Life Necessity: Noise Cancelling Headphones

The time has come!

I've been yapping about my noise cancelling headphones on Instagram Stories for months at this point. I'm 99.9% sure people are super sick of watching me bop around my day to day while wearing these suckers. But I have no shame. I'm so in love.

I work in a really open office environment and as a human of OCD nature - I need to feel like I have my own space. And I definitely need to be able to focus. Between the general office noise to the side conversations, having noise cancelling headphones is a must.

But here's the jam - people get super passionate about what brand of noise cancelling headphones they use. As soon as I started the shopping process I was swarmed with opinions about what the "BEST" headphones are. From Bose to Beats to Sony, everyone has a favorite and everyone loves to tell you about it. 

I'm a researcher so I definitely loved gathering up reviews and going through the shopping process. At the end of the day I ended up going with the Sony 1000X wireless noise cancelling headphones. 

Let's break down all the reasons why noise cancelling headphones are a life necessity and why I chose Sony over the well loved Bose.

Also PSA my lashes look so spidery in these photos because I stopped doing extensions and my poor little lashes are destroyed! Bear with me.

Now don't get it twisted: I actually own a pair of Bose noise cancelling headphones. The Bose Quiet Comfort 25's to be exact. And I love them.

Fun fact time! I actually got my Bose for free during my brief stint contracting for Pinterest. I was doing some contract curation and was in their offices getting some training and dealing with some tech issues. The rest of the group was leaving the building and I had to hang back because I was struggling to log on to the server.

"I'm so sorry I'm the only one with tech problems," I apologized to the two IT guys kicking it behind the IT counter. "Well...." one said, "now you're the only one with BOSE HEADPHONES." And he slid a brand new box (plastic and everything) of the Bose QC25's across the table.

And my jaw dropped.

I come from a retail world - not tech. We barely have snacks to give away let alone effing Bose headphones. Lolz. I remember looking around as if someone was going to accuse me of stealing. "Go on, take it. Seriously. They're for you."

I could have cried. So seriously, thank you my long lost IT friend. I still tell this story to this day.

I love my QC25's. I seriously do. The quality of Bose is downright amazing. But those suckers aren't wireless (that's the big difference between the Bose QC25 and QC35, the 35's are wireless).

So after a year of wearing my gifted headphones religiously (fully proving to myself I would use a wireless pair if I coughed up the money) I knew it was time to start shopping.

I like to keep it real with you guys.

I am not a "music person." I'm not big on concerts. I am not a sound quality snob. I'm just not. Those aren't the things I value most in headphones. 

The things I think make for the perfect pair of headphones are:

Wireless (duh). Sometimes I would literally stand up from my desk and start to walk away while wearing my Bose QC25's...and subsequently my laptop and/or phone would hit the floor. Nailed it.

Ability to cancel out a wide variety of noises. Life is just full of noises. Lots. Of. Noises. And I want to eliminate all of them. Airplanes, voices, traffic - all of these are types of noises I consider when testing out pairs of noise cancelling headphones.

Voice quality. I may not be big into music, but I am big into podcasts. I'm pretty picky about how voices sound in headphones - no distortion please!

Comfort. My poor little ears are very sensitive. Between my constantly aching ear piercings and my previously burst eardrums (long childhood story) comfort is a must.

Shop Headphones

 

When it came time to shop I found myself choosing between the Bose QC35's, the Sony 1000x, and the Beats Solo3.

Beats I was super attracted to because they were small and damn good looking. Like really. Those suckers are aesthetically pleasing. But - and it's a big but - they aren't noise cancelling. So those were off the table fairly quickly.

So there I was stranded in the middle of Best Buy torn between the two big headphone brands: Bose & Sony. It was such a close call, guys. Obviously I ended up choosing the Sony 1000x's and for no big reason, but a handful of small ones.

The 1000x has the ability to auto adjust for various types of noises (ambient, traffic, etc) which I found super helpful. I also fell absolutely in love with the ability to briefly stop noise cancelling by covering your right ear. I get a lot of random questions at work and it's always a pain to fully take off my headphones. I died over the idea I could just pause the noise cancelling, hear the question, answer back, and go back to cancellation. All without removing my headphones. Dead. Died. Brought back to life. Live it. Love it. OBSESSED.

Also - I wanted something different. The only real difference (I felt) between the Bose 25's and 35's was the wireless aspect. I wasn't sure I wanted to spend hundreds of dollars for a pair of headphones I already own (minus the wire). Honestly if I didn't already own a pair of Bose noise cancelling headphones - I probably would have bought Bose. Why? For nothing more than the name. I'm pretty brand loyal!

That being said - I love my Sony's. Now, owning both a pair of Bose and Sony's, I can honestly say there's not a wild difference between the two.

Go with your gut! But definitely pick up a pair. Noise cancelling headphones are life.

Do you own noise cancelling headphones? Tell me what pair you own in the comments below!