A little update:
As mentioned here before, the past two weeks I have been using the Sony 1000XM3, the Sennheiser M3, and the BW PX7. My judgement hasn't really changed but I did find some quirks on each headphone.
The Sony XM3 is a definite keep. It's the most portable, has the longest battery life, the lightest, and the transparency mode is the quickest to activate as the whole earcup is a button that you just put your palm over. The sound is also above average imo but really the star of this is the noise cancelling. I'll happily keep this as my travel headphone of choice.
The Senny M3 is still my favourite sounding headphone out of the trio. The XM3 and PX7 just don't come close to the rumbling and growling lows that this headphone can deliver. It has a much wider soundstage than the XM3, although it's not as wide as the PX7. I also am really happy that noise cancelling has very little effect on the sound quality but the noise cancelling isn't very strong to begin with. All my pain points still remain from my earlier testing. The battery life really is abysmal. I am getting about 15 hours max from using these and after two days of use, my app is telling me I have 20% battery left. Maybe a total of 10-11 hours of listening time all in all. It's a pain to carry around, the case sucks, it doesn't fit in my briefcase or messenger bag and for some reason- >>>not all USBC cables charge this headphone<<<
My Apple MacBook USBC cable that I use to charge all my other devices does charge the headphone. My backup Lacie USBC cable also does not charge this headphone. The Anker Powerline series does, and so does the cable of the Sony XM3. So if you lose your Senny cable, or leave it plugged in at work like I do, you might find yourself in a spot where none of the USBC cables you have will work or if you buy one at Bestbuy, no guarantees it will work. What an absolute headache and nullifies a really big benefit of USBC. The Sennheiser engineering team that made this decision needs to be fired imo.
All of that said, I still use this as my daily driver simply because of the sound and build quality.
Now, for the PX7. I think it takes the best of both worlds from the XM3 and M3. It has the portability and battery life of the XM3 while retaining better sound and build quality similar to the M3. The sound doesn't vibrate my skull like the M3 does but the bass is still enjoyable enough to listen to. I wouldn't call these basshead cans though. The Noise Cancelling is ok- not as good as the XM3 but not as bad as the M3- it's closer to the Sony in this regard.
Now my little niggles with this headphone is that I have heard the popping sound when increasing my volume. It's not a beep or anything like that but it sounds like a little puff of air, most noticeable when changing volume up. It gets a bit annoying but sometimes it's there and sometimes it's not. YMMV. The app is pretty rubbish compared to the Sony and Sennheiser- it's very barebones and basic. Also for me, I do notice the wide soundstage with ANC off but it does compress significantly with ANC on. It really does change the sound signature quite a bit especially listening to a song back to back with it on and off- it's pretty obvious.
That being said, at this point, I don't think I can recommend the PX7. It's sort of stuck in a no-man's land where my impression is BW tried to do a bit of everything, but didn't really end up being better at anything. My pair is going to a new owner tomorrow and I will be keeping the Sony XM3 for travel and the Sennheiser M3 for day to day use. Personally for me, if you're not too bothered with the plastic feel- I would recommend the Sony XM3 over the PX7 for anyone looking for a great pair of cans. If you feel like you need better sound than the XM3, the next noticeable step up for me is the Senn M3.
