The Shure Aonic 50 are Shure’s first pair of ANC over ear headphones. Now even though
these headphones have a solid foundation to them… like I said in their full review these
headphones are a hard pass for me cause performance wise these headphones have a lot of room for
improvement. And when you’re charging $400 for your headphones… you really gotta bring
your A game cause the premium ANC headphone market is very competitive. Especially when
you’ve got to compete with well established and very popular players like the Sony 1000XM3’s
and Bose NC 700’s.
Now first off there’s price. Since the Shure’s retail for $400 thats definitely going to
open them up to more scrutiny from me. Now the Bose NC 700’s also retail for $400 and
the Sony’s retail for $350. But since the Sony 1000XM4’s are right around the corner
the 1000XM3’s can routinely be found on sale for $278. Now if you want to pick either
of these headphones up they’ll be linked down below. And if you want to learn more
about any of these headphones please watch their full reviews cause we’re only going
over their main differences.
Now the next thing I want to quickly address about these headphones are their carrying
cases. If you’re someone thats planning on commuting with their headphones then personally
for me the Shure’s are automatically disqualified cause of their huge case that just dwarfs
the Sony 1000XM3’s case and the Bose NC 700’s case. Now don’t get me wrong, Shure’s
case feels premium and its going to keep your headphones cases… but this case is just
huge.
But when it comes to the headphones themselves… I don’t have any real problems with the
Aonic 50’s. They feel extremely sturdy in the hand and these are a pair of headphones
that I feel will stand the test of time. Where as with both the Sony’s and Bose… even
though they both have decent build quality something that I do want to point out about
these headphones is that you do notice a sense of wear and tear on them after a year and
a half of heavy usage. Namely when you extend the headband on the Sony’s they do feel
a little lose from when I first got them… and with the Bose these ear cups don’t glide
as smooth as they used to. Now don’t get me wrong, both the Bose and Sony’s have
good build quality… but the Shure’s just feel more durable. But something that I do
have to call out on the Shure’s is that I absolutely hate this switch that toggles
these headphones between Ambient Mode, ANC On, and everything off and the media controls
on these headphones do feel very cheap. And also the leatherette on these headphones does
feel very rubbery when compared when compared to the Bose which feel much softer, smoother
and there’s a slight grain to it… and personally I do prefer Sony’s leatherette
here as well cause even though this leatherette does feel very synthetic… it doesn’t feel
rubbery.
Now when it comes to actually wearing these headphones… the Shure’s are the least
comfortable headphones here for a few reasons. Now first off these headphones have the most
amount of clamping force here and for me I gotta say these headphones are not big head
approved. Where as both the Bose and Sony’s are. But also the Shure’s have a few other
things going against them as well. First off these headphones are the heaviest headphones
here weighing in at 334 grams which is above average for ANC Headphones. And you really
do notice these headphones when they’re on your head and especially when you’re
walking around with them on. Where as the Bose weigh in at 263 grams and the Sony’s
weigh in at 252 grams. So its much easier to forget that you have these headphones on.
But also the ear pads on the Shure’s do feel a little more cramped than the ear pads
found on the Sony’s… and if you’re someone that has larger ears or ears that stick out
a lot then you’ll definitely want to go with the Bose. But more importantly, since
the ear pads on the Shure’s have so much surface area coming in contact with your skin,
the Shure’s do like to heat up much faster than these other two headphones. And since
the bose have the least amount of surface area coming in contact with your skin… these
ear pads heat up the slowest. But over all personally for me I prefer to wear the Sony’s
here cause they have a little less clamping force than the Bose and for me their ear pads
fit me just fine. But if you have larger ears then you’ll definitely want to go with the
bose.
Now when it comes to tech specs… all three of these headphones charge via a USB C port.
But somethings the Shure’s have going for them here is that you can actually use their
USB C port as a wired connection. Where as the USB C ports on both the Sony and Bose
are strictly used for charging. But if you do need to use a wired connection all three
of these headphones still have an audio jack just in case.
Now when it comes to battery life… I feel that both the Shure and Bose could do better.
Now they both have an advertised battery life of 20 hours which should get the job done.
But we like to see more of a 25 hour battery life on ANC headphones in 2020. Where as with
the Sony’s their battery life is a little above average cause they’re good for 30
hours with their ANC turned on.
Now when it comes to their bluetooth connectivity, both the Bose and Shure can be connected to
two devices at the same time so you can easily hot swap from one device to another which
could be important for some power users out there. Where as with the Sony’s they can
only be connected to one device at a time. So you can’t hot swap as easily. Now ultimately
this isn’t a huge deal but it is nice to be able to… and hopefully
that will change with the Sony 1000XM4’s.
But when it comes to watching movies or videos on your phone, all three of these headphones
have zero latency across the board whether you're using an iPhone or an android device.
Which is always good. But something that I do want to point out here are the supported
audio codec on these headphones. Now the Bose only support SBC and AAC. And then the Sony’s
have support for SBC, AAC, APTX, APTX HD, and Sony’s own LDAC. But then there are
the Shure’s which have support for SBC, AAC, APTX, APTX HD, APTX Low Latency, and
they also have support for Sony’s LDAC.
But now lets talk about listening to much with these headphones. Now first off I gotta
point out that even though the Shure’s have a companion app where you can select from
a few Pre Made EQ settings or you can even make your own. These EQ settings are not loaded
directly on to the headphones like how if you select an EQ setting on the Sony’s then
they’re uploaded directly on to the headphones themselves. So your EQ setting is going to
follow you from app to app. Where as with the Shure’s if you want to change the EQ
on these headphones you gotta play your locally stored music through this app. And if you
were to stream music through some other app… then you’re stuck with the stock eq on the
Shure’s. Now performance wise, like I said in the full review the Shure’s get very
loud and I feel that anything past 90% volume is going to cause you hearing damage. And
when it comes to the instrument separation and sound stage on these headphones… I feel
that its very similar to the Sony 1000XM3’s. They get the job done but they can sound a
little narrow. Now with their stock EQ the vocals on the Shure’s are pronounced just
like the Sony’s but their highs are a little more turned up. But the biggest thing about
the Shure’s is that their bass has very little physicality to it. The bass on the
Shure doesn’t really rattle your head and their bass also doesn’t really resonate
all that much. And even though the bass on the Shure’s doesn’t have all that much
physicality to it… sometimes the bass on the these headphones does start to rattle
a little bit which I feel is unacceptable for a pair of $400 headphones. And if you
were to go into these headphones app and select the Low Boost EQ, then you’re going to hear
that rattling more often. And even while in their Low Boost EQ these headphones barely
have any physicality to them.
Now even though I just said that the Sony’s do sound a little narrow, I still maintain
that the Sony’s are the people pleasers here. Now first off these headphones have
fully customizable EQ so you can make them sound how ever you want. If you want a bright
EQ and focus on the vocals you can that or if you want a bass heavy EQ you can also do
that. But more importantly the bass on the Sony’s is very different than the bass that
you’ll find on both the Shure’s and Bose. The bass on the Sony’s resonates a good
amount and you can also make their bass rattle your head a decent amount as well by raising
the clear bass setting. And unlike the bass on the Shure’s… you don’t get any distortion
with the bass on the Sony’s. And also I feel that having all of this physical bass
at your disposal on the Sony’s is great cause if you use these headphones while watching
a movie with their bass turned up, you do get an extra level of emersivness. But also
if you’re just someone that really likes hip hop and R and B then all of the bass makes
listening to your music a lot more fun.
But then there are the Bose. Now the bose have the better instrument separation and
sound stage here but these are better for people how like a neutral or vocals focused
EQ. Now even though the bass on the Bose does resonate better and the Shure’s… the bass
on the Bose isn’t going to rattle your head like the Sony’s. Now even though the Bose
NC 700’s now have an adjustable EQ… even if you were to raise the bass on these headphones
all the way up, they’re still not going to physically rattle your head. And if anything,
if you raise the bass on these headphones too much then they start to get shallow. So
sound quality wise, I feel the Sony’s should please most people cause you can make them
sound how ever you want and they have a good amount of physical bass. But if you want that
better instrument separation and soundstage then you should go with the Bose.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancellation on these headphones. Now first off everything
that I said about the Shure’s concerning their sound quality was with their ANC turned
off. Cause if you use these headphones with their ANC turned on then they start to sound
a little shallow. Where as with these other two headphones their ANC doesn’t really
change how they sound. Which is good. But also performance wise plainly said the Shure’s
just can’t compete here. But so that you can see for yourself we’re going to jump
into an ANC test.
So like you may have just seen… its not even close. And like I said in the full review,
the ANC on the Shure Aonic 50’s struggles to keep up with $200 ANC headphones like the
Sony WH-CH710N and Sennheiser HD 450 BT’s. But also, the Shure’s have significantly
more cabin pressure than both the Sony 1000XM3’s and Bose NC 700’s. But over all the Sony
1000XM3’s do have the best active noise cancellation here cause they block out a little
road noise than the bose… and they manage to block out a chatter a little better as
well.
Now when it comes to the ambient mode on the Shure’s… its a bit of a mixed bag. The
good thing about it is that it sounds very natural and there’s zero hissing in the
back ground like these other two headphones… and you can even adjust how much noise these
headphones let in. But personally I don’t use it past 50% cause anything after that
sounds way over amplified. But the problem with the Shure’s ambient mode is that it
picks up a lot of wind noise when walking outdoors. Which isn’t an issue with these
other two headphones. But ultimately I do feel the Sony’s have the best ambient mode
here specifically cause its the active kind. Meaning that the ambient mode on the Sony’s
will actively block out sudden spikes in loud noises saving you from jump scares. Where
as these other two headphones let in everything.
But finally here’s the microphone test. Now like ive said before this isn’t the
1000XM3’s strong suit cause this microphone sounds very muffled.
Where as with the Shure’s, I think my voice sound pretty good but unfortunately these
headphones don’t really do much to block out this AC unit ive got going here.
And even with this AC unit turned off there’s still a slight hissing in the back ground
and if I stay quite you’ll hear a buzzing in the background… So yeah the microphone
on these headphones isn’t great. But then there’s the microphone on the Bose
which really sounds great. My voice sounds good and they do a decent job of blocking
out that AC unit. Cause if we switch over to my lapel microphone you’re going to clearly
hear that AC unit. But if we switch back not as much. So if you plan on taking lots of
phone calls… these headphones are a no briner.
But over all like I said at the beginning of this video for me the Shure Aonic 50’s
are a hard pass. Now I know this is Shure’s first pair of ANC headphones. But if you’re
jumping into a highly competitive market then you gotta look at the well established players
and build up from there. Now personally I think the Shure’s have decent build quality
and they feel very sturdy in the hand. But if Shure wants these headphones to be a viable
option for commuters then they gotta shrink this case down to a manageable size. And performance
wise, these headphones have a lot of room for improvement. Personally for me these headphones
sound very average, but their bass also lacks a lot of physicality to it. But also these
headphones need to get an adjustable EQ that gets loaded directly on to the headphones
themselves. Cause lets face it, the majority of people stream the majority of their music
these days. But then there’s the active noise cancellation on these headphones. The
ANC on these headphones just can’t compete with these other two headphones… and honestly
you’re getting less than entry level ANC headphones performance on these $400 headphones.
But finally there’s the ambient mode. It sounds good but it picks up way too much wind
noise. So overall, you can’t go wrong with either the Sony’s or the Bose. But right
now I would hold off from getting the Sony’s cause the 1000XM4’s are right around the
corner.