I finally got my hands on a pair of open-box Sony WF-XM4's for $200 and I've just been listening to them for 2 hours or so now and I actually really like them. Wish I just got these instead of the MTW2's right away.
The EQ actually works really well and after taming the bass a tad and trying my best to up the both the treble and the mids by a whole lot I feel like they sound very good. The bass is still a tad too boom-y as it is right now but I kinda like the warmth it's providing too. Will keep trying to find the perfect EQ for me but as a starting point this sounds pretty good and might sound even better
These sound so much better to my ears than the Sennheiser MTW2s, even straight out of the box the experience is night and day, but I think it's a matter of fit too.
ANC is very good with the stock tips which isn't a surprise really, but it also didn't blow me away either. It does the job very well though. Kinda feel like I would want a size XL eartip for my right ear.
As for the negatives? I am missing a bit of clarity in the upper regions and the vocals tend to sound a little boxed in and muted, but I think this is due to the stock tips.
But I also notice that the DSEE Extreme mode is a culprit in that situation, turning it off makes the sound less "full", but it also feels to me like the upper mids and lower treble is a bit sharper (in a good way). I also feel like it's very difficult hearing the reverb on certain songs where some other earbuds I have probably would be way more revealing.
Another negative for me is that even though I feel like they're honestly pretty comfortable in my ears for the MOST part, I can tell that they would ideally go a bit deeper in my ear canal, because if i try to rotate them slightly forward/upward in my ears I can tell that it sounds a lot better in the treble region, but it also hurts like effing crazy trying to do this.
I think it hurts more than it should too because of the Earfun Free Pro OEs honestly wrecking my ears a bit, despite being very small I keep wanting a deeper fit than they were probably meant to do, or at least deeper than it fits my ears.
Also missing a bit of headroom to be honest. I will listen to these on the highest or second-to-highest volume when my other earbuds I'm more like 65-75% of the volume. But it's only a minor gripe, it's definitely good enough, especially with the noise cancellation being as good as it is.
Also, I got the silver color and I actually think it's okay even though I would've preferred a more cream-white/beige color sort of like the Edifier TWS1 Pro. But the way it gets discolored is NO JOKE. Took it out of my jeans pocket now and already after two hours I saw some discoloration. I was able to clean most of it off, but it's definitely more than what I would consider just being "dirty".
I think these sound very good, and they're a pretty substantial improvement over the XM3's in my opinion as a whole package, but mostly because the XM3's really weren't my cup of tea. I think these are probably the best "all-rounder" earbud right now, even if there might be a few that sounds a bit better and has a bit more clarity and a slightly tighter bass response etc. The case is reasonably sized, they don't stick out too much in the ears and they stay in place a whole lot better than the XM3's and yeah. I like them so far anyway.
. ). But I also want to try some other tips, I have so many on hand. But I agree in that they are best used at home, not bouncing around. Time for a listening session right now. And I also agree, they respond best with acoustic/classical/jazz as the genres.
