Customer Ratings & Reviews

Immediately upon opening the packaging box, my reaction was “Boy, this has got to be the biggest case ever!”. I mean, we are talking 10” in diameter! While I appreciate the fact that this case would protect this investment quite effectively, I do wonder who would tote this huge case around while commuting, rather than leaving it at home for proper headphone storage. However, upon taking the headphones out of the case, I was like: “Wow, these are some great-looking headphones!” At this point, the case’s size was no longer a concern. The black AONIC 50 Headphones simply look stunning, with their sleek design, ionized metal arms, and chrome logo on the cups. It screams luxury and it is something I would be proud to take on a business class flight, a work meeting, or video conference. These seem very well built and durable. The headband is made of faux leather on top with sturdy stitching and is quite flexible. The earcups are made of a matte plastic, and, while they did attract some fingerprints, look great, nonetheless. The right earcup holds all the controls. Personally, I would have liked the buttons to be dispersed between the earcups as this seems to me a bit too clustered. Once I got used to the layout, I am happy to say I was able to control with ease all functions -power, volume, play/skip/forward, and assistant from one side. There is also a slider that controls noise cancellation (ANC), which I think is a bit awkward and somewhat clunky, but still effective. There, you also have a USB-C charge/connection port, which I appreciate for future-proofing. On the left side, we have the 2.5mm to 3.5mm jack, which I think is odd, but Shure included a cable for it. The most important factor, at least for me, is the sound quality. In this regard, I am very pleased with the default sound signature of the AONIC '50s. Having support for multiple codecs including Bluetooth 5.0 Qualcomm® aptX™, aptX™ HD, aptX™ LL and more, there is something for everyone. Without getting into audiophile territory, the 50mm drivers produce an even or flat-oriented sound with distinct separation and great soundstage. The bass is punchy, but in some cases may lack depth or resonance. Personally, I don’t mind this as I like the bass to be tight and not overbearing. The mids are clear and present and the high frequencies are not fatiguing or harsh. I found the sound great for easy listening, classic rock, classical music, live performances, and podcasts/audiobooks. Perhaps these may not be the best for hip-hop, EDM, or any deep bass-oriented music. Overall, I believe these provide an exceptional listening experience, which I expected from Shure. When it comes to comfort, these cans are decent. The headband padding is good enough, with good clamping on the sides. I found that the headphones shifted often while walking -especially on a hike with uneven terrain. The earpads are super soft and do not rub against my ears (I will admit that I have small ears) and had no issues wearing glasses. After a couple of hours, the side of my ears did get a bit hot and sweaty, so keep that in mind, especially if you rock out to music as I do. Call quality is good. I was told my voice sounded clear, a bit tinny and recessed, but clear. There were no hiccups or breakup. I did try calling in different environmental settings. The noise cancelling (ANC) was not quite to the standard of other headphones I own, but I thought it was well implemented. It helps that the headphones themselves can block a lot of ambient noise passively. I tried this feature while washing dishes, walking on a heavily trafficked road, and while the TV was on. Again, while not overly impressed, the ANC did block most of the noise. Perhaps this can be improved through a firmware update later on. The Environment Mode simply picks up the sound around you through the microphones. It’s a convenient feature when you need to be aware of your surroundings, like crossing a street or listening for the next train stop announcement. Again, it is nice to have but to me, it is a feature I really will not be using all that much. If you do get these headphones, I recommend downloading the ShurePlus PLAY app. There, you can adjust and customize settings like noise cancellation, environment mode, the equalizer, and update the firmware. You can also play music straight from there, but I thought it was a bit unecessary in my opinion. Other good things about the AONIC 50s include a 20-hour battery life (so far so good), strong connectivity throughout my medium-size apartment, experiencing no lag while watching videos, and high-resolution playback through USB-C, which I appreciated when gaming on my PC. In the end, I believe the Shure AONIC 50 ANC Wireless Headset is a welcome and worthy addition to the world of premium headsets. So far, no ANC headset at this price range has been perfect for me, and this also is no exception. Having stated this, I highly recommend checking these bad boys before making any decisions on other comparable headphones from other well-known brands, and if you do decide to get these, you definitely will not be disappointed.

The first thing that jumped out at me was that everything from the packaging to the headphones themselves screamed quality. The headset is solid with a build quality second to none, and comes in a quality (albiet a bit large) carrying case to store them. Some may be turned off by the fact that the headphones do not fold-- the ear cups roatate and the headset flattens for storage. Portability is not their strong suit. It seems durability took precedence. The removable earcup pads and headband are well cusioned with a soft faux leather covering. Comfort was excellent, though they may get a bit warm form some in hot, humid conditions. Extended usage for several hours did not alther the comfort -- they were great in that regard. Noise cancellation was excellent. Standing next to a gas powered tile cleaning machine (see picture), you could hear a bit of a drone when speaking but the call was clear. There was feedback to the call recipient however. While playing music the outside noise was barely perceptible and soon forgotten. The noise cancelling is adjustable, and at the high settings the noise was even less noticeable, however the music was slightly flatter to me. Not a huge deal, but the change in spatial sound is perceptible. The high density foam used in the earpads also doe a good job of passive isolation. Connection is via wire or bluetooth, and the Shure Aonic 50 seems support all the high end codecs (aptX, aptX HD, aptX Low Latency, AAC, LDAC) required for reproducing high fidelity sound. Mulit point bluetooth is supported allowing connectivity to two devices at the same time. Battery life is a claimed 20 hours with ANC. After 2 days of normal use, the headset is still at 88%. Shure offers and app which allows you to control certain features as well as check and update the firmware (the evaluation was on the latest firmware (0.4.9.0) Sound is awesome. Drums were tight and snappy, and vocals were wonderful. In instances where vocals were somewhat overwhelmed in other headphones when multiple instruments can detract from the vacals, The Aonic 50s kept the vocals from being masked while the other instruments were clear and distinct. These are fantastic at reproducing music. Overall the sound quality is stellar, and the noise cancelling is quite effective. Compared to my Sony WH-1000XM4 which I considered to be in a class of its own, the Shure Aonic 50 is right up there when it comes to performance. The Aonic has a higher MSRP than the WH-1000XM4, but the Shure uses higher quality -- and more expensive materials, which may justify it's higher price tag. For me, if price were not a consideration, the Aonic 50 would be my favorite headset.

The Shure brand name strikes a note of expertise, respect and high quality. I was eager to see how they fared in the wireless headphone realm and was happy to try out these Shure AONIC 50 Active Noise Cancelling Wireless headphones. It's becoming a very competitive arena now in this category and the Shure's play with the best of them. The price is a bit higher than most but it pays off in quality. The first distinction about the AONIC 50s is the packaging. It comes in a round box which stands out among the crowd. In the box you'll find the a high quality, round padded carrying case, the headphones, a 3.5 mm audio cable to connect to audio equipment and a USB A to USB C charging/connecting cable. One thing I thought was missing were the instructions. I went online to download a PDF but it turns out they are tucked in a pocket on the underside of the box lid, so keep an eye out before disposing of the packaging. There is also a companion Shure Plus Play app. You can control the level of ANC or environmental sounds allowed in or out. It also has a customizable equalizer function and several pre-programmed sound profiles. I got the app to work for a short time before it crashed but it may be due to the fact that my iPhone 12 Pro is running beta software. I tested the existing sound profiles in between several app/iphone restarts but for me, it's really unusable at the moment. I hope Shure has an update for the app soon so I can fully try it out. The headphones are constructed of what appears to be solid aluminum and leather. I'm not sure if the leather on the earcups (both are removable/replaceable) and headband are genuine leather but it's very premium and plush regardless. The headphones are very light compared to my other wireless headphones which was a major plus but the headband seemed to have a tighter fit than I am used to. I'm sure in time, they will become more comfortable. The earcups are clearly marked L or R on the inside and fit very nicely over my ears. The left earcup has the 3.5 mm plug so you can use the included cable or an existing 3.5 mm cable to make them wired if you choose. The right ear cup has a few buttons on it that control power, play/pause, volume up and down and the on/off for the ANC function.With the ANC off, you can hear the sounds around you amplified so that you can talk or listen to people while still wearing them. It's a popular function now among the wireless headphone brands. The buttons are a little hard to locate by feel and I actually prefer the touch sensitive functions that other brands are incorporating. For me, it's harder to go back to actual buttons once I went down the touch sensitive route. Setting up these headphones couldn't have been easier. Once powered on, they immediately went into pairing mode and I was up and running within 20 seconds. It was amazing. They are Bluetooth 5.0 so the range is around 30 ft., and they support a ton of audio codecs like apt X, apt XHD, apt X Low Latency, Sony LDAC, AAC and SBC. That is far more than my other wireless headphones and is much appreciated. The battery is listed at 20 hours with ANC off. I'm not sure how long they are listed to last with the ANC function on, but It seems they may not run as long as a few of their competitors. However, you do get 4 hours of use with just a 15 minute charge which is nice. For me, the actual listening performance of these headphones is a bit of a mixed bag. I listened to a wide selection of music from Electronica, eg. Above & Beyond, all the way to Classical. The AONIC 50s sounded great with virtually everything I listened to. They have great spatial separation and robust bass without being too heavy. However, I did consistently experience some distortion in the bass, I believe, which was surprising. For testing the EQ profiles built into the Shure Plus Play app, I settled on Billie Eillish's No Time to Die. For me, it has a nice array of highs, mids and lows. I listened to it for each of the pre-programmed EQ profiles ( I believe there are 5 with the ability to modify them to create custom versions) and unfortunately, I experienced the same distortion in certain parts of the song. In general, they really do sound warm and spacious but compared to my favorite pair of wireless headphones I use most often, they fall a bit short and it was a little disappointing. Overall, Shure has done an amazing job with their first foray into the wireless headphone arena. The AONIC 50s are light, constructed from very high quality materials and sound pretty amazing. Yes, I found a few small issues but I really am enjoying them and plan of using them much more. Hopefully the app issues will be resolved soon and I can tweak the EQ settings to help eliminate the distortion I experienced. I'm definitely looking forward to it.

It is difficult to write a review for these headphones for different reasons. First, I would not call these portable since they are not portable. Second, the noise cancellation is good, but not the best. So why would I purchase these? Comfort is outstanding, LDAC connection is solid, hi res, lo-res streaming sounds great and entertaining. Bass is solid by not exaggerated leaving the details of the music intact. These are now my go to headphones except for travelling.

I wanted to write a review comparing these to the Sony WH-1000xm4 headphones, which I bought a few months ago and ended up returning. For my uses, these are much better headphones. These have excellent sound quality with a studio monitor - style flatter response, with much better high and mid-level sound quality than the sony's. This was my first priority and I found them head and shoulders better than the sony cans, which were subpar and all around tinny sounding. I think sony probably used cheaper drivers. The sound just seemed dull, with lots of lost details, where the Shure headphones have more detailed, richer sound. The Sony phones have better ANC hands down, but I found these more than adequate for a 10 hour flight from honolulu to charlotte with screaming kids in the next row. The screaming was reduced to a tolerable murmur. I liked the "environment mode", which turns up the ambient sound slightly in one ear so you can have a conversation (for instance getting a drink from the flight attendant without taking off the headphones). The Sony have a touch response where you rub your finger on the right headphone and it changes the volume, skips, etc. There are lots of annoying beeps and the swiping works about two out of three times. The Shure have tactile buttons for all of your adjustments, volume, ANC level, play/pause, etc and the volume adjustments are silent, with no beeps. I found that this worked a lot better for me. The Shure headphones lose points for the HUGE travel case - the Sony's folded up much smaller. Also instead of having a standard 1/8 jack they have some weird proprietary jack. I hate that kind of thing. At least the charging is USB-C (and you can apparently listen through the USB-C port, although I haven't tried this out) The other bizarre thing about these headphones is the app. The equalizer would not work with the spotify streaming codec so I had to download a different equalizer app. I thought this was really annoying and found that the sony app worked much better. Both the shure and sony headphones have good build quality. These are a bit heavier and mostly aluminum which makes me feel like they might withstand more abuse, but really if you are spending this much on headphones you shouldn't be abusing them. The sony travel case, as I mentioned, is a much better size. Long story short, if you really need to drown out ambient sound, like 100% of the time, and aren't picky about your music get the Sony WH-1000's. They block everything. If you want a pair of fantastic bluetooth headphones with a few quirks but no dealbreakers, good ANC, and a superior build quality I would opt for these Shure Aonic headphones. I would hope that the next generation would fold up better and get rid of the proprietary audio port.

Music quality is above average if you lean towards bass. But Bose and Sony have better wireless and noise cancellation.

headphones sounded great, did get a complaint about the mic and had to return as they were unable to connect to either Teams or my phone for call audio on three occasions, despite being connected via Bluetooth. would recommend for personal use but not so much for business.

Used it on an 11:30h flight to Europe and it was ok. Unfortunately the noise canceling worked not as good as I hopped. It works amazing when you can use the app but not as good without it. If you are planning on using it just to watch movies on a plane buy a cheaper one.

Great sounding natural headphones with good NC features. This is the bottom line of the Shure Aonic 50 headphones, the first NC headphone by audio company Shure. Overall, these are a great sounding headphone for those that crave a natural soundstage, along with a tight, refined bass dynamic. The NC leaves a bit to be desired, though, so if that’s your first concern you may want to look elsewhere. Build quality is solid, and overall I think they’re a comfortable headphone for 3-hour listening sessions. I didn’t test them for longer, but the foam on ear cups are plushy enough for comfort, but also seem quality enough to last. The metal construction also seems solid. The biggest two gripes I have about the Aonic 50’s are the carrying case and the NC features. First, the case: it’s big, round, and sort of hard to fit in places. Plus, since the headphones don’t fold up they are a bit harder to lug around for trips and such. As for NC, there are three modes, one to help hear ambient sound, one with no NC on, and another with NC on. This is distinct because each mode changes how the Aonic’s sound, and sometimes not for the better. The best pure sound mode. When you switch NC on, the headphones lose some of their range and the sound becomes more muffled, and muddled. This is sort of expected, but the profile is a noticeable difference. I much prefer the natural sound without any NC features on. As for the wireless bluetooth connection, I haven’t had any issues with them, and overall battery life is good, roughly around 17-hours with two full battery drains tested, with some NC listening and some not. Charging is fast and the case can hold multiple cables, which is nice. Again, I think these headphones are a welcome addition to the plentiful NC headphone scene, and should fit the sound profile that some are looking for. If you want a warmer, deeper sound, you should probably look elsewhere, though.

Decided to return to a pretty high price compared to the market

These headphones are probably the most solidly built pair I've used. The materials are high quality and they feel like they will stand up to a ton of use. They are a tad stiff for me personally so I don't feel they are the most comfortable pair. However these have good sound quality and impressive noise canceling. I've been working from home like a lot of people and sometimes need to tune out the rest of the house. These work great for that and allow me to focus on work and get through the day. Battery life is surprisingly long with the noise canceling on as well. The packaging was another bonus for storing everything.

While on a business trip, my ears were starting to get sore from using earbuds. I found this model at a store in the airport and gave them a listen. I was very impressed by their accuracy and transparency. However, it was more money than I wanted to spend and I was a bit concerned about purchasing from an airport store. So it was grin and bear the earbuds. I did some price shopping and found $299 was the price and also found them at a nearby Bestbuy. So I bought them. The next day was my flight home. Having easily paired to my phone, I charged them and downloaded the app. I was now ready for my flight home. All that being said here are my thoughts after a continuous 9 hour audition: Very accurate and immersive sound. No matter what I played through them it was a very faithful reproduction to the original recording. No exaggerated bass or scooped mids to satisfy the pop culture crowd. These provide a very accurate and detailed soundstage and will easily show poor music production. These headphones played hard rock or acoustic music with equal results. (Great sounding performance). Noise canceling was superb! My ears were saved from the constant droning of the plane engines. Comfort was also amazing. My ears and head never got tired of wearing them. These headphones are extremely well made and the choice of aluminum at the highest stress areas are a welcomed sight. Now that Ive sung their praises, here are their shortcomings; The switches are difficult to feel. They are pretty well flush mounted to the housing and finding them is a bit of a challenge. I expect to get used to this over time but my initial thought was. “WOW! For a headphone so well executed, why did they not spend just a little more attention on the feel of the switches”. If you are looking for over rated cans designed for excessive bass thumping, you probably want to look elsewhere. However, if your goal is a pristine reproduction of your library this is probably your best choice. Here are a list of the bands i used in my audition: Abba, Black Sabbath, Blind Faith, Blind Melon, Eric Clapton, James Taylor, Led Zeppelin, Jim Croce, Janice Joplin, Iron Maiden, Thomas Dolby, Styx, Queen, Vince Gauraldi, and The Boston Pops…. That should cover pretty much the whole spectrum. Thanks for reading my lengthy post. I hope this helps make your decision.

Headphones have recently become an everyday utility for me since being forced to work from home since the spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a device I have mainly be wearing for about 8 hours a day to juggle a variety of uses, such as conferencing with coworkers during meetings, listening to music while focused on my work, and taking them on the go for my daily exercise routine. The only problem? My existing headphones weren't that great at noise cancelling when needing to focus on important work tasks while sharing your housing with other neighbors beside you who tend to be a bit of an annoyance at inappropriate times. I will admit they are a subpar brand and didn't cost me anything since they were provided by my job for work, but it was definitely time for an upgrade. Then the perfect opportunity arose to give Shure's first wireless noise cancelling pair of headphones, the AONIC 50, a chance to give me peace of mind for my workday and beyond. I will admit, these are very nicely designed headphones and they feel great on my head. For the price point, you definitely want a product that's built robustly and is going to give you what you pay for, and the AONIC 50 does the job in that department quite well. They also don't feel quite as "ear heavy" like other headphones tend to be which can become a sore as you wear them for long periods of time. You also get a hard carry case to protect them in, and while it's quite bulky it's a great reminder to the owner that they own a product from the same company that's known for making professional recording and studio equipment. The AONIC 50 comes with several control functions on the side of the earpiece including the ability to control music, phone calls, and it's active noise cancelling (ANC) tech using a simple switch between "Environment mode", allowing you to listen to the world outside you while in use, or ANC which does the opposite. There is both normal and "MAX" (the default) ANC settings to switch from based on the level of noise around you. You can use the AONIC 50's wirelessly using Bluetooth, or you can use them the traditional way with an included 3.5mm audio cable. The AONIC 50 charges using USB-C; a charging cable is provided as well. Regarding wireless connectivity, according to Shure, "The AONIC 50 has Bluetooth® 5 wireless technology for enhanced stability and a range of up to 30 feet (10 meters). A2DP 1.3, AVRCP 1.6, GAVDP 1.3, HFP 1.7, HSP 1.2, IOPT, TCRL profiles are supported." The sound quality is absolutely incredible as I would expect from a quality Shure product. I paired my AONIC 50 to my iPhone and started listening to a variety of tracks from my own music collection. It's important to note that none of the music I play is streamed from the likes of Spotify or Apple Music, but rather the collection of music I own, in order to play the highest quality music files to get the most out of the AONIC 50. I even downloaded some public domain LDAC files and gave those a whim to really hear the best out of these headphones. I'm really impressed with the overall balance between bass-midrange-treble response across a variety of genres, like rock, reggae, hip hop, electronic and Latin. The engineers at Shure really spent a great deal in delivering a set of headphones that deliver quite an experience. The only other thing I hoped they really spent a great deal on is the centerpiece feature of the AONIC 50 which is active noise cancelling. I can still notice a good amount of mid and high-pitched noise not being blocked out while wearing them, and I made sure I was even on the MAX setting. The obvious solution many people would tell you is to play some music and up the volume a bit, but there's other times where I just want to listen to dead silence without needing to play continuous white noise playing to help keep me relaxed and concentrated. Maybe I'm expecting too much from this pair to go that above and beyond in giving me total peace and quiet, or maybe I'm just really sensitive to noise? Beats me. In conclusion, the AONIC 50s are very nicely built headphones that sound harmonious and is going to be an excellent option for the music lover but if you're looking to use these for frequent travel in noisy environments, like taking the train or flying on planes often, it may not perform as well as other well-known ANC headphone models from the likes of Bose and Sony. ANC headphone models from both of these brands have been extensively reviewed by thousands of people around the world and are known to deliver excellently in that aspect. Otherwise, if you're making sound quality a top priority while still being able to block out enough noise to make it a symphony in your ears, then you can't go wrong with the Shure AONIC 50 - just make sure you explore all other options are similar or lower price points prior to making your final decision. Enjoy!

Pros: Sound quality and noise cancelling are great features well worth the price and purchase. Bluetooth pairing and setup is nearly seamless straight out of box and fast. Charging is quick and easy. One charge will give a few days of power at moderate use. Con:Not much other than size and weight as they are larger and heavier than some other wireless models I have tried. This does also make them feel more substantial and maybe well built than cheaper/lighter weight models. Overall I am happy with them and have been using them several times a week.