[Canabuc]

OK, so why am i liking these darn XM4's...

OK first off as mentioned by @Canabuc I am a low volume listener ranging from 25% to 50% 90% of the time. But while I listen at low volumes I like to hear emotion in vocals and feel sub-bass in orchestral sound tracks. I still want to "experience" the music. So my tastes lean towards products that allow me to hear/experience those things at lower volume or be able to EQ the product achieve my goal.

What I find is most products that don't come close to allowing me this sound I like out of the box rarely are able to be EQ'd to allow it. Which is why the WF-1000XM4 surprised me so much. Out of the box they were dark sounding just as I suspected they would be. But for some reason they have responded very well to the EQ I applied. I am starting to think the challenge is the quality of the driver(s) in the TWS. If they have a certain bass threshold for example and it is already maxed out at the default tuning, then EQing it louder generally starts to sound bad. The same can be said for the midrange and treble. So in the case of the XM4 it's like Sony tuned the IEM to have a big bass and scaled back the midrange and treble even though the driver could handle more in those areas. Then when I adjusted the EQ the drivers were fully able to express the added midrange and treble because they had the sonic headroom to reach those levels. Other TWS I have when I try to do this and this includes Sony's Linkbuds S just could not deliver the EQ changes fully.

One other thing that might be why I am enjoying the XM4 is the bands they chose for their EQ settings. Most EQ's are usually 5 band and have something like 100hz, 250hz, 1khz, 4-5khz, 10-12khz or the like. Sony is not really any different except is has 5 and chose 400hz, 1khz, 2.5khz, 6.3khz, and 16khz. I have set those to +3 +5 +7 +5 +3 or basically a reverse V. This places the most emphasis as the 2.5Khz region versus the 1Khz region which may be where the emotive notes of singers like Patricia Barber reside and it also seems to give guitars edge, cymbal crashes might be around that 6.3khz giving them added presence. I then added +1 to Clear Bass which just ever so gently increased the bass. I also think that +3 on the 400hz band also added warmth and more presence to bass guitars and double bass.

So what does all this add up in a song?

I used Patricia Barber's song Smash and secondarily the song Missing from the album called Smash.



When listening to Smash there are moments when I can hear the ache in her voice on the XM4 it's like she hits a note and holds it until it almost become unbearable and then she releases it, and you can breathe. Meanwhile pianos are playing, and you can feel the notes and lushness of the notes and double bass notes are full and vibrant with wonderful detail. As the song progresses it transitions into a lament of a guitar and drums that is vibrant and crashing that carries the rest of the song.

Most TWS just lose what I mentioned above. Some can carry some of the song but areas like the vocals just come off as flat or the double bass or piano lose their vibrancy, or the cymbals lose life.

Similarly, the song Missing has even more aching vocals and equal parts of piano and guitar that fill the air. The vocals in this song have almost a whispered quality with hints of a waver. The XM4 conveys all of this. But most of my TWS just lose the sense of intimacy ruining the experience of the song.

Consider the freebuds pro 2. They sound great at lower volume as both them and app2 vary EQ by volume etc

 

[MaxwellDemon]

Due to the fact I lost one of my TWX9's earpieces (), I have ordered a set of 1MORE EVO on discount. Still hoping I'll be able to find where I placed the TWX9 though...

 

[subguy812]

Just curious, did you use the EQ settings I mentioned and are you normally a low volume listener?

Questions aside, having own several Sennheiser products over the years including the original MTW which I gave a good review on years ago and the 400CX last year. So am familiar with the brand and their house sound. I have no doubt they will be cleaner sounding and probably more detailed etc. I am glad it's working for you.

So in you estimation the Senns had better vocal clarity with more sense of emotion? The double bass had more detail while have the same levelof weight and authority? Piano's were lush and weighty?

Pretty sure the cymbals would have had way more sizzle and airiness that the Sony so I just assume in that area you really preferred the Senns. I personally like and sometimes hate the Sennheiser sound when it comes to cymbals. It can be wonderful but for lots of Jazz I find it to strong and for the lack of better description, to my ears a bit tinny as compared to the Sony which I find more brassy.

My original MTW fell apart quickly and have not been able to bring my self to buy another Senn flagship TWS again. But I have been sorely tempted a couple of times.... LOL

BTW just because I am enjoying the XM4 doesn't mean I don't see flaws. They are not the most comfortable TWS I have and their ambient is less than stellar. I am just surprised I like them as much as I am. Honestly thought I would be flipping them because they just didn't work for me sonically. Only really bought them to scratch an itch while they were still on sale for $250CAD versus $400 which I refused to pay....

OH! And when I say not the most comfortable I had to stop using them and the AT's a couple hours ago and have switched to the JBL Live Free 2 and my ears have been thanking me ever since.

I am thinking because the JBL started with the EQ on our of the box and with the bass boost enabled by default no less I may have not tried them with it totally disabled, or maybe was having an off hearing day of did, because I am really enjoying them with the EQ turned off. Definitely need to spend some more time with them. Glad they have not sold yet. Might just end up keeping them...

OH BTW, one of the reasons I have been trying some of the gear I have bought lately is a quest for a more bass oriented TWS to complement my GB2P and Soundcore A40 both which are way more balanced sounding. The bass TWS is more my guilty pleasure LOL.

I have posted this a couple of times, but for a different perspective here are my EQ settings for the XM4 as well as the tips I have found that provide me the best sq and comfort.

I am going to try your settings as well!

Ear Tips I can't remember who recommended the tips, I think it was @BooleanBones .

I found these settings as a recommendation and even tried to tweak them and have always gone back to these. To my ears, the settings appear to provide the best staging I have heard of all of the settings.

 

[BobJS]

I have the Bose QCII and love them. Especially the ANC. Any reason for me to try the Senn Momentum TWS 3? My expectation is the bass will be muddier and highs will be missing. Of course, the ANC won't be as good.

Tell me I'm wrong.

 

[subguy812]

I have the Bose QCII and love them. Especially the ANC. Any reason for me to try the Senn Momentum TWS 3? My expectation is the bass will be muddier and highs will be missing. Of course, the ANC won't be as good.

Tell me I'm wrong.

I was a huge Senn TWS fan for the first two models. At that point they couldn't be beat IMO. I bought the 3's and returned them within a week. I could not get a good fit with any of the tips, wings or any combination of the above. Without a seal I couldn't comment on the sound quality. My brother swears by them. They also changed the app, they removed an an enhanced sound button which was excellent. I heard they added multi-point though.

 

[jant71]

I am underwhelmed by the new TE-Z1PNK. They sound better due to the tuning than the TE-BD21J-LTD-PNK. My underwhelment comes to the volume. The TE-Z1PNK's volume is lower maybe due to LDAC? I don't know the reason but the TE-BD21J-LTD-PNK are way louder and I love that.

You can force SBC or AAC and disable LDAC right? That should give you the answer if LDAC might have any effect.

Actually looking at the Amazon JP reviews the app seems messed up and there some issue with the buds some are having. Theses seem to be one of those that they released but they have to still fix via update. Not like we haven't seen this before. Maybe the volume is an issue they can fix?

Still if you want to put out a dynamic/planar dual driver powering it right is an important issue. Should be a big issue for TWS in general since they are an on the go form factor which means the real world with cars and buses and trains and wind and people which compete for volume. Nobody keeps a tws for long if it low volume makes it really unusable.

 

[Canabuc]

Due to the fact I lost one of my TWX9's earpieces (), I have ordered a set of 1MORE EVO on discount. Still hoping I'll be able to find where I placed the TWX9 though...

The EVO really intrigue me.
My hesitation getting them are the controls.

I am a fan of buds that have EQ, multi point. hi res codecs.

So far my technics have been the 1 TWS buds for over a year.
But I am always looking for seeing if I can find a better sound.

The Huawei are more detailed and wider soundstage but don't get as loud and I have had to do a work around to get LDAC working. Got them in sale for about 165$ us. Considering returning them since they don't offer much more than my Technics. The EVos are about 50$ cheaper on Amazon right now which if sounding as good could be justified owning both them and my AZ60.

Alternative is I wait and see if the next gen buds really offer more.
Seems 2022 was year of Hired, better ANC and the coming out of some Mukti driver TWS including the EVO.

2023 might add LE AC3 but surprisingly not much announced at CES.

 

[shooter]

Besides being technically weak, they forgot to add some treble to it.

It's probably wrong to compare wired to wireless, but that's the point anyway, isn't it?

Well, if they forgot to add treble to MTW3, so what to say about Sony's then?

 

[potix]

One other thing that might be why I am enjoying the XM4 is the bands they chose for their EQ settings. Most EQ's are usually 5 band and have something like 100hz, 250hz, 1khz, 4-5khz, 10-12khz or the like. Sony is not really any different except is has 5 and chose 400hz, 1khz, 2.5khz, 6.3khz, and 16khz. I have set those to +3 +5 +7 +5 +3 or basically a reverse V. This places the most emphasis as the 2.5Khz region versus the 1Khz region which may be where the emotive notes of singers like Patricia Barber reside and it also seems to give guitars edge, cymbal crashes might be around that 6.3khz giving them added presence. I then added +1 to Clear Bass which just ever so gently increased the bass. I also think that +3 on the 400hz band also added warmth and more presence to bass guitars and double bass.

The reason why I kept these tws is their eq. Swapping stock tips they sound good at 50-60% volume, if someone needs more probably he is suffering from hear loss or he is going to. It's not an Harman target, I have a different house as I like a british (monitor like) sound, but you can easy eq them, as you wrote, because they are "flat". There are other performers out there which are technically more advanced (EX, mtw3 ecc...) but their eq have always something weird that makes them hard to be shaped to your taste. Indeed xm4 are definitely lacking resolution and detail, so if one found something that match better his/her house curve should buy it, but I would never buy any tws just because of its technicalities, I would spend hours and hours trying to eq them (as I did in the past). Or you can buy some BT adapter, I use utws5 when I am at home and the results are not comparable to any tws on the market at the moment.
Try azla crystal, they have wide bores, make the bass cleaner and boost the penultimate octave.

 

[dweaver]

The reason why I kept these tws is their eq. Swapping stock tips they sound good at 50-60% volume, if someone needs more probably he is suffering from hear loss or he is going to. It's not an Harman target, I have a different house as I like a british (monitor like) sound, but you can easy eq them, as you wrote, because they are "flat". There are other performers out there which are technically more advanced (EX, mtw3 ecc...) but their eq have always something weird that makes them hard to be shaped to your taste. Indeed xm4 are definitely lacking resolution and detail, so if one found something that match better his/her house curve should buy it, but I would never buy any tws just because of its technicalities, I would spend hours and hours trying to eq them (as I did in the past). Or you can buy some BT adapter, I use utws5 when I am at home and the results are not comparable to any tws on the market at the moment.
Try azla crystal, they have wide bores, make the bass cleaner and boost the penultimate octave.

I have some wide bore spiral dots that work well and I exactly what you getting with the Azla crystal. I actually have gone back to the original Sony hybrid tips at the moment. I kind of like what they do to the sound. But have the other tips handy as they offer an easy audio tweak or difference in comfort and fit.

I actually do own the UTWS5 and use it with the original FH5 which is my best TWS combo I own for pure audio quality at the moment. If I strike it rich I might spring for the FH9 as I think they might be the perfect guilty pleasure.

Funny how this hobby is so personal. What works great for one person leaves another wanting more. I saw so many people try the XM4 and walk away, and having tried several past Sony models figured I would ultimately not like my pair when I finally bought them. But for some reason they just sound really good to my ears. I still might sell them due to fit and the fact I flip my stuff so darn often. But even if I do it doesn't change the fact I really like how they sound. So for now I am enjoying the journey with them how ever long that lasts.

 

[dweaver]

I have posted this a couple of times, but for a different perspective here are my EQ settings for the XM4 as well as the tips I have found that provide me the best sq and comfort.

I am going to try your settings as well!

Ear Tips I can't remember who recommended the tips, I think it was @BooleanBones .

I found these settings as a recommendation and even tried to tweak them and have always gone back to these. To my ears, the settings appear to provide the best staging I have heard of all of the settings.

One thing for sure, the Sony EQ really works well. My curve sounds brash and glaring compared to you curve. I actually use 2 versions of my curve. One that is less upside down v shaped going +2 +3 +4 +3 +2, I like both and flip around a bit.

I tried your curve but was finding it took a bit to much from the 400 and 1K area. So just used that same curve but started at zero so went 0 0 +1 +3 +2. It's an interesting curve. I will continue to play with it. Definitely finding the EQ fun to play with.

 

[Hozay]

Haven't had them in use for long enough to test battery. Only 2 hours at a time over the last few days. 20 minutes at max volume with 8k activated reduced battery by about 8%, don't know if that would be a consistent drop every 20 min but just what I paid attention to earlier. That would equate to 4.1 hours though.

One thing though is that these won't be anybody's endgame, a fun addition to the high end mix but certainly not the end of the road.

Thx for sharing, when I looked at the specs it seems the only thing thats not very competitive is the battery life. All other features look like the best TWS should have.

 

[AlexCBSN]

New oneplus buds incoming with dual driver, 6mm planar and 11mm dd, kinda excited for em.

The buds pro 1 were quite good and efficient for me, actually gave my wf1000xm4 to my wife cause I found the op more practical. The sound is more up to my “tws needs”

Looking forward for what the planar driver will bring

 

[nekonhime]

New oneplus buds incoming with dual driver, 6mm planar and 11mm dd, kinda excited for em.

The buds pro 1 were quite good and efficient for me, actually gave my wf1000xm4 to my wife cause I found the op more practical. The sound is more up to my “tws needs”

Looking forward for what the planar driver will bring

What is the name of that earbuds? Pro II?

 

[Canabuc]

Well I said I've read so many good things about the Oppo Enco x2 earbuds and they're fantastic sound and I just looked on AliExpress and found a site that would ship free to Canada for $122 Canadian dollars so I said at that price it's worth it. I am going to return the Huawei freebuds Pro 2. I do really like their sound. I do not feel that they are sufficiently enough of an upgrade over my techniques. From what I've read the Oppo sound every bit as good as the Huawei and now these will be approximately half the price and so would be worth getting as an extra pair.
They will still have the dual driver setup with small planer magnetic drivers. They will still have the wireless charging. They will have full controls on the earbuds as well as multipoint connect and the ldac codec.
It appears they are scheduled to be delivered by the 16th which I find hard to believe.