@SilverEars
"Ok, the bass is fairly significant on the XM3 and not really tight and a bit more on the bloated side in comparison, but it seems bass gotten improved with a new firmware. and I generally shelved the bass down."
I have an interesting story about xm4 (might apply to xm3 too but I haven't tried). One time I spent a large portion of the day at a headphone shop in my early phases of testing and learning. I testing a number of headphones in the 200-800 usd range. At first I was planning to only go wired so all the testing was on wired cans because I thought they were better always. It was a fun day and during the end of the day an xm4 became available to test so I said ok I'll give it a shot just to see.
I listen to mostly electronic music and of that music is it more fast pace and the bass drum beat is in every track I test. Most tracks on my testing regime, each had a different bass drum sound. Even though I listen to this music predominantly I am not a fan of heavy bass. So like you I shelve the bass down. I have an inbuilt 10 band graphic equaliser on my phone so as soon as I put on the xm4 I naturally eq'd the bass to my liking. The interesting thing I noticed about the xm4 was that it had good control of the bass drums and that I could hear the detail of the drums very well compared to all the other cans I tested that day. I am talking about the actual bass drum sounds as opposed to a long windy bass line.
So to me, once I EQ'd the bass, I described it as having good control and detail. Like some some tracks the control or preciseness allowed me to hear "oh that's what this bass drum actually sounds like". I don't know if it's just a property of the DSP trickery that does this. But in general if EQ'd to a nice level for me because I noticed it and described it to myself that day as detailed and controlled I am not really inclined to call it "not tight" and bloated.
But correct me if I'm wrong, if the natural curve of the headphones are bass heavy, which is often excessive in consumer tuning, then we naturally feel that the bass is not really tight and bloated. The bass in these types of cans just overwhelm if left unchecked.
@ricksastro
"You can hear a little of the muddiness in the XM4 in the video and I will say in real life, it's much more noticeable. Even my wife who has 0 interest in this stuff noted the difference between them and the APM was like a screen being lifted."
Yeh I am keen to check the APMs when they become available to me. I noticed that when I tried the xm4 I needed to EQ to bass as it just overwhelmed everything. I am thinking some of the screen and muddiness is due to the excessive bass overwhelming the rest of spectrum. Perhaps the degree of this feeling of screen and muddiness is reduced when you EQ that heavy consumer bass curve. I do think also that APM's would be considered more bright and forward than the xm4, at least that is what I heard on that guys video. I think in general a headphone that is brighter naturally has a feeling of less "screen"
@angelom
"Yes, the differences aren't so big and sometimes the xm4 is very close with APM and the nc700 sometimes sounding a little better too. The majority of people often exaggerating that the APM is trashing the xm4 or nc700. I still preferring the APM from my memory of the xm4 and nc700, but the difference isn't so much like many saying.
I think the h9 is sounding sometimes better than APM in the video but the reviewer insisting that APM is better, but he's admitting is only a little. Only with the h95 he's saying the sound is difficult saying which is better. I think only because he knowing the h95 costing $800 and sounding very good. Sometimes unfortunately the music samples aren't giving sufficient aspects in the frequency for more correct differences but in general this 'reviewer' really doing good job. The classical music he's choosing isn't often adequate, is always strings and not even deep cello or double bass for timbre.
I have the xm3 only for anc for travelling, and I don't liking the sound but you can using the eq in the sony app that is making important difference and the sound can improving clearly."
Yes I agree that you need to EQ xm4 to make it shine more. It has that bass heavy consumer curve. I'd also suggest if its possible for you to get a 10 band equaliser app on your phone. When you are travelling and using xm3 this should make your EQing more precise for you likings and make your trip happier
I know he is one of the few YouTube reviewers that give justice to the h95 which you own and appreciate. I knew that him giving your h95 some coverage in the discussion would make you happy. It's also good that you are speaking in this thread so that consumers can know there is another alternative that some people don't know of.
I think the reviewer is doing a good job yes, he is making a long video and using the special equipment so the people on YouTube and us can hear some comparisons. I am a bit sceptical about the reviewers motivations and bias in general though. Like I said he one of the "lots of videos mostly about apple". Im not sure how well he did to describe the differences of the APM and h95. He just said, "oh its really close, can't really say which is better etc etc". I know you say more detail about h95 vs APM. But there is one useful motivation to include the h95 in this review. It allows him to say APM sounds = h95 and he can't tell the difference... but APM costs 550 and h95 costs 800... so mr viewer of my video, which one do you want to choose?