[nekonhime]

"Less than you have feet apparently" is always my go to answer. Although, sleeping on the couch is a bit chilly these days, so I do watch my mouth more.

That is marital abuse, you should sue her for the right being on a bed lol

 

[Juturna]

I will recant my statement on the spatial audio on the Bose QC Buds Ultra, it's honestly the best implementation of it I've heard so far. I think my first pairing with my phone was completely screwed up and that's why it sounded so bad. I like what it sounds like now anyway, and I enjoy the whole being able to change between "still" and... I don't remember what the other one was called, but let's say "moving".

What I really wish for when it comes to spatial audio, because I do believe that it's a trend that will only be growing the next couple of years (and I hope, despite it not being especially sound purist/audiophile-centric of a feature), especially if it gets BETTER, which I undoubtedly think it can and will, is more of a customizable approach.

Like for an example being able to either set many more different modes based on what type of vibe or maybe even location you're after. So getting your music to sound like a concert hall, club, church, cave, forest, outdoors etc, and then also being able to maybe slide a "distance" between you and the music so you can decide if you want the more intimate experience of the music playing from a close proximity to where you are, or hearing the music from a longer distance.

Also maybe the option of REALLY anchoring the sound in a more definitive place in a room, not sure how that would work though, possibly by mapping out with a camera of the room you're listening in, and maybe even getting the sound adapted to the physical dimensions of the room (something like Sonos does with their speakers), maybe even deciding if you want to set up the speakers as stereo in one place, or placing them all around you like a 5.1, 7.1 or 9.1 surround system.

The Bose has a little bit of that "anchoring" when you choose "Still" in its immersion mode, and it's a cool effect, but it still sort of follows you and puts the music in front of you after a couple of seconds.
So the idea would be to get more of the experience of listening to music on real speakers in a room whilst not having to own big speakers if it doesn't work where you're living (like an apartment and maybe it's late at night or whatever).
I think something like that would be doable in the future, and might even sound really good too, the Bose certainly makes me think that it's at least something that could be done, and if Bose makes me think that... then I could imagine another brand doing it even better.

 

[webvan]

I've always been a sucker for "spatial audio" and spent countless hours getting a hold of old DTS CDs, Quad conversions, etc...but the "spatial audio" with headphones, and even more so earbuds, is completely lost on me. I've now tried it with standard headphones/earbuds with the Atmos mixes of Amazon or Tidal, the Jabra 10's "Atmos" mode and the "immersive" feature of the QC Ultra earbuds and it has absolutely zero appeal to me, mostly because unlike real spatial audio (at least 5.1 with actual satellite speakers) I hear absolutely no sense of depth but only some kind of "processing" that generally degrades the SQ. It reminds me of the old "Dolby Pro Logic" of the late 80s !

Sure, the Jabra and Bose have the "still" and "moving" modes that "follow" your head movements but when is that going to be "useful" when listening to music ?

 

[Caipirina]

Like for an example being able to either set many more different modes based on what type of vibe or maybe even location you're after. So getting your music to sound like a concert hall, club, church, cave, forest, outdoors etc, and then also being able to maybe slide a "distance" between you and the music so you can decide if you want the more intimate experience of the music playing from a close proximity to where you are, or hearing the music from a longer distance.

1.) glad your Bose finally ‘behaved’ and now make you happy. I had very similar initial problems, now most everything is great, despite the occasional sound jumping around issues.

2.) what you describe in terms of customizable Spatial Audio is something that Parrot implement via app already all the way back in 2014 with their first Zik over ears!
Would love to see this in buds like the Bose some day. Still sounds really amazing

The speaker location and room type can be set independently.

 

[spr33]

1.) glad your Bose finally ‘behaved’ and now make you happy. I had very similar initial problems, now most everything is great, despite the occasional sound jumping around issues.

2.) what you describe in terms of customizable Spatial Audio is something that Parrot implement via app already all the way back in 2014 with their first Zik over ears!
Would love to see this in buds like the Bose some day. Still sounds really amazing

The speaker location and room type can be set independently.

Just spotted a pair of original Ziks for £42! Trying to keep my finger off the buy button..

 

[webvan]

Double post, please ignore

 

[webvan]

Would the app still work? Doesn't seem to be available on Google Play, maybe an old apk can be found.

Not sure what changed between the Zik 1/2/3?

 

[Caipirina]

Just spotted a pair of original Ziks for £42! Trying to keep my finger off the buy button..

I saw a similar deal on a pair of Z3 recently and just realized that even my Z1 get very little play time. They are ‘cool to have and still work’ … but not essential

 

[spr33]

I saw a similar deal on a pair of Z3 recently and just realized that even my Z1 get very little play time. They are ‘cool to have and still work’ … but not essential

I've also just seen an iPhone + Zik 2 bundle on eBay for not a lot.. could buy it and sell the iPhone on its own for a free pair of headphones

The things I try and tell myself!

 

[Ghisy]

but the "spatial audio" with headphones, and even more so earbuds, is completely lost on me. I've now tried it with standard headphones/earbuds with the Atmos mixes of Amazon or Tidal, the Jabra 10's "Atmos" mode and the "immersive" feature of the QC Ultra earbuds and it has absolutely zero appeal to me, mostly because unlike real spatial audio (at least 5.1 with actual satellite speakers) I hear absolutely no sense of depth but only some kind of "processing" that generally degrades the SQ.

Same here. I wanted to love spatial audio on modern headphones but I just don't see the appeal either.

I'd take regular stereo music instead, thank you very much.

 

[Juturna]

1.) glad your Bose finally ‘behaved’ and now make you happy. I had very similar initial problems, now most everything is great, despite the occasional sound jumping around issues.

2.) what you describe in terms of customizable Spatial Audio is something that Parrot implement via app already all the way back in 2014 with their first Zik over ears!
Would love to see this in buds like the Bose some day. Still sounds really amazing

The speaker location and room type can be set independently.

Haha well... I'm not going to say that they're behaving, honestly. They keep lagging out in new ways. Like the audio becoming imbalanced so the volume in the right earbud becomes louder, and it's especially noticeable with immersion on because it becomes balanced between the earbuds if I turn my head all the way to the right.
The app still also don't want to find the buds half the time.

But yeah for the most part it's doing OK. I really like them otherwise!

That feature is exactly what I'm talking about, but I would love it if it was even more expensive and feature-rich with more different types of locations. But yeah that's really cool.

I've always been a sucker for "spatial audio" and spent countless hours getting a hold of old DTS CDs, Quad conversions, etc...but the "spatial audio" with headphones, and even more so earbuds, is completely lost on me. I've now tried it with standard headphones/earbuds with the Atmos mixes of Amazon or Tidal, the Jabra 10's "Atmos" mode and the "immersive" feature of the QC Ultra earbuds and it has absolutely zero appeal to me, mostly because unlike real spatial audio (at least 5.1 with actual satellite speakers) I hear absolutely no sense of depth but only some kind of "processing" that generally degrades the SQ. It reminds me of the old "Dolby Pro Logic" of the late 80s !

Sure, the Jabra and Bose have the "still" and "moving" modes that "follow" your head movements but when is that going to be "useful" when listening to music ?

Yeah I mean each to their own, and I also hated spatial audio from the start when it became a thing on earbuds like AirPods Pros and so on. But to me it's starting to get there in the form of sounding good without losing impact and adding perceived depth. Like I said before, it's obviously not for purists, but I think it adds something to the way you feel the music. It might sound technically worse, but it does add some type of emotional resonance to me at times. I've almost always turned it off except for the Nuratrues, the Jabra's and now the Bose. But I think the pure spatial aspect is done best by Bose as an effect, while Nuratrue manages to do it with more subtlety.

But to me there's s huge difference in the way spatial audio sounded when it was first introduced in earbuds compared to now, it sounds a lot better, impacts the music quality less (Im not sure if I even think it sounds 10% worse than the regular mode on QC Bud Ultras, not that they're meant to be audiophile earbuds in any mode of course) while definitely adding something new.

 

[Not so fat head]

This could help explain the big differences we hear between each of us. Also could explain why I think Bose QC sound very good with their non- penetrating tips; just my anatomy….

 

[webvan]

So I've taken a couple of trips with the QC Ultras and comparing them to the Jabra 10s and Earfun Free Pro 2. So yes, the Ultras have a slight edge in terms of overall isolation when riding on a train. Not really sure it's the ANC as the ANC on the Jabras is really good but the semi-open design doesn't do them any favors. The more advanced reviews like Aregina's YT channel pointed out that the "noise floor" had been improved compared to the QCII but I still find it distracting if you're just using the earbuds to create a "bubble" (i.e. without listening to music).

I don't find the "wings" very comfortable, especially the part that's located in the bottom as it presses against the ear and I wonder if the top part wouldn't be enough.

SQ is good but nothing special compared to the Jabra 10s. The "Aware" mode is pretty impressive though but that's something I'm really interested in.

Wind noise in ANC mode is just as horrendous as on the QCIIs when riding a bike but like with the Jabras the "Aware" mode works better, at least it makes them usable.

I still don't feel that paying a huge premium for earbuds like the QC Ultra or Jabra 10s gets you a lot more than what you get with earbuds like the Earfun Air/Free Pro 2. It doesn't seem like anoyone else here has tried them ?

 

[SabotageFungal]

https://www.amazon.com/JLab-Wireles...-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1 For anyone on the fence, the JLAB Epic Lab Edition is down to $99 on Amazon:

 

[PixelSquish]

My Mystique crap the bed the other week. Would cut out from one side repeatedly. Emailed support, did a couple factory resets. still didn't work, but they quickly said to mail them to their spot in Texas and they'd send out a new set. Shipped them out today. They were very responsive via email.