Okay. So. We recently splurged on these Sony WH1000XM2 Noise Cancelling Headphones.

Our job called us away from home for a couple of weeks. There, the work environment was very open and collaborative. That was great. Sometimes, though, we craved a little peace and quiet.

Never had we planned to buy noise cancelling headphones. They had not achieved a spot on our very lengthy want list. By the third day there, we became convinced of their necessity, and a little splurging was in order.

We are picky purchasers. Amazon ranks as our retailer of choice because of the vast selection. We often convince ourselves that a particular product is the only one for us; it—and only it—has just the right features at the ideal price with excellent reviews. For that reason, we rarely buy at big box stores. They seldom have the exact item that we covet.

After researching, we determined that we wanted the Sony WH1000XM2 Noise Cancelling Headphones. They compared favorably to the Bose QuietComfort 35 in terms of ratings and features. And, frankly, we thought they looked much more stylish, particularly the gold color.

We were elated to discover the Sony headphones available for same-day pickup at the local Best Buy for the same price as on Amazon. That is something worth noting. Best Buy has reinvented itself. We had left it for dead—a causality of the digital age. We had not shopped there for, at least, five years. The selection lacked. The prices were not competitive. And, it had lousy return policies.

Not anymore. Best Buy is great now. Ordering online is easy, and you can pick up the item within the hour. Best Buy seems to track and automatically match Amazon prices. And, returning occurs without the interrogations of yesteryear. After a long drought, we have purchased four items in about six months from Best Buy, including a router, computer RAM, a liquid-cooling system, and these headphones.

Back to the headphones, we were slightly skeptical. We mentioned splurging; they were expensive at $349.99. We figured that we would try them out. If we loved them, we would keep them. But, if the feeling was anything less than love, we would return them.

Love, it was. The noise canceling is cool. It works incredibly well with lower-frequency noises, like ambient sound from airplanes or HVACs or electronics. At that moment when you lift them off of your ears and are re-immersed into your surroundings, you cannot help but think, “Wow, we live in a loud world.”

They are not as effective at canceling higher-frequency noises, particularly voices. This frustrated us at first. Remember, the chitchat in our temporary work environment had served as the impetus for acquiring the headphones. We figured it out, though. Once we turned on a little music, even at low volume, the voices disappeared. The app that controls the headphones also allows customization of the noise canceling, which includes specifying the direction from which the voices were coming.

It worked so well that we couldn’t hear our coworkers at all. They resorted to throwing highlighters at us when they wanted our attention. That might have been dangerous. Luckily, they had poor aim.

The sound quality and resolution also pleased us. We have become wantable audiophiles. We love Spotify but subscribed to Tidal as well because we wanted lossless music. Of course, the lossless music sounds best on our home stereo, but we are happy with the output on these headphone.

Count us as contented customers. We enjoy these Sony WH1000XM2 Noise Cancelling Headphones and would buy them again.