[logiatype]

After being frustrated with TWS mic solutions for the last couple of weeks, I've been using my Jaybird X3s (they were my gym buds before lockdown) for the last 2 days and it's been an eye-opening experience. I went through Gbuds+, Tevi, 75T, and XM3.

1. The dangling mic on the X3 is just great. I didn't realize this until, when on a work-from-home call, the other party noted that I sounded much clearer now (I'd been using the XM3 earlier that day).
2. X3s do multipoint flawlessly. I can pair them to my iPhone and Windows PC. They will switch immediately when I have a call on the PC and go back to the phone no problem. I haven't seen TWS do this yet. Better yet, i can just pause music on my phone (via the in-line remote) and start playing anything on my PC and they'll switch!
3. The cord is definitely annoying (especially with face masks).

Ironically, the X3/Tarah/X4 are the only versions to have the multipoint functionality so the Vista doesn't have it. (I've already ordered an X4 for use in the office because web calls are definitely here to stay).

So for me, it may be too soon for TWS. If my use case for were only for music, any of the pairs (other than the 75T) would be a phenomenal buy as they trounce the X3s in music playback. It's a shame that all the big players have abandoned corded iems

 

[GeeD]

I asked about those back in February ... ever since then there was only ONE place on AliExpress that sold them, but only for shipping within / to Russia.
Still quite curious about them as I am a sucker for semi-in ears, and now I found them on German amazon with a 10€ off coupon. So, in a few days I will be able to share impressions ...

Still weird that the sale of this particular model seems so restricted. Remember that I even asked the official 1more store on Ali and they flat out said NO, we will never have those ...

That was 200 pages ago The new 1More, that are available, are the ESS6001T ColorBud, but these are in ear rather than on-ear as shown here. I am REALLY enjoying the sound of the ColourBud, even if there is no track or volume control, for now

 

[Hyperfluxe]

What midrange LG are you refering to? The Velvet? That's the only midrange dev available in the states rn. The V series while they don't sell well are not even objectively midrange phones. The V60 for example is basicly an $800 equal to the S20 plus.
It's a shame samsung won't support APTXHD, they have really great hardware. It's the least they could do since you pay a premium for the name.

I got the V60 at launch in Canada outright. Although it is the weakest flagship on the market, it barely costs $400 USD once you sell the Dual Screen Display Case and HBS-FL7 TWS (sealed BNIB) on eBay. That's unbeatable value for a brand new flagship (not to mention your only other option is the Xperia 1 ii which is 3x the price). The DS is selling easily too, look at recent listings. LG is doing a rather fine job with firmware support, apps and updates for the DS specifically (apparently). I have no idea why people buy the LG Tone Free TWS though, especially for $150 CAD, but that's what my auctions ended at twice now (second V60 was a friend's purchase last week). Keep in mind selling BNIB electronics via auction always means you're losing 10% of its value in the end, but it guarantees a sale. I'm fairly happy with the V60 except one aspect: the 60hz RR. It's too slow for a flagship. 90hz needs to be LG's standard with the V70. Aside from that it performs pretty well once you debloat it and work around LG UX10.0. It just feels like a turtle if used next to a OP8P.

 

[TK33]

I got the V60 at launch in Canada outright. Although it is the weakest flagship on the market, it barely costs $400 USD once you sell the Dual Screen Display Case and HBS-FL7 TWS (sealed BNIB) on eBay. That's unbeatable value for a brand new flagship (not to mention your only other option is the Xperia 1 ii which is 3x the price). The DS is selling easily too, look at recent listings. LG is doing a rather fine job with firmware support, apps and updates for the DS specifically (apparently). I have no idea why people buy the LG Tone Free TWS though, especially for $150 CAD, but that's what my auctions ended at twice now (second V60 was a friend's purchase last week). Keep in mind selling BNIB electronics via auction always means you're losing 10% of its value in the end, but it guarantees a sale. I'm fairly happy with the V60 except one aspect: the 60hz RR. It's too slow for a flagship. 90hz needs to be LG's standard with the V70. Aside from that it performs pretty well once you debloat it and work around LG UX10.0. It just feels like a turtle if used next to a OP8P.

Interesting. They didnt offer TWS here in the US (T-Mobile). Instead, I did the buy one get one free and opted to keep the extra phone and dual screen case as a backup so I guess it comes out to the same price. I was actually surprised LG didn't include some sort of wired earbuds since Samsung always seemed to (last Samsung phone I got was my wife's S10), although I never actually use them.

On the topic if aptX HD, I have some Aristo phones from LG on lines that don't get used often like my home phone (landline that I ported in) that doesn't even have aptX (non HD).

 

[Sam L]

I got the V60 at launch in Canada outright. Although it is the weakest flagship on the market, it barely costs $400 USD once you sell the Dual Screen Display Case and HBS-FL7 TWS (sealed BNIB) on eBay. That's unbeatable value for a brand new flagship (not to mention your only other option is the Xperia 1 ii which is 3x the price). The DS is selling easily too, look at recent listings. LG is doing a rather fine job with firmware support, apps and updates for the DS specifically (apparently). I have no idea why people buy the LG Tone Free TWS though, especially for $150 CAD, but that's what my auctions ended at twice now (second V60 was a friend's purchase last week). Keep in mind selling BNIB electronics via auction always means you're losing 10% of its value in the end, but it guarantees a sale. I'm fairly happy with the V60 except one aspect: the 60hz RR. It's too slow for a flagship. 90hz needs to be LG's standard with the V70. Aside from that it performs pretty well once you debloat it and work around LG UX10.0. It just feels like a turtle if used next to a OP8P.

I came to the v60 from the pixel 4xl and oneplus Maclaren edition. I thought the 60hz would be an annoyance but that hasn't been the case. The 60hz screen on the v60 feels faster than my note 10. I suspect the input latency is faster than the typical 60hz screen found on other Android devices.

 

[jant71]

MTI will release NUARL N10 Pro ANC TRULY WIRELESS STEREO EARBUDS, a completely wireless earphone equipped with NUARL brand active noise canceling (ANC) in early September. The price is 24,500 yen(~$229).

Earphones equipped with dual digital feed-forward/feedback ANC based on Qualcomm's ANC technology. It also supports external sound capture, and you can switch between ANC/external sound capture by the dedicated application "N10 CONNECT".

Equipped with a PTT multilayer film moving plate that has TPE and titanium film deposited on the surface of the PEEK diaphragm, and a unique 10mm diameter dynamic full range driver [N10] v3 that uses a double magnet magnetic circuit. It is said to play a powerful sound with sharpness from the high range to the low range. The reproduction frequency band is 20Hz to 20kHz.

By housing the driver in a metal housing and modularizing it, analog tone like a wired earphone is realized. Furthermore, by combining an earphone module and a digital equalizer that makes full use of the DSP incorporated in the SoC, it has been possible to achieve delicate sound quality tuning that has never been achieved.

It adopts the patented technology "HDSS" of TBI in the US, and it is said that the third-generation ETL acoustic module is built into the housing to prevent localization in the head and reproduce the natural sound spread with thickness and stereoscopic effect.

Bluetooth 5.0 compliant. Codec supports aptX, AAC, SBC. The profile supports A2DP, HFP, HSP, AVRCP. Qualcomm "QCC5124" is combined with an antenna that employs a unique directivity control technology to achieve connection stability with less interruption in sound.

You can play/stop/tune forward/back songs, adjust the volume, and answer the phone with the earphone buttons. The dedicated sub button on the back of the earphone can turn ON/OFF the ANC and external sound capture function. You can also talk with the built-in twin microphone.

The dedicated application "N10 CONNECT" supports not only ANC/external sound capture switching, but also function customization such as hearing protection ON/OFF and equalizer settings. It also supports firmware OTA updates and "Find Earbuds" that display when the earphones are disconnected on the map.

 

[Sylmar]

Off topic but pretty sure most modern non Samsung android phones support aptxhd so basically anything that isn't a Samsung. Its bizarre since all they have to do is enable it in the software. The Velvet looks decent but would be a step down from my S20 Ultra. Aside from my aptxhd complaint its the best phone I've ever owned. But even with that, its not worth the money. The lack of aptxhd has caused me to have to pass on a few headphones. Thankfully my newly delivered massdrop panda use LDAC so no issue there.

Go to developers option and you should be able to check APTX on your phone. My midrange A6+ phone didn't have it in the settings but going into the developer settings enabled me to use it.

This is how you enable developer options: https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/how-to-get-developer-options-on-android/

Worth a try I guess.

 

[TK33]

Go to developers option and you should be able to check APTX on your phone. My midrange A6+ phone didn't have it in the settings but going into the developer settings enabled me to use it.

This is how you enable developer options: https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/how-to-get-developer-options-on-android/

Worth a try I guess.

I think the point was that Samsung disabled aptX HD in favor of their proprietary Scalable codec. AptX HD is different from aptX (I know some TWS sellers like to refer to aptX as "HD" but they are usually referring to "aptX" and not "aptX HD"). If you go into Developer Options, you probably won't see aptX HD listed (I don't have an A6 so I cant confirm on that phone but the S9 and S10 did not have it),

 

[helmutcheese]

Had my Apollo Bolds about 2 hours or so now, so far kind of bass heavy and trying to work out the Assistant setting as it is nearly same as the triple press for ANC.

Ear tips/buds far too small and no XL like the Cleer Audio clones have, using my own XL tips and can still fit case and make charging contact but the nozzles are short and do not reach my canals fully, if I can get my double flange SpinFits on they will need come of each time I change them.

Does not seem any way to power them on/off if not in the case, pressing them for long period disconnects and they looks for another device (I hope these can remember more than one device not continually re-pairing each time (not talking multi-point).

Connection/distance is not good, worse than some of my older BT 4.1 sets, definitely not a strong 10m never mind 15m (class 1 or 2?) and this is on both my Android mobile phone (BT 5.0 class 1) and my PC (Intel BT 5.1/WIFI 6 ax)

 

[TheLionelHutz]

MTI will release NUARL N10 Pro ANC TRULY WIRELESS STEREO EARBUDS, a completely wireless earphone equipped with NUARL brand active noise canceling (ANC) in early September. The price is 24,500 yen(~$229).

Earphones equipped with dual digital feed-forward/feedback ANC based on Qualcomm's ANC technology. It also supports external sound capture, and you can switch between ANC/external sound capture by the dedicated application "N10 CONNECT".

Equipped with a PTT multilayer film moving plate that has TPE and titanium film deposited on the surface of the PEEK diaphragm, and a unique 10mm diameter dynamic full range driver [N10] v3 that uses a double magnet magnetic circuit. It is said to play a powerful sound with sharpness from the high range to the low range. The reproduction frequency band is 20Hz to 20kHz.

By housing the driver in a metal housing and modularizing it, analog tone like a wired earphone is realized. Furthermore, by combining an earphone module and a digital equalizer that makes full use of the DSP incorporated in the SoC, it has been possible to achieve delicate sound quality tuning that has never been achieved.

It adopts the patented technology "HDSS" of TBI in the US, and it is said that the third-generation ETL acoustic module is built into the housing to prevent localization in the head and reproduce the natural sound spread with thickness and stereoscopic effect.

Bluetooth 5.0 compliant. Codec supports aptX, AAC, SBC. The profile supports A2DP, HFP, HSP, AVRCP. Qualcomm "QCC5124" is combined with an antenna that employs a unique directivity control technology to achieve connection stability with less interruption in sound.

You can play/stop/tune forward/back songs, adjust the volume, and answer the phone with the earphone buttons. The dedicated sub button on the back of the earphone can turn ON/OFF the ANC and external sound capture function. You can also talk with the built-in twin microphone.

The dedicated application "N10 CONNECT" supports not only ANC/external sound capture switching, but also function customization such as hearing protection ON/OFF and equalizer settings. It also supports firmware OTA updates and "Find Earbuds" that display when the earphones are disconnected on the map.

Woohoo!

I mean - dang it! Another one to buy!

QC5124 is interesting. I wonder if they'll be able to add aptXHD via a firmware update through the app?

 

[TheLionelHutz]

Are the Mpow M30 the current recommendation for inexpensive (<$50), decent sound, and high water resistance (IPX7 or better)? My wife wants to listen to podcasts at the pool, and I am concerned about her using her Galaxy Buds for that purpose (I have 3 kids; they splash a lot).

 

[Luke Skywalker]

Bose and klipsch will come out soon, but no Ldac yet

Oh nice! I wonder which will be best

 

[Luke Skywalker]

Woohoo!

I mean - dang it! Another one to buy!

QC5124 is interesting. I wonder if they'll be able to add aptXHD via a firmware update through the app?

Oh man thank you. I love the N6 Pros so I’ll bet these as soon as they come out

only thing about the N6 is that I’ve never been able to get the firmware to update

 

[Uzirox]

Now, I'm an owner of the Galaxy Buds+ (due to this topic and forum!) so... little review.

Why I've choosed them: because I think that they're the best "price/features" available. I wanted the "ambient mode" so the choice was reduced, and the rating "B=" on crinacle made me pull the trigger.

- background:
Samsung Galaxy Buds+, Xiaomi Mi9t phone, default BT settings, Dynamic mode in Galaxy wereable, Wavelet installed, no equalization for the GB+ but bass boost.

Speaking for the music I think they're good, but not a miracle. Bass needs to be pumped up definetly for me, and at highest volume the sound sometimes is "splashy". I listen primarly rock/metal so take it in mind.
They need to be perfectly positioned in the ear: if not, forget completely the lowest frequency.
They're absolutely comfortables and tiny, really light in weight.
The ambient mode is incredible: i use it at maximum (in the labs) and i can listen to music to high volume and still I can ear cars approaching, not for a conversation. Used without music is really like an earing aid The sound coming from outside is metallic and with a little delay and focused on higher frequencies. Probably it's tuned this way to be more useful in conversations without removing the GB+.
Touch controls: not so good. It's hard to find the perfect spot to tap and sometimes it's just don't take the double tap, I've never tried the triple tap it must be a pain. Perfect the customization of the (two: left and right) long press: I have long press left = Ambient mode on/off, right=Google Assistant.
Some words on Google Assistant: I can't use it to play a son on Spotify with the phone in my pocket, I don't know why, probably it must be unlocked, but I don't find it useful this way. It reply to normal questions like "what's the time?" and so on. I'm not able to make it read out loud the notifications too.
I think it's all, if I remember another things I will edit.

(sorry for english)

 

[Caipirina]

Had my Apollo Bolds about 2 hours or so now, ...

Connection/distance is not good, worse than some of my older BT 4.1 sets, definitely not a strong 10m never mind 15m (class 1 or 2?) and this is on both my Android mobile phone (BT 5.0 class 1) and my PC (Intel BT 5.1/WIFI 6 ax)

That's strange is I had the exact opposite experience regarding connection. I had cases where I left my phone on a different floor in my house and I walked around freely not noticing I had forgotten it.