I have different sets of headphones for home and travel. I can't recommend any noise canceling in transit as I value situational awareness. I really love my Koss utility headphones. At home I still have big open-back cans so I can hear loud knocking or my family. I can't tell the difference between my old $100 Sennheisers and my $50 Samson SR850, bit I'm almost 50yo. I would look for whatever open-back cans have aftermarket earpads.
this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2026
12 points (87.5% liked)
BudgetAudiophile
1378 readers
3 users here now
A place for AUDIO enthusiast to share, discuss and listen to others people setups
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Former audio engineer here. Things that touch your body are highly subjective. Add in the audio angle, and the variables spiral out of control. Driver size is a guideline, but not an absolute litmus. This is a leaky comparison, but a great set of IEMs might have 10mm drivers. A high-end smaller driver will be more accurate than a cheap larger driver.
When I'm considering a new set of headphones or earbuds, I start by looking for aspects that generally outline a quality set of audio gear, such as AptX HD support, serviceability/rebuildable/parts availability, driver type and manufacturer, DAC manufacturer, wired option, etc. None of these by themselves are indicators of quality, but they are typically common to good gear. A published response curve from an independent lab is a nice-to-have. Once I approach the pull-the-trigger phase, I'll consider reviews from SoundGuys and people I trust in my circle.
ANC nukes audio quality. There are plenty of decent sounding cans with ANC, but they take an instant hit to sound and massive bump in price. In my experience, better ANC means lower sound quality. I prefer passive noise reduction for noisy environs. Comply foam eartips on your IEMs go a long way to improving isolation. Yes, this would mean a set of headphones and a set of IEM, and picking the right tool for the job. I've tried a bunch of ANC gear: Sony WF-1000XM4, Sony WH-1000XM4/5, Bose QC, Sennheiser HDB 630, and so on. In the end, I always go back to my wired hardware because it just sounds that much better.
Hard agree on subjective nature of the quality. Even for loudspeakers it is really up to your own preferences, and when it comes to IEMs/headphones - there are no 2 experts that will agree on what is "the best".
ANC does degrade the quality, but in the noisier environments like planes and trains it is probably a good option for less-hassle listening.
Momentum 2 were famously terrible (had these and enjoyed a lot - until i tried something else). Hope 4th model is better.
The only real advice to OP here would be to find an offline store and go listen to some of the models they have. Bring your own music! That is how I realised that neutrality of HD600 is my benchmark. However these are open-backs, wired and twice the price (
You can also try to understand what kind of sound delivery you prefer: bassy, neutral, bright - that would narrow down the options for you.
Crinacle tested a lot (though he stopped updating his database unfortunately) - this may give you some ideas. https://crinacle.com/rankings/headphones/
Good luck!
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)?
Frequency response is the really the most meaningful tech spec. The larger the range, the more sounds the phones can reproduce on the low and high end. However, that does become less meaningful when listening to heavily compressed and processed sources. Also, I would guess that all the options you are considering have the same frequency response, so might not really be a consideration.
Bluetooth version is the next consideration. You want the newest version available, or at least no older than the version your source device runs. The higher versions provide more bandwidth, so theoretically less compression during transmission. It seems common to use older chips in more budget friendly headphones in order to save cost. The average user probably doesn't care, but if you are concerned about sound quality, it can be a factor.
Honestly, your source material is probably more of a hindrance to quality than your equipment. Compression is the enemy. Unless you are going to get into lossless codecs and/or analog sources, you won't be pushing the limits of the headphones you are considering. This is not to say you shouldn't get a nice pair, more just a fair warning that you're not gonna get a major quality boost from just changing your headphones.
Thank you very much! Right now I stream music with Qobuz (that has Hi-Res audio) and I'm building my offline library of flac files.I never really looked at my phone bluetooth version/drivers ecc but I bought my phone last year so I think it should be decent.
However I'm struggling to understand the whole "frequency response" thing. I can find various graphs but I don't really know what they mean.
Frequency Response is a measure of if your cans can play from very low notes to very high notes all at the same loudness. The most important thing in those graphs is that they are flat, meaning even. The next most important thing is where the bass response drops off. Lower is better.
It is true for all speakers and headphones, but it is not as straight forward for headphones because everyone's ear is shaped different thus will mess with the FR. Good headphones are flat and go down to at least 30Hz. Lower is better.
Depending on your player, you may use Digital Signal Processing to help flatten things out. Its complicated, but the results can be fantastic.
I don't think it's been mentioned yet, but open vs closed is an important consideration. Open tend to be better IMHO but only if you listen in a closed controlled environment. If you are surrounded by noise, closed backed headphone are better because what little you gain in playback fidelity is dwarfed by cutting out the noise of kids playing, the kitchen fan running while dad cooks and people talking on the subway. Good sound isolation is heaven when needed, but also slightly impacts bass response. I have both and use the right one for the environment.
Thank you very much for the explanation! I'll pay more attention to that! Yeah for my use case the closed backed headphones seems the way to go. Thank you!
To add onto @StinkyFinger@lemmynsfw.com's comment on flat response, "flat" here means "compliant with Fletcher-Munson curves," also called Equal Loudness Contours. Loosely speaking and trying not to muddy the waters too much for you, for a given SPL and frequency band, the human ear has an average response. Flat headphones, like those for critical listening in studios, tend to more closely mirror these curves. FWIW, most people do not like the sound of truly flat speakers and headphones. Most casual listeners tend to prefer audio gear that tracks a little closer to the Equal Loudness Contours.
For example, my favorite studio cans have this response graph:
These cans are considered very flat. Also looking at the graph, you'll notice some dips and wobbles. like around 4kHz, 8kHz, and again around 16kHz. These are resonation, and resonances are generally considered Not Good. Are resonances dealbreakers? It categorically depends, typically how transient the resonance. Shorter resonance -> mo' better.
And to add to your very good reply, most people also do not like the studio monitors sound. Younger listeners are more likely to choose bassy booming gear, while older farts like me would rather have it brighter (more higher frequencies delivered) as our ears tend to degrade with age in that part of spectrum. To make the right choice, nothing can beat going somewhere and listening different gear with your own ears and preferred music, unfortunately.
Oh, almost forgot. OP!!! THIS IS A RABBIT HOLE! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE BEFORE IT SUCKED YOU IN FOREVA!!!
I regret that I only have one upvote to give. Everything said by @Bloodyhog is spot on. There's just no replacement for a proper test drive. And most casual listeners' preferences will shift over time.
THIS IS A RABBIT HOLE! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE BEFORE IT SUCKED YOU IN FOREVA!!!
It's much too late for me, bruddahs! Run, save yourselves! 😆
But seriously, on the first day of my audio engineering degree, the professor said, "You completed the prereqs, you got accepted into the program, you know the degree description. This is your final warning: if you're here because you enjoy music, leave now. After today, you'll never be able to 'just' listen to some music." I have no regrets, but damn. There is no sitting down to listen to an album or concert without analyzing everything. To be fair, the two years of music theory and piano + one year of another instrument already warped that.
No music/sound degree here, just a looong "journey" towards quality sound ) Well, that, and a few musicians in the immediate circle. Which is funny as they mostly do not care about "fidelity", frequency curves and so on, just enjoy playing their instruments.