Microsoft Surface Wireless Noise Canceling Bluetooth Headphones (Gray)

I've been using these regularly since December.

1) Sound quality is fine. Not great, not bad. Fine. My brother has the XM3s and the Sonys sound significantly better. I knew this before I bought them, and I'm okay with that. If you're an audiophile, you won't be happy, but then again audiophiles wouldn't be happy with any wireless cans, so nyeh.

2) The "always-on Cortana" which plagued early reviews has been fixed. You have to download the Cortana app to do so, but you can toggle this off (and then delete the app immediately afterwards if you so choose). Battery life has 100% been a non-issue for me.

3) The dial controls are fun, but for me, the ANC is either all the way up or all the way down. While I do enjoy the controls, I really like and would have preferred the Sonys ability to cup my hand over the right earpiece to quickly disable the ANC. The Surface Headphones don't really have a comparable feature (unless you got really good at twisting both the left and right dials all the way forward very quickly).

4) Noise cancellation seems a little glitchy. I work in a data center, so the constant, droning hum of hundreds of servers is the perfect test scenario for ANC (please note that I have not had a chance to test the Sonys or any other ANC cans in this environment). Most of the time, it works great. You completely forget how loud the data center is to the point where taking the headphones off is almost startling. But it seems like it sound penetrates the ANC at certain angles. It's kind of hard to explain. I can stand in one spot and barely hear the outside world, but if I turn my neck a few degrees in either direction, suddenly the server hums are clearly audible, as though the microphones are picking up the sound and slightly amplifying it in one ear rather than cancelling it. It almost sounds like the ear cup is lifting off my head a bit, but it's not. It's a little subtle and it doesn't ruin the headphones for me, but it's annoying to feel like they aren't functioning as intended.

5) The main reason I chose these over the Sonys is the ability to connect to multiple devices simultaneously. This unfortunately has turned out to be a pretty big disappointment. I have these connected to my 1st gen Surface Laptop and my Pixel 3XL. On multiple occasions, I've gone from my laptop to my phone and then it couldn't go back to my laptop. Toggling Bluetooth off and back on didn't fix it, I had to manually disconnect and reconnect the device, which is what I was trying to avoid doing in the first place. It doesn't happen every time but it's happened enough to make me regret the purchase considering this was its main selling point to me.

It's a solid attempt for a first gen product but has given me a lot of buyer's remorse. I feel bad for anyone who paid the original MSRP for these.

One big benefit of these headphones over the Sony XM3 is that you can connect multiple devices at once for seamless play from phone and computer. An essential feature for work headphones.

Plus, at this price, they're significantly cheaper than QC35s and Bose 700s unless they get big discounts.

I may get a pair based on convincing testimony from MKBHD, a top tech YouTuber https://youtu.be/nuNYtj8keaE][/url]

edit: semantics

Also the warranty process with Microsoft is worth mentioning.

I bought it last year at Best Buy and the rubbery part of the headband got loose and there was no way to put it back in place. I brought it to the local MS store, no questions asked and walked out with a brand new set within 10 minutes.

Overall great headphones, for those looking to connect two devices at a same time and for those with bigger ears. I tried both bose and Sony and they couldn't cover my ears completely, Surface actually did.