Alright this is more of a rant than an essay/blog. I was given a small amount of budget to spend before Christmas for a work from home setup from my employer. I already had a setup ready so I decided to buy a nice pair of headphones as a gift to myself. I was even willing to spend above the given budget if the headphones are worth the price. So I went down the r/headphones rabbit hole, watched Z-reviews videos, looked at comments on the rtings forum and decided to buy *drumroll* Audio Technica M50x. Almost every single person on the subreddit either actively discourages this product or suggests something better. Because of course there’s always something better. I went to expensive stores and malls that I would otherwise never visit and tried on headphones that are almost equal to or sometimes even more than a month’s pay. And the decision came down to two options. Good pair of wired headphones or an OK pair of wireless headphones with ANC.
The usual contenders for Wireless ANC headphones were Sony WH1000-XM4, Bose QC (and other variants of it). I tried listening to each of these for at least 20-30mins and I’m sure the store cashiers were weirded out by me. But I was the only customer there so it didn’t really matter. After listening to both of the these with my own playlists (102) and other “test playlists for new cans” I came to a conclusion that ANC is a hyped up feature meant for the elite who either have people to take care of their needs or narcissists who don’t care about their surroundings. Let me explain.
There are a few reasons why ANC keeps getting recommended to people:
- Blocks noise on planes
- Makes the audio quality better by blocking the surrounding noise
- You dont have to crank up the volume to feel the music
And the rest of the points are more or less the same. Blocks the noise so you can listen to the music better. And this is where the problem begins for me. I *almost* never have situations where I have to actually block the surroundings noise to listen to the music better. In fact, I don’t have the privacy or the audacity to tell my family that I won’t be able to listen to what they’re saying for a while because I’m busy listening to music or a podcast. None of my friends are in such position and nobody in my circle has that privilege. The idea that you can let your house be unattended and you can blissfully be unaware of the things happening around you is a foreign concept to me and most of the people. I have to constantly be aware of my surroundings to be either safe or at least have a sense of security. I always have to be a call away from my immediate family because I have people that depend on me. I cannot tell my the people around me that my music is so important that I’m using technology to not only drown their words with music, I’m going to actively block it reaching my ears. I don’t need headphones to block the engine noise of a plane because I never fly and if I ever do, I’m sure I’ll keep staring in awe at everything instead of listening to a podcast. I’m simply not privileged enough to actually need this technology in my life. It’ll probably be a nice thing to have, but its not for me.
So my choices are now narrowed down to wired headphones. After going through all kinds of forums, sites and reviews I decided to choose between Beyerdynamic 770 or the M50x. I really loved the metal on Beyerdynamic but unfortunately the 32ohm version was out of stock and I had to get something as soon as I can. So I went with the Audio Technica M50x.
After adjusting the EQ according to my taste (started with this) I quickly grew fond of my new pair of expensive headphones. The clamping force is fine (for me) and the treble is manageable after the EQ adjustments. The detachable cable and spare cables are a plus. I admit that I have no prior experience with hi-fi audio and maybe that is the reason why I’m satisfied with these, but who knows. Maybe in the future there are more cans on the way.