ANC is agressive on the Liberty 4 making it not as pleasant in quiet conditions as I found out this morning as I could hear/feel the hiss. But since its quiet why would I use ANC... I turned it off and then the passive isolation was more than enough.
ANC on the Jabra Elite 10 is less invasive feeling and works in all noise conditions well aside from Wind which is not just a sound but physically moving air. In wind if its hard enough you can switch the mode to Hear Through and after a few second the device will automatically block the wind and be very effective. But if the wind is not strong enough or gusting the TWS may just go back into normal Hear Through mode which would then get noisy...
The Liberty 4 NC actually just has a Wind option in the app to handle wind. Not sure how well it works yet but I like having a setting like that, the MTW3 has a similar option. I do suspect wind will be addressed in some fashion with an update on the Jabra Elite 10. But for now its ability to handle wind is automated and consequently a bit hit and miss...
One other point. The Liberty 4 NC is a typical stem style design and is as comfy as the Elite 10 but has a typical passive seal making the ear feel stuffed to a certain degree. The Elite 10 on the other hand is actually designed to be more open, they consequently rely on ANC more as the passive isolation is mediocre at best. But they feel really nice in ear because of that lack of feeling stuffed.
Sound...
Hmmm, the best way to describe sound betwen these is the Jabra Elite 10 is a Dad stereo while the Liberty 4 NC is the kids sound system... the first is designed to be more accurate and allow you to peer into the soundscape, the second is just about having fun!!!! As someone who grew up loving the kids sound and then growing into that other realm I LOVE BOTH! If I want to deep dive into some old prog rock and hear the instruments wizzing around my ears I can grab the Elite 10. If I want to mash some old fashioned ACDC I can grab the Liberty 4 and just rock out!!!
In more technical terms, the Liberty 4 is bass heavy and leans into a warmer signature but still has good strength in the treble (a V/U shaped sound). The Jabra Elite 10 on the other hand has tamer bass (but not to tame at least in my opinion) with a more balance midrange and treble. Its leaner sounding making it very very airy, helping it have a nice big sound stage with great 3D positioning.
Another way of thinking about the 2 would be equating the Jabra Elite 10 with the sound track from Blade Runner and the Liberty 4 NC with the sound track from Blade Runner 2049. The first movie the music drew you into the story. The second movie the bombarded you during the story...
BTW I saw someone suggesting the Libert 4 NC make it hard to justify the bigger ticket TWS like Sennheiser, Sony, etc. Have to say I agree, these darn things sound good and have pretty much every feature a person needs in a TWS thrown into them... It crazy how much tech they stuffed into such a cheap device and then make them sound good on top! CRAZY...
I like the Liberty 4 NC as well! But I am not sure I would go so far as to say that they compete head on with Senn MTW3, XM5, AZ80, or my current sound signature favorite Mystique. The sound signature to me is good, but not great (a bit thin sounding to me), and ANC is really not up there with the better ANC contenders. But they are phenomenal at the price, and I happily listen to them as well.
I'll receive mine tomorrow and I'm not sure if you mean "overall isolation" by "ANC", so "passive"+"ANC", but that's what really matters and while ANC can be great and have a "wow" factor, like the first Airpod Pros (haven't tried the 2), or the QCII or even on the Jabra 10s, when it's turned on, you're better off having great passive isolation with a dose of ANC on top That was what the original Echobuds did.
I like the Liberty 4 NC as well! But I am not sure I would go so far as to say that they compete head on with Senn MTW3, XM5, AZ80, or my current sound signature favorite Mystique. The sound signature to me is good, but not great (a bit thin sounding to me), and ANC is really not up there with the better ANC contenders. But they are phenomenal at the price, and I happily listen to them as well.
They are not quite up to the big boys but are close enough alot of people would not care given the price difference. Should make those big companies sweat a little...
Hopefully it drives them to differentiate themselves from the rest through better audio, features etc.
They are not quite up to the big boys but are close enough alot of people would not care given the price difference. Should make those big companies sweat a little...
Hopefully it drives them to differentiate themselves from the rest through better audio, features etc.
I always keep the Liberty 4 NC on hand. They managed to have a comfortable and dynamic yet non-fatiguing sound that seems to work with everything. Accurate they are not, to me they are very colored, like an oversaturated phone screen. I guess that's my definition of "fun" sound.
On that note I'm listening with the Jabra 10 Dolby head tracking on right now and really digging it! The catch is I'm listening to a run of '70s funk like Tom Tom club and Average White band, stuff that would be so boring straight because I've heard it so many times, is actually really nice enhanced by this setting. Critical listening? No way, but I guess there's a reason for everything.
I always keep the Liberty 4 NC on hand. They managed to have a comfortable and dynamic yet non-fatiguing sound that seems to work with everything. Accurate they are not, to me they are very colored, like an oversaturated phone screen. I guess that's my definition of "fun" sound.
On that note I'm listening with the Jabra 10 Dolby head tracking on right now and really digging it! The catch is I'm listening to a run of '70s funk like Tom Tom club and Average White band, stuff that would be so boring straight because I've heard it so many times, is actually really nice enhanced by this setting. Critical listening? No way, but I guess there's a reason for everything.
I got the Pixel Buds with the Pixel Fold i bought early this week, and I realized that Pixel Buds can actually sound AMAZING, but they need some heavy EQ:ing and some other eartips.
I somehow ended up putting the largest bi-flange Fokus Mystique eartips on them when I realized the OG Pixel Buds L eartips were a bit on the slim side for my ear canals and the eartips from the Nobles were close by despite me never trying them out, and it's overall such a weird fit for the Pixel Buds: the earbuds with these tips don't feel like they're in quite correctly and as if the eartips is sort of touching the walls of the ear canal - but they also don't budge an inch when moving around and don't hurt or feel uncomfortable.
But the sound? With the EQ:ing in Wavelet and Poweramp together with these eartips the tonality/timbre is so damn good and sounds VERY natural to my ears, the separation VERY good, and the sound stage has both and width and depth to it... It's... Something new entirely. I don't think I've quite experienced anything like it.
If they had LDAC or some more hi-fi codec I think it would've... Blown me away completely.
Because these are right now some of the best sounding earbuds to me, despite not even ranking in the top 15 in my collection straight out of the box, even when I tried EQ:ing them with Wavelet.
I could imagine clarity being better, but just the (to my ears) realistic timbre and the excellent throbbing lower bass together with the very good separation and holy hell-soundstage... Yeah, 100x better than I thought these could do.
It's difficult to phrase what I mean, but the pure musicality and the amount of detail that you can hear is incredible, but some of the sounds might still feel a bit, maybe fuzzy? Like they would need higher definition codec to work with. But it's still at a level where I feel like it's being nitpicky because it sounds amazing.
Also interestingly they sort of only sound their absolute best when you're on like the two-three highest volume "steps".
I think this is the first time I've been able to sort of pinpoint a sound being sort of angularly placed, so like being placed in front of me but to the right. I mean, I've obviously heard instrument tracks panned to the right that are still not all the way out to the right, but I don't think I've heard earbuds convincingly present that in tandem with projecting it forward away from my face as well.
I should also mention this is without any sort of Dolby Atmos or Spatial audio hijinx.
The most negative part with these eartips and this fit is that ANC efficiency is reduced by quite a bit.
I will add that this sounds good especially with slower and quieter music. I'm having a hard time even reconciling what my ears are hearing right now. Listening to the album Familiars by The Antlers right now and... Wow. Also sounded great with some Tom Waits and Ichiko Aoba.
I'm also not sure if it's even replicable by everyone or anyone either, it just feels like the eartips together with the anatomy of my ears have created this insane sound stage resonating through my ear canals where I feel like I can pick up more separate instruments and details in tracks than ever before.
As I'm writing this I feel like it reads like I'm just making some crap up, like TWS fan-fiction nerd porn, but I literally did not even like these Pixel Buds Pro much at all before tonight, and now I can't put them down.
Maybe it's just the eartips and they will improve other earbuds to an equal extent? Then I think I will have to prepare myself for some intense aural stimulation to the point of aurgasm.
Okay, enough of this now, I will probably pick them up tomorrow and not hear the same thing as I do now.
I owned the CX and quickly sold them as I was just not happy with the sound.
I bought the MTW3 and truth be told was about to flip them because I again wasn't happy with the sound. But just before I did that, Sennheiser put out a FW update and introduced a new personalized al customization process and it was game changing making them a great TWS. So unless that feature was also given to the CX model I would say the MTW3 is a definite upgrade.
after more than 1 1/2 years I'm still very happy with my Technics EAH-AZ60. The only thing that's starting to bother me is their comfort, being stuck rather deep inside my ear canal. Now I know that this is part of the concept - a bit of noise isolation combined with active noise cancelling - but the longer I use them, the more I realize that I'm in desperate need of smaller eartips.
So this is where I need your help. What are the smallest, the absolute smallest eartips you know for the nozzle size of an AZ60, the Sony WF-1000XM4 or the Beats Studio Buds (they're all the same size, basically)? It's not so much about sound quality but more about being really, well, tiny.
after more than 1 1/2 years I'm still very happy with my Technics EAH-AZ60. The only thing that's starting to bother me is their comfort, being stuck rather deep inside my ear canal. Now I know that this is part of the concept - a bit of noise isolation combined with active noise cancelling - but the longer I use them, the more I realize that I'm in desperate need of smaller eartips.
So this is where I need your help. What are the smallest, the absolute smallest eartips you know for the nozzle size of an AZ60, the Sony WF-1000XM4 or the Beats Studio Buds (they're all the same size, basically)? It's not so much about sound quality but more about being really, well, tiny.
I have the Noble Kublai Khan which is pretty big and has a super deep fit. I can't get it in my ear without the absolute smallest eartip on it. For this I use the Nuarl Block 6+
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That was what the original Echobuds did.
