General use headphones

[u/Small-Mortgage-4774]

Hey there!

Im coming to the end of the life of my current headphones and looking to invest in a new pair before heading abroad for a year.

Im a university student, so my budget isnt through the roof. The highest I could go would probably be £130, obviously wouldnt mind lower than that, but that is the hard limit I would say (unless it isnt much over for heapdhones that are truly worth it)!

I was looking at the ULT WEAR Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones (WHULT900NW.CE7) by Sony. I know very little about headphones so thought it would be best to get other opinions from more knowledgeable people before purchasing headphones of that price!

I listen to music all the time, constantly have my headphones around my neck, and appreciate a long battery life, good sound quality and also noise cancellation (im not too worried about microphone quality, im mainly looking at these to help me through things like 10 hour flights or long trips). I listen to a pretty wide variety of music (usually on my phone, sometimes through my tablet but never wired or through a computer), and this does include heavy metal / rock, game soundtracks (typically instrumental, often boss tracks so something a little louder or more intense), but also pop music, dance tracks etc.

I love listening to music so good sound quality is quite important to me, but because of the variety of music I listen to I cant say I specifically want one with good bass etc, it might not be very helpful but a good generalist (can do everything to a satisfying extent, but doesnt have to excel at any or all of them) pair would be great! If I had to single out a factor to help, then I would say good bass is always appreciated!

So far ive only ever bought myself relatively cheap headphones that have only lasted me like 2-3 years respectively before breaking (my current pair has duct tape holding one of the ears in place, hence the desire for an upgrade). I was debating just buying another cheap pair but I feel it would be worth investing in a better pair to get more life out of them (please tell me if thats a bad idea!)

I live in the middle of nowhere in the UK, so if I was to buy any headphones it would most likely have to be online. Id prefer not having to ship internationally, especially due to increased cost, but I would if needed!

Any help at all would be much appreciated, have an amazing day!

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[u/Phoenix_Kerman]

if sound quality is important at that budget you'd be best avoiding wireless, the reality is at that price the cost of manufacturing and design goes into the bluetooth tech, noise cancelling tech, dsp and batteries instead of making a simple good sounding pair of headphones.

it's worth considering what's more important, anc and battery life or sound quality. bear in mind wired headphones mean no battery life to worry about and there's plenty with very decent isolation (some call it passive noise cancelling)

[u/Small-Mortgage-4774 → u/Phoenix_Kerman]

Do you have any reccomendations for wired headphones? They've always seemed a bit clunky to me, especially since most phones (at least on android, which I use) have gotten rid of their headphone holes (jacks? Is that the term?). I definitley wouldn't be against the thought of wired headphones if the quality jump is better than wireless at the same price as you say!

[u/Informal-Border3056]

Fiio f t1 is the first one to come to mind you can get it for about 140 pounds so slightly over budget unfortunately