askchapo

I know nobody cares and everything's just ewaste in 1-5 years but consider getting something with a battery that's possible to replace if you do go bluetooth (or go wired). The electronics can fail randomly, sure, but a battery will fail, predictably.

Look it up, if it involves unsticking a lot of glue, tons of plastic clips, etc. or worse there's no documented way to do it, then you're buying future landfill material. If you can take it apart with screws and replace the battery or other parts, or use it in wired mode without the battery, then it has a chance of lasting.

The only wired headphones I've had to toss in the past... idk 8-10 years? were a pair of earbuds where the wires fell apart repeatedly, and some cheapy all-plastic sennheisers where the plastic hinge failed beyond all possibility of repair. all the other ones either have had no problems or have been able to be fixed pretty easily. I've got soviet era headphones, Sony monitors, Koss's, etc. that all still work and the hardest thing I've ever had to do was replace a plug.

This meets literally none of your requirements but consider the moondrop chu 2 DSP for ~$25

I also recommend Sony WH-1000XM4/M5 with caveats. I have the WF-1000XM4 earbuds and they work well with good noise cancellation, but Sony released a firmware update which fucked up a lot of people’s devices by shorting their batteries. People opened up their WFs and those with newer batches realized their batteries are different from the older batches; the newer batteries require a slightly higher voltage to charge, and those seem to be unaffected by the new updates while the older ones got shorted. My earbuds got fucked up abruptly after 2 years of no problems. I’m in the process of changing out the battery; if that don’t work I’m finessing Amazon. I got mine barely used for like $160 like in 2020

Sennheiser HD600 is a certified classic and good intro level audiophile-tier headphones. These are wired, but there are bluetooth amps so you can use your phone freely. Although you probably won’t be using these on the go. It’s more of a home listening pair.

What kind, price, and use case? Bluetooth, wired, open back, closed back, noise cancelling, is it for gaming, music, movies, all 3, etc.?

Soundcore do really good audio gear that is at the sweet spot of great yet cheap.

I wouldn't be surprised if the higher end of the consumer market is able to offer better gear most of the time but it's that thing where you are gonna pay 20–100% more for really marginal benefits. If you're a hardcore audiophile then you do you but for most people Soundcore is gonna be more than sufficient imo.

I'm autistic and I'm very sensitive to sound so this may not apply to you as much but noise cancelling headphones are really awesome. If you think that you would benefit from having a significant amount of sound reduction while your headphones are on after a long day at work on the trip home or if you're prone to anxiety, I'd seriously consider noise cancelling headphones even if autism wasn't in the picture for me.

People report that the noise cancelling on Soundcore units that have this feature are about 80–90% to that of the better options out there (I think maybe Sony is considered the best in this respect? I don't remember exactly but they're probably twice the price of a similar Soundcore model.) I can't attest to this fact but I thought I'd relay what reports I was able to get – some people said they are just as good but the people who have reviewed different models with that high degree of specificity that tells me that they're more likely to have discerning taste seem to indicate that Soundcore is close but not quite on the same level.

FYI I have Sony XM4s because I had the opportunity to get them and the bump in noise cancelling was worth it for my particular circumstances. (Plus I'm fucking ADHD so I forget to charge things and having quick charging as an option can be a lifesaver.) But I was very seriously considering the Soundcore Q45 model as an option (I think - check the specs and comparative reviews but I reckon this is the near-identical Soundcore alternative to the Sony model. This was a while ago so there might be newer models available at this point too.)

sony bluetooth stuff is usually pretty good for the price in my experience. i think they should sell a bt headphone for less than $150, but don't quote me on that. outside of bluetooth, audio-technica closed-back headphones in their M-X0 (like M-40, M-50, etc.) are affordable, ubiquitous, and pretty tough.

Anker Soundcore Space Q45 are commuter headphones in that budget, foldable with noise-canceling

A pair of refurbished Sony XM4s. They have excellent noise cancellation. I've had mine for a few years now. They fold nicely. The battery still goes for hours and hours.

Sennheisers, hands down.

sennheiser hd 450bt are good, but I'm not an audio nerd or anything.

People are going to hate but I love me some cheap Chinese plastic Bluetooth headphones. Around $40 is the sweet spot between trash or treasure. Read lots of Amazon reviews and do your research but when you inevitably crush, loose, or get your headphones stolen you won’t be freaked out. I’ve had my bludio Bluetooth headphones for about 6 years now and apart from some paint splatter they work and sound as good as new. I think I paid $25 for them. Thy don’t do noise cancellation or anything fancy (they might have an eq but I’ve never touched it) but the cups seal the ear well and I use them while weed whacking or using the circular saw to good effect.