To anyone who had the same predicament as me,
for £300, you can grab the QC35 and XMC1000-3x... the QC35 seems like a rip off without the proper high end codec support, despite its awesome noise cancelling. the XM3s are bulky but nice, paying that much for touch controls which might play up in the cold, and single device connect is a bit annoying.
Ultimately the £300 price range I decided to not delve into because they are gym headphones and portable headphones which I will most likely destroy at some point due to accidental damage or sweat damage.
Aiming at the £200 range, we have the Sennheiser 4.50s and the Sony Hear on 2s. The Hear on 2s are a bit bulking at around 300g. Otherwise they are a great buy. Which makes me a bit sceptical about them is the fact they were released a long time ago and due a refresh. The Sennheiser 4.50s have a very uncomfortable cup.
Now we go to the £100 range.
Three headphones stood out to me from reviews:
1. Sennheiser 4.50s (80£)
2. Taotronics BH 046 (80£)
3. Sony CN700s (100£)
The Taoatronics I first demo-ed. They are just very very inferior to the other two headphones. the ANC is nice, sure, but nothing really amazing. The bass is nice but muddy and really it just seems to distort everything to make it feel like you're in a room. The ANC turns this overpowered bass even higher leaving me with a really rubbish performance. Tehy are also VERY bulky and heavy, so I struggle to see the real benefit to them over the other two headphones.
Sennheisers have two flaws: lack of AAC, poor comfort. They have great passive noise isolation although the pressure applied to your ears is very uncomfortable. The passive noise cancellation rivals the ANC of the taotronics somehow. For the gym, they're just not possible to be worn for more than 45 minutes BUT they're great for staying on your head. Ultimately they had the superior audio quality of taotronics, to the extent I thought this is as good as it gets for bluetooth audio. However the soundstage and sound is VERY cramped. Both other headsets had a better soundstage. Imaging is fine but separation of WHERE instruments or people are is a bit meh. Its like a REALLY REALLY clear apple earbud. I felt my airpods were probably a bit more open tbh. They also have this VERY annoying BEEP with EVERYTHING you do. From changing volume to sound. although its not a dealbreaker, the Captune app does nothing to help you with these headphones as they can't be tuned. It came with some crap bag which is okay. They fold so ergonomically superior to the Sony's. They also look better than the Sonys. The controls are all cramped to one headphone which is inferior to the Sonys.
Then I tried the Sony CN700s. They are IMO the BEST in-class for this price range and possibly even one of the best bluetooth headphones PERIOD if you value soundstage. The soundstage on these headphones, partly due to the amazingly open ear-cup design is AMAZING. If anyone can find a headphone with a better sound stage which is bluetooth, I'd be interested to hear. Even on RTINGS site, soundstage seems the best on these. The bass is WAY better than the Sennheiser's bass. Its more present, its more detailed. Honestly everything just seems better from an audio quality perspective. The ear cups are VERY comfortable. However, the whole headset does seem less secure than the Sennheier's on your head. I have a small head but they seem good for lifting, squatting, rows and possibly maybe jogging. Don't think they're suitable for athletic type box jumps or sprints just yet though but I will test. They have AAC support for iphone/ipad users, awesome Sony tech via the headphones app to customise the sound but I LOVE the default sound signature.
At £100, I feel they can still be slightly classed as disposable.
For the negatives:
1. Less secure on head
2. Passive noise isolation less than the Sennheisers but they have ANC which is medicore but effective as the passive from the Senns or better in some use-cases
3. No Bag or case .. honestly taking the **** here sony.
In terms of comfort of the ear cups due to their huge size, awesome soundstage, great audio quality, awesome bass and £100 price tag... I'm keeping these and calling it a day. I think its hard to really beat a detailed soundstage WITH a detailed lapping bass which these have.
