on there.
This is very firm, the headband here.
Very light. - They look very stupid.
Due to this beautiful sound, (headphone squeaking)
I don't think that this is gonna hold up in time.
- It's very square.
Oh God.
(David laughing)
That sounds like ice cream truck version.
- I mean the bass sounds bad, clarity's bad.
- Well, yeah, there's a difference between
like too much bass.
Whereas, this is like an absence of everything else.
I think it's a good thing
that they're made of recyclable materials
because that's exactly where they belong.
- JBL Tour One headphones.
I mean, it's a sturdy case too. It's a good case.
I'm kind of worried about the padding on the top.
It looks like it's kind of narrow up there.
It doesn't feel very padded.
Light, comfy, turn my head.
- Tawn, do we have the Sony case over there?
Sony case.
- [Both] JBL case.
- It's identical.
A little uncomfortably squishy for me.
- Going out with a whimper, these were not great.
Just awful.
Not nearly enough bass.
This Kronos Quartet is narrow and flat.
- [David] Lack of bass all the way across the board.
- Yep. - Lack of definition.
- Koss BT540i.
Gigantic case. Holy cow.
Look hos big that is.
These are made the audio technicals quite a bit.
- They're kind of stylish. I think they look good.
- Not terribly comfortable though.
- Ugh! Touches your ear.
Kind of a strange design here.
It's like the soft side of Velcro.
- Tiny buttons, gigantic ear cups
that somehow don't have enough padding.
Oh geez, flimsy.
It felt like these are gonna get really hot
in your head after a while.
I thought these were pretty good.
- I thought these were a solid three.
- I hope 3D space is pretty good.
- [David] I felt like it had that extra treble boosty thing
that I'm not a big fan of.
- Microsoft Surface Headphones 2.
- Very Windowsy case there.
- It's nice case. Sturdy.
Kind of looks like the the angle of the cups there,
looks like they're kind of diagonal.
I feel like my ears almost touching the mesh
inside the ear cup.
I think the top headband needs more patting.
Daft Punk, I felt the bass is a little aggressive there.
Beck and Beastie boys,
it felt like the bass wasn't strong enough.
- The low end always sounded very centered
and then the higher end stuff started to be more stereo.
I'm not very impressed by these.
I think that they sounded pretty good.
The quality of the sound
matches that the color of the headphones.
- Sennheiser HD 450BT Wireless Over-the-Ear Headphones.
Not thrilled about this case.
- Ugh!
- Yeah, I mean these are definitely pinching more
at the bottom.
- I hate these.
- It's like it's all plastic.
- I think they're probably pretty solid.
Where's my treble?
Good headphones for people who have lost their hearing
over a certain range.
- These just totally missed the mark.
- These are terrible.
- [David] I thought the 3D space
on the Steely Dan song was good.
That's the best I can say about them.
While those two at funeral or something
- Yeah. - to be in the mood.
- Sennheiser Momentum Wireless.
The padding isn't here on the side
and it just is here and it's here,
kind of, it's like an accordion.
It's like they've got two like thin pads
and then right in the middle is like a wire.
So it feels like there's more pressure
coming from the bottom than on the top.
- I think they're very comfortable.
This, I think, is the only pair of headphones
that has come with a warning that you might injure yourself.
- I thought it was all right.
- All right, I thought they were pretty good.
- I felt myself wanting a little bit more bass
on Daft Punk, Billie Jean and "Brass Monkey".
- Good 3D spaces.
I was all fours and four and a half.
- [David] Noise cancellation was not good.
- Was not impressive. - Not good.
So you pick them up and you wear them
and you listen to them,
you're not gonna be disappointed.
Big wheel of cheese or the Shure Aonic 50s.
It seems relatively sturdy.
It's just gigantic, like if you're traveling.
- Collin and I were saying yesterday
that you could check this.
- I like that twist action here
and they're very snug.
- They look good. - They're comfy.
- It's like you got a leather couch in your head.
I think they're very comfortable.
- You look at the gigantic case, gigantic box,
the cups look relatively big, but they're not heavy.
- I thought that they were very clear,
a little treble heavy again.
- I didn't think it had pretty good 3D space
for a lot of the tracks.
It just wasn't very immersive for me.
- [David] At least you can hear the high end.
There's a clarity to it.
- [David] And also, we should say the noise canceling not...
- [David] Not good.
- Sony XM4.
Again... - Yup, great case.
- Really good case.
I like this little pocket
they add there too. - Me too.
- Super light. Super comfy.
- Nice and sturdy.
I don't think these are gonna break anytime soon.
These have a nice enough padding.
- My favorite Daft Punk for sure.
- Gave it a five on the Daft Punk.
Steely Dan, I gave it a five too.
- The Radiohead
spacing wasn't-
- That's what I said.
I said, "Leave something to be desired in 3D."
The Beck I was like,
"You know, maybe a little bit more bass,
but it was really nice."
The noise canceling on these. - Yeah.
- I still think, and people are gonna say I'm crazy,
that there's a little bit of a white noise.
Start listening to them and you're like,
"Wait a minute. These are premium headphones."
- Yeah.
Wyze Active Noise Cancelling Headphones.
So this little bag,
I mean, it gives you some protection but-
- For $69, it's pretty good.
This is sort of a weird looking pair of headphones.
They're like very wide.
It's kind of really thin sort of an ear hole on it.
- Yeah.
The ear cup padding is good.
Top padding, not so much.
- I don't like that the thin ear cup thing.
These are some barfy headphones.
- Yeah, these were bad. - Yeah, these were bad.
If the point is the bass, it missed it.
These headphones are losing me on the songs
that are really important for the bass
'cause it just sounds awful.
- [David] The high end sounds bad.
The mid range sounds bad.
The low end sounds bad.
- Genuinely, nothing redeemable about these headphones.
It's time for the results.
We share the same top three. - For once.
- This will be relatively painless.
Number three, Audio-Technica.
- Yeah, the Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBTs.
Great headphones for $199.
Why aren't they here?
Because we spent $8,000 on headphones and we can't afford
to just keep buying them over and over again.
But fabulous headphones.
We just tested them a few months ago.
We know. We have notes. We have thorough reviews.
- You can also go to scroll back and watch that first video
and see what we said about it.
- And I think we'll probably have put in
a couple of clips by now.
- These are the consumer line $200.
I would be very curious to hear
what the high end sounds like.
These sound pretty good.
- I was very impressed with these.
This was the first one I put on
and started listening to Daft Punk
and I was like, "Thank God. It's balanced."
- Yes. So number two, for both of us was the Sony XM4.
- Right, Sony people are now leaving comments
saying, "We hate you. We hate you."
Sony XM4's fabulous headphones
probably the most nerdy of the headphones with the app.
You could do tons of stuff.
They sound great.
- Yeah, I think the noise cancellation on these
isn't as good as the Bose. - I know. I know.
Sony people are now freaking out.
- I'm not sure they're as comfortable.
They're still really good.
I think I actually enjoyed the more this time
than I did six months ago
it comes to audio quality. - Me, too.
Right, and things like firmware can affect that,
firmware updates.
I still hear a touch of the white noise sound
with the noise canceling,
which Sony people claim is not there and are in my head.
(record scratching) There are voices in my head,
but this is not one of those voices.
- One thing I will say I like more about these
than our number one is that the adjusters are the clips.
- Yup. - Not these sliders
of the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700.
- I think far and away, the best sounding headphones.
I was having trouble finding something to complain about
with these headphones.
We finally good pair of headphones.
- Yeah, I think they're pretty good pair of headphones.
- I was saying maybe it was a bit light on the bass
sometimes maybe.
Highest rated over-ear headphones for me
of all the headphones we've tested,
which we're pushing 50 pairs now.
Second highest rating.
- Well, if you wanna complain about something,
they are $379.
- Right.
- They're expensive. - Complain about that.
But they sound fabulous and they feel great too.
These are my headphones.
After we did our last review, I was like,
"I'm keeping these headphones."
Because I prefer the over-ear to the earbud category.
But yeah.
- One pair of headphones that was in my top three last time
didn't make it this time, AirPods Max.
And I feel like they didn't sound quite as good
as they did six months ago.
- I don't think so either.
Again, firmware and also, you know, competition,
really good competition, I think the updates.
Here we go.
We're making it a little thing.
- Yeah.
The price you can go to Best Buy or Amazon,
you may able to get these for 489 now,
which is like $60 cheaper. - Couple of colors.
- And I think I said last time too,
"If price, wasn't a factor, I might pick the AirPods Max."
Not anymore. I take the Bose or the Sony.
- Yeah, I'm kind kinda over the AirPods Max
with the weight of them and the rectangular ear cups.
These got rectangular side of their heads.
I know that they're very comfortable,
but at the time I'm over it.
- Let's get to the drama.
We had different bottom three.
What was your number three worst?
- My number three worst was the Sennheiser HD BT.
- Sennheiser HD. - It's 450.
- There it is.
- Sennheiser HD 450BTs.
I thought that there was just no definition to these
missing the entire high end.
You're getting like half of the audible stuff.
If you like anything above 10 kilohertz,
forget it with these.
- Yeah, I didn't really enjoy these headphones either.
I just had a couple of pairs that were just worse,
like really, really bad worse. - What's your number three?
- My number three
was the WYZE Active Noise Cancelling Headphones.
- And this will be a good transition into my number two.
- These your number two? - Indeed.
- These are your number two.
Awful. - Yeah. Terrible headphones.
Boring, bland, no dynamics, no definition,
don't sound good, possible electronics issue
with occasional clicks.
We are not crazy. Occasional little tiny dropouts.
- Yeah, we both heard those.
- Yeah. - These are $69.
You're definitely getting what you pay for.
Not even really.
- I wouldn't buy them for 69.
$69 is a lot of money.
- Maybe a $29 might be
- Yeah. - More ballpark.
- Yeah, I think so.
- I wasn't a fan of these. - No, they're terrible.
- My number two was the House of Marley Exodus.
- Do you a choice?
This might be time for your Exodus
from the House of Marley Headphones because...
- Just not good.
- No, I thought that they were pretty terrible.
House of Marley puts a lot of emphasis
on having recyclable materials. Part of the boxes.
I said, "Thank God they're made of recycled materials,"
because these should be recycled as soon as possible.
- I mean, the best track for me got a three out of five
and a lot of twos, and a lot of ones.
- Right.
These were, for me, the number one worst headphones by far.
They're the only ones I rated below it, two overall.
There was not a lot of redeemable stuff.
Hopefully, the next generation,
which I'm sure they'll call Leviticus, sounds better.
- My number one worst
is actually one that we reviewed six months ago
and it was the Skullcandy Crusher Wireless and here's why.
The main draw of these headphones
is that the bass boosts slider on the side
and if you use it that you can't listen to the headphones
cause it's so awful.
And I just think if your headphones main draw,
you can't use 'cause it makes it sound terrible.
- Ridiculous.
- It's the number one worst for me.
- It's ridiculous.
I mean, you put these headphones on,
you tap the side of them and you hear (imitates bass).
(deep bass tone)
It's ridiculous.
It's like Fisher Price microphone version of headphones
except more expensive. Do not buy these.
- It's an interesting experience though,
if you get them and just slide it all the way up
for one song (David laughing)
in just...
- If you wanna torture your friends or something.
Oh, I had a couple of a dishonorable mentions really quick.
These dishonorable mentions are way overpriced headphones
that don't sound good.
And the number one terrible, we don't even have any more,
which is the Bowers and Wilkins PX7.
Stay away from everything Bowers and Wilkins.
Number two for being overpriced, the JBL Tour Ones.
The last ones to show up $300
for crappy sounding headphones.
- They were bad.
- And hilariously exactly the same design
as the Sony headphones.
- It's like a total rip-off.
- Total rip-off except for the sound quality.
- Maybe these are like a $49 pair of headphones.
In which case, you know, you could do worse.
- I think that these would be worth a hundred bucks.
- [Tawn Whispers] $300.
- No. No, they're not.
- And the other one I wanted to mention,
are the Bear Dynamic Lagoon ANCs.
Again over $200, crappy sounding pair of headphones.
(sad trumpet blaring) - Yeah.
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- Yeah, exactly.
Leave a comment and insult us. - Thanks for watching.