[DigDub]

Impressions later.

 

[DigDub]

Impressions later.

Ok so I've charged them up (they came empty) and is able to give some initial impressions now. With the default tips, I find the sound on the default EQ to be too warm and a tad muddled. Changing to a wider bore tip (I used the tips from beats studio buds) and the sound opened up beautifully. Mids becomes crystal clear and picks up a lot of details without sounding artificial or grainy. Highs sound crisp and do not dominate and doesn't sound sibilant. The mid bass is probably a tad too much which makes the sound a tad muddy, I turned down the mid bass using the EQ in the app.

Haven't had a chance to use the mic yet. Pass through sound pretty audible and quite natural. Haven't had a chance to try the ANC yet, passive isolation is pretty good. Haven't had chance to try the wind noise reduction either.

Controls for double tap and triple tap can be customised for both the left and right earbuds in the app, which includes track fwd/back and volume control. Play/pause (single tap on either buds) and hold (left to cycle through the ANC passthrough modes, right to activate voice assistant) cannot be changed. Tapping doesn't produce beeps, so it might be hard to tell how many taps I made.

The buds themselves are on the large size. I find them to be comfortable in my ears. They do protrude, so probably not very good for side sleepers. The case I would say is about medium size, not the smallest, but it's longish, so it's easy to slip in and out of pockets.

It supports AAC and SBC codecs, no aptx or any fancy hi-res codecs. But the sound quality easily beats TWS buds which plaster superior codecs and hi-res logos on their boxes. The Noble H-ANC shows why excellent tuning is way more important than just codecs.

 

[Caipirina]

First time I saw that Bluetooth option on a plane’s entertainment system! No lag!


Finally get to test the Free Byrds in the sky! Comparing with the ‘big ones’ … and they hold up remarkably well!!! Once I achieve proper fit, the ANC against engine noise is on the same level as XM4, Bose. They might not do as well with some of the higher frequencies (surprisingly no screaming babies on this flight) … but overall a joy to have and 8h battery life with ANC is fantastic. I had them on like 4h of a 6h flight. Now during transit I put them back in the case for 30 minutes… and they are quickly back at 95%

 

[erockg]

Picked up the Harman Kardon Fly TWS. $37.95 off Woot! new-harman-kardon-fly-true-wireless-earbuds

We shall see. They look nice. Pretty leather accents. No ANC or wireless charging. They do have auto pause, transparency mode and EQ within the app like the AKG N400. I'll test them out later today. Figured for the price, a wild hair was satisfied for a day or so

 

[Bobbetybob]

Finally got a pair of Lypertek Tevi/Pureplay Z3 1.0's, bit of a bargain at £18. They sound really nice even though they're a few years old now, I wish they were a slightly more comfortable but at least the slightly deeper fit means you're guaranteed a good seal. I think they've been updated already so I set the EQ in the app to "neutral" which sounds pretty nice to me, tones the bass down slightly and give the mids a bit of a bump which is probably just correcting what the original update did.

As a side not on the EQ, it's one of the weirdest I've seen because if you turn up the 80hz (on my pair at least) you can make the drivers go properly crunchy, the bass boost setting actually completely ruins your music, impressive!

 

[darveniza]

Received my Pixel Buds Pro today and after playing for a while:

a) Setting up on my Samsung was not seamless, had to access the Pixel Buds app manually as to force the additional settings, walk through show up
b) Played around with tips but found the ear fit test pretty accurate
c) Sound and ANC are good and imrpovement from the Buds and Buds A
d) The controls from the Buds are ideal for me , so I kinda bias as I prefer this set up than other ones used by other vendors
e) Fit is weird but once you figure out the twist it works out well
f) One thing I apreciated is the small cylinder holding the tips , this is a better approach than what is used by other companies
g) Multi point works great

I think Google has improved lot from the previous versions

 

[cresny]

Got the Huawei Freebuds Pro 2. Listening for about two hours now, I think they're great, especially at the price. The sound is slightly warm but not recessed, full, with very good soundstage and imaging. These are definitely a dynamic sound, not clinical, but they really do nail the dynamics on some complex stuff that sounded flat on other buds. They really deliver for me on textured mid-bass and sub-bass; if you like cellos and bass clarinets then you gotta try these. Drums too, tasty riffs, heavy kicks and cymbals. I've been listening to all kinds of stuff, older style mixing and modern and they do both well. I haven't A/B'd anything but before I'd been listening to the Technics az60s, Devialet Gemini, AKG n400s and Letshouer s12 planars/UTWS5. Those are all going to stay in the drawer for a while, except for the Gemini which are NIB warranty replacements that I will probably sell.

 

[xSDMx]

Got the Huawei Freebuds Pro 2. Listening for about two hours now, I think they're great, especially at the price. The sound is slightly warm but not recessed, full, with very good soundstage and imaging. These are definitely a dynamic sound, not clinical, but they really do nail the dynamics on some complex stuff that sounded flat on other buds. They really deliver for me on textured mid-bass and sub-bass; if you like cellos and bass clarinets then you gotta try these. Drums too, tasty riffs, heavy kicks and cymbals. I've been listening to all kinds of stuff, older style mixing and modern and they do both well. I haven't A/B'd anything but before I'd been listening to the Technics az60s, Devialet Gemini, AKG n400s and Letshouer s12 planars/UTWS5. Those are all going to stay in the drawer for a while, except for the Gemini which are NIB warranty replacements that I will probably sell.

Are they mostly useable without the Huawei app?

 

[cresny]

Are they mostly useable without the Huawei app?

Funny you mention it. The app is a pain because you have to sideload it in the US. I did this and found I had no sound effects or advanced features, even with the latest version. Anyway, I guess the answer to question is yes, with "mostly". You won't be able to change strength of ANC, and you on't be able to go neutral, no ANC/Ambient but I doubt that matters much. Since my app is missing most all features, that's pretty much where I'm at and I'm fine with that.

 

[Canabuc]

Well so far not seeing any reason to switch from my Az60.
Just used them on holiday and plane and fan noise were well cancelled. Sound is great and love the full controls.

Think I will wait until LC3 and all the next gen come out that can take advantage.

 

[March78]

Been testing the Free Byrds now for a few days and so far pretty happy.
Soundwise I think the EX are still a tiny bit better (though Free Byrds are very good) especially on vocals (more clear/forward on EX). The Free Byrds can be a little bit bass heavy for my taste sometimes, EX are better balanced. Have to say the Free Byrds have a bigger soundstage though which is nice and they are overall a very pleasurable listen.
To me they definitely sound better than both MTW3 and AZ60 which I am both selling now and am keeping the EX and the Free Byrds.
Ofcourse this is all a matter of taste.

Sound personalisation on the Free Byrds works very well and gives a noticeable improvement in my situation.

At first it was very hard to get a good fit with these, but once I realized I needed the XL tips (all other buds I owned/tried need smaller tips for me) they now seal very well and are pretty comfortable.

I was surprised by the ANC performance, was expecting (crappy) EX level of performance here, but they are actually not bad. Definitely not top-tier ANC but actually usefull contrary to the EX's ANC, and good enough for me in combination with music playing.

The combination of ok ANC and close to EX sound quality make these my daily buds for now. I'm happy to ride the train with them, ANC in combination with music drowns out most noise, where as with the EX I could still hear everything around me going on. Transparency is also much better on the Free Byrds than on EX.

Bluetooth connection on the Free Byrds is very strong, not a single drop so far and longer range through walls etc than EX, MTW3 and AZ60.

Conclusion, the Free Byrds are keepers

 

[james444]

New LG DT90Q and DT60Q are up on the German website (Google translation):

DT90Q: https://www-lg-com.translate.goog/d...l=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

DT60Q: https://www-lg-com.translate.goog/d...l=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

 

[subguy812]

New LG DT90Q and DT60Q are up on the German website (Google translation):

DT90Q: https://www-lg-com.translate.goog/d...l=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

DT60Q: https://www-lg-com.translate.goog/d...l=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Excellent another month and a half. Looks interesting though.

 

[helmutcheese]

^^ They claim 24/96 Snapdragon Sound but list Codecs as SBC/AAC so would need to conform this.

 

[cresny]

Are they mostly useable without the Huawei app?

Some Freebuds pro 2 of updates/corrections.
1. Turns out that the earbud ANC control is ANC -> Ambient -> Off, so I misstated that.
2. They sound good with ANC off, not thin like the Gemini.
3. Multipoint is well implemented, can smoothly use phone simultaneously with laptop, media pauses when switching. Just 2 devices though.