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Looks Good price for these headphones and definitely very good if stacked with Paypal Catch Gift Cards!
Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H9i for $439.20 Delivered @ Digi Aussie via Catch
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they are amazing! they much better that Bose.
Sony WH1000XM4 would be better with the same price. Also this is old model, the new one — 3rd Gen, already came out on Jan.
Only if you are after noise cancelling, that's all. Otherwise it's all about sound signature, of which I feel the XM4 are extremely artificial. So it's not as simple as being better with the same price. H9i also has replaceable battery which is a great feature, and all quality leathers. The seal I get from the h9i is much better than the xm4 cups.
@onlinepred: If you are using one pair always in door then that's personal preference and I would consider the wired headphone. If you are talking about one pair for all then WH1000XM4 is better with the ANC as you wouldn't expect to hear the sound signature with car noise or some one speaking near you.
@vihand: The lambs skin earbuds block out a lot of sound, many colleagues said it feels like ANC is already on just from the lamb skin earpad seal, and the ANC in the H9i is more than capable to block out most sounds. 100% agree though, if all you are doing is walking on streets for 90% of it's use then XM3/XM4. By not means though is the XM4 a better headphone, it might just suit you better if all you need it for is ANC that is better than others ANC
Just FYI, not everything revolves around technical reviews of audio. Having owned many, including QC25/35/800 and XM3/XM4, these mid range consumer cans do not hold a grain against some of the top end cans. Once you leave the QC/XM range, you are heading towards more specific sound signatures rather than generic bass head profiles. If you owned, and wore in a set and then said the same thing I would understand, but just pointing out a rtings review doesn't mean much at all
These are now 2 generations old, unless you need the replaceable battery are these even worth a buy?
Has audio changed? No.
If these are the first gen h9i, then they have micro usb connection. But they would be better than second gen h9i, since the second gen dropped codec support for aptX. Thirs gen is what you'd want since aptX codec support is back in, and the cable used is usb-c.
second gen also gave ability to play music through usb-c and charge at the same time. Aptx is entirely useless unless you get aptx HD or LL so it's no loss at all, and would get the second gen over the first without hesitation as it's a clear upgrade.
This is another thing I would like to mention. Without aptX HD or LDAC (660kbps or 990 kbps), the audio stream via bluetooth is normally less than CD quality. Well, if you are using Iphone, that's fine as Iphone doesn't have them supported anyway as I know.
@vihand: Yea, given that you have to use Sony headphones only for LDAC, it's also mostly useless. APTX HD is quite good, but most base sound profiles ignore actual quality anyway, like XM3/XM4 drown out so many frequencies at the low end, it's mostly useless going CD quality or higher anyway. You would have to sit in a soundproof room with ANC off to even notice. People buying the XM3/XM4 aren't really into things like that in reality though, just on paper. Even with professional grade studio cans and a sound proof room, it gets hard to tell the difference between iPhone AAC and LDAC as an example. It's something you would need to sit there with specific songs, write notes and compare.
For majority of us, it's up to the sound profile that equates to sound "quality" - can I hear these things, does this sound like what I would expect, where is the stage etc etc. Then you need high quality source, so that rules out Google Play Music, iTunes, Spotify etc.@onlinepred: So what you mean is we have to compare only in SBC or AAC to chose the headphone we like? When we buy product, we can't just focus on one check box. For this headphone, the sound quality is not that ourstanding to cover it is 2 years old, without advance codecs support, heavier and not that good ANC compare to XM4 even XM3.
@vihand: What you are saying makes no sense. Audio doesn't change. These sounded incredible when they came out, and they still do, sound hasn't changed and won't lol - it's digital. BT 5.0 adds lower latency and can improve range and power use, it doesn't magically make any headphone sound good, same goes for codecs. Have you actually used the H9i? It's actually made of quality materials, like steel frame and real leather, things that make it sound unique and feel very high quality - compared to the plastic and synthetic leather build of Sony mid range heaphones. You literally can't compare. If kogan sold $20 headphones that had every codec under the sun, it doesn't mean they sound good. If you are worried about pure quality, just use these with the USB-C audio passthrough or guess what, the headphone cable!!!
Anyway, hope you enjoy your sony headphones, just realise there is a whole world out there above mid range ANC headphones.
@onlinepred: Of course there is a whole world above them as I have many of those types of headphones with me. I also used many B&O headphones including the 1st one A8(2000 version, not the recent wireless one) I still remember. As I mentioned already, consider the sound quality, i will use pure cable headphone instead of wireless one especially the balanced cable one. So for BT wireless headphone for me, sound quality is not the only mark point. A lot of others will be taken into consideration. Look at the up votes and comments compare with this one and the Sony XM3/XM4, you can see why most of us choose Sony one instead of this one. And BTW, those outside materials just let you feel it is very high quality, you would like to pay more for their looks.
@vihand: I 100% agree that OZB will vote up the XM3/XM4 the most, purely because it's a great price point for a good set of headphones that are ANC as most OZB want ANC, and most OZB will just look at RTINGS and youtube reviews rather than actually trying various headphones and comparing. That doesn't make them the best, or better than these.
What is evident is that you haven't tried these, and yet you are telling people that XM4 is better. XM3/XM4 are made for bass head consumers, if you look at RTINGS, they rate very well, because their curve is for consumer sound - AKA BASS HEAD. You play any live music through them, and they sound artificial and distant. What other headphones/bluetooth headphones do you have?
Anyway, you are also wrong about build materials, lambskin makes an incredible seal compared to synthetic leather and entirely changes sound profiles, steel and leather is a far better built material than plastic and synthetic leather - it not only reduces virbrations, but will take a beating, and actually looks really good compared to black or grey plastic.
Good brand, but reviews are worse than QC35