Ok decided to bite the bullet and throw my hat in the ring again (and any other lame expression you can add here).
After late 2019 and early 2020 having tested the following:
Jabra Elite active 75t and 85t
Galaxy buds plus and pro
Sony XM3
Technics AZ70
Sennheiser MTW2
Fiil t1 pro
JBL club pro plus
CA MT
I finally settled on of all things Huawei freebuds pro. They had great mix of good comfort and fit, great controls ambient and ANC.
Good size case and the sound was not best in class, but with some EQ to help the high end it was good enough.
Now a year later and a bunch of new releases as well as some toe dipping into some item like Moondrop Aria, decided to see what the new stuff was about in my neverending attempt to find the Lord of the Buds. 1 bud to rule them all!
Decided that I wanted better sound quality than what I had before but without losing out on features.
Also don't like to break the bank knowing in a year or so I will likely repeat the cycle.
Black Friday is a fun time to do this. I was in the USA for a week and Amazon had some intriguing sales.
Was this close to pulling trigger on NeoBuds pro at 100$ but by the time I decided the shipping date would be past my return date home.
Sony intrigued me but hate fact you can't control volume and track and ANC on buds at same time. Also the warmer darker sound described doesn't appeal to be as my Huawei are already on the warmer darker side needing EQ. Also in Canada the are on sale for 350$ or about 280$ which seems like a lot.
Also head that the fit isn't just secure or comfortable and I plan to work out with the buds.
Read all the buzz about the liberty pro 3. Have the 1st model.
Didn't like people talking about too v shaped and very thin mid and highs. So so ANC and ambient. Also seem expensive though they check all the boxes. Also battery life apparently seems way over stated.
Well that left the new Technics AZ60. Went online to read reviews and go on YouTube. Not alot of there in English but what there is was very good.
The main criticism was lack of QI charging and wearing sensors. Neither are that important to me.
Will I watched a bunch of Chinese YouTube videos with translated subtitles. Hysterical to see what comes up, but in several they ranked the AZ60 as either the top or a close second to the Sony. They all loved the sound and the comfort and the ANC ambient was very good.
So went to look on Amazon and here in Canada they are nearly $290 or about 230$usd.
Seemed a bit pricy
Then
@dweaver mentioned seeing them in Canada online for 160$usd or 200$Canadian.
Turns out one of the stores is located where I live 15 minutes a way. Only negative is that with Covid here in Canada outside of Amazon and spoke noone is taking back opened earbuds.
So I went today when I saw the dark color was in stock and took the gamble.
If you haven't fallen asleep yet reading this, here are my very initial out of the box impressions which will soon be followed by a bunch of questions.
1. Case is small!
2. Buds look amazing!
3. Fit is so much better and more secure than the AZ70. Haven't even tried the other 6 included ear tips yet!
4. There is an initial noise cancellation setup that I did with bathroom fan on. Not sure if that can be redone in future. But do far it has surpassed the ANC of the Samsung and Sennheiser and seems up there with the Huawei and Jabra.
5. Initial sound impression is that they improved the missing low end of the AZ70. Sound stage and separation are very good. Treble detail is among the best.
Overall the sound signature is on the brighter and colder side. I imagine the Sony's are more at the warmer darker.
The equalizer built in works to adjust the be a bit up and drop the upper mids lower treble a tiny bit.
I imagine one they have been played a bit longer they will warm up a bit based on what I have read.
Overall the sound is really great and seems to work great with all genres.
So glad I gambled at the sale price!