[gabriely]

I keep swapping tips on mine and then wind up going back to the stock silicone large! Glad you dig them. They're great.

They really are hahaha. Usually with IEMs people switch tips a lot, so I'm really surprised the stock silicone tips seems to be the most universally well-loved ones for the EXs haha

 

[Nostoi]

Also received... Let's try out these bad boys.

 

[subguy812]

Also received... Let's try out these bad boys.

Give them a whirl...nice package.

 

[Juturna]

Bought a pair of Liberty 3 Pro's from a dude on a local Android forum, and wouldn't you know it... EXTREME channel imbalance. Went into wavelet and had to lower the right earbuds volume by about 8-9 dB to make them even in volume... I felt like I got fooled like you wouldn't believe it.
Fortunately the guy I bought them from seems to be a class act and instantly sent me my money back and said that I could keep the earbuds as well. But I managed to convince him to try and RMA/send the earbuds in as a warranty claim so he can hopefully get a new set of earbuds sent out to him that he can sell for a higher price than the ones he sold to me.
It was lucky that neither of us were crappy people, I guess?

 

[C_Lindbergh]

I also got the ATH-TWX9!

First initial impressions are mostly positive.

Sound quality is to my liking, but haven't found the right tip just yet.

Build quality seems great, the app have many settings. I'm loving that the ATH-TWX9 have both touch and a button on each stem. Will be very useful to activate the quick hear through when I'm at work without having to take my work gloves off!

But I'd love to se fully customizable controls... Also the LED on the case is very bright.

 

[Nostoi]

Give them a whirl...nice package.

First impressions:

1. Nice packing indeed. Very premium. Solid build,
2. Very comfortable. Haven't tried different tips, but stock installed ones work perfectly.
3. Sound: when I first played them, I thought they sound a bit congested and rather bloated. I then realized the noise cancelling was on and set to "airplane" mode, which seem to raise mid-bass. Turning everything off gives a much clearer presentation. Overall presentation is rather linear, quite conservative I'd say. I hear an airy but not sparkly top end, flattish mids, and a fairly linear bass end with a slight mid-bass hump. Technically, they have a fairly solid performance with a good sense of stage. Imaging and layering are what one would expect.

I'm not too familiar with TWS though I've owned recent ones by Sony, Senn, and Final. I'd say these are certainly in the upper tier. That said, they remain at the quality of TWS earphones. I would not classify the presentation as "audiophile." Compared to the $100 IE100 Pro, the latter are better in every respect. Someone earlier made a reference to IE900 above. You may prefer the tuning of the TWX9 in terms of being warmer as a matter of personal taste, but otherwise there's no correlation whatsoever between these models.

As TWS earphones, however, they're very good - I can see them being put to good use for general use; podcasts, music, films, etc.

 

[dweaver]

I have the buds pro as well. The buds pro has more elevated bass and treble which makes for a more exciting sound. The buds2 pro sounds more refined and less fatiguing. I find myself enjoy listening the buds2 pro for a longer stretch. The bass is pretty unique, unlike most earbuds that adds bass to everything, the bass on the buds2 pro appears only when necessary, and when they show up, it rumbles deep and impactful.

Thanks that helps alot! so these will be less warm but hit hard when it's in the song. Very AKG like, if they are less fatiguing I think thats a positive as AKG house sound can be fatiguing. I think I am going to give them a whirl as I am a but of an AKG fan boy. They will be a stark contrast to the Sony Linkbuds S and Technics AZ60. They might be more like the AZ70.

 

[cr3ativ3]

Has anyone already an graph from the new Bose QC 2 ?

 

[SilverEars]

Definately smooth sig. Too smooth for my taste although I find some of the popular ones on this thread v-shaped and above my tolerable treble threshold. This one is directly opposite. It loses a bit of the nuances of the mids. Bass a bit boomy and greater than the level I prefer. This kind of bass quality is quite common among BT earphones.

I went for a run today with the GBP2, and my earphones rubs against the earphone causing conduction noise. A bit of an annoyance for such usage. Yeah, I'm not fan. It's mainly the price. Also, I have higher standards/expectations since TWS tech has been out for quite a while. I want to see some advancement in SQ or a significant price drop for the same tech. I probably be in hibernation for awhile until perhaps a game changer shows up some day.

 

[dweaver]

I hear you @SilverEars , improvement in sound quality seems hard to find. Not your fault I succumbed to buying my pair BTW . I have a soft spot for Samsung/AKG and Sony so have been fighting the itch to buy these for a while. I should just wait for the inevitable price drop.

If I had any sense I would save my pennies and get one really good TWS or wait until a real game changer comes along.

 

[Pete7874]

FYI, Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro is currently on Lightning Deal on Amazon for $99.99.

Thinking of giving them a try to see how they compare to my old 2 Pro.

 

[potix]

...

 

[potix]

I'm also interested in the APP 2nd gen. Here is Crin's measurements. This garners some interest from me. Will have to find out how it sounds. Wonder how relatively high the 6-9k will sound, but 7k is boosted for transparency. Lots of TWS updates from big brands this fall! There's also the new Bose with the smaller form-factor.

I really don't care what the codec is as long as it's minimum AAC level. There really is no lossless codec out there. FLAC is still a fairly high bitrate compared to any BT codecs out there. I think with BT there is the issue of signal quality variations through time. That's why codecs are generally adaptive.

Even Samsung's 'seamless' codec is pretty much marketing concept that doesn't improve the quality significant enough. It sounds to be like another adaptive codec that has a bandwidth cap. Sure, some codecs are more efficient than others like AAC.

I have tried putting LDAC on fixed bitrate, the signal gets degraded depending on the environment. Which is why LDAC is defaulted to be adaptive like other codecs. In reality, it doesn't not function like advertised. The bitrate varies with a low cap. This is to hide noticeable signal degradation effects.

I'm not too familiar with TWS though I've owned recent ones by Sony, Senn, and Final. I'd say these are certainly in the upper tier. That said, they remain at the quality of TWS earphones. I would not classify the presentation as "audiophile." Compared to the $100 IE100 Pro, the latter are better in every respect. Someone earlier made a reference to IE900 above. You may prefer the tuning of the TWX9 in terms of being warmer as a matter of personal taste, but otherwise there's no correlation whatsoever between these models.

As TWS earphones, however, they're very good - I can see them being put to good use for general use; podcasts, music, films, etc.

There are 3 ways to improve TWS quality: tuning, efficiency and codecs.
Bluetooth is limited but with aptx lossless we reached the cd quality.
We should stop investing money in the last device on the market and choose in a responsible way. Place like this are the last stand. Many people are still reading forums.
Next year from now we must be "there yet".

 

[Not so fat head]

I would think the AT TWX9's will sound superb.. They always use the number 9 to denote best in class.
I have two pair of the ATH-DSR9's bought on a blowout sale at Fry's during covid. They have unique chips and drivers, and are excellent.

 

[subguy812]

I would think the AT TWX9's will sound superb.. They always use the number 9 to denote best in class.
I have two pair of the ATH-DSR9's bought on a blowout sale at Fry's during covid. They have unique chips and drivers, and are excellent.

IMO the TWX9 are top tier. There are many factors within the app which can alter the signature. It just takes patience and experimentation to find your sweet spot. I have shut off EQ, I find I don't need it and it does cut the volume slightly. It is common for me to not use EQ, XM4's are the only bud I use eq on. Just to get it out of the way, this sounds signature checks so many of my boxes. I have not A/B'ed with the B&O EX, which would be the closest competition, in my TWS collection, sound wise to the TWX9.

Packaging and stock items are premium. The ear tip selection is top notch, I have only used the long L tips. All tips are silicon. The Free Byrd's and TWX9 have the best selection I have seen.

The build quality is also premium. The case is big, the led's, especially when in sanitize mode will light the bedroom at night.

As far as ANC, there are many options including optimized, which is what I currently use. For my needs it is better than EX and not as solid as XM4. I am a bad reference for ANC, I don't commute and most of my walking is on quieter streets. I plan on testing this weekend as well as call quality, can't he outside as we have had nasty hurricane weather.

I will complete my thoughts on Audio Rabbit Hole. Suffice it to say the sound quality is in the top tier.