[ubs28]

I also wasn't a fan of the XM3

Still better than the Apple AirPods Pro 2 and I only paid $99 at a Black Friday deal. The APP2 doesn’t even come with EQ, also the controls are annoying as hell. Increasing volume up/down doesn’t work most of time. The ANC of the APP2 is also worse. Let alone battery life.

The only thing the AirPods Pro 2 beats full sized headphones at is for fitness and running.

 

[angelom]

Increasing volume up/down doesn’t work most of time.

The volume control of my APP 2 is working 100% of the time, and I am a person that is changing the volume constantly. I think that you're doing this action wrong.

The only thing the AirPods Pro 2 beats full sized headphones at is for fitness and running.

7 more advantages of the APP 2, apart from having better sound quality than XM3:

a) Not getting hot ears and/or sweating. With the XM3 my ears getting very hot AND sweating after only 20 minutes with their plastic earpads, and I know that I'm not the only person reporting this problem.

b) In my direct comparison of ANC, the APP 2 ANC is clearly better than XM3's ANC

c) Very better microphone for telephone calls.

d) Transportability. I putting the case in my small front jeans pocket and can going anywhere.

e) Wireless charging too.

f) For films and podcasts, with Apple devices, Spatialise Stereo is fantastic and very better than normal stereo. (but I prefer normal stereo for music).

g) Fantastic technical support AND customer service from Apple, very more better than Sony's.

 

[ubs28]

You are drinking some serious koolaid.

Let’s take as reference the AFC 2 Noire + Chord 2Go + Hugo 2 setup. This $999 full sized headphone spanks $3000+ IEM’s, so it is fair to say the AFC 2 is Noire better than the Apple AirPods 2.

And guess which sounds closest to the AFC 2 Noire, the XM3 after EQ or the Apple AirPods 2 with it’s tiny in your head sound? It is the XM3.

The APP2 sounds like a tiny little toy next to the AFC 2 Noire while the XM3 sounds less like a toy.

 

[angelom]

You are drinking some serious koolaid.

Let’s take as reference the AFC 2 Noire + Chord 2Go + Hugo 2 setup. This $999 full sized headphone spanks $3000+ IEM’s, so it is fair to say the AFC 2 is Noire better than the Apple AirPods 2.

And guess which sounds closest to the AFC 2 Noire, the XM3 after EQ or the Apple AirPods 2 with it’s tiny in your head sound? It is the XM3.

WOW! Fantastic post! Thank you!! Yours is a very, very scientific post. You are now succeeding in convincing me that the XM3 isn't only very better than the AAP 2, but that the APP 2 is absolute rubbish. Thank you again!

Thank you so much for opening my eyes AND, specially, for commenting about and debunking all of the 7 points I mentioning before (8 points if we including the better sound quality of the APP 2).

Is only a pity that yours is THE ONLY opinion about this comparison. But, like I saying before, please continue lecturing all of us about how so very better the XM3 is than the APP 2.

 

[Not so fat head]

XM3's are still the best sounding I have ( with EQ) among probably two dozen TWS units I have, I went a little crazy on these devices .
Bought them over the years, probably $120 average. As an Apple user, my APP's just fit the system perfect. I actually picked up 2 extra XM3's at Target clearance price for $49.00, oh yeah!!! Was nice, don't find deals like that too often

 

[ubs28]

WOW! Fantastic post! Thank you!! Yours is a very, very scientific post. You are now succeeding in convincing me that the XM3 isn't only very better than the AAP 2, but that the APP 2 is absolute rubbish. Thank you again!

Thank you so much for opening my eyes AND, specially, for commenting about and debunking all of the 7 points I mentioning before (8 points if we including the better sound quality of the APP 2).

Is only a pity that yours is THE ONLY opinion about this comparison. But, like I saying before, please continue lecturing all of us about how so very better the XM3 is than the APP 2.

Continue spreading the non-sense that the APP2 sounds better than full-sized headphones.

All it took was taking the worst headphone that I have to debunk it.

If you take the AFC 2 Noire + Chord 2Go + Hugo 2, the APP 2 does sound like trash. Were you expecting the APP2 to beat the AFC 2 Noire or something?

 

[angelom]

Continue spreading the non-sense that the APP2 sounds better than full-sized headphones.

I always saying that the APP 2 is have better sound quality than many headphones, NOT that is better than ALL headphones.

All it took was taking the worst headphone that I have to debunk it.

WOW! This is amazing. Only "the worst headphone"? Amazing!!!

Please look at my signature for seeing the headphones and earphones I owning, but here is the list for you anyway: Sennheiser HD800 & HD600, T+A Solitaire T, Mark Levinson 5909, UERM (custom IEM), Etymotic ER-4S, B&W P7 Wireless, Final Audio Design FI-BA-SS, Sony EX800ST, M&D MW08, B&O H8, Beats Solo 2, Sony WH-1000XM3, AirPods Pro 2nd Gen, AirPods 3rd & 2nd Gen.

And, by the way, the frequency response graph for the XM3 is very bad. The frequency response graph for the APP 2 is very good actually, but of course for you this is "non-sense". And you saying that the APP 2 isn't giving good sub-bass performance is absolutely complete nonsense.

 

[ubs28]

I always saying that the APP 2 is have better sound quality than many headphones, NOT that is better than ALL headphones.



WOW! This is amazing. Only "the worst headphone"? Amazing!!!

Please look at my signature for seeing the headphones and earphones I owning, but here is the list for you anyway: Sennheiser HD800 & HD600, T+A Solitaire T, Mark Levinson 5909, UERM (custom IEM), Etymotic ER-4S, B&W P7 Wireless, Final Audio Design FI-BA-SS, Sony EX800ST, M&D MW08, B&O H8, Beats Solo 2, Sony WH-1000XM3, AirPods Pro 2nd Gen, AirPods 3rd & 2nd Gen.

And, by the way, the frequency response graph for the XM3 is very bad. The frequency response graph for the APP 2 is very good actually, but of course for you this is "non-sense". And you saying that the APP 2 isn't giving good sub-bass performance is absolutely complete nonsense.

It is quite clear you don’t know what an EQ is and how this relates to frequency response. If you did, you would not be looking at frequency response chart.

And seriously, you think an IEM has the same bass impact as a headphone or a speaker if they both measure the same?

You got alot to learn I see, seeing how you rely on these measurements..

 

[angelom]

It is quite clear you don’t know what an EQ is and how this relates to frequency response. If you did, you would not be looking at frequency response chart.

And seriously, you think an IEM has the same bass impact as a headphone or a speaker if they both measure the same?

You got alot to learn I see, seeing how you rely on these measurements..

Thank you again for your VERY SUPER invaluable lesson!! Yes, I never hearing a speaker system and I don't know how using EQ at all. Thanks God we having fantastic objective people like you in head-fi that teaching ignorant people like me what really good audio is.

 

[ubs28]

Thank you again for your VERY SUPER invaluable lesson!! Yes, I never hearing a speaker system and I don't know how using EQ at all. Thanks God we having fantastic objective people like you in head-fi that teaching ignorant people like me what really good audio is.

Yeah man, take the AFC 2 Noire which has big planar driver inside which follows the harman curve target as a frequency response, using the Chord 2 Go + Hugo 2.

And now listen to the APP2, and you will hear that the AFC 2 Noire has a much bigger slamming bass with it’s large planar driver despite the AFC 2 Noire being close to the harman target.

You really think the size of the driver doesn’t matter and it’s only frequency chart that determines everything?

And yes, you clearly don’t know what an EQ is, else would not be comparing frequency charts (else you would know the comparison makes no sense at all as an EQ changes the frequency graphs).

 

[Not so fat head]

Out of the box, my APP's are hard to beat sound wise. Here's the problem, they don't respond to EQ nearly as well as the XM3's. Could be Apple's continuous DSP correction is preventing sculpting the sound. I can clearly hear, with EQ adjustment to my needs, brush sticks rubbing on skin surfaces, ringing of triangles, lower octave bass in symphonies..etc.., with the XM3's...
As I say, they are (with EQ), the best I have sound wise. I have B&W, Sennheiser, Jabra, Apple and many more.

 

[ubs28]

And here is an other one since you believe so much in your frequency charts.

How does a Focal Utopia have so much bass impact while the bass is completely neutral according to the measurements?

Maybe you need to stop relying on these measurements so much as they don’t tell the entire picture. The type of driver, size, special technologies (like Focal in their case) also play a role which you don’t see in frequency graphs.

 

[SparkOnShore]

It is quite clear you don’t know what an EQ is and how this relates to frequency response. If you did, you would not be looking at frequency response chart.

And seriously, you think an IEM has the same bass impact as a headphone or a speaker if they both measure the same?

You got alot to learn I see, seeing how you rely on these measurements..

I never had the XM3 but I own the XM5 as well as the APP2, and it's true that I prefer XM5's sound quality to the one of the APP2, even without EQ (I use it both with and without EQ according to the music mainly). Also the XM5 has a really remarkable ANC performance as well as 100% responsive touch controls on iOS, with indeed 0 failures. ANC on the XM5 cannot even be compared to the ANC of the APP2, especially for high frequency noises' attenuation where APP2 is not successful at all. XM5's ANC is maybe one of the best out there. But still, I enjoy APP2 when walking around especially on hotter days, and I believe they have really good sound quality for what they are. And finally yes, I guess it's physics, the bigger driver of a full size headphone, performing also little further out of the ears, can potentially present some low end impact advantage over IEMS.

 

[Not so fat head]

I never had the XM3 but I own the XM5 as well as the APP2, and it's true that I prefer XM5's sound quality to the one of the APP2, even without EQ (I use it both with and without EQ according to the music mainly). Also the XM5 has a really remarkable ANC performance as well as 100% responsive touch controls on iOS, with indeed 0 failures. ANC on the XM5 cannot even be compared to the ANC of the APP2, especially for high frequency noises' attenuation where APP2 is not successful at all. XM5's ANC is maybe one of the best out there. But still, I enjoy APP2 when walking around especially on hotter days, and I believe they have really good sound quality for what they are. And finally yes, I guess it's physics, the bigger driver of a full size headphone, performing also little further out of the ears, can potentially present some low end impact advantage over IEMS.

Just a clarification, I'm referring the Sony TWS XM3.. I know it's confusing having Sony's in ear and over ears have the same XM name.. but it's Sony, so yeah.

 

[Not so fat head]

Sony is a bunch of really smart Engineers with a remarkably dumb sales/marketing team..