[clerkpalmer]

Anyone with the XM3s and XM1s know for a fact that the XM3 have more volume (louder).

Not directly but I can say that unless you like to listen at unsafe volumes, the xm3s are plenty loud. I’m at 50 percent on my iPhone and there’s plenty of headroom.

 

[howdy]

Not directly but I can say that unless you like to listen at unsafe volumes, the xm3s are plenty loud. I’m at 50 percent on my iPhone and there’s plenty of headroom.

I'm just gonna have to buy these. I've been seeing a lot of promising reviews on YouTube and on the web.
Are you liking them more?

 

[Spamateur]

Aight, got the Sony WF1000XM3 in the mail.

The case took probably 40 min to charge up. I was using a USB-C to USB-C cable from a 3A adapter so that seemed surprisingly long.

Pairing with NFC was seamless much like it is with their over-ear bluetooth cans. Thanks, Sony!

The case is beautifully designed despite being a tad larger than I'd like. It feels very much like a Sony premium product worthy of the price, which is not something I ever felt about the original WF-1000x. The brushed metal lid and soft-touch material on the case feel great in the hand are quite eye-catching.

The fit was easy. My left ear is a weird fit and always seems to give me trouble with universal IEMs, but the large hybrid tips seem to work well. I've always thought the Sony hybrids are some of the best in the business, so I was happy to see a version of those included here. The XM3 has a deeper insertion than most TW models which helps.

The noise cancelling is pretty amazing by TW IEM standards. They don't block out external noise as well as well-fitting CIEMs or Sony's own over-ear ANC cans but they're by far the best isolation in terms of TW models that I've tried.

They sound pretty good. They're warm with the usual Sony midbass hump, but luckily that bass emphasis doesn't bleed into the mids like they do in the Cambridge Melomania 1. There's none of the chestiness with the XM3s that you get with the Cambridge . The mids and lower treble have a bit of a smooth, hazy quality so that the leading edge of notes can sound indistinct. For example, there is some bite missing from big rock guitar power chords or other dynamic flourishes. This presentation feels like a conscious tuning choice to keep the XM3 easy-listening and tone down any aggression. Don't get me wrong--the XM3s aren't dark-sounding, but in the mids they're a bit laid-back. At the top of the spectrum there's the typical treble spike you get with a consumer-friendly sound signature, but even with that treble spike the XM3 sound a tad closed-in and lacking in air. I really hate how most of these TW models lack a smooth and even treble response, but the Sony has a bit of sparkle and treble definition. The aforementioned treble spike is mostly well-controlled without splashiness or excessive sharpness.

In terms of resolution, they're fine. They're not detail retrieval monsters (and who would expect them to be without lossless codec support) but they're more than passable for a consumer-friendly sound signature. I'm using a Pixel 3 XL streaming CD-quality Tidal (probably doesn't matter when limited to AAC) and they sound nice enough for me to get lost in the music, but they aren't as revealing or have the tonal accuracy of my benchmark TW IEMs, the Mavin Air-X.

Speaking of, comparing the XM3 to the Mavin Air-X, the Mavins are better-sounding. The Mavins are cohesive through the entire frequency range and the overall presentation is like listening to an excellent 2-channel speaker system.

If I had to score everything I've owned or heard in terms of sound quality (mostly from memory):

Mavin Air-X: 9
Sennheiser MTW: 7.25
Bose SoundSport Free: 6.75
Sony XM3: 6.5
MW07: 6
RHA TrueConnect: 6
Cambridge Melomania 1: 6
Jabra 65t: 4.5
CKR7TW: 3

Scoring in terms of overall product experience (build quality, battery life, case size, features, specs):
I'm excluding the MW07 because I only got to listen to it for an hour.

Sony XM3: 8
Mavin Air-X: 7.5
Cambridge Melomania 1: 7
Jabra 65t: 6.5
RHA TrueConnect: 6.5
Bose SoundSport Free: 6
CKR7TW: 4
Sennheiser MTW: 3 (battery woes and bugs galore)

I'm not sure if I'm going to keep the XM3. I'm still stumped as to why Sony left out LDAC or aptX support, as that alone is such a big strike in my eyes. We'll see how I feel after a few days.

 

[clerkpalmer]

I'm just gonna have to buy these. I've been seeing a lot of promising reviews on YouTube and on the web.
Are you liking them more?

Yes and no. I am doing some a/b comparing against my Powerbeats pro and the sq is very similar and close. The Beats hit a little deeper and don’t isolate as well but have sweat proofing. The Sony are tech forward with anc. Probably better clarity and resolution and soundstage but it’s pretty close. I’m on the fence on returning them largely because primary use case is the gym so I’m not sure how much use they will get.

If you decide you want to buy a set Pm me. I might be willing to ship them to you and you can save a little bit of dough and I could avoid the hassle of a Best Buy return. No pressure just offering it as an idea.

 

[clerkpalmer]

I should add that comparing them to the Powerbeats pro in terms of sq is a complement. The beats cost more and sound very good. So it’s not really a slight on the Sony’s. Spamateur I agree with much of your post but I would probably slot the Sony’s ahead of the rha and the Bose and I like the sq on those both. Definitely a matter of preference.

 

[Spamateur]

I swapped back to the Mavin Air-X after a few hours of listening to the Sony XM3. Two thoughts:

My head started to feel a little head-achey after awhile with the Sony. I don't know if it was the noise cancellation or the deep fit, or the fact that I listened for 3 hours straight, but I felt a bit fatigued. I swapped the Air-X back and I was back to jamming. No more fatigue.

I love the features of the Sony and think the sound is pretty good, but hot damn is the Air-X just plain great. Listening back-to-back really highlights how the XM3 falls short of the Air-X in terms of ultimate clarity, natural tonality, resolution, realism, linear frequency response and imaging.

 

[hifi80sman]

I swapped back to the Mavin Air-X after a few hours of listening to the Sony XM3. Two thoughts:

My head started to feel a little head-achey after awhile with the Sony. I don't know if it was the noise cancellation or the deep fit, or the fact that I listened for 3 hours straight, but I felt a bit fatigued. I swapped the Air-X back and I was back to jamming. No more fatigue.

I love the features of the Sony and think the sound is pretty good, but hot damn is the Air-X just plain great. Listening back-to-back really highlights how the XM3 falls short of the Air-X in terms of ultimate clarity, natural tonality, resolution, realism, linear frequency response and imaging.

You’re making me want the Air-X now! How’s the call quality on those?

 

[Peddler]

I too rate the Mavin Air-X very highly. I've not had any negative comments made regarding their mike quality during calls.

I just wish they would use the aptx protocol automatically instead of defaulting to aac every time they connect to my phone.

I'm also on the lookout for tips that will work with the Mavin's - the ones supplied don't offer the very best fit for me - the problem is that the tubes on the Mavin's are completely smooth so most tips just slide right off.

 

[LajostheHun]

Aight, got the Sony WF1000XM3 in the mail.

The case took probably 40 min to charge up. I was using a USB-C to USB-C cable from a 3A adapter so that seemed surprisingly long.

Pairing with NFC was seamless much like it is with their over-ear bluetooth cans. Thanks, Sony!

The case is beautifully designed despite being a tad larger than I'd like. It feels very much like a Sony premium product worthy of the price, which is not something I ever felt about the original WF-1000x. The brushed metal lid and soft-touch material on the case feel great in the hand are quite eye-catching.

The fit was easy. My left ear is a weird fit and always seems to give me trouble with universal IEMs, but the large hybrid tips seem to work well. I've always thought the Sony hybrids are some of the best in the business, so I was happy to see a version of those included here. The XM3 has a deeper insertion than most TW models which helps.

The noise cancelling is pretty amazing by TW IEM standards. They don't block out external noise as well as well-fitting CIEMs or Sony's own over-ear ANC cans but they're by far the best isolation in terms of TW models that I've tried.

They sound pretty good. They're warm with the usual Sony midbass hump, but luckily that bass emphasis doesn't bleed into the mids like they do in the Cambridge Melomania 1. There's none of the chestiness with the XM3s that you get with the Cambridge . The mids and lower treble have a bit of a smooth, hazy quality so that the leading edge of notes can sound indistinct. For example, there is some bite missing from big rock guitar power chords or other dynamic flourishes. This presentation feels like a conscious tuning choice to keep the XM3 easy-listening and tone down any aggression. Don't get me wrong--the XM3s aren't dark-sounding, but in the mids they're a bit laid-back. At the top of the spectrum there's the typical treble spike you get with a consumer-friendly sound signature, but even with that treble spike the XM3 sound a tad closed-in and lacking in air. I really hate how most of these TW models lack a smooth and even treble response, but the Sony has a bit of sparkle and treble definition. The aforementioned treble spike is mostly well-controlled without splashiness or excessive sharpness.

In terms of resolution, they're fine. They're not detail retrieval monsters (and who would expect them to be without lossless codec support) but they're more than passable for a consumer-friendly sound signature. I'm using a Pixel 3 XL streaming CD-quality Tidal (probably doesn't matter when limited to AAC) and they sound nice enough for me to get lost in the music, but they aren't as revealing or have the tonal accuracy of my benchmark TW IEMs, the Mavin Air-X.

Speaking of, comparing the XM3 to the Mavin Air-X, the Mavins are better-sounding. The Mavins are cohesive through the entire frequency range and the overall presentation is like listening to an excellent 2-channel speaker system.

If I had to score everything I've owned or heard in terms of sound quality (mostly from memory):

Mavin Air-X: 9
Sennheiser MTW: 7.25
Bose SoundSport Free: 6.75
Sony XM3: 6.5
MW07: 6
RHA TrueConnect: 6
Cambridge Melomania 1: 6
Jabra 65t: 4.5
CKR7TW: 3

Scoring in terms of overall product experience (build quality, battery life, case size, features, specs):
I'm excluding the MW07 because I only got to listen to it for an hour.

Sony XM3: 8
Mavin Air-X: 7.5
Cambridge Melomania 1: 7
Jabra 65t: 6.5
RHA TrueConnect: 6.5
Bose SoundSport Free: 6
CKR7TW: 4
Sennheiser MTW: 3 (battery woes and bugs galore)

I'm not sure if I'm going to keep the XM3. I'm still stumped as to why Sony left out LDAC or aptX support, as that alone is such a big strike in my eyes. We'll see how I feel after a few days.

I got my XM3 as well, while I agree with many of the things you posted here, I guess I'm a bit more enthusiastic about it, mostly because it's very well compete with my desktop set up, which is while not super expensive it is nonetheless high quality objectively speaking. All of the chi-fi TWS I had the [un] pleasure to sample and own the last 6 months the Sony easily out paces them all by a wide margin, and it should for the money, the closest BT phone in my collection is the neckband style Sennheiser HD 1, but overall I do prefer the Sony even the HD1 has Aptx. Speaking of Aptx, I think Sony wanted this product to be competitive price wise and probably made the decision that LDAC or Aptx HD would be less useful[ and potentially harder on the battery ] for most people vs the NC feature which is very popular indeed among the general public. I'm guessing Sony will release in the future a model that more aimed at audio enthusiasts than the typical user. Having said that I'm very happy with the XM3 so far....

 

[gibletzor]

So after I sent back the Funcl W1s I had picked up around Prime Day, I saw the Aukey T10s on a lightning deal one night for $75. With the Qi charging, USB-C, and the good review on sound quality from a few people here I went for em. SQ is better than the W1s, but not a ton. Bass is a little less overpowering than the W1s and the treble is clearer and stronger. Instrument separation is good. The connection strength is worlds better! I was getting random dropouts on the right ear with the W1s and I was only able to walk a few feet away if I set my phone down before they'd start skipping and losing connection, and that's without any walls in between. With the T10s I was able to leave my phone in the bedroom and walk ~25 feet to the kitchen with 3 walls in between before I started losing connection. And when I had them connected to my PC I could get ~30-35 feet away and up a floor in the house and no connection issues at all. I haven't done any call testing yet, but these are probably keepers.

You people keep tempting me to grab some T5s and start my own mini-hoard too though!

 

[nc8000]

Aight, got the Sony WF1000XM3 in the mail.

The case took probably 40 min to charge up. I was using a USB-C to USB-C cable from a 3A adapter so that seemed surprisingly long.

Pairing with NFC was seamless much like it is with their over-ear bluetooth cans. Thanks, Sony!

The case is beautifully designed despite being a tad larger than I'd like. It feels very much like a Sony premium product worthy of the price, which is not something I ever felt about the original WF-1000x. The brushed metal lid and soft-touch material on the case feel great in the hand are quite eye-catching.

The fit was easy. My left ear is a weird fit and always seems to give me trouble with universal IEMs, but the large hybrid tips seem to work well. I've always thought the Sony hybrids are some of the best in the business, so I was happy to see a version of those included here. The XM3 has a deeper insertion than most TW models which helps.

The noise cancelling is pretty amazing by TW IEM standards. They don't block out external noise as well as well-fitting CIEMs or Sony's own over-ear ANC cans but they're by far the best isolation in terms of TW models that I've tried.

They sound pretty good. They're warm with the usual Sony midbass hump, but luckily that bass emphasis doesn't bleed into the mids like they do in the Cambridge Melomania 1. There's none of the chestiness with the XM3s that you get with the Cambridge . The mids and lower treble have a bit of a smooth, hazy quality so that the leading edge of notes can sound indistinct. For example, there is some bite missing from big rock guitar power chords or other dynamic flourishes. This presentation feels like a conscious tuning choice to keep the XM3 easy-listening and tone down any aggression. Don't get me wrong--the XM3s aren't dark-sounding, but in the mids they're a bit laid-back. At the top of the spectrum there's the typical treble spike you get with a consumer-friendly sound signature, but even with that treble spike the XM3 sound a tad closed-in and lacking in air. I really hate how most of these TW models lack a smooth and even treble response, but the Sony has a bit of sparkle and treble definition. The aforementioned treble spike is mostly well-controlled without splashiness or excessive sharpness.

In terms of resolution, they're fine. They're not detail retrieval monsters (and who would expect them to be without lossless codec support) but they're more than passable for a consumer-friendly sound signature. I'm using a Pixel 3 XL streaming CD-quality Tidal (probably doesn't matter when limited to AAC) and they sound nice enough for me to get lost in the music, but they aren't as revealing or have the tonal accuracy of my benchmark TW IEMs, the Mavin Air-X.

Speaking of, comparing the XM3 to the Mavin Air-X, the Mavins are better-sounding. The Mavins are cohesive through the entire frequency range and the overall presentation is like listening to an excellent 2-channel speaker system.

If I had to score everything I've owned or heard in terms of sound quality (mostly from memory):

Mavin Air-X: 9
Sennheiser MTW: 7.25
Bose SoundSport Free: 6.75
Sony XM3: 6.5
MW07: 6
RHA TrueConnect: 6
Cambridge Melomania 1: 6
Jabra 65t: 4.5
CKR7TW: 3

Scoring in terms of overall product experience (build quality, battery life, case size, features, specs):
I'm excluding the MW07 because I only got to listen to it for an hour.

Sony XM3: 8
Mavin Air-X: 7.5
Cambridge Melomania 1: 7
Jabra 65t: 6.5
RHA TrueConnect: 6.5
Bose SoundSport Free: 6
CKR7TW: 4
Sennheiser MTW: 3 (battery woes and bugs galore)

I'm not sure if I'm going to keep the XM3. I'm still stumped as to why Sony left out LDAC or aptX support, as that alone is such a big strike in my eyes. We'll see how I feel after a few days.

AptX is out as Sony don’t use Qualcomm in this model. My guess is they left out LDAC due to battery time. Using Tidal lossless should make an (at least technical) difference as it only gets encoded lossy once as opposed to any lossy file format that end up double lossy encoded. Also a large share of the mobile market is Apple and they only support aac but have the best implementation on the market so my guess would be that the Sony possibly sounds best when paired with an Apple device

 

[FYLegend]

How is SBC on the 1000XM3? It's a make or break if you have Windows laptop, though I hope DSEE HX can improve the output signal to some extent...

These new House of Marley look nice but no info on codecs (I'd assume SBC and AAC)
https://www.thehouseofmarley.com/liberate-air.html

 

[Soreniglio]

@Bartig Very curious about those pencil-shaped Tiso!

 

[Mouseman]

So after I sent back the Funcl W1s I had picked up around Prime Day, I saw the Aukey T10s on a lightning deal one night for $75. With the Qi charging, USB-C, and the good review on sound quality from a few people here I went for em. SQ is better than the W1s, but not a ton. Bass is a little less overpowering than the W1s and the treble is clearer and stronger. Instrument separation is good. The connection strength is worlds better! I was getting random dropouts on the right ear with the W1s and I was only able to walk a few feet away if I set my phone down before they'd start skipping and losing connection, and that's without any walls in between. With the T10s I was able to leave my phone in the bedroom and walk ~25 feet to the kitchen with 3 walls in between before I started losing connection. And when I had them connected to my PC I could get ~30-35 feet away and up a floor in the house and no connection issues at all. I haven't done any call testing yet, but these are probably keepers.

You people keep tempting me to grab some T5s and start my own mini-hoard too though!

Just go ahead and do it! I got mine when they were on sale, and I'm beyond impressed. The SQ is fantastic, and other than the ultra-strong magnets in the case that challenge me every time I try to get them out (I'm sure I'll figure out a good way to get them eventually), it's a great set.

 

[Spamateur]

You’re making me want the Air-X now! How’s the call quality on those?

Mic quality seems "just ok". They're not as bad as my car's bluetooth calling quality, but people on the other end of the line definitely know I'm on a bluetooth headset of some sort. I haven't tried making any calls in a noisy environment (just in my office or home) so I haven't tested the noise cancelling on the mic, but Mavin claims it's using some sort of "cVc noise reduction" for calls.