Hi, I’m new in the “headphones” world and I usually bought the first cheap option with good reviews on youtube and never really informed myself. My current headphones (Anker Soundcore Q30) are almost dead and I want to make an informed choise about my next one. However I feel like there are a lot of things I know nothing about.
For example I read a lot of good things about Sennheiser but the first pari of headphones I saw in my price range (ACCENTUM) have 37mm drivers. My Soundcore Q30 have 40mm drivers and I always thought that “the bigger the better” for the driver. From what I heard, however, the ACCENTUM are consider higher quality than Soundcore Q30.
What I’d like to know is: what should I really look for to understand the quality of the headphones?
I’d mainly use them to listen to music (some Metal, Punk but sometimes Rap, Classical or movies and videogames OST) in my house or outside (so good ANC is always appreciated).
Thank you for the very detailed explanation! It's sad to hear about the ANC nuking the sound quality but honestly unless is THAT bad, since I'm not an expert and I think that traffic/public transport nuke the sound more than the ANC I'm willing to make that sacrifice.
Right now I was looking at the Sennheiser Momentum 4. They seem to be good for my budget (I think they are on sale and I can buy them for 179€ (I think it's around $200)) and I could use them "wired" with USB-C. Do you think it's a decent choise (maybe outside with ANC and bluetooth and at home wired with USB-C)?