(NEW) Philips H5209 Over-Ear Headphones

First off, it's important to note that these headphones fill a niche: somebody who wants an over-ear style closed-back headset that has some degree of water/dust resistance (in this case, IP55). They probably shouldn't be the only pair of headphones you own and use. These are ideal for exercise (since they can handle sweat) or anywhere they might get hit with drops of rain or sand. You can even use them in the bathtub without worry of splashing on them (unlike most other over-ear sets), but be very careful not to submerge or drop them in the water. If you don't need the water resistance, you can find better audio quality and comfort. For home listening, I'd suggest springing a bit more for a comfortable open-back headset set, and for casual listening outside the house, high quality earbuds (which I'd also suggest springing a bit more for) are still ideal. However, my problem with earbuds is that when exercising, my ear canals tend to tighten up and they become extremely uncomfortable. This set is built to stay on your head while exercising, so it can feel a bit tight after a couple hours, but the earpads have a soft "cooling gel" that is better than other sets I've used, and it definitely gets more comfortable after a short break-in period. As an added bonus, the pads are removable and the outer lining is washable (although they feel pretty durable, I'm curious to see how long they last). The headband has a strip of rubber to soften the pressure, but it does feel a bit too hard and some comfort improvements could be made there. On the other hand, it feels built like a tank - they're light on your head, but still feel extremely durable. Other bonuses include a standard audio jack as an option instead of Bluetooth, big sturdy volume control buttons that aren't a pain to use like most headset controls, and an insane battery that lasts ages (I got at least the manufacturer spec of 35 hours, using them 2-3 hours a day for nearly two weeks without needing to recharge). These weren't the first pair of water-resistant cans I bought from Phillips. The previous version was the SH402, which I bought based on goodwill coming from their excellent X2 headphones I've used for years. These were an absolute travesty, with buzzing out of one side and audio quality that sounded like somebody playing music under a couch in the next room with the door closed, and I'd never returned something so fast. The A4216 set VASTLY improves on these, with very good audio quality. It's still not top-tier in the pure audio department or anything - it's a bit overly bassy with a hint of a muffled quality in the way a lot of closed-back headsets that are built to prevent audio leakage are - but it's more than good enough as a minor compromise to balance out the other benefits this set has (especially for the reasonable price), and again, if you don't need an exercise/water-resistant headset, you'd probably want to look elsewhere anyway. If you happen to be in that particular market though, I'm not sure you can really do much better than these.