Going fully Wireless IEMs. Too soon? Or are we there yet?

[chinmie]

How awesome are those SoundPEATs H1?
I have to shamefully admit that ever since getting them with a few other buds from the 11.11 sale (39.07$!), other than testing if they work, I have not given them a fair shake.
But the last few days I got really addicted to their sound! This is incredible! At that price point? Extremely engaging across the board. So glad I got those. The PNI is excellent, not missing ANC at all (well, let’s see when I try them on the train)
Those & the Fiil T2 Pro are my biggest surprises of 2021 (we all knew the Bose QC & XM4 would rock!)
Now I am still tempted to get the Liberty 3 Pro, since there is such a strong hype regarding their SQ …

it's a good sounding set for sure, though i personally prefer the Fiil T1 Lite's sound, as well as a whole package (size, fit, etc) when i tested them together.

 

[TK33]

The lack of wireless charging kills me. I'm on the fence if I even want to try these now.

Same here. Lack of wireless charging really made me think twice. I am down to one set of Galaxy Buds Live as my other set developed some connection issues and is now a toy for my toddler so there is room on the roster. I have become very spoiled by wireless charging and the lack of cable clutter on my desk both at home and at the office. TWS is all about convenience for me. There are so many choices now that I don't feel like I should have to compromise on features I want. I am just hoping that my now 1 1/2 year old Galaxy Buds Live will last long enough for me to find a replacement.

 

[samandhi]

Been using the Sony Linkbuds all weekend while out and about. These things are really great. I did wind up exchanging them to see if the bluetooth issues persisted. They do, but not always. That said, they're still great. I was at an aquarium with my kid and had them on the entire time. Heard everything around me and they were snug. No issues there. There's definitely a place for these in my collection for sure. Even went to a doctors office this morning, had them in the whole time while waiting. Heard everything around me, no one heard my music. I'll be keeping these. The inlaws will be visiting soon and we'll be hitting a zoo. The Linkbuds will be a godsend.

Got mine yesterday. Indeed, they are really nicer than I originally thought they might be. But for WHAT I wanted them for, they would do either way. I am pleasantly surprised that they are nicer than I anticipated. I used them last night after getting home from work, and then again, all day today while working in a mechanical room with coworkers (other than recharge, they were on a full 8 1/2 hours).

My first impressions are as follows:
The hard plastic creates hotspots in the concha part of the bud for me. I will give it a week or so and see if that improves. If it doesn't, I will just take some foams from my flathead earbuds and put them over it and see how that works out. Keep in mind that hotspot is strange, as it doesn't actually hurt while wearing them, but when I move them around, or take them out, it hurts then; maybe a reaction from the material used. I used to get the same thing from my jeans; the metal button would cause irritation. So as long as I don't move them (which they absolutely won't on their own), it is not a deal-breaker for me. But then again, I guess I have never worn recycled cars on/in my ears before. Overall, these really are comfortable and hardly noticeable in my ears (other than aforementioned hotspot when they are moved). I switched out to the large wing on both sides to get a better fit than the small (even though my ears are small to medium sized).

In the 1 1/2 days I have used them, I have only had a quarter second(ish) cut-out on one but, but other than that, the BT has been rock solid. I have been using either my Note 9, or the iBasso DX300 for the transport. Hopefully that helps others know that maybe not all of them have issues???? Also, at about 5 hours in, I was at low battery (about 16% in the right bud, and 40% in the left) I put them into the charging case for about half an hour. Low and behold they were 100% charged when I put them back in. I also noticed that the case went from 100% to 67% after fully charging the buds one time.

I am sort of chagrined at the sound coming from these. First, most flathead earbuds (which this is most similar to) do not have the amount of bass that these have. The sub-bass is VERY rolled off, but the midbass covers this up (at least on most of the tracks I would listen to). Some rap, and R&B might not sound good on these if they are all about sub-bass. Secondly, the quality of sound for only having AAC and SBC is astounding. This just goes to show that those codecs CAN be implemented in such a way that the sound is really great. Audiophile quality? No, but I was not expecting it anyhow. I would put these up against a lot of AptX or AptxHD TWS (seriously).

For those pre-reviewers (consumer review sites) that say they are light in bass, they are either serious bass-heads, or they didn't fiddle with them long enough to get a good fit. These are the most sensitive to movement I have ever seen. Basically 1/64" (not an accurate measurement) can make them sound anemic, or full and rounded.

The Sony app has worked fantastic for me, and I have had 0 issues. Upon first connecting them, I simply used NFC to pair them (per the instructions), and I was greeted with a FW update (which took about 30 minutes to download, and another 7(ish) minutes to actually install. Now, I have read that the EQ in the app doesn't do much, but I would TOTALLY disagree. No, it doesn't allow for drastic changes (such that you would need to lower gain for instance), but if used properly, you can shape it to anything you might want (including bass). The bass slider is not as useful because it raises the lower mids also, but the "Clear Bass" slider does the trick nicely. I have boosted the 2 right most treble sliders up some because they are a bit warm for my tastes OOTB. After using this EQ I find them to be very clear and full sounding.

So far all the features I have tried work very well, except DSEE because I haven't listened to many .mp3 (or compressed) music from them. Mostly Redbook or higher, so DSEE is disabled with those. I also have not tried 3d audio (or whatever it is called). I have Amazon HD, so I will be testing it at some point. I would imagine it should sound pretty good considering that these are open buds, and therefore have a huge soundstage already, and imaging is also good. So, if it gets better, I will enjoy that feature.

As to my expectations, they have delivered and then some. If I can keep from having sore ears in the future, these will be my (most of the time) work buds. I will continue to wear my flat heads on occasion still too.

 

[samandhi]

The hard plastic creates hotspots in the concha part of the bud for me.

My temporary solution:

 

[erockg]

Oh wow. That's wild. I don't have any issues or pain with mine. Swapped out the wings for the large and so far so good. Watched a show while my wife and kid were around me and it was great to have that open ear "just in case." Very much a better feel than transparency on with music or a movie IMO.

 

[tinyman392]

Oh wow. That's wild. I don't have any issues or pain with mine. Swapped out the wings for the large and so far so good. Watched a show while my wife and kid were around me and it was great to have that open ear "just in case." Very much a better feel than transparency on with music or a movie IMO.

I had a bit of tenderness initially around the area the wings contacted my ear. But it’s seemed to lower a little. I did try all the wing sizes though, I feel like my ears would be between the XS and S.

 

[samandhi]

Oh wow. That's wild. I don't have any issues or pain with mine. Swapped out the wings for the large and so far so good. Watched a show while my wife and kid were around me and it was great to have that open ear "just in case." Very much a better feel than transparency on with music or a movie IMO.

I suspect it is the the material used. Once planted in my ears they are supremely comfortable.

I totally agree with this. I have yet to find a "hearthrough mode" that doesn't sound artificial, though it isn't terrible either. These are more open than even flathead buds are, which for me is a great thing.

Don't get wrong, I still have noise isolating IEMs, and they still have their place, but these are fantastic for the opposite. Bose OG TWS were also open, and would have loved them more if sound quality was better and they weren't always on, draining the battery constantly.

 

[samandhi]

BTW, this song totally shows off the huge soundstage of the Linkbuds:

 

[Peerless]

Been using the Samsung Galaxy Bus Pro for more than a week now, I think the Earsonics Velvet V2 is not much better than this, but the kick drums on the Buds Pros are much better, also much much satisfying impact than the Sundara's bass, so far I'm not missing my wired IEMs and HP now and prefer the compact and portable setup, but I admit the fit / getting a secure fit is horrible, and in just over a week they already fell out of my ears onto the asphalt twice while walking normally. So far I'm impressed for 115 USD it's a pretty good sound.

 

[erockg]

I suspect it is the the material used. Once planted in my ears they are supremely comfortable.

I totally agree with this. I have yet to find a "hearthrough mode" that doesn't sound artificial, though it isn't terrible either. These are more open than even flathead buds are, which for me is a great thing.

Don't get wrong, I still have noise isolating IEMs, and they still have their place, but these are fantastic for the opposite. Bose OG TWS were also open, and would have loved them more if sound quality was better and they weren't always on, draining the battery constantly.

Me too. Love my IEMs. Using my new Thieaudio Legacy 4 with my Shure TW2 adapters right now and whew they rock. Added a little EQ in the Shure Play app and just wow. Fit is so nice. Been trying to find a small IEM that goes the Shure adapters and these might be the ones.

Oddly enough, the Bose killed my ears LOL.

 

[Ceeluh7]

Been using the Samsung Galaxy Bus Pro for more than a week now, I think the Earsonics Velvet V2 is not much better than this, but the kick drums on the Buds Pros are much better, also much much satisfying impact than the Sundara's bass, so far I'm not missing my wired IEMs and HP now and prefer the compact and portable setup, but I admit the fit / getting a secure fit is horrible, and in just over a week they already fell out of my ears onto the asphalt twice while walking normally. So far I'm impressed for 115 USD it's a pretty good sound.

The Buds pro case and buds will except more eartips then it looks like. I have a set of fiio bass tips on my buds pro as they are a bit longer and actually go into my ear alot further. They seal very well. If using the stock tips... They are horrible and odd that Samsung would package them with this set.

 

[Caipirina]

As promised, a few early impressions of the new 1more Pistonbuds Pro.

Overall very positive and for 43.12$ you get a lot of bang for your buck. Very nice sounding and very capable ANC which includes WNR (which I have not tested in detail) ... I would say that I like them better than the 80$ (back then) 1More Comfobuds Pro. Size is tiny (not tiny enough to sleep with) and fit is very nice, but I do have the weird sensation that only rarely I get the same satisfying perfect fit 'pressure' on both ears at the same time ... when walking I actually felt that they are coming loose a bit.
One thing I discovered with the app (and same holds true for the Comfobuds Pro, but NOT for the Comfobuds Z!) is that those 'soothing sounds' are pretty useless .. they all come on 5 second loops and the restart of each loop is an annoyingly audible gap! I think for the Z the sounds are actually transferred to the buds and play from there? Or was that the Bose Sleepbuds?

Anyways ... I wanted to love those Pistonbuds Pro a bit more .. there is really nothing wrong with them ... they are a complete, tiny package and will make many ppl happy ... but they did not blow me away like the Fiil T2 Pro or the SoundPEATS H1 ...

Any day now I shall get the soundpeats mini pro .. and somehow I expect pretty much the same .. I really need to stop trying to find the next hidden gem ... I shall wait until the APP2

(Well, LinkBuds are supposed to be finally released here in Japan, Land of Sony!, on Friday!)

 

[raymanh]

One to rack your brains... which TWS has the smallest case?

 

[Ceeluh7]

One to rack your brains... which TWS has the smallest case?

Soundpeats mini pro, akg tws09r, cambridge audio melomania 1+, galaxy buds pro are all very small.

 

[raymanh]

What are the case dimensions for the Soundpeats mini pro? I can only find the case dimensions for the mini, not the pro.

Looking to see if there's anything smaller than the Jabra 75t. Although, it's small it's doesn't really feel jean pocketable.