The first pair I've ever paid for - new, that is. I received a gift of some broken Grados many years ago, and after mailing them in to NY for refurbishing, I heard some of what audiophiles live for. Awesome, no doubt. But I hated that my music was leaking out to everybody in my vicinity.
  A lot has changed now, especially for us Android folk. Not to knock Apple users, but in terms of bluetooth codecs, we have an incredible advantage right now. With this purchase, my main priority was to get my hands on that 576 kbps signal coming in from my phone. Also, because I want it all (one fine day, we'll all start taking airplanes again) ANC tech is definitely handy in a lot of situations. So four core requirements: Aptx HD, comfort, and good 'new, low price, high value' ratio. Long battery life, ANC and decent looks are also appreciated.
  The universe of options was easy to find at https://www.aptx.com/aptx-hd. The obvious 'prosumer' headphones to buy are the Sony WH1000 XM3 (not the XM4) for unbeatable ANC, and of course, Bose QC35 headphones, for just being Bose I guess. I wish I could part with this kind of money.

  Same goes for other "inaccessible" price range units, like Audio Technica's ATH DSR 9BT series (they forego ANC completely - bravo!), Sennheiser's Momentum 3s, and especially, Shure Aonic 50s. There are loads of options from all the wired headphone heavyweights: Grado, Beyerdynamic, Bang and Olufsen, Dali, Bowers and Wilkins, Audeze, Cleer, etc. The most beautiful ones I saw were TMA2s from a company called Aiaiai... the beauty of these things just breaks your heart.
  Gratuitous self-indulgence issues aside, here, I had to wonder though: Can I even hack headphones like this? What If I splurge and get these sweet smelling,  heavy, luxurious things on my head and it turns out they just sound terrible? Could a lifetime of consumer-tweaked heavy bass heaven have spoiled me to the pleasures of perfectly flat, scientifically precise sound? It's the same suspicion I have that really good wine is wasted on me.
  Anyway, in the midst of a massive industry shakeout, I quickly shifted down to my price range comfort zone. In the under $100 range, I looked at Mpow BT600 ANCs, Cowin E7s, CB3 Hushes and these from Cystereo. The Cystereo Lava series rose to the top by virtue of practically universal praise from all reviewers. Of course, like the rest, they are prone to the 'cheap feeling' complaints we can expect at this price. Other complaints I saw (generally, not directed at Cystereo) in this range are bad fit, poor controls, spotty pairing, and even flaking of the earpiece padding after a short time. First, I saw none of these, and second, who cares? Qualcomm's codec has essentially solved for audio quality. All that's left is comfort (as I say, I care a lot less about ANC) and a bunch of little nitpicky things.
  Oh, I noticed that Lava headphones have incredible range - I can leave my phone on the desk and walk all over the house without it, which is pretty sweet. I am delighted by the comfort, the quality feel, and completely blown away (of course) by the sound. So, a special year of the Ox "thanks!" to the PM for Cystereo's Lava product. They don't pay you enough. I wish there were six stars to give.
  Honestly, it's possible that all these others, - plus some I've missed in my range - are also great and maybe even a few dollars cheaper. The point is, Qualcomm flipped the whole wireless headphones market on its head now, and happy days are here. Tons of value for short money is a really nice thing.