The dip you mentioning at 800Hz is negligible (2dB) and isn’t really audible or important at all. And the small bump in bass you mentioning is really very gradual from 300Hz down to 60Hz and is almost the same as the Hartman target, so again not important and actually very good. So the AP3 isn’t v-shaped like you saying or having exaggerated mids and highs.
This is from the SoundGuys review: “…For those of you not familiar with
frequency response plots, this shows that the Apple AirPods (3rd generation) sticks to
our target fairly well outside of the highest highs and the lowest parts of the bass range….”
And this too: “…Apple leaned into the “poor fit” angle and designed less for “earphones” than they did for “small speakers that rest in your ear.” In this way, the frequency response is impressive, even if it’s damned near impossible to get a measurement that looks good. Truth be told,
you likely won’t notice a huge change in your music with that dropoff below 50Hz…”
They are giving the AP3 a sound score of 8.9 that is very high comparing to so many headphones and earphones they reviewing in the past. They giving the bass a score of 7.5 only because of rolling off below 50Hz which isn’t really important like they explaining. Then a score of 9.8 for midrange and 9.5 for highs.
The AP3 does stick very well to their target, which I admit is very close to what I prefer overall (DF neutral is my preference, but I also don't mind having a modest bass boost, which their target fits almost perfectly; I'd also prefer a small bass boost over a smaller bass reduction from flatline) which I commend Apple for. The treble is a little hotter than I'd like, but not overly so on its own. However, that scoop in the mid-midrange coupled with the push in the upper midrange creates a weird tonality to my ears. Adding in the slightly hot treble kind of amplifies this. I honestly have no issues with the balance of the bass with the AP3, it's perfectly adequate and the small amplification is needed since earbuds roll off quite early; if it were neutral, it would be very anemic. But that doesn't mean it's not amplified in this area and it doesn't mean it won't affect the balance in comparison to the midrange and treble that I hear which is what I do when I am creating an overall general sound signature to a headphone. V-shape does not equal bad. There are many V-shaped headphones that are great and some of the most iconic (TF10, M-100, etc.; these are heavier V's though). The AP3 is another good V-shaped headphone. I would rank it on the same tier as the APP (although not better) which is pretty damn
good in terms of technical ability, even against non-earbuds; this says a lot regarding the quality of these 'buds.
Depending on what SoundGuy's scoring is relative to, I'd probably adjust it. If compared to others in its price range/competition, I'd probably lower the midrange to an 8.5 or 9, bring the treble score to about a 9, but also raise the bass to something closer to an 8.5 or 9. If compared to absolute (everything), they've overblown the score completely (something like the H95 would be fair game at that point) and I'd probably still give it the 7.5-8 in the bass a solid 8 in the midrange and treble. I personally feel like they over-represented how good the midrange and treble is technically, but also under-represented how good the bass really is. So the average overall score would be 8.9 from SoundGuys and either 8.7 or 7.8 from me (depending on whether your talking about others in their class or not). Note that the user scores average a 7.5 on SoundGuys. Though I've also been criticized of having a high grading scale (think A = 9+, B = 8+, C = 7+, D = 6+, and F = rest) when I actually wrote full, scored reviews back in the day. My score relative to others in its class isn't too far off from what SoundGuys says. Note that I don't
ever score a headphone on tonality purposely, rather I score a headphone on whether it and reproduce certain properties of music (clarity, warmth, splash, texture, presence, etc.) and avoiding going overboard in certain aspects (resonances, harshness, sibilance, muddiness, etc.). This entire talk of V-shape as an
entirely tonal portion of the talk which I do everything I possibly can to avoid biasing my scores on.
One major thing that differs between us is whether we think the SoundGuys target is neutral. I personally don't feel like the 5 dB bass bump in their target is neutral, I feel like it's a 5 dB bump. Their target looks very close to the Harman V1 target from Olive and Welti which I definitely don't consider neutral, nor was it ever designed to be a neutral target, rather it was designed to be a target that was
preferable over a selection of of a broad range of listeners. It's a good target to try to hit though as it does produce a very nice sound. However, their target above 400 Hz I do consider close to neutral if not actually neutral as it's very likely its based off of a diffuse field.
That small bump in bass is certainly noticeable and something that is nice to have, but not required in my eyes (though I'd rather have a +4 dB bump than a -2 dB drop if that means anything). But that doesn't mean that it has
no bass focus as it's still about 4 dB above flatline. Alone, it is enough to create a warm signature
if there was no additional dip in the mid-midrange on top of this. The lows and highs aren't exaggerated heavily, but they are bumped with the mid-midrange right around 800 Hz dipped. Alone, a 2-3 dB dip in the midrange isn't too noticeable, you're right, but paired with an additional 4 dB bump in the bass and additional 3-4 dB bump in the midrange (I am using their target for the midrange up as it's likely close to DF neutral), you end up creating something that is 6-7 dB higher in bass (on contrast to the midrange) and 7-9 dB higher in the upper midrange and treble (in comparison to the midrange). You end up with a V-shape here. It's not super strong and super exaggerated, but it is
present. In this case you end up with a V that is bigger on the right than the left, which I explained before.
If you believe that 4 dB is neutral, then you're talking about a 2-3 dB difference between bass and mid-midrange and a 7-9 dB bump in the midrange. You still end up with a V that's much bigger on the right than the left. An X dB bump in one area may not make a difference, but if you collectively compare them to the
rest of the frequency spectrum they can have differences. A small thing here and a small thing there add up to something larger.
I guess we may want to agree to disagree regarding v-shaped or mid-heavy again, which I've suggested in the past and just move on.
I've also heard of some people having their AP1 last for ever while others had theirs last barely a year and a half in terms of battery longevity. Manufacturing tolerances could also have something to do with it too. I haven't had the chance to test the auto connect feature with my AP1 since it's been that long since I dusted them off. It does work very well with the APP and APM, sometimes too well.
