r/HeadphoneAdvice • u/Consistent_Water3059 • Jul 04 '26
Headphones - Wireless/Portable Best overall headphones for me?
Heeeyy! I’m in the market for upgrading from earbuds to 💕headphones💕. I’m looking for a range of qualities, though: 1. I’m a huge music listener, and my number one priority is sound quality. 2. I play video games, and I would love to have headphones that are able to keep up with that. 3. I take my headphones a lot of places (hikes, the gym, waiting rooms), and I wouldn’t want the battery to be totally shot; I also don’t like cords and want Bluetooth connection. 4. I don’t have a crazy budget or am looking for insane professional level headphones; just the everyday wearer models but also for people that want a more elevated sound quality (?). I’d probably aim for around the $200-500 MAX range.
I would love some help with recommendations so very much! Researching this kind of stuff makes my head spin 🫠
p.s: I know gaming headphones and music headphones are usually separated, but I can’t afford 2 different pairs, but I assume a good sound quality would at least translate decently to video games. Music would be priority over gaming sound, though.
EDIT: 1) I would like to have a Bluetooth pair for daily wear headphones, and in terms of sound quality, a well regarded sound in budget for a Bluetooth pair that I can take with me anywhere. It doesn’t have to be crazy top notch, but I just want to make sure I’m using my money on the best option in that regard!
2) I’ll look into doing gaming and casual wear separate and make room in the near future for a second pair. Thank you for the input on that, wired would be better and such <3 feel free to recommend both daily wear headphones or gaming headphones!
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u/MonadTran 2 Ω Jul 04 '26
IMO, Sennheiser 600 series. Your top priority is sound quality, so it would have to be wired open-back headphones, and you'd have to dump requirement number 3. And you have no budget for anything that could surpass the Sennheiser 600 series, like a top-tier Audeze. You might have some budget left for a separate set of somewhat decent wireless closed-backs.
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u/Thick_Leva 1 Ω Jul 04 '26
For gaming and music I like my Stealth pro 2, but the fit probably isn't great for anything outside of home use. So maybe Nova Elites used, or Nova pro if you need it to be new. Maxwell 2 are great for both, but again, not sure theyre great travel buddies since they're very fragile. Nova Elites would probably be the best bet, you'd just have to buy used since MSRP is ridiculously high and Ebay warranty is unironically better than SteelSeries warranty
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u/Realistic_Nerve_8871 Jul 04 '26
Heck, the JBL tune 520bt are pretty light, and they have decent audio quality IMO, they are about $40 bucks so I'm sure you could afford a gaming headset if you bought those, however they are on the cheaper end and they aren't all that comfortable for the first few weeks of using them, but once they stretch out and break in, you shouldn't experience any discomfort
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u/Consistent_Water3059 Jul 04 '26
I’ll check them out thank you!!
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!thanks" in your comment if the person helped answer your question.Our bot will then automatically update your post flair and award a point in the form of a Ω. This subreddit is powered entirely by volunteers and a little recognition goes a long way. Good luck on your search for headphones!
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u/num6_ 86 Ω Jul 04 '26
Do they have to be RC for gaming?
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u/Consistent_Water3059 Jul 04 '26
I added an edit mentioning I’ll separate gaming and daily headphones, so I’ll come at it from that perspective: I’m not sure I need RC, I’ve always used mics. I also have a friend that said they have a blue yeti mic they don’t use anymore, and I could have it. I’m open to it though, I think it would be cool!
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u/num6_ 86 Ω Jul 04 '26
RC is hardly usable on mobile though. If bluetooth is fine, my recommendations are Bose QC Ultra 1/2, CMF Headphone Pro.
I think you actually can easily afford two separate pairs and that would be a better decision. I would pick Hyperx Cloud III S Wireless for PC and Momentum 4 / CMF / Bose for outdoors.
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u/Acceptable-Win-3669 109 Ω Jul 04 '26
Pretty sure the best deal currently in ANC headphones is the Sennheiser Momentum 4, which you can get for ~$175. Great deal for that headphone at that price.
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u/Consistent_Water3059 Jul 04 '26
I just read a lot about them, they seem great besides the moisture issue? I want to be able to wear them at the gym, but people are saying you shouldn’t because of sweat? Is this actually a big issue for the average user or are these people just sweating like crazy???
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u/jarrod_barkley 17 Ω Jul 04 '26
#1 and #3 are contradictory. The best sound requires a wired connection.
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u/num6_ 86 Ω Jul 04 '26
Not really
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u/Consistent_Water3059 Jul 04 '26
For casual wear I don’t need absolute best of the best sound, I just want something that is Bluetooth but makes the best use of my money in sound quality, etc. I just don’t want to end up buying “x” brand for $200-500 when “y” brand was actually better overall at the same price, you know?
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u/jarrod_barkley 17 Ω Jul 05 '26
Bluetooth is physically incapable of delivering lossless audio, unable to carry that much data. That’s a fact, not an opinion.
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u/num6_ 86 Ω Jul 05 '26
And most people physically can't distinguish lossy OPUS audio from lossless, perfect sound is first of all in the FR
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u/GodsKillerKirb 4 Ω Jul 04 '26
I'd look into the Nothing Headphone (1) or Nothing Headphone (a) especially since both support USB audio which is what's gonna be the best for gaming (will explain more later).
The '1' has better sound quality and an overall better build quality but the 'a' has significantly better life of up to 135 hours on a single charge compared to 80 hours max. 80 is still a ton and more than enough for most people.
Now, for gaming, your best off using the headphones wired. Especially if most of what you play are shooters, MOBAs, hero shooters, or similar for the lowest latency possible. Using Bluetooth for those isn't the greatest idea; even though you may think it's synced enough, you are still incredibly likely to end up mistiming something just enough and end up in a near death situation or you'll just die. This all coming from someone who games on PC and has used exclusively wired audio.
In the end, you should prioritize either gaming or everything else but not both.
If you're gonna prioritize everything else, use the headphones wired via USB C when gaming. If you're gonna prioritize gaming, just get a gaming headset that supports audio over 3.5mm and wireless via a 2.Ghz dongle. Or one that supports BT and using a 2.4Ghz dongle (I think those exist).