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

[dweaver]

Those look pretty darn sharp in both colors! People are funny about the color purple. I have a purple accented case for my phone and have had 1 person question me hard about that being OK since I am male and all LOL. Good gamble on your part . Those would match pretty darn close for me . Will have to wait and see how easy these become available in Canada. Battery life looks very good. The features also all look good from the app functionality to the driver configuration.

Looks like it time I gave Noble Audio a try!

 

[jant71]

Excellent! Thanks Jim. New site is much better.

Ugh, Blue is sold out.

So get the nicer color.

 

[erockg]

So get the nicer color.

I'm evil. Usually only wear black and blue. You'll throw off my color scheme if I put in the purple. People will talk.

 

[erockg]

So get the nicer color.

I'm evil. Usually only wear black and blue. You'll throw off my color scheme if I put in the purple. People will talk.

I like how they snuck a second driver in them.

 

[helmutcheese]

Strange as that exact BT chipset comes up as BT 5.0 in Google, so they claim BT 5.2 but only with SBC/ACC codecs?

 

[FullCircle]

Those look pretty darn sharp in both colors! People are funny about the color purple. I have a purple accented case for my phone and have had 1 person question me hard about that being OK since I am male and all LOL. Good gamble on your part . Those would match pretty darn close for me . Will have to wait and see how easy these become available in Canada. Battery life looks very good. The features also all look good from the app functionality to the driver configuration.

Looks like it time I gave Noble Audio a try!

Regarding the battery
The charge case is not in "always searching mode" - just like the FoKus Pro. Due to this the battery life on the charge case is surprisingly long.

 

[BooleanBones]

I scored an inexpensive set of Sony XM4's. I have been playing with the app and comparing them to the B&O EX. Interesting comparison.

What tips do folks use on their XM4? I was curious if there is a consensus? I realized this is subjective but thought maybe there was a consensus after all of the time these have been on the market. Looking to maintain sound quality and at least provide a great seal.

​

Final Type E TWS tips for me.

 

[erockg]

New Bowers & Wilkins PI7 S2 coming. SAR-Test-Report-5982998

 

[jant71]

New Bowers & Wilkins PI7 S2 coming. SAR-Test-Report-5982998

Have to rain on your parade a bit....

If true they may just be correcting the shortcomings in the first gen.

 

[erockg]

Have to rain on your parade a bit....

If true they just correcting the shortcomings in the first gen.

I know. I'll take it. Love the sound. I have the PX7 S2 and although incremental, they did a great job with the tweaks. I'll buy the PI7 S2 and report back as always

 

[bladefd]

The Falcon H-ANC looks very nice (the blue). Decent specs, good price. I look forward to reading reviews before considering buying!

 

[dasadab]

Beyerdynamic Free Byrd early impressions: Got mine on a 2 day Amazon delivery. Downloaded new firmware and app. Tried the included foam tips. Walked around for an hour outside. Didn't really have a chance to test the ANC.
I found the fit to be comfortable, much better comfort for me than the XM4s. Sound: I was pleasantly surprised. I have tried the XM4s, the Bowers & Wilkins PI7, and the Technics AZ60. I thought the Byrds were at least equal to the P17s, but this is from memory. I thought they were much more enjoyable, precise, and refined than the Sonys. The Technics sounded fine, but not good enough to make me want to keep them. I used the Byrd's ear test setting without any further equalization. I thought the separation was excellent. The bass was strong, but not overpowering. There was clarity between the different instruments and vocals--in other words not muddy in the least. They sounded spacious and clean. There was a slight harshness on the upper trebles on some tracks, but this could be easily addressed with equalization. It was also pretty tract specific--only noticed it rarely. I would add that the quality of the recordings were easily noticeable. Maybe this is a good indication of the quality of the sound--they don't hide bad stuff.

I kept my iPhone in my back pocket had had zero dropouts. I returned the P17s because they were not able to maintain a solid BT connection.

All and all, they are keepers. I'll add as a final note that the case is easily pocketable. Oh, they are not small, but the fit causes them to angle out a bit and I thought they looked and fit nice. They were stable throughout the walk.

 

[Tenlow]

Beyerdynamic Free Byrd early impressions: Got mine on a 2 day Amazon delivery. Downloaded new firmware and app. Tried the included foam tips. Walked around for an hour outside. Didn't really have a chance to test the ANC.
I found the fit to be comfortable, much better comfort for me than the XM4s. Sound: I was pleasantly surprised. I have tried the XM4s, the Bowers & Wilkins PI7, and the Technics AZ60. I thought the Byrds were at least equal to the P17s, but this is from memory. I thought they were much more enjoyable, precise, and refined than the Sonys. The Technics sounded fine, but not good enough to make me want to keep them. I used the Byrd's ear test setting without any further equalization. I thought the separation was excellent. The bass was strong, but not overpowering. There was clarity between the different instruments and vocals--in other words not muddy in the least. They sounded spacious and clean. There was a slight harshness on the upper trebles on some tracks, but this could be easily addressed with equalization. It was also pretty tract specific--only noticed it rarely. I would add that the quality of the recordings were easily noticeable. Maybe this is a good indication of the quality of the sound--they don't hide bad stuff.

I kept my iPhone in my back pocket had had zero dropouts. I returned the P17s because they were not able to maintain a solid BT connection.

All and all, they are keepers. I'll add as a final note that the case is easily pocketable. Oh, they are not small, but the fit causes them to angle out a bit and I thought they looked and fit nice. They were stable throughout the walk.

Agree with all of this and it matches what I think about them well. Big but still comfortable, great spacious and detailed sound with a thunderous bass at times that doesn't overpower though and volume aplenty. Can be slightly harsh at higher volumes with certain tracks. The connection is definitely very stable, yes. It doesn't feel like a first gen and buggy product at all - they've taken their time, mind you.

They are keepers for me as well!

 

[Tenlow]

New Bowers & Wilkins PI7 S2 coming. SAR-Test-Report-5982998

So that's their first PI7 firmware update then, great

I won't be buying these after their disappointing "care" for the PI7 and a generally sub par experience with them on iOS.

That said, I would still be interested to read more on them, sure

 

[james444]

The linkbuds showed up this morning. Charged them, updated and now using.

A pretty good fit, better and more stable for me than the buds live.

They do have decent mids and highs, not overdone and not dark either. Unfortunately these lack way more bass/sub-bass than I was expecting and I wasn't expecting much. Using them between +5 to +10 on clear bass.


Granted the earbuds I normally use have excellent sub-bass extension (custom diy) and the buds live at least have some.

Edit: for reference, my preferred sound signature is DF neutral (etymotic like).

A quick listen to a frequency sweep confirms my initial thought on the bass. At my normal listening volume (low to med) bass starts being audible around 75-80hz and climbs slowly until 150-160hz where it picks up and levels off in the 3-400hz range.

Not to say these are bad sounding. Just don't expect them to do 100% justice to anything with deeper bass notes/lines.

That's exactly what I was expecting after reading the Soundguys review. And the reason why I took a pass on the LinkBuds WF-L900.
https://www.soundguys.com/sony-linkbuds-wf-l900-review-67631/

If you prefer DF-neutral (and can live with unfortunately very sensitive touch controls), I can recommend these:
https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/gp/product/B09M3MK1QG/

They look like cheap Airpods 3 knockoffs, but imo run rings around the original Airpods 3 in terms of sound quality.

Please note that like with any open earbuds, bass will of course depend on fit, i.e. the distance from nozzle opening to your ear canal (aka: proximity effect). With an optimum fit (nozzle opening very close to ear canal, yet still without IEM-like seal), I'm able to get a frequency response like this, which I consider pretty awesome:

(DF-compensated)