Sennheiser PXC 550 vs Sony WH-1000XM3 vs Bose QuietComfort 35 II

techdiver

Hi,

As the title suggests I'm torn between the above 3 headphones.

I've briefly tried them out in Arnotts and my observations were that the Sony had by far the best noise cancellation. They all sounded very good. I tested phones calls on the Sony and Sennheiser and according to the person on the other end the Sennheiser sounded much better from a microphone point of view.

I still really like the Sony though but 2 major things are holding me back from them as opposed to the Sennheiser or Bose.

1. Sony can only connect to 1 device at a time for audio streaming whereas the Sennheiser and Bose can connect to 2. This would be useful to me as I would use the headphones a lot on my laptop during a commute whilst still being able to take calls/use audio on the phone when I want without needing to switch.

2. The Sony and Bose cannot be used when charging (apart from with the audio jack). All features bluetooth/ANC etc are unavailable. The Sennheiser on the other hand can be used whilst charging.

The prices in Arnotts are:

Sennheiser - €299.95 (Reduced from 399.95)
Sony - €299.95 (Reduced from €399.95)
Bose - €349.95 (Reduced from 379.95)

On amazon:

Sennheiser - €256
Sony - €310
Bose - €326

I have found them even cheaper on eGlobalCentral for:

Sennheiser - €213
Sony - €260
Bose - €240

Has anyone here purchased any of these and how do they find them from day to day?

Clareman

I got the Sony's after months of research, when I was looking into the headsets the Sennheiser were quickly discounted because the Sony and Bose were market leading, the decision maker for me was the fact that the Sony's are USB-C and the others were micro-usb, as I've a Note 9 it would have been a major pain in the @rse.

I hear you about the Sony's only being able to connect to 1 device but it's simple to connect to other devices, especially if you have NFC

techdiver

Clareman wrote: »

I got the Sony's after months of research, when I was looking into the headsets the Sennheiser were quickly discounted because the Sony and Bose were market leading, the decision maker for me was the fact that the Sony's are USB-C and the others were micro-usb, as I've a Note 9 it would have been a major pain in the @rse.

I hear you about the Sony's only being able to connect to 1 device but it's simple to connect to other devices, especially if you have NFC

Thanks for reply. Yeah the nfc makes it handy but my typical usage will be connected to my laptop on my commute whilst perhaps wanting to quickly switch to the phone to take a call etc. Switching over wouldn't be feasible in that scenario.

It's the only thing holding me back from them really. I can live with not being able to use them whilst charging despite how ridiculous that is (my 10 year old Nokia Bluetooth headphones can be used whist charging!)

Clareman

Switching to the phone is really simple, just goto the bluetooth settings and connect. I've my headset set to default to my laptop and then connect to my phone whenever I need to, in fact I've 2 phones and never hand an issue, saying that I am paranoid that the sound from my laptop will go loud so I've an old set of headphone constantly plugged in "just in case"