Best sounding ANC headphones below Rs 30,000!

Shure had launched its first ANC headphones, the Aonic 50 in India late last year at Rs 33,999. The headphones got rave reviews, especially for their very high-quality sound. At that price, though, they were almost as expensive as the Bose 700 (generally Rs 34,500) and more expensive than the Sony WH-1000 MX4 (Rs 29,999). And although Shure is a huge name among those who know audio (they have been around since 1925), that high price made them lose out to the better-known Bose and Sony headphones. Most people would go with a better-known name at a high price, hey?

Well, they are now available at a much lower price. The Shure Aonic 50 are available for Rs 23,999 at Amazon India and Rs 26,999 at Headphonezone India. There is no indication that this is a special offer so we are assuming this is a long-term price cut – and quite a big one, at almost thirty percent.

Still very hefty in size

At their new reduced price, the Shure Aonic 50 sure make for a very compelling deal for anyone looking for a premium pair of ANC headphones. We would even go out and say that if the good wireless sound is your requirement, these are your best option!

Yes, they are very big and at over 300 grams, definitely on the heavier side, and they also do not fold into a very compact shape. But the padding is very good, and the headphones are very solidly built – we would say in terms of build quality, if you do not mind the bulk, they are better than their Bose and Sony rivals. There is also a very good case in the package – mine you, these would require a spacious backpack to be tossed into.

Still sounding great

The great thing about them however is the quality of sound they produce. You get fantastic clarity – yes, better than the Bose and Sony, we think – and the level of detail is close to what audiophiles would love. It is almost as if you were hearing it over wires – yep, that good. And you can connect to two devices at the same time and switch between them, although the switching process is a little erratic from our very brief experience.

There is a catch, though. As the Shure Aonic 50 are actually targeted at the audiophile crowd, they do not come with any distinct flavoring, so you do not get the slightly warm and pleasant sound that comes from a well-balanced Bose or a slightly bass accented sound that the Sony WH-1000XM4 produce, or well that slightly sharper sound you get from the AirPods Max.

The sound on the Shure Aonic 50 actually can almost be a little flat, because hey, that was the way it was made, and that is how the headphones make you want to hear it. If you are into a lot of underground, hip hop, and trance, you might find these a little dull. But if you like jazz, classic rock, or are a fan of folk and country, the clarity of these is seriously next level.

Major codec support and great ANC

We are told that the reason for this is the fact that unlike its competitors, the Aonic 50 actually supports a number of high-quality audio codecs, including Qualcomm aptX, aptX HD, aptX Low Latency audio, Sony LDAC, AAC, and SBC. In simple words, these are equipped for delivering very good audio without wires (they support Bluetooth 5.0). Incidentally, neither the Sony WH-1000XM4 nor the Bose 700 support aptX. Surprising, but true. The Aonic 50 are also a lot louder than Bose and Sony – they come with 50 mm drivers after all. There is an app that lets you control sound too – we did not need to use it, but it is there.

These are also excellent for watching films and gaming as there is next to no latency. And while we have not used them extensively for calls, our colleagues who have used them have called them exceptional, more so after a recent software update. They also come with about twenty hours battery life, have very good ANC (we are informed on par with Sony and Bose), charge over a USB Type-C port, and also have a 3.5 mm audio jack to use as wired headphones.

What’s their downside? Frankly, apart from their size and weight, we have not heard any complaints at all about them, although there have been some mutterings about no touch controls (everything happens through buttons). A few of our basshead friends hated the flat sound signature but then they are the Skullcandy Crusher or Sony Xtra Bass types. Every audiophile or serious music fan who has heard the Aonic 50 has had good things to say about them. Our own experience with them for a few hours was frankly stunning – as we said earlier, they sounded as good as wired headphones in terms of clarity and detail.

The best sounding ANC headphones below Rs 30,000? At their new price, definitely, we think.

Buy Shure AONIC 50

(Note: these prices were available at the time of writing. They might be subsequently withdrawn.)