To me, the tuning is quite good and the detail retrieval is superb, but... - The buds feel very plasticky and the choice of glossy finish is really slippery to a point the manual shows you how to take them out of the case by first pushing them aside (to disengage the magnet). - The glossy finish...

Sorry to hear about your experience with your XM5. I haven't had the dropout problem on my XM5 (but quite a few stutters), but I did on my XM4 in early firmware versions where I'd lose audio and button controls on one side. I forgot which side it was by now. I mitigated the problem by always...

Hi Eric, I'm interested in ordering a set but Hong Kong SAR is not on the drop-down menu at checkout. Could you guys ship to Hong Kong?

Yes, they're a US parts source if you want to buy just one earbud out of warranty. I think XM5 a different listen, with a little EQing you might like them better. These are 2 EQ settings that really helped for me: 0 -1 -1 0 -2 Clear Bass -2 () 0 -1 -2 -1 1 Clear Bass 4...

I'm planning to do the same and found this on another site, they're based in the US: https://sony.encompass.com/search?searchTerm=WF-1000XM4

Long time Sony user here too, and I've listened to Pi7 S2, MTW2 and I'm familiar with the B&O signature. I think the short answer is yes, you will find XM5s muffled. Using LDAC 660/990 will alleviate that somewhat but I still find XM5 a strange beast - it's really resolving and the default FR...

I wish there's an easy way to check the bitrate on iPhone. On a MacBook Air with Bluetooth 5.3, I found this line in the Console app which shows a fixed bitrate of 192Kbps (WF-1000XM5 set to Prioritize Sound Quality): ACMP4AACBaseEncoder.cpp:692 (0x1514cae40) @@@@ 'aac ' encoder configuration...

I find the SpinFit CP360 to sound and seal just like CP100 (non-plus) but they don't protrude as much.

Expand out the next section "[Ambient Sound Control] Setting" and tap on Off to add the checkmark. Then it will cycle through ANC->Ambient Sound->Off

Agreed, I think the processing pipeline still needs to be ironed out. If my ears are correct, logging in with a Sony account does seem to correct the treble handling when using the EQ. Cymbals and hi-hats are finally sounding more correct. Personally, I am still bothered by the overall lack of...

Thanks for the measurements. I think you're onto something here, clearly something is amiss with the integration between app and firmware - like how the EQ Off setting seems to give a sound that's not reproducible with any custom EQ. And I think the custom EQ is affecting the imaging and treble...

The app still shows AAC so perhaps the setting triggered a very low bitrate AAC. I started to doubt my hearing at one point :)

Has anyone noticed the "Prioritize Sound Quality" setting makes the sound quality substantially worse when paired to either Mac or iPhone? I am upgrading from the XM4 and just spent the first 2 days agonizing about my XM5 purchase, trying all kinds of EQ settings, switching between different...