I just bought my 4th set of headphones in 4 years on Saturday, and its my second set this year.
Why did I do this? For several reasons. I love the current headphones that I have and they are the best I have ever owned. They are Seinheiser Accentum and I don’t have any issues with them. So why would I buy another one?
Simple. I was helping a client and they said that they heard noise from my environment. Since as a consultant I have to be professional that means that I need to do what I can to mitigate any noises that might distract others.
I don’t need better headphones for myself. I need them so that my clients aren’t distracted when I lead hour long conversations/knowledge transfers. Will I enjoy better headphones? You bet.
The first headphones I bought in 2020 were roughly $100. The second one was about $230. The third was $350 and these I just bought are $450. I am only sharing the prices as a rough guide that headsets are compelling at every price point but there reasons that I had to move up the chain.
The first reason I bought my second headset is that there were noises in my environment that the first set of headphones didn’t fix. It was interrupting my clients and my own enjoyment of living in the past apartment. So I did that for me. The next time I upgraded it was because I moved next to a interstate and that had more noise that the first walk through. My clients also noticed the noise on Teams/Zoom even with the noise suppression turned on. This time the noise is bothering me and because I am talking more and for long periods of time I want something that doesn’t make me anxious when there is more noise outside.
Lets get specific. I live perhaps a mile from a fire station. When that is getting on the interstate I can hear it even with noise canceling headphones. I started to not wear the noise canceling headphones because if the noise is loud for me, then I put myself on mute as much as possible. Now with these new headphones the mic has 8 mics for noise canceling and offers more modern built in noise suppression.
I can’t find the video but I watched an audio engineer do a measured test with a mic and the Sonos Ace headphones vs the Bose QC headphones. I also watched comparisons of noises from the street with both headsets. They let you listen to the audio from both of those experiences. To me, the Sonos Ace had more through sound canceling both in terms of background noise and when the mic was used.
Prior to 2020 I had bought a pair of Bose QC headphones to help with my noisy commute to work and noisy work environment. While they helped, I was unhappy with the cost/performance. For the cost I didn’t feel the performance was worth it. In addition it was cheaply made and broke so I will never buy a Bose product. For the same reason I won’t buy a Sony product due to the terrible way they treated me with the PS5 store.
I looked at the competition like B&W or other high end brands. Reviewers who said they had those brands said they paid $1000-1300 for their headphones and felt the Sonos Ace was better. No, I am not getting paid to say this, just sharing my research. This wasn’t universal but in my experience at least with the reviews I read, more people liked the Sonos Ace than the higher priced and brand name items.
Maybe one day I will get to the level where I need $1000 headphones. I did seriously consider spending $500 on a set of speakers in the past so to me, having headphones is the same purchase. I did think about this for the night and slept on it because I might be forcing myself into pricier products to be happy. However due to the noise in my environment, the fact this will reduce noise for my clients, and that it has better build quality than my cheaper Seinheiser I don’t think I will regret this purchase.
I always wanted to experience high end audio and now I have the means to do so. It is a pleasure to use these current headphones and I will write a review once I get the new ones. I am excited for them to arrive.