After using the WF1000M3 for more than a week I think I can finally make some comments regarding these.
As I said previously - after trying/owning a few True Wireless Earbuds it is obvious to me that they are a special category of audio product which requires both gadget/software expertise as well as audio know-hows in order to make a pair of truly great True Wireless Earbuds, and Sony is one of the few companies which actually has what it takes to make a great product. To me a True Wireless Earbud must satisfy 4 categories to be worth recommending, and they are (in no particular order) sound, comfort, user experience, and software. Sound and comfort is self-explanatory, but user experience and software requires a bit more explanation.
User experience - things like the charging case, playback controls, pairing etc.
Software - control app, video/audio sync and delays, individual unit playback and other extra features
I have these 4 categories because I see True Wireless Earbuds (TWE) mainly being companions to smartphones and not dedicated DAPs, and smartphones doesn't just play music but does numerous other things like play video or games, and because of that convenience must be factored into evaluating TWE.
Now I owned the first WF1000X - I liked the sound and they worked for me for the most parts, it has a slight warmish turn but still has enough clarity in the highs for me to enjoy them unlike the majority of TWE which are overtly warm, wooly and bassy for my taste, but it suffered from a lot of short-comings in the user experience which made them hard to recommend. Besides the well documented disconnection issues as well as audio desync, the case was also rather poorly designed in that the earbuds can pop out of their position when knocked and cause them to not charge properly as well as completely discharge. So while they were good to me sound wise and was comfortable enough with the Sony Triple Comfort tips, it failed pretty miserably in the user experience and the software side of things. If I would give a score to the original WF1000X in my four categories, each out of 5, it would like this:
Sound: 4
Comfort: 4
User experience: 2 - mainly the poor case design as I've found many times that the earbuds got knock lose inside the case and lost charge which is hugely frustrating
Software: 3 - horrible video/audio sync issue with most common apps such as Youtube, but works fine with Apple's video apps for some reason. ANC worked good for me and the control app is fairly decent.
After having the WF1000X for awhile I purchased the B&O E8 to replace them (and I later sold the WF1000X). In terms of tuning I liked these a lot as well but they are different to the WF1000X. The E8 has a more sparkly treble but less bass extension. Out of the box the treble can get a bit peaky and piercing depending on the song. But thankfully the B&O control app has a very intuitive - though not particularly accurate for fine tuning - EQ interface which is a circle divided into four quadrants labelled warm/excited/relaxed/bright which you can place a pin of sort anywhere in the circle to get to a desired sound signature, and the design makes it very easy to use on the go because it doesn't require finesse. The case is a very nice and compact case with an elastic band that makes it easy to loop around a belt loop in the pants or a ring on the bag, and the magnets on both the case cover as well as for attaching the units inside the case are reassuring. The comfort of the buds are exceptional, especially once I replaced the stock tips with something else I liked more (in this case I also use the Sony Triple Comfort tips). However these also suffered a lot in terms of video/audio out of sync issues, and the master/slave configuration is still a little problematic, even though it uses a different type of radio communication (magnetic induction instead of common RF) between the units. Codec wise these supported SBC and AAC - which to me is sufficient as mainly an iOS user though I can see Android users feeling left out as not all Android phones support AAC, and even then support is not as good as Apple's implementation in the codec sound tuning. Score wise it will be as follows:
Sound: 4
Comfort: 5
User experience: 3 - the touch controls can be problematic
Software: 3 - still plague with video/audio sync issues like the WF1000X. The control app is quite slick and easy to use.
And now to the 1000XM3.
In terms of sound I find them very capable. Out of the box the sound is slightly more neutral compared to how I remembered the original, and the highs are also a little less piercing. These also EQs very well and the updates to the control app with several presets makes it very easy to quickly dial into a different sound signature. Personally I use the Vocal settings with these. In terms of comfort these are slightly more ergonomic than the originals, but due to the size, shape and weight distribution it's not as comfortable or as secure as the E8. For tips, I've changed to the recently released in Japan Fender SureSeal tips (doesn't seem to be available elsewhere yet) that is body heat sensitive silicone gel type eartips which are very grippy and seals very well, working in combination of the ANC it blocks out huge amount of outside noise that is almost comparable to CIEM. The SureSeal also have a bigger bore opening than the triple comfort and is shorted, which seems to open up the soundstage just a tiny bit more as well as letting more bass impact, probably due to less dampening happening. Speaking of the ANC, I think the main attraction of the M3 ANC is not that it is borrowed from the over-ear brothers and thus being more effective, but rather it's the newly tuned smart ambient sound control system which automatically switches the ANC mode depending on whether you are walking, sitting, or on a train. It start off a little bit iffy the first few days that I was tempted to switch it off, but I stuck out and after some learning (it requires location data from your phone) it becomes a bit more accurate, and thus helpful. For example, allowing station announcements to come through on a train is a godsend so you don't miss your stop, and then allowing even more ambient sound to come in when you are walking greatly increases your situational awareness and thus reduces the risk of getting into accidents. It's not perfect though as sometimes the system cannot decide on the mode and switches widely which causes the music to cut off and switch back on randomly and could get annoying, but it's one of those UX that is well intentioned and adds more value to the ANC than just blocking out noise.
The other area of great improvement is the case - now using strong magnets which snaps the earbuds into the correct position reassuringly, so no more discharged earbuds. The design itself is pocket friendly enough but a little on the large end. I personally feel there's no need for providing two complete charges in the case when the battery life of the earbuds is rated for 6 hours, so perhaps a reduced in size battery case which provides 1.5 charges would be better, but that's just me.
There's a lot of talk about the lack of an IPTX rating - I don't gym or exercise with my earbuds so it's not a huge concern to me.
Codec wise - same as the E8. It's fine. Having LDAC would've been better, but it's not a major lost. And as I've talked about previous, not having aptX due to the new custom Bluetooth chipset which allows the non master/slave setup is more than a worthy tradeoff.
Another one of the important improvement is the scrapping of master/slave architecture - this was a major reason I bought these. Sometimes at work I like to just wear one earbuds so I can still get sound ques from my surroundings, I also prefer to wear only the left side due to my seating arrangement in the office and strangely the vast majority of TWE the master unit is the right unit which means I can't wear the left unit only and must wear the right unit. With the 1000XM3 I can now wear just the left unit. Also with this new arrangement the video/audio delay issue is almost entirely addressed. Videos are more or less in sync, though gaming is much more hit and miss. Still, a definite improvement over the ones I owned before. Connection stability is also touted as an advantage of this new setup and it mostly lived up to the claim, strangely I get intermediate pops and clicks on the right side but the left side had been rock solid.
Touch control is merely ok - I don't actually mind that there's no gesture for volume control, as the E8 has those (tap and hold right side for volume up, tap and hold left side for volume down) but is not that intuitive and is not accurate that I always overshoot the target. My major issue is that the touch controls are a bit too sensitive where a light brush can cause play/pause when it was not my intention to do so. In general the default setup is passable, perhaps adding more customisation on the gestures in the future can improve the situation. In terms of an overall score, this is what I would give to the WF1000XM3:
Sound: 4.5
Comfort: 4
User experience: 4
Software: 4
I don't do calls much with TWE so I can't comment - though one interesting "hack" I've seen people talked about with the 1000XM3 is that since these are completely independent, if you find the other side having trouble hearing your voice, just pull one unit out of your ear and hold it up to your mouth and use it as a mic.
Overall, I think the WF1000XM3 comes very close to being the perfect TWE for me, and is probably the current gold standard that TWE should live up to in all the areas which defines TWE as it has the least trade offs. Since these aren't simple earbuds, it does require some digging and learning to use them properly (such as the ambient sound control), but it's worth investing the time to learn your gadgets and the payoff is great, and again this is something that is unique to TWE which other wired earphones don't have.
