Shure AONIC 40 Over Ear Wireless Bluetooth Noise Cancelling Headphones with Microphone, Studio-Quality Sound, Fingertip Controls, iPhone and Android Compatible, Black, 25 Hour Battery Life

Ok, so I bought these after getting and returning some AirPods Max and some Sony XM5.These are better sounding than either of those. Wider soundstage, crisper details, nice bass, the whole bit. The equaliser in the app is easy to work and has plenty of adjustment in there.Only gripe is the noise cancelling isn’t that great. It does work but not as good as the other mentioned, transparency mode is good and it’s adjustable.Battery life is decent, does what they say lasting about 20 hours, more than enough.The best thing about these is the build quality. They look and feel premium, nice ear cushions and headband.Overall if you want something different to the normal and better sounding then these at this price (£205) are a good bet.If I had to mark them down for anything it would be the noise cancelling but the sound more than makes up for that.

I must commence by admitting to having returned this product after giving it a whirl and have ended up quite underwhelmed.I purchased these to replace my trusty but worn Bose QC 35ii and I was looking for something with a better sound profile, as I listen to a variety of music genres but mostly classical music, and Bose's cans -I must admit- are serviceable but not excellent.SOUNDI have to give it 5/5. One of, if not the best over-ear headphones I have ever tried. I have not done a direct comparison with the likes of Sony, B&W, or Apple, but you can immediately feel when you put them on that the drivers are powerful and you don't need to turn up the volume so much to hear the music and pick up on a lot of details.They are very clear and transparent. I know you can tweak the EQ on the app, honestly, I don't mind listening through a flat set-up, in fact, I prefer it. Pop/electronic music may need a slight bass boost to match what is in the market, although I personally do not care.Classical music and film watching was a joy.However, the extra clarity was at best a 5/10% improvement on the Bose QC35ii, if I can be honest. Normally, that would still edge out most cans in the market for me, however...ANCI think these cans offer 3rd-tier ANC. 2nd-tier if we are very generous. The QC's are 4-5 years old and they match the level of noise cancellation these offer, perhaps they are even better. Shure did not do a brilliant job at canceling certain droning background noise such as trains or traffic. Let alone voices or knocks. I didn't try them on a plane, but I don't think they'll stack up. The QC35ii are old but they have very good ANC. Shure's ANC may, at best, match this, and that is perhaps a stretch. To me, this was one of the deal-breakers.ERGONOMICS AND DESIGNFinal deal-breaker. They are gorgeous and feel premium. I loved the brown ones. But they are BULKY. They look awkward and you will feel fatigued from wearing them after a while. Not because of the weight (this is very well balanced) but because of the huge earcups. At least, that was my feeling.To top it off, they don't fold and the carry-on case is massive. This means they are not suitable for travel unless you are willing to sacrifice some real estate in your suitcase or backpack, and usually, space is at a premium when traveling or commuting.In the end, these are great but not worth the hassle. So they are not FOR ME. But these may be right for you. If you are happy with average ANC and the design/bulk doesn't bother you, honestly you can do much worse. The sound quality is brilliant (perhaps not as mind-boggling as I expected, but the fact remains other manufacturers do a good job, too), and that is not something you will regret.Sadly, not for me. But I must say, they have intrigued me and I look forward to future iterations with the right improvements. Shure have an opportunity to strike hard and do some real damage to many incumbents if they up their game on convenience.And before any audiophiles denounce my sacrilege, please bear in mind ANC wireless headphones have to be rated on convenience and portability, too. The full package for this one is not the right fit for me, even if the sound is balanced, smooth, and sweet.

The shure aonic 50 was launched in 2020 competing with a handful of super premium Bluetooth headphones like the B&O H9, Bowers and Wilkins PX7, Masters and Dynamic MW65 and most recently the Apple Airpods Max and Drop Panda have entered the fray. They recently dropped 40% from £380 to £220 so the question is are they now worth considering?Shure is a pro audio company founded in 1925 famously producing professional microphones that can be found all over the world. With the Aonic 50"s stated combo of studio quality sound and premium luxury materials, they straddle the professional and consumer audiophile markets but do they achieve that aim? And are they candidates for the most accurate and truthful sounding Bluetooth headphones in the world?Well we're going to need to go on a bit of a journey to understand the sound of the Shure Aonic 50 by considering them against icons from these 2 quite different sectors - the Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro professional studio monitor and the Sennheiser HD 600 consumer audiophile headphones. Recordings of how they sound against eachother are on my Amazon profile.In terms of sound the Shure is straddling these camps and more or less successfully incorporates sound characteristics from both - even though by their very nature the DT 990 and HD 600  are a bit like matter and anti matter in that certain characteristics can't coexist in the same place at the same time.The £115 DT 990 Pro's most obvious characteristic is its prominent and incredibly detailed treble. It is fast so not harsh or sibilant but it is just too bright ie it is too much in quantity. It puts treble under the magnifying glass and while not the most natural or realistic presentation is very resolving of details. It has a similarly fast bass with good quantity and speed or impact though not the resonant reverberance of a closed back. The other big characteristic is that the mids are recessed so vocalists are just too far back in the mix. Now if you've only listened to consumer grade before you may not notice this and they will just sound amazing. The open back design gives a good  soundstage width. Ironically with  the DT 990 you can feel a bit tethered due to the inertia of the weighty coiled cable.The £230 Sennheiser is almost completely the opposite. The treble is perfectly balanced. It is resolving and fast -- almost electrostatic fast - without being too much in quantity or analytical and picking apart the music. The bass is its main failing being fast but not extending very deep and being even less in quantity than the DT 990 and so on occasion (but not all the time) unsatisfying for genres that rely on deep or heavy bass like edm and rock. Now the mids are where the Senns shine having arguably one of the best representations of any headphone in the world up there with electrostatics and the most expensive dynamics. Clear natural and lifelike. I have turned my head listening to these thinking someone was in the room. Soundstage wise these are considered fairly narrow despite being about as open as you can get though this never really detracts from the music.Now at last we have the language to be able to consider the Shures. These have a punchy extended bass like the DT 990, natural mids like the HD 600, and a very resolving but not sibilant or harsh treble which is more present than the Sennheiser, perhaps unnaturally so, but comfortably below the sometimes ear piercing level of the DT 990. Bass extends to sub bass well in Hans Zimmer's "Why so serious" however while Samsung Adapt Sound shows them to be flat I sometimes felt they didn't quite deliver a satisfying amount of mid bass particularly when used wirelessly. Switching ANC on improves the bass noticeably and combined with a narrow deep bass boost via the Shure Play apps equaliser I could bring the mid bass to a good level however unfortunately the EQ only applies to music files played through the app and not streaming services. I could also get a satisfying bass response by driving them wired while powered on so while the Shure clearly has the potential to be a great sounding headphone the current implementation means it doesn't fully satisfy my tastes for my typical wireless streaming use case.Moving on to comfort, despite the very comfortable leather pads we can't get around their 334g weight and closed back design warming up one's ears. My medium sized head needed the headband extended to 7 of the 10 clicks so big heads beware. Like the old wired Shure SRH840 the headband is quite flat so creates a hot spot on the crown which for me was only made manageable by the support from the clamping force and over more extended listening sessions I found myself repositioning the headband from time to time.Note that these headphones don't fold in on themselves but the cups do fold flat which is fine for slipping into a rucksack or satchel but not a small bag.Considering features ANC boosts bass but also highlights the upper and lessens the lower tones in male voices so Sinatra's voice sounds a little more natural with ANC off. The ANC control is a slider with OFF rather unsatisfyingly at the mid point since while there is a bit of a click there it's very easy to slide past to one of the extreme positions of ambient or anc on. The slider may loosen up over time making this less of an issue however. The anc performance is on a par with the Soundcore Life Q30 but not class leading like the Sony WF-1000 XM3. It adds a little hiss but as we talked about also some much needed heft to the bass so my preference is to keep ANC turned on at least when used wirelessly.Unlike the other 2 of course, with the Shure, no amp or wires are needed and one can't undervalue the effect of that freedom on one's enjoyment of music.So in summary the Shure is like a more convenient but slightly less comfortable HD600 sharing that headphone's very natural mids but with some of the dt990s studio monitoring characteristics with bass extending down further to sub bass and a more analytical treble. Wirelessly at least it has less mid bass quantity and punch than either which while I found unsatisfying on occasions some may appreciate for not assaulting their senses - I personally like my senses assaulted now and again!In all aspects other than wireless mid bass level then the Shure really performs very well however whether its additional clarity, detail and premium materials make it preferable over much cheaper Bluetooth ANC offerings is something only you can decide.A good first attempt from Shure with some room for improvement in their next iteration.