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

[dweaver]

I am starting to think I am crazy. Sold a bunch of gear including the JBL Live Free 2, all for a loss. The Live Pro 2 goes on sale for $50 off and I convince myself to buy it... Crazy...

OK now that I have established the obvious. Why did I buy it?

I like the Sony a lot but the JBL Live Free 2 was a hard one to give up with a few exceptions. Battery life was OK but not great, fit was comfy but a bit loose feeling, bass was more toned down than I was starting to enjoy.

In listening the Ceon YouTube guy suggested the Pro model has bigger bass than the Free model. I wondered if the stem might fit better, and the added battery life would be a bonus.

So far the fit is definitely snugger and I think even more comfortable. The bass does seem bigger but this will need more testing to confirm. Obviously I will have no way of confirming battery yet, but will assume it going to be better.

The Sony sounds better sonically for the most part but it's mic is definitely not great, and ambient is poor and I thought multi-point was working but has not been released yet. So these were also reasons for the purchase.

I know new models are on the verge of released but also know they will all have big price tags. So I dipped my toe back in the sales bin versus full retail.

Doing a bit of A/B to the WF-1000XM4 and the XM4 are simply more resolving. So for just enjoying music they are a better TWS. But the Pro 2 is definitely comfy and I think they will work my exercise. Will see how I like them next week on the train going to work and as a multi-point option.

 

[SynaestheticA]

pretty much all rounder, and movies and games

I never considered toning the bass down on the in app eq (which doesn't do much) but I followed the eq of the majorhifi reviewer and got a better response. They've become less warm and more spacious. The bass has gone from wide to deep and I can feel more sub-bass. Considering keeping these and just holding off from more purchases for at least.......a week or two.

Still though, if it's the same price as the other high end models I'd go for the Nuratrue Pro, feedback here seems solid.

 

[dweaver]

Ok just did a test song from the movie Interstellar, Dreaming of the Crash and holy crap is the bass ever different on the Live Pro 2! It goes to a much deeper hard hitting sub bass level. Super enjoyable for this album as every song with that sub-bass organ sound is damn near shaking me in my shoes! Might not be great for everything but I have not had this level of sub-bass for this song in a long time. I think my Sony XBA-Z5 was the last BIG BASS IEM I owned that went this big.

 

[SynaestheticA]

Ok just did a test song from the movie Interstellar, Dreaming of the Crash and holy crap is the bass ever different on the Live Pro 2! It goes to a much deeper hard hitting sub bass level. Super enjoyable for this album as every song with that sub-bass organ sound is damn near shaking me in my shoes! Might not be great for everything but I have not had this level of sub-bass for this song in a long time. I think my Sony XBA-Z5 was the last BIG BASS IEM I owned that went this big.

Still gonna sell em in a few weeks though huh

 

[dweaver]

That is a possibility! I am more than a bit nuts. But these are better than the Life Free 2 so far, so we will see. LOL

I do wish they had these on sale when I bought the Free 2. I was leaning toward these mostly but they were not on sale so I went the other direction.

If anyone likes big bass the Pro 2 is the route to go. Can't believe how many reviewers suggest the 2 models sound the same. Only Ceonthemaking discussed the difference.

 

[Hyperfluxe]

Anyone else hoping the upcoming S23 Ultra in 2 weeks will feature aptX Adaptive support at the very least? Seems highly unlikely considering it's a custom Samsung SDG2 chipset which likely means no advanced aptX codec support, just vanilla aptX and SSC. I still haven't found a worthy flagship upgrade over my LG V60 that makes my Noble FoKus Pro sound so good over aptX Adaptive/Tidal HiFi - I've tried the ROG 6 Pro but it's plagued by Asus' forced DSP/EQ tuning and apparently the Sony Xperia 1-IV isn't much better.

 

[C_Lindbergh]

Anyone else hoping the upcoming S23 Ultra in 2 weeks will feature aptX Adaptive support at the very least? Seems highly unlikely considering it's a custom Samsung SDG2 chipset which likely means no advanced aptX codec support, just vanilla aptX and SSC. I still haven't found a worthy flagship upgrade over my LG V60 that makes my Noble FoKus Pro sound so good over aptX Adaptive/Tidal HiFi - I've tried the ROG 6 Pro but it's plagued by Asus' forced DSP/EQ tuning and apparently the Sony Xperia 1-IV isn't much better.

I'm hoping, but it's highly unlike since not even the Fold 4 (which has the SD 8+ Gen) don't support it. Also I believe Samsung uses their own Bluetooth/WiFi chip on all their smartphones.


Which really sucks, but Samsung insist on pushing their own audio solutions down their customers throats.

 

[jaydoc1]

I asked Nura their BT dongle supports up to Aptx-adaptive, not Lossless. So like many other dongles they can't fully unleash the potential of Nuratrue pro, unless you have the 2 phones that support lossless. Btw I tried all other TWS but CA orbit/ZE-8000, you said Nuratrue pro sounds better than these 2 right?

Yes, for me the Nura-Pro + Zenfone 9 pairing gets the near-lossless codec of BT 5.3 going which sound better to me than the orbits & ze8000 which can't achieve that higher codec result - this + Nura's custom / personal tuning app are its advantage over other tws's at the moment (am sure they'll catchup though) - that and a pretty large 13mm dia driver.
The ZE800 would be fairly close though (was impressed with it's very nice clarity / seperation and reasonable bass), but for me are hampered by having to use the supplied tips - can't tip roll with the ze8000.
The orbits while decent felt a notch below the Nura's and ZE8000 - a little bit more 'veiled' sounding (relatively), highs not as extended, bass not as much energy, mids a bit dominant (which obviously works for some).
I can't stress enough how important the fit is with tws's - not just musically, but ANC effect, etc all rely on good fit, so if you can trial them is ideal to determine what would work best for you.
Cheers !

 

[SynaestheticA]

The ZE800 would be fairly close though (was impressed with it's very nice clarity / seperation and reasonable bass)

Do you think the Nura is only slightly better than the ZE8000? Wanting to get the Nura but was expecting significant gains over the Final.

Final I found only slightly better than some cheaper buds I have. More cohesive overall than the FW5 but not more detailed. Thicker and fuller than the Nuarl N6 range but not 3 x the price worth. Both have quite nice mids and highs and a uniquely built driver setup. ZE8000 just loses the charm with busier tracks as the warmth/darkness is a bit mucho.

 

[Gilroypro]

I asked Nura their BT dongle supports up to Aptx-adaptive, not Lossless. So like many other dongles they can't fully unleash the potential of Nuratrue pro, unless you have the 2 phones that support lossless. Btw I tried all other TWS but CA orbit/ZE-8000, you said Nuratrue pro sounds better than these 2 right?

I own the Beoplay EX,

Yes, for me the Nura-Pro + Zenfone 9 pairing gets the near-lossless codec of BT 5.3 going which sound better to me than the orbits & ze8000 which can't achieve that higher codec result - this + Nura's custom / personal tuning app are its advantage over other tws's at the moment (am sure they'll catchup though) - that and a pretty large 13mm dia driver.
The ZE800 would be fairly close though (was impressed with it's very nice clarity / seperation and reasonable bass), but for me are hampered by having to use the supplied tips - can't tip roll with the ze8000.
The orbits while decent felt a notch below the Nura's and ZE8000 - a little bit more 'veiled' sounding (relatively), highs not as extended, bass not as much energy, mids a bit dominant (which obviously works for some).
I can't stress enough how important the fit is with tws's - not just musically, but ANC effect, etc all rely on good fit, so if you can trial them is ideal to determine what would work best for you.
Cheers !

The Nuratrue Pro's

Yes, for me the Nura-Pro + Zenfone 9 pairing gets the near-lossless codec of BT 5.3 going which sound better to me than the orbits & ze8000 which can't achieve that higher codec result - this + Nura's custom / personal tuning app are its advantage over other tws's at the moment (am sure they'll catchup though) - that and a pretty large 13mm dia driver.
The ZE800 would be fairly close though (was impressed with it's very nice clarity / seperation and reasonable bass), but for me are hampered by having to use the supplied tips - can't tip roll with the ze8000.
The orbits while decent felt a notch below the Nura's and ZE8000 - a little bit more 'veiled' sounding (relatively), highs not as extended, bass not as much energy, mids a bit dominant (which obviously works for some).
I can't stress enough how important the fit is with tws's - not just musically, but ANC effect, etc all rely on good fit, so if you can trial them is ideal to determine what would work best for you.
Cheers !

The Nuratrue Pro has a 10mm dynamic driver, not a 13mm.

 

[jaydoc1]

Do you think the Nura is only slightly better than the ZE8000? Wanting to get the Nura but was expecting significant gains over the Final.

Final I found only slightly better than some cheaper buds I have. More cohesive overall than the FW5 but not more detailed. Thicker and fuller than the Nuarl N6 range but not 3 x the price worth. Both have quite nice mids and highs and a uniquely built driver setup. ZE8000 just loses the charm with busier tracks as the warmth/darkness is a bit mucho.

The Nura’s I think are noticibly better to me over the finals for 2 reasons - I prefer their warmer more energetic tune / better low end and if you can get a phone with BT5.3 and have high bit rate flac music files there is a better clarity level through the range.
The reason I said the finals get close was discounting the different tuning between them, ie if treble / soundstage are your priorities / preference and if BT wasn’t relevant (ie you have an Apple phone, etc).
Hope this makes sense !

 

[ddlo]

final audio seems still not shipping ze8000 overseas yet. but so happened got someone travelled in osaka to bring me home 1. the price is quite reasonable (similar to ath-twx9 when launched) so it's not really a TOTL product the 8000 model # hinting.

same as ze3000, pairing, connectivity/range and everything works really well. but ze8000 comes with an dedicated app. i got a prompt to update the firmware from 1.7.1 to 1.8.0 immediately.

the touch control is really counter intuitive - double tap for vol control and triple tap for track control without the option to reassign in the app!!! making things even worse, the sensitivity of the touch panel is really odd. i just cant control anything except start/stop from it . . .

there's plenty more bass then the ze3000. sounds very satisfying for TWS iems. i use the stock tips and can wear quite securely with good seal. there're quite a lot different sizes of tips (you'll need it as the Final Q tips are unique for ZE8000!) in case the standard one doesn't fit. but every time i tried to reach for the touch control, the flexible tips will bend and make the earbuds themselves moving around. but the tip actually attach very well and won't fall out easily. the charging case is quite a bit bigger than most.

 

[Hozay]

I never considered toning the bass down on the in app eq (which doesn't do much) but I followed the eq of the majorhifi reviewer and got a better response. They've become less warm and more spacious. The bass has gone from wide to deep and I can feel more sub-bass. Considering keeping these and just holding off from more purchases for at least.......a week or two.

Still though, if it's the same price as the other high end models I'd go for the Nuratrue Pro, feedback here seems solid.

I agree. If some1 can buy from Japan than ze8000 cost less, but for other countries I think nuratrue pro is slightly better.

 

[Hozay]

Yes, for me the Nura-Pro + Zenfone 9 pairing gets the near-lossless codec of BT 5.3 going which sound better to me than the orbits & ze8000 which can't achieve that higher codec result - this + Nura's custom / personal tuning app are its advantage over other tws's at the moment (am sure they'll catchup though) - that and a pretty large 13mm dia driver.
The ZE800 would be fairly close though (was impressed with it's very nice clarity / seperation and reasonable bass), but for me are hampered by having to use the supplied tips - can't tip roll with the ze8000.
The orbits while decent felt a notch below the Nura's and ZE8000 - a little bit more 'veiled' sounding (relatively), highs not as extended, bass not as much energy, mids a bit dominant (which obviously works for some).
I can't stress enough how important the fit is with tws's - not just musically, but ANC effect, etc all rely on good fit, so if you can trial them is ideal to determine what would work best for you.
Cheers !

Thx for sharing. I think Nura is killing atm.

 

[Hozay]

Do you think the Nura is only slightly better than the ZE8000? Wanting to get the Nura but was expecting significant gains over the Final.

Final I found only slightly better than some cheaper buds I have. More cohesive overall than the FW5 but not more detailed. Thicker and fuller than the Nuarl N6 range but not 3 x the price worth. Both have quite nice mids and highs and a uniquely built driver setup. ZE8000 just loses the charm with busier tracks as the warmth/darkness is a bit mucho.

It highly depends on how your personal profile is. The neutral out of box Nuratrue pro isn't that stunning, but once you get the profile established its gonna be different. Can save lots of time on EQ, Idk how it knows what kinds of sound I like. Yamaha/Free byrd/TWX9 claimed similar tech but to me they didn't make any diff at all.