- David and David here to tell you about the
best headphones under $500.
We got 10 pairs on the table.
We listened to eight tracks, tested for
portability, durability, and comfort.
- We've spent over $8,000 testing headphones
over the last six months.
So, we really hope that you can trust our reviews.
Pretty much, we're talking about
consumer grade headphones here.
except for the AirPods Max,
which are more than $500. - And awesome.
- So pretty much everything else.
But not audiophile headphones,
which go way up in price.
- Yeah, AirPods Max wouldn't have made our Top 10 anyway.
- No, it would not have.
Let's dive in, number 10.
- Bose QuietComfort Earbuds.
Now these are my favorite earbuds and we tested them out
about six months ago.
Pretty comfortable, I must say.
- In terms of style.
- I can barely hear you.
- We tried them again,
there might have been a firmware update
that screwed them up a little bit,
but they just weren't as good.
Still really solid, though.
- Yeah, great headphones.
They went from about a 4.7 out of five for me
to a four out of five for me.
They lacked a bit of bass and they just lacked
a little punch in the high end for me,
but still really good clarity, the Bose quality clarity.
Very good headphones for just under $300.
- I'm a big fan of how comfortable they are,
I like the little wing tips
you can stick right into your ear.
It feels great.
These are so comfortable.
- Yeah.
- I love these headphones.
- If you look at your fiance-
- Yes.
- Your wife, with the amount of love
that you show for these headphones.
Right, David likes those style of headphones,
which makes sense.
That's good.
All right, number nine.
Let's get 10 out of here.
Number nine are the pair of Sonys that we tested
about six months ago, the on-ear headphones.
They're only $130, but they are a great value.
They have great sound, very smooth,
kind of a four and a five.
In terms of quality, they're not quite there,
but it's $130 headphones.
And we've tested about 50 pairs of headphones here.
It's not like we just were ranking our 10 that we've tested.
So yes, it's under $500,
but these deserve to be at number nine.
In terms of definition,
I thought that they were pretty excellent.
- Extra base.
(tapping)
They were about my top three.
Maybe not one or two,
but they were definitely up there in the price.
- But top three for the on-ear category, right?
Not for overall.
- Right, exactly.
Number eight, Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro.
- I was really impressed by these
'cause I was really not impressed by the Buds Live
and the Buds Plus.
They were really bad.
So I had low expectations for these and wow.
- We did a blind test, too, of all these headphones,
so we would be unbiased and wow is right.
These sound great.
They also, I think, are extremely comfortable.
- Yeah.
♪ Skidamarink a dink a dink ♪
♪ Skidamarink a doo ♪
(record scratch)
Yeah.
- So I think they beat the AirPods.
They beat the AirPods Pros.
I would go those, I'm an Apple guy usually, right?
- Yeah, well, when we did our top three,
this might've been my number one,
number one or two overall.
So I really liked these headphones, $199.
Good price on these.
Love them.
- Great, yeah.
Let's get them out of here, though,
because we're going to talk about number seven.
- Love them, see you later. - See you later.
Number seven, Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless II Earbuds,
which we reviewed about six months ago.
They sound fabulous.
I thought that they be a little bit much on the treble
in a couple of songs,
but overall very comfortable, they're the in-ear style,
so David doesn't like them as much, but I like them.
- These ones really did a good job
of getting the spacious feel from the Kronos Quartet.
Shell out the money for them.
You won't be disappointed by them.
But they're not here.
- Yeah, but hey,
you've just watched a clip of us testing them.
- Number six.
- Number six, Sennheiser Momentum Wireless
over-ear headphones.
These were requested by people in the comments section.
So we do read your comments.
We do test headphones.
You say, "Hey, test these headphones."
I thought they were very good.
They're a great pair of headphones,
but I had some issues with them.
The noise cancellation.
There's noise cancelling, but it's not very impressive,
is it?
- No, I didn't even know there was noise cancelling.
- I think there is, it's just not good.
- That was the kind of the thing that stopped it
from being a top three over-ear for me was
the audio quality is pretty good,
noise cancelling, not great.
- Not great and not too comfortable for me.
I just really was not too impressed with the comfortability.
I think these were the headphones that came with a warning.
- The warning, like don't stick your finger in.
- You can cut your finger off
if you use these the wrong way.
Any headphones that have to come with a warning
that you might injure yourself by using them,
I don't know.
Definitely don't give these to a kid.
Very good sounding headphones.
These were kind of what we expect from Sennheiser,
unlike their lesser expensive ones.
- Yeah, were not good.
- Okay, number five. - Number five.
We're getting some good headphones now.
- Cream of the crop here.
- Creme de la creme.
(crickets chirping)
- Bose Sport Earbuds.
- I love these earbuds, kind of like with the QuietComfort,
it's got the little tip.
And we tested these six months ago,
the base was extremely heavy.
And I think there was, again,
it was a firmware update that kind of toned down
the base a little bit.
And it's improved the sound quality overall.
- Yeah, they always had great clarity.
It was just the base was overpowering before,
firmware update, Bose just pushed one out
and they sound great.
- Yeah, these are also cheaper than the QuietComforts
and if I had to pick between them,
I would take the Sport Earbuds.
- Right, they don't have active noise cancelling
like the QuietComforts do,
but they go in your ear really snugly.
- Yeah.
It feels like they're making them from my ears.
- Oh, have we got a surprise for you, David.
Come on in, Bose executives!
We did make them for your ears.
- Yeah, that'd be great.
- I would pick these, too.
- That passive noise cancellation
'cause something's in your ear.
- Right, 'cause this is passive noise cancellation.
- Really great headphones.
- Yes.
So number four, Audio-Technica, ATH-XM50BTs.
Or, M50xBTs.
We tested these four months ago
and we were blown away by the quality for $199.
Again, another pair of headphones
that belongs in the under $500 category.
Like, we're not just putting it here.
They just sound great.
I was blown away.
- Yeah.
- I think they were just-
- They're really good.
And the price point was a bit lower
than the other top-tier headphones that we tested.
- Right, I thought, excellent definition,
if anything, a little bit too trebly in some places,
but not offensively trebly.
- 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.
- You know, we think about the Audio Technica,
the earbuds we tested were really bad.
We were kind of concerned,
consumer grade Audio Technicas is made for the audiophiles,
is it going to hold up in the consumer grade level?
- It did in the over-ear category.
- It did for these headphones,
didn't for the earbuds.
- Not for the earbuds, that's for sure.
Number three, Sony WH-1000XM4s.
And this is where David and I are going to start fighting.
Okay, right?
'Cause my number one is not going to be yours.
So, Sony XM4s, for me, are the number three choice.
Fabulous noise cancelling but as good as the Bose?
Nope.
Sony people are getting angry at me right now.
- They were almost as good.
Audio quality is really good.
Noise cancellation is still good.
- Yep.
- The comfort is awesome.
One thing I prefer about the Sonys to the Bose 700
is just the way they adjust.
The Bose has the sliders, the little antennas,
kind of weird.
These are just the clicks.
I like the clicky ones, not the antenna ones.
- These are a solid pair of headphones in every way.
- Really good.
- I really enjoy these.
If you're a nerd, if you like customizing headphones
with the app and you want the most control
you could possibly get in a well-built app,
Sonys are the way to go.
I think that they sound great.
It was hard to find stuff wrong with these,
but they landed in the 4.5 category for me.
- Really excellent.
- Now number two for me are the Bose Noise Cancelling 700s.
These are
David's number one, I think, right?
Yeah, number one.
I mean, this would be number one
and the Sonys would be number two for me.
- Yeah.
So for me, I thought that sometimes
if I'm trying to find something wrong with these,
it would be that they might be a little bit light on base
sometimes, but I was really stretching at this point.
We listen to eight tracks every time we test these.
I think that on the classical song,
I think they did the best job of really
capturing the richness of that song.
But they're not just for classical music, trust me.
They just sounded very balanced.
Just exactly what I want in a pair of headphones.
And that's why after we tested all the headphones
last time around, I kept these and these are my headphones.
- Yeah, really excellent noise cancellation,
super comfortable, super light.
I agree with your point about the base,
there are a couple of tracks,
I said just a pinch more would have been
a five out of five.
So instead it got a 4.75 out of five, but right.
- So this is David's number one.
And my number one overall are the Sony XM4 earbuds.
I can't say enough about how great these are.
If you like earbuds,
these are the best ones in the world to buy.
Fabulous noise cancelling, fabulous fit for me.
But David had an issue with that.
- I don't even know if this would be my top 10,
just cause they don't really fit my ears.
And I wasn't the only person who had this problem.
I looked on Amazon and some other people were reviewing it
and saying it doesn't really fit, even with the smalls.
And I mean, just try them out.
I mean, if they fit well in your ears,
they're going to be great for you.
If they don't fit in your ears,
they're not going to be a good option.
I will say, the noise cancelling
on these earbuds was amazing.
- Yeah, it's amazing.
I think that they sounded great.
This was, like, a solid five.
The highest rating I gave of any of the 50 pairs
that we tested.
David, are we talking about noise cancelling at all?
- We can.
- We should because this is ridiculous.
- Good, right?
- Amazing.
They sound fabulous.
If you like in-ear design, if you're used to that,
if you like that.
If you don't like that-
- One last pair of headphones I want to mention real quick,
this is probably in the middle of the pack for me,
but the Beats Solo Pros, my favorite on-ear headphones,
they got the price tag to match.
We tested these out six months ago
and I didn't like them.
I think they were actually my least favorite in the ones
we tested six months ago.
- Yeah.
- I wasn't impressed at all.
- Far and away the worst $300 headphones
that I've ever tested.
- And I think it's the firmware update again,
it really improved the sound quality in these headphones.
- It gets the most improved award, that's for sure.
- I am a little bit concerned about the tightness
and the pinching.
- I pinch.
- I think over time as you wear them out
and you use them more often,
it's going to get more comfortable.
- I want to pinch.
- Right, there's a firmness to the ear padding
that's on the Beats that does, I think,
get a little bit less.
So at least we've seen that in other Beats headphones
that David has worn for a long time.
- Yeah, I've worn them for six months.
And over time you just get more and more kind of squishy.
- Why no pinch?
- It's like a catcher's mitt.
You gotta break it in first.
- Pair of blue jeans.
- There you go.
Boil it.
Don't boil your headphones.
Yeah, don't boil it, don't oil it.
- Boil him, mash him, stick him in a stew.
- Don't do anything like that.
But wear them.
Yes.
So those are our favorite headphones under $500.
Thanks for watching this video.
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