Audio sources for comparison testing were a Samsung Galaxy Tab S tablet, a Cubot X9 phone and, an Avantree Saturn transmitter for television speech latency. Music was mp3 at 230 or 329 kbps and included Samantha James (acoustic and electronica), Stonebridge, Christina Perri, Adrian Legg, AC/DC, Deva Premal and Ed Sheeran. The SHB9850NCs were played-in for seven hours before listening. The sound from the Tab S was good whether the connection was Bluetooth or wired. Bluetooth sound in the Cubot X9 needed the Dance Eq - especially as I use it in the gym – and, the wired sound was dry. I checked the wired output from the Cubot with the analytical Optoma NE800M in-ear headphones and there wasn’t a problem, so there may be an impedance issue. The Avantree Saturn and the SHB9850NCs worked well with sound from the television. Avantree quote about 160 milliseconds latency, and I could hear a very slight delay with one ear cup held away from my head, but with the headphones in place there was no discernible loss of lip sync. Now that the Bluetooth left hand channel has reappeared on the Philips Fidelio M2BT headphones, I've been able to compare the sound of the SHB9850NCs and the M2BTs. The M2BTs have punchier bass, better clarity and balance so you really get into the music; given that the SHB9850NCs are much cheaper and have active noise cancellation, that could be a compromise that most people will take. I have to say though that the padding on the M2BT ear cups does keep out a lot of external noise.
The headband is larger and slightly looser than the M2BTs and the earcups are meant to enclose the ears. However, just like the Momentum 1 headphones, my ears are too large to fit inside them. Despite having a scar on one ear, I found the headband and earcups to be quite comfortable although the shape of the earcups tends to the elliptical rather than the circular earcups on the M2BTs.
I had problems with the touch controls. After a while in the gym they would detect a hand or shoulder near the right earcup and switch off; this was noticeable during a deep pidgeon pose. At home the touch controls sometimes had a delay before the gesture worked.
The active noise cancellation is impressive. I used it without music on a bus and in the gym. I expected the sudden bangs and rattles in the bus to defeat the speed of the cancellation circuit but, it worked so well that I had to take off the headphones to make sure the bus was it's usually noisy self. In the gym I could sink into yoga stretches without distracting noise and "monkey mind". I can recommend them on this alone. The noise cancellation and headphones have twice unexpectedly turned off though.