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Originally Posted by Table 5
Only for listening to music while at my desktop. No gaming or calls (I use my AirPods for conference calls). I want to max out the quality of the music, while still having some level of noise cancellation. It's why I am leaning towards something wired, seems like that would be best for quality.
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I am not aware of many ANC options for wired headphones, it's usually bluetooth. The best you can do is have a wired and closed headphone with a good seal. Also, once you hit a certain minimum threshold, the bluetooth headphones aren't as limited as they used to be, especially if you're coming from a pair of HD555. Lots of great wired headphone options once you drop the ANC requirement, but I'll stick with ANC request for now.
Mid level wise, I think the Sony XM6 and Bose Quietcomfort (newest model) are going to be improvements to the HD555 for fidelity. I haven't tried the Bose QC, but I tried the Sony XM4.
I ultimately returned them because the fidelity was odd for certain types of media, but certain types of music, it had that spice that I didn't get from more neutral and studio type reproduction putting a huge grin on my face. It was a struggle to return the XM4 and the ANC was really damn good/created an interesting intimate effect. I think the XM6 has addressed that fidelity, but I have never tried them.
If you must get something wired... the latest model Sennhesier Momentum latest model has good fidelity/probably similar sound profiled to your current headhones and can be used wired and wireless and if you're going from no ANC of the HD555 to some ANC, it'll probably be good enough even though it doesn't hold a candle to the ANC of the Sony and Bose. The only other one I can think of in the same realm is the Sony INZONE H9 II gaming headset that uses some XM6 drivers. However, I don't know if the wire actually helps dramatically for fidelity vs other options, but I think if the H9 II sound checks out, quality wise, it would be very likely that you won't have to swap for doing calls... but maybe look wise, you don't like the look of having a headset on your head so you swap anyways.