Going fully Wireless IEMs. Too soon? Or are we there yet?

[Fleeple]

Gave a listen to Beoplay EX...thought they sounded best in terms of TWS I've heard so far...but definitely wasn't worth the $400 for me at least since I commute and fly so ANC matters. Guess I'll keep Liberty 3 Pro for now

I do keep hearing that the new sennheiser's are a good mix, so that might be a good fit for you if you'd like? I wish you luck

 

[IChen]

I do keep hearing that the new sennheiser's are a good mix, so that might be a good fit for you if you'd like? I wish you luck

Ah I'll have to give those a try then, thanks!

 

[DDDYKI]

How's the MTW3 in major metro areas/population centers? I saw a review at B&H about someone returning theirs because it would constantly drop the connection in New York City, which is where I'd be using these as well. I broke out my wife's old pair of practically new CX400 BT TWS and got plenty of momentary connection drops in the left earpiece within a block of Penn Station. Whether my phone was in my hand or in my back pocket, drops. Reminded me of my bad experience with the Momentum 2 over-ears. I realize everyone's experience will vary based on RFI, source device, and so on, but this has me worried about whatever Sennheiser does with their Bluetooth radios (and I'm sure they're not exactly the same between models, especially models from different years). I don't have this issue with my B&O E8 3.0.

I'm currently looking between MTW3 and the LinkBuds S because I'd like something with ANC, and they're within my budget. But I may lift that requirement so I can consider other options, so long as there's some water resistance for sweat (hello, summer).

 

[samandhi]

I have never experienced this with my MT.



If it ever asked me for a pin, I’m sure I typed 0000 and just forgot about it. No biggie anyway.



The “sequential” connection is actually smartly implemented. It’ll keep switching master and slave between L and R with no glitches in the sound. This manages battery life really well. And it works well if you’re only using one bud.

Some rare occasions I only use one bud because transparency is not their best trait... meaning, it works and can be regulated but the MT have great passive isolation and to me it sounds weird with too much transparency percentage on. Hard to explain.



I wfh mostly but the MT are still my daily driver whenever I leave the house. It seems I always drop them in my pocket... I still like their sound a lot.

Following your always VERY useful advice, I will keep the MT (for now), get better IEMs (D V’s), eventually get adapters (TW2), then get better TWS (maybe discounted MTW3). We’ll see how LC3 evolves and if Apple implements the codec on their phones (coz I’m probably not buying another kind of phone) but it sounds like a good timeline.

I have become accustomed to the MTs large touch area and occasional mistouch, the very occasional “doesn’t pair at first try” and the weird transparency (for me). But I’ve also got accustomed to their great passive isolation, their great fit with the security of the fins for every sport and mostly for their awesome sound implementation.
I’ve said many times that at the time they were unbeatable at 130$. The market has evolved A LOT, and they now cost 80$. Now I want better and more so I may but in the up to 250 bracket in TWS. BUT I’d still go for them at 80.

I really did appreciate the help, and I really should have tried harder to make them work; they did sound great from the little I had heard, they really did I just happen to be asking for everything, I suppose. I suppose the transparency on the linkbuds s has also set a rather high bar for me.....these may easily be my final destination, especially if short double flanges solve them falling out over time.

Thank you very much!

Though I have said many good things about the MT, CA has really waffled with the updates of these over their lifetime. Sadly, when I first got them, they did not sound very good to me at all. They were VERY bass heavy, and a huge recess in the treble, but the ambient mode was top notch.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, deepening on your view) over time, the sound got much much better, but the ambient mode has suffered greatly. I think it was one of the last two FW updates that did it. They have been tweaking the sound throughout (yet not telling anyone that they had been). Ambient mode still sounds just as loud (the amount is volume adjustable), but now it is terribly digital sounding, and I have a hard time hearing things clearly.

All that being said, now that they seem to be done tweaking them, I am at least supremely happy with the sound and feel safe in recommending them to anyone. I simply don't use ambient mode as much as I used to. I have never had any of the issues that others have complained about. Except one time where I couldn't get one of them to connect without resetting them, they have been pretty flawless for me.

I think that as of last year, we have reached a plateau (at least for sound quality), that even though new stuff is coming out like mad, I would look into some of the older TWS in a heartbeat. Mainly because, while there are some outliers out there, most of the newer ones don't really sound THAT much better than some of the older ones. Features are another story altogether though. I think tech is improving pretty quickly with this segment. I am hoping that once the new codecs drop and are a standard, we can start moving forwards again with sound quality.

 

[Fleeple]

Thank you very much!

Though I have said many good things about the MT, CA has really waffled with the updates of these over their lifetime. Sadly, when I first got them, they did not sound very good to me at all. They were VERY bass heavy, and a huge recess in the treble, but the ambient mode was top notch.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, deepening on your view) over time, the sound got much much better, but the ambient mode has suffered greatly. I think it was one of the last two FW updates that did it. They have been tweaking the sound throughout (yet not telling anyone that they had been). Ambient mode still sounds just as loud (the amount is volume adjustable), but now it is terribly digital sounding, and I have a hard time hearing things clearly.

All that being said, now that they seem to be done tweaking them, I am at least supremely happy with the sound and feel safe in recommending them to anyone. I simply don't use ambient mode as much as I used to. I have never had any of the issues that others have complained about. Except one time where I couldn't get one of them to connect without resetting them, they have been pretty flawless for me.

I think that as of last year, we have reached a plateau (at least for sound quality), that even though new stuff is coming out like mad, I would look into some of the older TWS in a heartbeat. Mainly because, while there are some outliers out there, most of the newer ones don't really sound THAT much better than some of the older ones. Features are another story altogether though. I think tech is improving pretty quickly with this segment. I am hoping that once the new codecs drop and are a standard, we can start moving forwards again with sound quality.

That's exactly why I've been looking into the snapdragon sound page and the higher-end models aviot's current high-end (te-21....something.....) sounds like it has FANTASTIC sound, and the few mic samples I've listened to have a lot of promise that and the new noble falcon anc, I believe it was called. I guess I'm just leery of getting an older model with little to no potential for updates in case something crops up.....and I will also say that if ambient is important to you, you may find yourself loving the astells. The sound is.....it's hard to explain, but it's perfect. It just sounds wonderful in every aspect (with some tweaking), and the ambient is pretty dang good. But these are all the opinions of someone that hasn't even really tried earbuds until January of this year, so your mileage msg vary. Thank you for your breakdown on the Cambridge

 

[C_Lindbergh]

You guys think CA will launch a new version of their Melomania Touch? For me they were deffo the best price to performance ratio ever when it comes to SQ in a tws. Sadly they had so many non sound related issues...

Imagine CA MT 2 with the latest BT chip from Qualcomm along with new features like ANC and with no connection issues!

 

[Fleeple]

You guys think CA will launch a new version of their Melomania Touch? For me they were deffo the best price to performance ratio ever when it comes to SQ in a tws. Sadly they had so many non sound related issues...

Imagine CA MT 2 with the latest BT chip from Qualcomm along with new features like ANC and with no connection issues!

Their Twitter still has photoshoots of the melomania touch as recently as two days ago, so.....maybe at some point?......

 

[C_Lindbergh]

Their Twitter still has photoshoots of the melomania touch as recently as two days ago, so.....maybe at some point?......

The QCC517 chip should make many more audio OEMs much more interested in Bluetooth audio! It really ticks every single box. Hopefully CA will have another go with that chip

 

[Fleeple]

The QCC517 chip should make many more audio OEMs much more interested in Bluetooth audio! It really ticks every single box. Hopefully CA will have another go with that chip

Does anything use it yet?

 

[jant71]

Deal of the day....

 

[C_Lindbergh]

Does anything use it yet?

Don't think so, it's fairly new. There's not that many devices with BT 5.3/Snapdragon sound anyway atm. Hopefully we'll see something later this year

Also personally I might finally switch to a newer Snapdragon SoC if the rumours are true about the upcoming Galaxy S23 (Snapdragon SoC worldwide + larger battery).

 

[jant71]

Getting closer. Just saw this...

 

[Fleeple]

Getting closer. Just saw this...

Can any information be found on them?? I haven't really been interested in their recent designs but I'm still intrigued

 

[jant71]

Can any information be found on them?? I haven't really been interested in their recent designs but I'm still intrigued

You can look at the test model pics and quickstart guide in here... https://fcc.report/FCC-ID/JFZTWX9R/

 

[Fleeple]

You can look at the test model pics and quickstart guide in here... https://fcc.report/FCC-ID/JFZTWX9R/

That looks really interesting! Still stem, but a different take on the stem from the looks of it.....kinda feels more utilitarian? The case could be a bit bulky, but hopefully the battery power is worth it......thank you very kindly where do you tend to hear about upcoming earbuds?