Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

In my search for a good set of noise cancelling (NC) cans I realized that I am NOT an audiophile so take what you want from my review. This is probably a review of 4 different headphones. I’ve tried and returned the Bose QCI, Beats Studio3, and Bowers and Wilkins PX. In my opinion, the Venues are the best bang for your buck and here’s why - these are half or less than half the price of the Bose, Beats, and Bowers cans. I was looking for a good pair of NC for flights/travelling/home use. I first tried the Bose QC 35I side by side to the Beats Studio 3 and there was no contest - Bose was definitely better as the Beats could be too airy/the mix could muddle up depending on the song/volume. Listening to the same songs side by side you would get more detail with the Bose. NC on both was pretty good. However, it wasn’t until I took a 2 hour flight that the reality of NC tech hit me. It’s just not perfect yet so you have to set your expectations. With the Bose, if you do not have a good seal (wearing glasses or a baseball cap), you will have sound leakage. Also, you’ll still hear faint voices, flight attendants over the speakers. To get the same oomph you would need to turn your volume higher. Also, be careful when landing because if you don’t have a good seal the Bose algorithms get confused and you get a weird sound when the plane makes touchdown due to the increase in volume. This was enough for me to return them. At $349, these should work better. I next tried the Bowers & Wilkins PX over a weekend ($390). Soundstage was great ( but bass was lacking in my opinion) and the different NC modes were neat (Off, Office, City, Plane). Noise cancelling was great too but the app was very slow. Each time you wanted to try a new setting, the app would have to start over and find your headphones again. That and the fact that the headphones would give the top of my head some discomfort each time was enough to turn these in. The Venues are really light and comfortable so they beat the Bowers there and are par with Bose. There’s no app so you do it all by the buttons (once you get used to the controls, it’s easy), but they do have Alexa/Google/Siri functionality and tile tracking, which in my opinion makes them better than the other two. They also have quick charge (5-10 mins gives you 5 hours). Yes they have more bass, but the mix sounds really good and significantly better than the Beats. They aren’t as crisp as the Bose or as expansive a soundstage as the Bowers, but they do have that oomph that makes your head nod with the music. I really like the sound in these. Noise Cancelling – good enough for me so far. I tried them out at home and couldn’t hear the tv or washer/dryer. I'll be putting these through more use and will update this review if anything changes.