The Shure Aonic 50 are Shure’s first pair of ANC over ear headphones. Now even though these headphones have a solid foundation to them… like I said in their full review these headphones are a hard pass for me cause performance wise these headphones have a lot of room for improvement. And when you’re charging $400 for your headphones… you really gotta bring your A game cause the premium ANC headphone market is very competitive. Especially when you’ve got to compete with well established and very popular players like the Sony 1000XM3’s and Bose NC 700’s.  

Now first off there’s price. Since the Shure’s retail for $400 thats definitely going to open them up to more scrutiny from me. Now the Bose NC 700’s also retail for $400 and the Sony’s retail for $350. But since the Sony 1000XM4’s are right around the corner the 1000XM3’s can routinely be found on sale for $278. Now if you want to pick either of these headphones up they’ll be linked down below. And if you want to learn more about any of these headphones please watch their full reviews cause we’re only going over their main differences.

Now the next thing I want to quickly address about these headphones are their carrying cases. If you’re someone thats planning on commuting with their headphones then personally for me the Shure’s are automatically disqualified cause of their huge case that just dwarfs the Sony 1000XM3’s case and the Bose NC 700’s case. Now don’t get me wrong, Shure’s case feels premium and its going to keep your headphones cases… but this case is just huge. 

But when it comes to the headphones themselves… I don’t have any real problems with the Aonic 50’s. They feel extremely sturdy in the hand and these are a pair of headphones that I feel will stand the test of time. Where as with both the Sony’s and Bose… even though they both have decent build quality something that I do want to point out about these headphones is that you do notice a sense of wear and tear on them after a year and a half of heavy usage. Namely when you extend the headband on the Sony’s they do feel a little lose from when I first got them… and with the Bose these ear cups don’t glide as smooth as they used to. Now don’t get me wrong, both the Bose and Sony’s have good build quality… but the Shure’s just feel more durable. But something that I do have to call out on the Shure’s is that I absolutely hate this switch that toggles these headphones between Ambient Mode, ANC On, and everything off and the media controls on these headphones do feel very cheap. And also the leatherette on these headphones does feel very rubbery when compared when compared to the Bose which feel much softer, smoother and there’s a slight grain to it… and personally I do prefer Sony’s leatherette here as well cause even though this leatherette does feel very synthetic… it doesn’t feel rubbery. 

Now when it comes to actually wearing these headphones… the Shure’s are the least comfortable headphones here for a few reasons. Now first off these headphones have the most amount of clamping force here and for me I gotta say these headphones are not big head approved. Where as both the Bose and Sony’s are. But also the Shure’s have a few other things going against them as well. First off these headphones are the heaviest headphones here weighing in at 334 grams which is above average for ANC Headphones. And you really do notice these headphones when they’re on your head and especially when you’re walking around with them on. Where as the Bose weigh in at 263 grams and the Sony’s weigh in at 252 grams. So its much easier to forget that you have these headphones on. But also the ear pads on the Shure’s do feel a little more cramped than the ear pads found on the Sony’s… and if you’re someone that has larger ears or ears that stick out a lot then you’ll definitely want to go with the Bose. But more importantly, since the ear pads on the Shure’s have so much surface area coming in contact with your skin, the Shure’s do like to heat up much faster than these other two headphones. And since the bose have the least amount of surface area coming in contact with your skin… these ear pads heat up the slowest. But over all personally for me I prefer to wear the Sony’s here cause they have a little less clamping force than the Bose and for me their ear pads fit me just fine. But if you have larger ears then you’ll definitely want to go with the bose. 

Now when it comes to tech specs… all three of these headphones charge via a USB C port. But somethings the Shure’s have going for them here is that you can actually use their USB C port as a wired connection. Where as the USB C ports on both the Sony and Bose are strictly used for charging. But if you do need to use a wired connection all three of these headphones still have an audio jack just in case. 

Now when it comes to battery life… I feel that both the Shure and Bose could do better. Now they both have an advertised battery life of 20 hours which should get the job done. But we like to see more of a 25 hour battery life on ANC headphones in 2020. Where as with the Sony’s their battery life is a little above average cause they’re good for 30 hours with their ANC turned on. 

Now when it comes to their bluetooth connectivity, both the Bose and Shure can be connected to two devices at the same time so you can easily hot swap from one device to another which could be important for some power users out there. Where as with the Sony’s they can only be connected to one device at a time. So you can’t hot swap as easily. Now ultimately this isn’t a huge deal but it is nice to be able to… and hopefully that will change with the Sony 1000XM4’s. 

But when it comes to watching movies or videos on your phone, all three of these headphones have zero latency across the board whether you're using an iPhone or an android device. Which is always good. But something that I do want to point out here are the supported audio codec on these headphones. Now the Bose only support SBC and AAC. And then the Sony’s have support for SBC, AAC, APTX, APTX HD, and Sony’s own LDAC. But then there are the Shure’s which have support for SBC, AAC, APTX, APTX HD, APTX Low Latency, and they also have support for Sony’s LDAC. 

But now lets talk about listening to much with these headphones. Now first off I gotta point out that even though the Shure’s have a companion app where you can select from a few Pre Made EQ settings or you can even make your own. These EQ settings are not loaded directly on to the headphones like how if you select an EQ setting on the Sony’s then they’re uploaded directly on to the headphones themselves. So your EQ setting is going to follow you from app to app. Where as with the Shure’s if you want to change the EQ on these headphones you gotta play your locally stored music through this app. And if you were to stream music through some other app… then you’re stuck with the stock eq on the Shure’s. Now performance wise, like I said in the full review the Shure’s get very loud and I feel that anything past 90% volume is going to cause you hearing damage. And when it comes to the instrument separation and sound stage on these headphones… I feel that its very similar to the Sony 1000XM3’s. They get the job done but they can sound a little narrow. Now with their stock EQ the vocals on the Shure’s are pronounced just like the Sony’s but their highs are a little more turned up. But the biggest thing about the Shure’s is that their bass has very little physicality to it. The bass on the Shure doesn’t really rattle your head and their bass also doesn’t really resonate all that much. And even though the bass on the Shure’s doesn’t have all that much physicality to it… sometimes the bass on the these headphones does start to rattle a little bit which I feel is unacceptable for a pair of $400 headphones. And if you were to go into these headphones app and select the Low Boost EQ, then you’re going to hear that rattling more often. And even while in their Low Boost EQ these headphones barely have any physicality to them. 

Now even though I just said that the Sony’s do sound a little narrow, I still maintain that the Sony’s are the people pleasers here. Now first off these headphones have fully customizable EQ so you can make them sound how ever you want. If you want a bright EQ and focus on the vocals you can that or if you want a bass heavy EQ you can also do that. But more importantly the bass on the Sony’s is very different than the bass that you’ll find on both the Shure’s and Bose. The bass on the Sony’s resonates a good amount and you can also make their bass rattle your head a decent amount as well by raising the clear bass setting. And unlike the bass on the Shure’s… you don’t get any distortion with the bass on the Sony’s. And also I feel that having all of this physical bass at your disposal on the Sony’s is great cause if you use these headphones while watching a movie with their bass turned up, you do get an extra level of emersivness. But also if you’re just someone that really likes hip hop and R and B then all of the bass makes listening to your music a lot more fun. 

But then there are the Bose. Now the bose have the better instrument separation and sound stage here but these are better for people how like a neutral or vocals focused EQ. Now even though the bass on the Bose does resonate better and the Shure’s… the bass on the Bose isn’t going to rattle your head like the Sony’s. Now even though the Bose NC 700’s now have an adjustable EQ… even if you were to raise the bass on these headphones all the way up, they’re still not going to physically rattle your head. And if anything, if you raise the bass on these headphones too much then they start to get shallow. So sound quality wise, I feel the Sony’s should please most people cause you can make them sound how ever you want and they have a good amount of physical bass. But if you want that better instrument separation and soundstage then you should go with the Bose. 

But now lets talk about the active noise cancellation on these headphones. Now first off everything that I said about the Shure’s concerning their sound quality was with their ANC turned off. Cause if you use these headphones with their ANC turned on then they start to sound a little shallow. Where as with these other two headphones their ANC doesn’t really change how they sound. Which is good. But also performance wise plainly said the Shure’s just can’t compete here. But so that you can see for yourself we’re going to jump into an ANC test.

So like you may have just seen… its not even close. And like I said in the full review, the ANC on the Shure Aonic 50’s struggles to keep up with $200 ANC headphones like the Sony WH-CH710N and Sennheiser HD 450 BT’s. But also, the Shure’s have significantly more cabin pressure than both the Sony 1000XM3’s and Bose NC 700’s. But over all the Sony 1000XM3’s do have the best active noise cancellation here cause they block out a little road noise than the bose… and they manage to block out a chatter a little better as well. 

Now when it comes to the ambient mode on the Shure’s… its a bit of a mixed bag. The good thing about it is that it sounds very natural and there’s zero hissing in the back ground like these other two headphones… and you can even adjust how much noise these headphones let in. But personally I don’t use it past 50% cause anything after that sounds way over amplified. But the problem with the Shure’s ambient mode is that it picks up a lot of wind noise when walking outdoors. Which isn’t an issue with these other two headphones. But ultimately I do feel the Sony’s have the best ambient mode here specifically cause its the active kind. Meaning that the ambient mode on the Sony’s will actively block out sudden spikes in loud noises saving you from jump scares. Where as these other two headphones let in everything. 

But finally here’s the microphone test. Now like ive said before this isn’t the 1000XM3’s strong suit cause this microphone sounds very muffled. 

Where as with the Shure’s, I think my voice sound pretty good but unfortunately these headphones don’t really do much to block out this AC unit ive got going here.

And even with this AC unit turned off there’s still a slight hissing in the back ground and if I stay quite you’ll hear a buzzing in the background… So yeah the microphone on these headphones isn’t great. 
But then there’s the microphone on the Bose which really sounds great. My voice sounds good and they do a decent job of blocking out that AC unit. Cause if we switch over to my lapel microphone you’re going to clearly hear that AC unit. But if we switch back not as much. So if you plan on taking lots of phone calls… these headphones are a no briner. 

But over all like I said at the beginning of this video for me the Shure Aonic 50’s are a hard pass. Now I know this is Shure’s first pair of ANC headphones. But if you’re jumping into a highly competitive market then you gotta look at the well established players and build up from there. Now personally I think the Shure’s have decent build quality and they feel very sturdy in the hand. But if Shure wants these headphones to be a viable option for commuters then they gotta shrink this case down to a manageable size. And performance wise, these headphones have a lot of room for improvement. Personally for me these headphones sound very average, but their bass also lacks a lot of physicality to it. But also these headphones need to get an adjustable EQ that gets loaded directly on to the headphones themselves. Cause lets face it, the majority of people stream the majority of their music these days.  But then there’s the active noise cancellation on these headphones. The ANC on these headphones just can’t compete with these other two headphones… and honestly you’re getting less than entry level ANC headphones performance on these $400 headphones. But finally there’s the ambient mode. It sounds good but it picks up way too much wind noise. So overall, you can’t go wrong with either the Sony’s or the Bose. But right now I would hold off from getting the Sony’s cause the 1000XM4’s are right around the corner.