Does not sound good as xm4 does not have much detail im treble
I find the XM4 to have decent treble in lower range once it is EQ'd, particularly on the cymbal hit. Where it starts to lose detail is in the decay after hit. The Live Pro 2 in regard to the hot on a cymbal is less impactful losing some the vitality I hear on the XM4.
But the overall sound signature of the Live Pro 2 is actually brighter than the XM4, it just lacks the resolution.
So, I had an interesting day switching back and forth between the 2 TWS yesterday. I went out to a busy indoor farmers market and did some testing while there. Doing some straight ANC testing with and without music and also some phone call testing. Surprisingly the Live Pro 2 was better at muffling the sound of voices for ANC a bit better than the XM4 and was almost as effective at removing the rumble sound in the car while driving over. I fully expected the XM4 to win in this area, but it was slightly edged out. Similarly, my wife said the XM4 sounded staticky when on a call as compared to the Live Pro 2 which was much cleaner sounding. I suspect the XM4 might be better for certain things like being on a plane for ANC. But just basic voice muffling it was behind the Live Pro 2. I am wondering if this just shows the overall advancement of ANC over the course of a year as that is about the difference in release dates between these 2 models.
So, in listening to several songs in back-to-back testing yesterday the XM4 has a more holographic ability, allowing for instruments to be positioned and move within a song and it brings the vocalist forward in the mix which works better for vocal Jazz and other genres where the vocalist is prominent. Interestingly enough when a few hard rock tunes from bands like Van Halen played the Live Pro 2 sounded much better for the electric guitars, giving them more prominence in the music whereas the XM4 made the guitar sound subdued. Most of the time I listen to music that is more atmospheric in nature which means it quite often is less busy. This type of music sounds wonderful on the XM4 because of the holographic qualities but works a lot less for busy tracks whereas those tracks sound good on the Live Pro 2.
The Live Pro 2 has a more cohesive sound that works really well for just listening to music and the bass works really well on songs that have a droning type of bass such as Hans Zimmer sound tracks. The bass is not as defined or punchy as the XM4. The biggest difference in sound is in the midrange where vocals take less of a center stage and are more just a part of the mix and often behind other parts of the music such as bass and percussion. This makes the Live Pro 2 more 2D in nature.
If I was to sum the difference between the two up. I would say the XM4 is great when I want to get lost in the music as it draws my attention to things like the 3D sound stage. The Live 2 Pro is great when I want music to accompany my day, its presentation works really well when I am focusing on other things as it enhances my concentration without distracting me from what I am doing.
EDIT: all of my observations are after EQing the TWS. The XM4 out of the box definitely is a lot duller sounding and needs EQ to get to apoint where I really like.