PXC 550-II Wireless

What’s the budget? That’s really going to define the answer here. Like I have Senheiser pxc-550-ii and I don’t hate the quality of audio but I dislike the headphones themselves. Just not a good experience but then my use case is for work rather than audio. Though it’s put me off the brand. I have Bowers and Wilkins pi-8 in ear which I do not recommend. Audio is fine just overall not great - mine might be faulty though Overall if you’re going to spend money I’d go with Bowers and Wilkins PX8-S2 - I’ve tried them and loved the sound. And they felt really good quality too. I’d engage with the person who wants to use them though. Set a budget you’re happy with and see what they want and what they enjoy.

Build quality is pretty good. I’ve had them 4.5 years and had to replace the pads once but beyond that no issue. Pretty sturdy they get thrown in my bag when I commute etc. The battery life now isn’t amazing but pretty good and I’m on calls all day too so it’s understandable My biggest issue is (I think) the firmware. Bluetooth will sometimes just refuse to find the device I’m trying to hook it up to, sometimes it be on a call then finish and take them off, when I turn them back on a few mins later for my next call they just refuse to connect and I have to plug them in. Also the controls are a bit touchy, volume / mute / next track work fine - the hold to tell me battery life one will not work a lot of the time. I don’t regret getting them, they sound good for the money I just don’t enjoy the difficulties and so it’s put me off a second pair and the brand in general. That’s why I recommended the B&W ones - they will be my next purchase when I upgrade.

Thanks for this! I have the Sennheiser PXC 550-ii which I bought in late 2020. So I've been looking forward to upgrading!

I need to get a new pair of headphones for my gym wear, preferably with a neutral and balanced sound, obviously sweat resistant and stable on my head. No I don’t like wearing AirPods to the gym. I have used sennheiser psx550ii, which I really loved but they’re a bit old. I bought the AirPods Max but they’re just not built for gym wear as they get stinky, plus I found their sound signature a little too boomy for my taste. I was considering the skull candy crusher anc2 (I know it’s bass-y, and I don’t intend to keep the bass at max, maybe like 20-40%) Any recommendations and/or advice would be helpful

It's largely subjective. I'm a Sennheiser fanboy and have used them even before I went deaf in one ear. I'm rocking the PXC 550 II headphones right now, but they have really good wired headphones as well. HD 200's are great for the budget and had a pair for 250's for over 7 years before getting my new headset 6 years ago.

I had many bluetooth and wired headphones, even the anc is not great the PXC550 II and epos 660 adapt are the best, I have both.

Yep, PXC550 II still my favourite, very comfy and great noise cancellation. battery life still holding up for me, thankfully. When batteries give up, I'll solder in replacements.

That's so odd, I just bought myself a pair as well. My PXC 550 2s just broke after 4 and a half years and the M4s SEs were on my list. Good you enjoy! I get mine tomorrow!