Two of the four headphones we checked for this list price out over $200 CAD — the Sony WH-CH720N at $248 and the Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2 at $249.95 both miss the frame by enough that keeping them here would be misleading, so they're out entirely rather than tacked on as near-misses. That leaves the Audio-Technica ATH-M40x at $149 and the Sony LinkBuds Open-Ear at $198, and owners describe them as solving genuinely different problems rather than competing head to head. One is a wired, studio-tuned classic that's been the default recommendation in this price bracket for over a decade; the other is a newer open-ear design that trades isolation and secure fit for staying aware of your surroundings. Neither is a universal pick — each comes with a specific, well-documented trade-off that owners flag consistently enough to take seriously before buying.
1. Audio-Technica ATH-M40x — the budget studio standard
At $149 CAD, the ATH-M40x is the cheaper of the two and the highest-scored at 7.5/10. Owner sentiment is consistent on sound: the flat, neutral tuning gets specific praise as "crystal clear" and better than the price suggests for critical listening. Comfort is where the sample splits hard — of 7 mentions, 3 positive, 2 negative, and 2 mixed, almost all tied to head size and clamp force. Owners with smaller heads report years of daily 8-hour wear with only minor discomfort; owners with larger heads report pain within 15-20 minutes and returning the headphone outright. The stock pleather earpads are also a documented weak point, deteriorating within 4-5 years, but multiple long-term owners report that $40 aftermarket replacements fix both the comfort and the bass response at once, and one owner who demoted their original pair to a work setup after the pads wore out still describes both sets as "durable as hell" years later.
2. Sony LinkBuds Open-Ear — best for ambient awareness, with real trade-offs
At $198 CAD, the LinkBuds Open-Ear is priced right at the edge of the frame and scores lowest of the two at 6.3/10, and the owner sample backs that up: of 8 mentions, 4 are negative, 3 mixed, and only 1 clearly positive. The complaint that shows up most is comfort in the first days of ownership — the hard plastic shell is repeatedly described as bruising ears, with one owner asking for updates on day 2 or 3 because the discomfort hadn't resolved. Fit and sound quality are tied together in owner reports: several describe a frustrating trade-off where a secure fit means quiet or muffled sound, and a good-sounding position means the buds are loose enough to fall out. The upside is real but narrower than the complaints suggest — owners who get the fit right report sound quality that beats bone-conduction alternatives, and the open-ring design and 22-hour battery genuinely deliver on ambient awareness for indoor or casual outdoor use. They are not built for exercise; owners are explicit that the fit isn't secure enough for biking or jogging.
Who It’s For
Owners with smaller heads report years of daily comfortable use, and the neutral tuning is the most consistently praised trait in this guide. Budget for aftermarket pads eventually.
See review →
The sentiment here skews negative — comfort in the first days and a fit-versus-sound trade-off are real, recurring complaints, not edge cases.
See review →What owners actually say
What buyers love
“I've had a pair for 4 years and when the faux leather started to deteriorate, I demoted them to using them for my job as a live audio engineer and bought another pair for home use. Both are durable as hell and been through many conventions, vacations, airports, gaming sessions, you name it. In my experience, they're very comfortable.”
r/buildapcsales
“These are very flatly tuned, which is awesome for listening to music and sound with crystal clear clarity.”
r/buildapcsales
“Not an audiophile but I have both and the linkbuds sound way better for music. I can actually hear the bass and could see myself dancing to the music unlike the aeropex.”
r/HeadphoneAdvice
Common complaints
Clamp force too tight for larger heads
i picked up the ath-M40x and they hurt my ears from the vice grip
r/headphonesFit and sound quality trade off against each other
I couldn't find a good balance of fit, volume and sound quality. Where they fit well and were secure they either sounded bad or were too quiet and where they sounded good and had reasonable volume they would either fall out, or be very uncomfortable.
r/headphonesHard plastic shell bruises ears
Any updates on day 2/3? I really enjoyed them all through day 1, but it feels like the entirely hard plastic shell bruised my ears and 2 days later I still can't comfortably wear them like I did initially.
r/headphonesOnly two products actually clear the $200 CAD line this guide promises, and they serve different buyers rather than competing directly. The Audio-Technica ATH-M40x at $149 is the stronger overall pick at 7.5/10 — neutral, accurate sound that owners with average-to-small heads wear for years, with a known and fixable weak point in the stock earpads. Buyers with larger heads should expect the clamp force to be a real problem, not a minor one, and should budget for aftermarket pads as a near-certain future purchase rather than an optional upgrade. The Sony LinkBuds Open-Ear at $198 is a narrower recommendation: it's the only choice here if ambient awareness matters more than isolation or secure fit, but the owner sample skews negative on comfort and the fit-versus-sound trade-off is a documented, recurring pattern rather than an outlier complaint. If you were hoping for a wireless ANC pick under $200 in this guide, neither of these two is that product — the two headphones that fit that description priced out of the frame, and we'd rather tell you that than stretch the definition of "under $200" to keep them in.