Going fully Wireless IEMs. Too soon? Or are we there yet?
Dec 8, 2021 at 5:00 PM Post #40,007 of 62,381
Dec 8, 2021 at 5:00 PM Post #40,008 of 62,381
Had same questions in my head just now. Great question
Pretty sure after. The AKGs were released but never avail here in the US outside of third parties on Amazon. Not sure why. Someone might know...
 
Dec 8, 2021 at 5:04 PM Post #40,009 of 62,381
Oh man, you flipped them? Yowza. I’m still loving mine.
Truly loved the sound. Been using my AirPods Max for work a lot and then the B&O EQ, V-Moda, Shure TW2 w/SE846 and uh today the Jabra Elite Active 7's which seem to be working much better than my experience with the 7 Pros. Hmm. Lots to shuffle!
 
Dec 8, 2021 at 5:28 PM Post #40,011 of 62,381
Pretty sure after. The AKGs were released but never avail here in the US outside of third parties on Amazon. Not sure why. Someone might know...
They were but not on the AKG site. Harman, like now, sold them. Harman sell on the site and have no Amazon store.

Maybe some weird Samsung thing where they can talk about their true wireless having sound by AKG but if AKG sound is so good people would go to the AKG site and buy N400's quite a bit. Can't have that lol! So, "no TWS on AKG site!" :) They own AKG and can make them their bitch if they want and protect Samsung models at AKG's expense.

Typical big company shenanigans like Beats won't have H1 chip or as good NC or whatever features left out. Usually not a good thing when somebody becomes a sub-brand under a bigger company.

Might be why we have no second model yet and maybe not get one at all.
 
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Dec 8, 2021 at 5:30 PM Post #40,012 of 62,381
They were but not on the AKG site. Harman, like now, sold them. Harman sell on the site and have no Amazon store.

Maybe some weird Samsung thing where they can talk about their true wireless having sound by AKG but if AKG sound is so good people would go to the AKG site and buy N400's quite a bit. Can't have that lol! So, "no TWS on AKG site!" :) They own AKG and can make them their bitch if they want and protect Samsung models at AKG's expense.
Amazing. Yeah, I do think they sound better than a lot of the Galaxy Buds I've tried. But I'm a layman compared to most.
 
Dec 8, 2021 at 6:26 PM Post #40,013 of 62,381
Self-control, folks, self-control! Don't spend money unless if you seriously plan on using the $48 buds. A lot of people buy stuff they will use a week then never touch it again. Don't be one of those! It's the end of the year blowout sale to clear out their stock, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's a tax write-off as a loss to benefit them on their taxes. I don't know the exact corporate laws behind that, but it would be my guess. They either have something new on the way or killing off their TWS business.
 
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Dec 8, 2021 at 7:15 PM Post #40,014 of 62,381
Dec 8, 2021 at 7:20 PM Post #40,015 of 62,381
Lol…only kept the Gemini of all those I tried. So I have those and APP. These are sooooo tempting as dog walkers if nothing else.

Edit: duh, you probably meant 100 of the AKG.
Couldn't resist, took the bait. I also recently bought -- and like -- a Soundcore Liberty 2 Air Pro refurb for $60 since I needed a better mic for work. I'm also eyeing the Grell. So my Gemini is going have company. I thought I was monogamous, don't know what happened to me!
 
Dec 8, 2021 at 8:16 PM Post #40,017 of 62,381
Dec 8, 2021 at 9:41 PM Post #40,018 of 62,381
I have the Technics AZ60, Sony XM4 and now the Nuarl N6 Pro 2 in house today. I've had a fun couple hours listening while swapping between them and playing with their various features.

For this comparison I'm mostly going to focus on the treble because it's the main area where 1 of these 3 models really distinguishes itself. All three of these sound GREAT. They all do really decent bass, with the Nuarl having slightly less but tighter and more articulate bass and the Sony and Technics having similar large levels of bloom and elevated bass out of the box. Similarly, all three do really lovely mids with lots of detail and decent layering and imaging. The Nuarl and Technics are slightly less intimate in focus than the Sony, but all three could do better in soundstage and imaging like most of the offerings in the TW category.

The Technics and Sony both have customizable EQs that I've adjusted as close as possible to my preferred frequency response. The Nuarl only have 2 EQ settings: "Default" and "Flat". Default was brighter and thinner from the mids through the treble, but had better imaging and more accurate tonality than the Flat option, so I left it on Default. The Nuarl was connected to my Pixel 6 Pro via AptX, the other two via LDAC to the same phone.

The Technics and Nuarl are both brighter and drier up top than the Sony, which is sorta tonally dark and lush by default. In terms of EQ the Technics responded well to EQ except for in the mids and treble where there was some sort of spike in the frequency response that made snare drums and cymbal strikes sound "clicky" and plasticky in timbre to me. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't dial it out with the EQ options in the Technics app, so I'm guessing this is maybe driver breakup or some other driver limitation. To be frank: I don't think I would enjoy listening to these without using LDAC because my nitpicks with the treble are exacerbated badly over AAC.

The Nuarl sounds lovely from the bass through the mids and does a really nice job with detail retrieval and recreating a sense of space, but it is bright out of the box and the treble sounds a little dry and papery especially with the silicone tips that are the sole option in the box. There is a ton of detail present in the mids and the bass is remarkably articulate, but it's a shame the top end is lacking in refinement (the first gen N6 Pro was better IMO). I tried Comply tips with the N6 Pro 2 (like I had with its predecessor) but the treble was still just a tad underwhelming considering the strength of the rest of the presentation.

The Sony is dark out of the box and sounds really thick and hefty at first. You don't get a ton of sparkle but you do get some really nice treble detail if you pay attention. Breaking out Sony's EQ function gives you 5 bands plus a "Clear Bass" slider, and the bands are much more usable than the Technics equivalent. I pushed up the treble bands a bit and adjusted the low end to be a bit less bombastic and wow--tons of detail, and natural timbre and textures to instruments and voices. The treble was a real treat: cymbals shimmer in space with natural resonance and overtones, and hi hats sound metallically defined rather than splashy and indistinct. I was just shocked at how well controlled the sound is. I think Sony's basic driver implementation must be really good here as the EQ never felt like it was trying to work around some limitation in the driver.

Incidentally, The Nuarl was the only one of the three where I could hear a very slight noise floor, but it was also the only model without ANC so that probably had something to do with it.

So, the Sony XM4 is staying and the other two are being returned. Considering all the other bonuses (good ANC, fantastic battery life, wireless charging, tiny case) it really feels like Sony has put out a best-in-class product. I'm really impressed both that Sony has released such a compelling piece of kit, but also that there are so many worthy competitors in the space now.
 
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Dec 8, 2021 at 11:30 PM Post #40,019 of 62,381
Truly loved the sound. Been using my AirPods Max for work a lot and then the B&O EQ, V-Moda, Shure TW2 w/SE846 and uh today the Jabra Elite Active 7's which seem to be working much better than my experience with the 7 Pros. Hmm. Lots to shuffle!
Multipoint is supposedly coming to the Elite 7 Actives and Pros sometime in January. I had them off my list as potential upgrade from my Elite Active 75t's because of this missing feature but I'm now considering them again. I was leaning towards the 7 Pro since it has the same IP57 rating and supposedly has a better mic which is absolutely a necessity for me since I'm on Cisco Jabber calls all day. Can you expand why you prefer the Elite Active 7 and how it compares to the Active 75t and 7 pro?
 

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