Going fully Wireless IEMs. Too soon? Or are we there yet?
May 31, 2019 at 12:31 PM Post #7,186 of 62,209
https://gizmodo.com/these-are-the-very-best-truly-wireless-earbuds-1835118531

Another review that picks the Jabra Elite 65t as the best one the market.

Ones they compared against: Airpods, M&D MW07, and Powerbeats Pro.

Aren't we due for an update to the 65t?

And UK What HiFi magazine has again crowned the old Sony WF-1000X as the best true wireless and the only one they feel they can reccomend. They rate the T65 as middle ground, not particularily good nor bad
 
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May 31, 2019 at 12:35 PM Post #7,187 of 62,209
bose.jpg


Bose has a new version of the Soundsport Free coming later this year. Pictured below, it will be known as the Bose Earbuds 500. Note, there is also a 700 version coming that is a bit larger.

One of the issues with the prior version was the size of the earbuds. This one seems to remedy that. However, a critical flaw of Bose earbuds from my point of view is that they are not 'in-ear' they instead sit right at the entrance to your ear. This results in diminished bass response but also tons of ambient nose entering the ear canal. That was a dealbreaker for me on the SoundSport Free. Oddly though, the SoundSport Free gets great reviews for the most part. So, am I missing something there? Do people want ambient noise entering the ear canal through the earbud? I listen to mine mostly at the gym. I need a good seal both to drown out the smooth jazz that the gym pumps through their speakers and the a-hole breaking gym rules by talking on his phone. The 700 will have active noise cancelling, but I don't care about active noise cancelling in the least, I simply want ALL noise cancelled until I remove the earbud. Thoughts?
 
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May 31, 2019 at 12:36 PM Post #7,188 of 62,209
https://gizmodo.com/these-are-the-very-best-truly-wireless-earbuds-1835118531

Another review that picks the Jabra Elite 65t as the best one the market.

Ones they compared against: Airpods, M&D MW07, and Powerbeats Pro.

Aren't we due for an update to the 65t?
The 65t is probably the best all around option for most people so I generally agree with the Gizmodo comparison. I still tend to grab mine when I need something that just plain works. The case stays charged for ages, they have decent isolation and the sound is fine.
 
May 31, 2019 at 12:36 PM Post #7,189 of 62,209
And UK What HiFi magazine has again crowned the old Sony WF-1000X as the best true wireless and the only one they feel they can reccomend. They rate the T65 as middle ground, not particularily good nor bad

What HiFi gets paid to endorse various products. I would not trust any reviews posted there.
 
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May 31, 2019 at 12:38 PM Post #7,190 of 62,209
Bose has a new version of the Soundsport Free coming later this year. Pictured below, it will be known as the Bose Earbuds 500. Note, there is also a 700 version coming that is a bit larger.

One of the issues with the prior version was the size of the earbuds. This one seems to rememdy that. However, a critical flaw of Bose earbuds from my point of view is that they are not 'in-ear' they instead sit right at the entrance to your ear. This results in diminished bass response but also tons of ambient nose entering the ear canal. That was a dealbreaker for me on the SoundSport Free. Oddly though, the SoundSport Free gets great reviews for the most part. So, am I missing something there? Do people want ambient noise entering the earbud? I listen to mine mostly at the gym. I need a good seal both to drown out the smooth jazz that the gym pumps through their speakers and the a-hole breaking gym rules by talking on his phone. The 700 will have active noise cancelling, but I don't care about active noise cancelling in the least, I simply want ALL noise cancelled until I remove the earbud. Thoughts?
The 700 is the most interesting version because the anc will address the very issue you describe. The ss free sound amazing in quiet environments but once the noise level increases it falls off fast. Adding anc will give the same great sound and comfort (they are amazingly comfortable) and presumably address the ambient sound issue. Sadly they appear to be a year away.
 
May 31, 2019 at 12:43 PM Post #7,192 of 62,209
Just got mine in blue and listened to it for a few minutes. It is indeed a tad bright and the bass is not bad. Hope i have more time the coming few days to use it more.
I changed to the tips that came with my qcy t1c and the brightness are tamed now. Very enjoyable sound. I removed the ear loop and was surprised to find that the casing is smooth all around which makes wearing the buds comfortable.
 
May 31, 2019 at 12:47 PM Post #7,193 of 62,209


Bose has a new version of the Soundsport Free coming later this year. Pictured below, it will be known as the Bose Earbuds 500. Note, there is also a 700 version coming that is a bit larger.

One of the issues with the prior version was the size of the earbuds. This one seems to remedy that. However, a critical flaw of Bose earbuds from my point of view is that they are not 'in-ear' they instead sit right at the entrance to your ear. This results in diminished bass response but also tons of ambient nose entering the ear canal. That was a dealbreaker for me on the SoundSport Free. Oddly though, the SoundSport Free gets great reviews for the most part. So, am I missing something there? Do people want ambient noise entering the ear canal through the earbud? I listen to mine mostly at the gym. I need a good seal both to drown out the smooth jazz that the gym pumps through their speakers and the a-hole breaking gym rules by talking on his phone. The 700 will have active noise cancelling, but I don't care about active noise cancelling in the least, I simply want ALL noise cancelled until I remove the earbud. Thoughts?

Oh, how I feel you! The noise levels at gyms are terrible and phone talkers should be ... well, let's be nice ... they should not be talking on phones at the gym :)

But I do love my Bose SSF, though I was skeptical at first as well. But now I love everything Bose puts out with the Stay Hear tips, like their ANC QC 20 ... and they do a fantastic job at cancelling out the noise without being jammed all the way till by eardrum.
 
May 31, 2019 at 1:29 PM Post #7,194 of 62,209
I changed to the tips that came with my qcy t1c and the brightness are tamed now. Very enjoyable sound. I removed the ear loop and was surprised to find that the casing is smooth all around which makes wearing the buds comfortable.

I have changed tips too to small generic silicon tips from Ali. Did’t change much of the sound for me but i find them quite ok sounding so i won’t tip roll again.

Seems like there is no way to turn them off without putting them back in the box ?
 
May 31, 2019 at 1:39 PM Post #7,195 of 62,209
I have changed tips too to small generic silicon tips from Ali. Did’t change much of the sound for me but i find them quite ok sounding so i won’t tip roll again.

Seems like there is no way to turn them off without putting them back in the box ?
The buds can be manually turned off without the box. Disconnect the buds from the phone by turning off the phone's bluetooth. Then press and hold the buttons on each of the buds for 3 seconds and the bud will turn off. Else you can leave it disconnected from the bluetooth and it will automatically turn off in 5 minutes. These are not mentioned in the user guide.
 
May 31, 2019 at 1:46 PM Post #7,196 of 62,209
The buds can be manually turned off without the box. Disconnect the buds from the phone by turning off the phone's bluetooth. Then press and hold the buttons on each of the buds for 3 seconds and the bud will turn off. Else you can leave it disconnected from the bluetooth and it will automatically turn off in 5 minutes. These are not mentioned in the user guide.

Thanks, just found it out myself that holding the buttons for 3 seconds does the trick. At the first try all it did was turning the volume when i was holding the buttons. I was probably doing it wrong.
 
May 31, 2019 at 1:48 PM Post #7,197 of 62,209
Which review would that be? I scrolled up and down and left and right ... :) enlighten me with a link pls?

If you’re referring to this RH, I don’t think I’ve ever said that one of the Syllable S101’s two drivers was a BA. The Amazon UK listing says “dual dynamic drivers” (but it also says IPX7 and 12 hours battery life, so I’m not sure how accurate all the statements in those listings are). It wouldn’t have surprised me if the bass driver (the woofer) was dynamic and the treble driver (the tweeter) was a balanced armature — but that’s not what that listing says, so what do I know.
 
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May 31, 2019 at 2:07 PM Post #7,198 of 62,209
Trying to decide between these, anyone have any pointers?

- Sabbat X12 / E12
- Astrotec S60
- 1More Stylish
- TFZ B.V2

Looking for a warm, neutral sound with a great soundstage. Don't care for overly powerful base.
 
May 31, 2019 at 2:38 PM Post #7,200 of 62,209
Unfortunately my 65t broke after about 5 months of use. The 65t has great utility (call quality, hear-through function and button controls are good) but falls short on comfort, isolation, durability and defects/quality control. Sound quality is good but also depends on what seal you get - the large tips give the optimal seal to hear the bass for me but were also very uncomfortable as the flange would flip back in my ear. I used medium tips and could still hear the bass at home but I start losing seal once I'm commuting. The overall sound is V-shaped with an emphasis on the upper-mids and highs, without sounding sibilant or fatiguing. When I can hear the bass, it's somewhat boomy and emphasized in the midbass. Charging case still uses microUSB, unfortunately but I suspect the next version will have Type C as the 85h has it. Many users have complained about volume imbalance, clipping distortion and hissing from the left bud, which no firmware update has been able to fix (last one was in December). I have this issue but don't know if it is system-wide. The hissing is only imbalanced above a certain volume, while the volume imbalance and distortion happen regardless. The imbalance for me is slight (it sometimes "settles down" slightly after a few second of playback), but recently my right earbud died down in volume significantly. Sometimes pushing it into my ears cause the volume to come back briefly - I suspect the driver or internal connection has become damaged - I was noticing driver flex on the right bud out of the box.

Astrotec S60 (BT4.2) is my daily driver now but I'm considering getting the S60 BT5.0, Sabbat E12 or Anbes 359. I'm wondering how's the volume of E12 and 359, although I suspect my Note 9 is keeping the volume low on the S60 (it sounds very loud through my laptop).


Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the 65t. It sounds kind of promising, but with a bunch of compromises. That seems to be the trend with true wireless right now. It’s vrey exciting because the technology is finally solving most of the initial problems and things are sounding good, but every bud I have looked at there seems to be something of a compromise or issue. I g Jess the good news is that this next year or two should produce a few more real winners. Who knows, I may still pick up a 65t for fun if I find a good deal. Thanks again for that.

The astros look pretty interesting. I used to love BA iems, but settled with dynamics just because of richness for sound. As for the max volume of E12 and Anbes, the E12 is one of the loudest I’ve tried in a while. I won’t dare touch max volume basically ever even in the noisiest of environments. The anbes reach a peak probably of about 5 dB below the E12 is I’m not mistaken. Just enough to get very loud, but not hurt my ears. Overall though, max volume on both is great. I’ll have to check the Anbes again, but with the e12, there is no distortion to my ears even at peak volume.
 

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