Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Finally. Headphones done well. I’ve been on a solid 3 month hunt. Buying and returning until my head was spinning but the Sony XB950N1 is a welcomed addition to the long line of over-the-ear bluetooth headphones I’ve tried. These headphones aren’t perfect but they’re good at everything they attempt to do. And that’s what’s been hard to find – a pair of headphones that does all things well. Don’t get me wrong, there are headphones that do some things better, much better, but those end up falling short in other critical areas. So I welcome the Sony XB950N1s as the best all-around headphone out there, for me at least. First things first. Comparing these to their predecessor The model number of these is slightly deceiving, and it may be something that ends up hurting Sony’s ability to market these. Yes, their chassis looks like their predecessor, the XB950BT, but that’s where the similarities stop. Firstly, the new XB950N1 is a fully folding headphone with rotating ear cans. The cans are bulky due to the large pads so they don’t fold super compact like say a pair of Bose QC35 or Sony’s own MDR-1000X, but it’s nice that they’ll fold up and fit nicely in the front pocket of your backpack. The connection points on the 950N1s are beefier than the older model so they should stand up to more abuse than their predecessors. The sound quality in the N1 is improved over the BT. They have noise cancelling that works fairly well, the B1 did not have a noise cancelling option. Of course, Sony’s also recently released the XB950B1 headphones which don’t have noise cancelling at $50 less than these. I decided to go with NC. The 950N1s have improved controls as it feels like the spring mechanism in the jog switch is tighter, which is a good thing to keep from skipping or rewinding music instead of pressing the play/pause button. The N1s feature Bluetooth 4.0, while the BTs were stuck on 3.0. The BTs featured a microphone that was poor at phone call quality, but the N1s have remedied that with an improved microphone. And the biggest bonus is that the N1s are made to work with Apple devices, the BTs were not. Sure the BTs will play music, answer phone calls and basic stuff, but they were incompatible with Apple’s hands-free Siri assistant. That was a huge let down from Sony, but you don’t have to worry about that with the N1. The packaging even proudly displays the Apple compatibility sticker. Better than the best So what makes the Sony XB950N1 better than the headphones I’ve tested? For me, they perform extremely well for my demands and while they do have some shortcomings over others in certain areas, they outshine their competition in others and end up being the best in class. The list of headphones I’m comparing these to includes the Plantronics Backbeat Pro 2, Skullcandy Crusher Wireless, Sony MDR-1000X, Bose QuietComfort 35, Sony XB950BT, and the new Sennheiser HD4.40BT. These aren’t reference headphones. They’re bass-heavy, crank it up, and pretend your ears are only 16-years-old headphones. They’re loud but good. They get louder than you should really want, but high volume output is there if you want to risk it. The soundstage is cramped but there’s plenty of coverage in the highs to lows to make up for the lack of breadth. Pound for pound, the Skullcandy Crushers will give you more bass but it’s at the sacrifice of quality in the mids and highs making the Sony’s a much better choice. Of course, the Bose QC35 and Backbeat Pro 2s offer great sound, as do the HD 4.40s, but the QC35 doesn’t let you turn off noise-cancelling. And its noise-cancelling is so good that they’re only good for use in isolated environments where you really don’t want to hear anything but the music (or phone call). I want the ability to turn off NC and these Sony’s feature it. The HD 4.40 were just too uncomfortable and the Backbeat Pro 2s had an amazing array of features that didn’t work that well. Sony the 950N1s top them overall. The bluetooth range on the 950N1 is superb. After a solid week of use I haven’t experienced one dropout, even at 30 feet away through walls and floors. The 950N1 features a power light that flashes every few seconds to let you know they’re powered on. This was a feature I really missed when trying the HD 4.40. The noise cancelling performance on the 950N1 is certainly their weakest attribute. They pale in comparison to the Bose QC35 and Sony MDR-1000x, but the NC does work to reduce moderate external noise like a dishwasher or refrigerator. I haven’t tried them on an airplane but because they still let a lot of my air conditioning unit’s noise in, as compared to the MDR-1000x and QC35s, they’re just not as good. So if high quality NC is a critical component to your headphone requirement then the 950N1 may not be right for you. There’s a nice feature that’s not mentioned anywhere in the manual or elsewhere that I could find. If your headphones disconnect from your device for a period of time they will auto shut-off to save on battery. This is a pretty nice feature should you take your device with you and forget to turn the headphones off. As far as comfort is concerned, the 950N1 could be more comfortable. If Sony had made the ear pad openings taller it would be a huge help but that might sacrifice their great sound leakage performance. If you’ve looked at the Sennheiser HD 4.40 BT know this. The ear openings are very small in both width and height. I’ve discovered that it’s the width that really matters. And the Sony XB950N1 are wide enough for my ears. Are they as comfortable as the Bose QC35s? No way. The Bose lead the pack in comfort but your neighbors will hear every little thing you play as the sound leakage on the Bose QC35s is terrible. So, with everything that the Sony XB950N1s offer, they’re a pretty good all around pair headphones. Good sound, good comfort, good quality build with compactness, good controls, decent noise cancelling, hands-free operation with your device, big bass for bass lovers, and while nothing on the Sony XB950N1 stands out as stellar, they do everything pretty well so they’re a clear winner in my book.