[BenKatz]

First thing I did when I received the xm3 is to change the settings... Been using a lot of sony bluetooth speakers / headphones, dsee is not a secret to me. And I didn't say the resolution of the xm3 is the worst in the realm of tws. But it's average or below even in the tws world, and for people like me that favor resolution/listen to complex music, it's unbearable.

To give you an example, nural n6pro which is also a pair of tws, has much better resolution than the xm3.

And also like I said, music files make ton of difference, if most of the time you are listening to pop songs thru spotify I can see why it's hard for you to tell the difference.

Yeah, I more than completely disagree. If your assement of the XM3 is that the rewolution of the XM3 is "average or below even in the TWS world", I'm now 100% sure your pair was defective.

As I said, I compared them to the TWS Technics AZ70, Sennheiser Momentum 2, in-ear wired Campfire Audio Polaris v2, Sony XBA-N1a, and the XM3 came definitely on top of the TWS, and very competitive in some aspects (some better, some worse) than the wired high-end-ish ones.

And Idk what you are listening to, but you definitely don't kno what I'm listenin to I don't even use spotify, I use tidal, and no, I don't listen to POP, so you needn't worry about the "music file" differences.

Trust me, as I said before, considering the overwhelming number of reviews and comparisons of the XM3 online, (even disregarding mine which is quite extensive), saying that the XM3 have "trash" resolution or are below average even for TWS truly does mean that you have had a defective model.

 

[miserybeforethemusic]

Now that I've got the Pixel 3a up and running, I can start to run some preliminary battery tests. Think this might come in handy considering I've gotten really irritated seeing the usual review suite not cover things like what battery life is like when ANC is off (specifically regarding the Technics). So here's my first run on the AZ70W:

Test Conditions:

1. Device - Google Pixel 3a (on WiFi only)
2. Media Player - Spotify, Very High Quality, playing every random long playlist I can
3. Volume - 50%
4. Ambient Sound Control - Normal (No ANC, No Hearthrough)
5. Sound Enhancement (EQ) - Off

Milestones:

• 11:20 - 100%, start of test
• 14:20 - 70%
• 15:20 - 50%
• 18:20 - 20%, test ended

After 4 data points, I think I can make a logical conclusion that battery life would be close to 7-8 hours with ANC/Hearthrough off and at 50% volume. Makes sense, considering the estimates with ANC on are about 6 hours and I blew well past that without effort. Honestly, 50% is probably going to be a little too loud for at-home listening with what passive seal the body and tips provide; you probably still could, but it would end up fatiguing after a while.

Keep in mind this is a stress test; I don't know many people who are going to have the ability to start one of these 10+ hour playlists and just keep it running continuously (kudos if you can, though!). There will be times where you're not listening to anything, times when phone calls occur, etc and those all have battery impact. For most, this disclaimer should be obvious, but some people may not think about these things.

Also, I dropped both buds into the Technics charger and just left it alone overnight to see if I could catch any symptoms of the parasitic drain issue that's been reported. Figured that the buds would tax the battery enough, so I should at least lose one bar on the battery indicator, right? Nope. Still a full battery the next morning. I'll continue to monitor, though.

Yeah, I more than completely disagree. If your assement of the XM3 is that the rewolution of the XM3 is "average or below even in the TWS world", I'm now 100% sure your pair was defective.

I think we can all agree that Linus has a particular set of requirements and standards for his listening equipment that some of us are willing to be a little more liberal with. Instead of being at each other's throats about it, how about we just acknowledge we have different tastes and the squabbles don't matter. Maybe Linus' pair is defective or maybe his ears are spoiled; happens more easily than you'd think.

But this exchange did encourage me to start looking into buying another set of Etymotics (not the multi-BA one, though that's pretty awesome) to use as a reference point. I noticed they have a pretty decent-looking BT cable that mates up with the ER4XR and uses an AKM DAC along with support for aptX/HD/LL and respectable battery life. While it won't be TWS-level, may just be the next best thing.

Man, I haven't owned a set of Etys since the mid-2000s...

 

[tinyman392]

Now that I've got the Pixel 3a up and running, I can start to run some preliminary battery tests. Think this might come in handy considering I've gotten really irritated seeing the usual review suite not cover things like what battery life is like when ANC is off (specifically regarding the Technics). So here's my first run on the AZ70W:

Test Conditions:

1. Device - Google Pixel 3a (on WiFi only)
2. Media Player - Spotify, Very High Quality, playing every random long playlist I can
3. Volume - 50%
4. Ambient Sound Control - Normal (No ANC, No Hearthrough)
5. Sound Enhancement (EQ) - Off

Milestones:

• 11:20 - 100%, start of test
• 14:20 - 70%
• 15:20 - 50%
• 18:20 - 20%, test ended

After 4 data points, I think I can make a logical conclusion that battery life would be close to 7-8 hours with ANC/Hearthrough off and at 50% volume. Makes sense, considering the estimates with ANC on are about 6 hours and I blew well past that without effort. Honestly, 50% is probably going to be a little too loud for at-home listening with what passive seal the body and tips provide; you probably still could, but it would end up fatiguing after a while.

Keep in mind this is a stress test; I don't know many people who are going to have the ability to start one of these 10+ hour playlists and just keep it running continuously (kudos if you can, though!). There will be times where you're not listening to anything, times when phone calls occur, etc and those all have battery impact. For most, this disclaimer should be obvious, but some people may not think about these things.

Also, I dropped both buds into the Technics charger and just left it alone overnight to see if I could catch any symptoms of the parasitic drain issue that's been reported. Figured that the buds would tax the battery enough, so I should at least lose one bar on the battery indicator, right? Nope. Still a full battery the next morning. I'll continue to monitor, though.

I think we can all agree that Linus has a particular set of requirements and standards for his listening equipment that some of us are willing to be a little more liberal with. Instead of being at each other's throats about it, how about we just acknowledge we have different tastes and the squabbles don't matter. Maybe Linus' pair is defective or maybe his ears are spoiled; happens more easily than you'd think.

But this exchange did encourage me to start looking into buying another set of Etymotics (not the multi-BA one, though that's pretty awesome) to use as a reference point. I noticed they have a pretty decent-looking BT cable that mates up with the ER4XR and uses an AKM DAC along with support for aptX/HD/LL and respectable battery life. While it won't be TWS-level, may just be the next best thing.

Man, I haven't owned a set of Etys since the mid-2000s...

People have really been enjoying the ER2 as of late as well, Adorama is still selling the ER4 for like 130 bucks or something I think if you have the right link.

 

[miserybeforethemusic]

People have really been enjoying the ER2 as of late as well, Adorama is still selling the ER4 for like 130 bucks or something I think if you have the right link.

I noticed Sweetwater's doing some call-in pricing as well, so reached out to my rep to see exactly how much less than $300 they're asking for the ER4XR. Adorama's burnt me in the past with keeping me strung along with items I thought were on backorder but had, in fact, been discontinued, but $130 new for either of the ER2 is really, really good.

Edit, even cheaper than $130 right now. Woah.
https://www.adorama.com/etyer2xr.html

 

[Canabuc]

Huawei freebuds pro en route. Idea of great ANC and multi pairing are enticing me.

 

[darveniza]

Huawei freebuds pro en route. Idea of great ANC and multi pairing are enticing me.

I have the Huawei are very good. Like the ANC and sound. A bit difficult to get out the case. But aside from this is really awesome

 

[Womaz]

I noticed Sweetwater's doing some call-in pricing as well, so reached out to my rep to see exactly how much less than $300 they're asking for the ER4XR. Adorama's burnt me in the past with keeping me strung along with items I thought were on backorder but had, in fact, been discontinued, but $130 new for either of the ER2 is really, really good.

Edit, even cheaper than $130 right now. Woah.
https://www.adorama.com/etyer2xr.html

You get some great deals in the USA. in the UK the ER4XR are over £300

 

[Canabuc]

I have the Huawei are very good. Like the ANC and sound. A bit difficult to get out the case. But aside from this is really awesome
[/QUOTE
The trick to get it if the case is to use thumb to push the head of the bud back then pull upwards.

How is the sound. I have had universally that bass and mids are great. Some reviews say treble not great other reviews say these are best buds they have heard with one reviewer looking sound as much as the MTW2.

 

[bladefd]

You get some great deals in the USA. in the UK the ER4XR are over £300

Is that with taxes included or are taxes tacked on top of that??

 

[miserybeforethemusic]

You get some great deals in the USA. in the UK the ER4XR are over £300

We get some really good ones on eBay, too. Ironically, this is exactly how I got my 4P almost a couple decades ago and I spent less this time around.

 

[Canabuc]

New firmware for MT

 

[tinyman392]

I noticed Sweetwater's doing some call-in pricing as well, so reached out to my rep to see exactly how much less than $300 they're asking for the ER4XR. Adorama's burnt me in the past with keeping me strung along with items I thought were on backorder but had, in fact, been discontinued, but $130 new for either of the ER2 is really, really good.

Edit, even cheaper than $130 right now. Woah.
https://www.adorama.com/etyer2xr.html

Adorama can do much better if you know secrets.

• ER2SE: 55 USD
• ER2XR: 100 USD
• ER4XR: 129 USD
• ER4SR: 129 USD

 

[miserybeforethemusic]

New firmware for MT

So far ahead of the pulse, you beat Cambridge to releasing its own statement on their ZenDesk about the update. Latest change notes they have are for v1.2.3:

https://melomania.zendesk.com/hc/en...What-is-the-current-Melomania-Touch-Firmware-

Update process itself went soooooo much better than 1.2.3. No multiple attempts, only one temporary hangup at 99% on the Right bud, but everything pushed properly. Took screenshots along the way for reasons:

Spoiler: Firmware Update Process

Post-update, things seem to be in working order. I even attempted to force the volume bug to occur and couldn't. Subjectively speaking, I think there are audible improvements to both Hearthrough and the overall tuning (both positives). I did notice, however, that the touch surface is still hypersensitive and it seems that Neutron won't resume from the buds anymore if you do accidentally pause while listening. That being said, the pros outweigh the cons and hopefully this also means those of you who were considering returns might want to give them one more shot before finally calling it quits.

Oh yeah, postal clerk rang the doorbell while I was updating/posting and dropped something off from a far away land. Regulars in the classifieds might be able to figure out who these came from. A massive thank you to this member! Really looking forward to enjoying these.

​

Nevermind the AZ70W on the right. They're just going through Day 2 of their bass workout. Currently playing:

 

[Canabuc]

Yes the MT seems like the upper range is clearer and soundstage seems a bit wider. It's as if the upper bass was tamed a bit to allow the mids and lower treble to breathe more

 

[miserybeforethemusic]

Adorama can do much better if you know secrets.

• ER2SE: 55 USD
• ER2XR: 100 USD
• ER4XR: 129 USD
• ER4SR: 129 USD

One of these days, you'll have to teach me