Everyone's looking at the Sony XM5 headphones – but here's the ANC cans you SHOULD buy

I get why people love the Sony XM headphone lineup. They look cool, and they have the best active noise-cancelling in the business. But they are far from perfect. And exactly where they fall short, the Sennheiser Momentum 4s shine.

I'll go into detail why I think you shouldn't sleep on the Momentum 4s below, but seeing as it's Black Friday / Cyber Monday, let's just focus on price at this point. The Sony XM5s – the model before the current XM6s – are selling for £199 in the UK, and $248 in the US over at Amazon.

The Momentum 4s – the current model in Sennheiser line-up – is selling for £168 in the UK and $199 in the US over at Amazon.

With the price, and the sound quality, in mind, there's only one of these two cans that I'd add to my list of the best budget audiophile headphone, and it doesn't rhyme with pony.

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Sennheiser Momentum 4: was £200 now £168 at Amazon

Out of the 5 Bluetooth headphones that I own (yeah, I have issues), the Momentum 4s are the ones that I reach for the most. That's because they sound great, and feel really comfortable. Their 50 to 60-hour battery life also adds a stress-free element to their use... they are so easy to reccommend.

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Sennheiser Momentum 4: was $250 now $199 at BHPhoto

There's 20% off the retail price of the M4s, which beats the previous best price. And frankly, this is by far the best Bluetooth deal on the best commercial Bluetooth headphone around. Snap it up!

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Why the Momentum 4s are better than the Sony XM5s

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It's a combination of sound quality, comfort, battery life and looks, for me – all the areas that really matter the most. They sound really good out the box, and can be made to sound great with a touch of EQ. The Sony XM5s are bass monsters – not in a textured, detailed, fast bass monster kind of way. Their bass is bloated and flabby, and drowns out a lot of detail in the mids. And it can't really be salvaged with EQ.

The Sony's aren't that comfortable, either. They have really thin ear pads, where the Momentum 4s come with far more cushion, on the ears and head.

Then there's the 50 to 60-hour battery life of the Sennheiser headphones. This is industry-leading, and compares well to the Sony's 30-hours.

Where the Sony XM5s win out is the active noise cancelling feature – they are the best in the game for that. And of course, is that's the most important thing for you, you should definitely get the XM5s. But the Momentum 4s do a good enough job of ANC that I just don't see it as a slam dunk for Sony anymore. There are too many things in Momentum's favour for me to ever choose the XM5s (or indeed the XM6s) over them.