[sabloke]

The Crossfade Wireless 2 (I got the Rose Gold, AptX version, equivalent to the current Codex edition) are a V-shaped, fun to listen to headphone. Extremely durable, in the 4 years I used them as a daily unit only replaced the original pads with XL ones for comfort. Other than that, hardly any sign of wear! Fun to listen to wired as well. As I'm writing this they're plugged into the RME-ADI2 FS DAC, the sound is just right for EDM and electronica. Not audiophile grade perhaps but certainly fun like say Meze 99 Classics that I also own. In conclusion, the V-Moda Crossfade Wireless 2 (get AptX though) are great to listen to, tough as nails and looking great. The only cons I see are relatively short battery life around 10-12 hours and being an old model now.

You are right, the Shures sounded thin and analytical, not something I need when I'm out and about. Why would anyone expect to do critical listening on a plane, a bus or on a busy street? I'm certainly not interested.

 

[WickedInsignia]

The Shures certainly come across as an excellent sitdown, focus-on-the-music pair. If I didn't have my LCD-1s, these would be that pair for me. Instrument separation, detail and soundstage are great.

 

[sabloke]

I've got both top shelf cans and IEMs form Sony for sitdown situations, with excellent everything in my view. Like the looks of Shures though

 

[Ettepet]

Today I tested the Aonics with taped-shut grills in windy conditions on my bike. The performance went from 5-6 of 10 (anc off, no tape) to 7-8 of 10 (anc off, taped grills), so a full 2 point gain! Sound quality was excellent! As I mentioned before, the passive noise cancelling of these Aonics is pretty darn good.

May remove the protective padding from my white Aonic 50’s too, because they weren’t needed. In case of danger or stress I will park the headphone around my neck.

 

[SparkOnShore]

I'm sorry, I editing my previous post already. The correct model number is K361 BT. I think you have bt and not bt version, but the bt version can playing passively with the two cables that are including with the package (1,2m & 3,0m).

EDIT: Maybe you want looking too at K371 (BT), that is more new model here in Europe costing about 150,00 euros. I don't hearing this model but other people saying is (only) little better/more correct in the FR (harman target).

so here we are at Shure thread. thanks a lot for coming back to me. Is sa50 making your ears hotter than other closed back headphones? I gather the xm4 makes you feel even hotter than sa50, is it true? i know sa50 is rather heavy; is it a problem to walk with them on and having them on while walking for 2 hours lets say? I gather they miss sub bass. How can you describe it? Is it bass shy in general? Is there a sense of seriously missing low end and punch in electronic music for example? Finally is senn m3 lighter and more comfortable than sa50? And is there multi point connectivity (2 devices / no hiccups) in the senn m3? It’s true that i have always loved deeply Shure in ears, SE series, and i wonder how it is now with the aonic 50. I never remember any Shure to be bass light though, more like tremble shy, which was also my preferable sound. Thanks again for your answers, you are indeed one of the most detailed reviewers i ever read on head fi!

 

[angelom]

so here we are at Shure thread. thanks a lot for coming back to me. Is sa50 making your ears hotter than other closed back headphones? I gather the xm4 makes you feel even hotter than sa50, is it true? i know sa50 is rather heavy; is it a problem to walk with them on and having them on while walking for 2 hours lets say? I gather they miss sub bass. How can you describe it? Is it bass shy in general? Is there a sense of seriously missing low end and punch in electronic music for example? Finally is senn m3 lighter and more comfortable than sa50? And is there multi point connectivity (2 devices / no hiccups) in the senn m3? It’s true that i have always loved deeply Shure in ears, SE series, and i wonder how it is now with the aonic 50. I never remember any Shure to be bass light though, more like tremble shy, which was also my preferable sound. Thanks again for your answers, you are indeed one of the most detailed reviewers i ever read on head fi!

About the problem of the heat and the sweat, from my memory, the sa50 isn't so bad like bose qc35 or nc700, or my xm3 that I still owning (I owning the xm4 but don't testing for the heat or sweat because is uncomfortable in my ears after only 10 minutes!). Of the artificial leather headphones I'm trying in the past, I think the sa50 is the less bad in this aspect (this meaning that is taking more time for my ears getting hot and/or sweating).

About the weight, I don't think the weight is a problem at all in the sa50. Is depending in every person, of course, but I think the majority of people in this thread will telling you is not really a problem. When I owning the sa50, and the weather is more low (not hot ears or sweat), I can wearing (at home) for 4 hours or more with no problems of discomfort.

About the sub-bass, this is little weak aspect of the sa50, but isn't serious like you maybe thinking, is just isn't rattling your head (like APM or m3 in factory sound), but is needing some presence definitely. Remember the majority of music isn't having sub bass presence. With electronic music, you must asking others people because this type of music I listening very rarely (I know one person that posting a lot in this thread that listening to sa50 a lot with electronic music and he's very happy, BUT this is always a personal thing about taste). For me, specially after buying the h95, I hearing little better, more realistic body 'weight' in the low frequencies (including, of course, sub-bass) and midrange, but if your music is heavy in sub-bass, I think I maybe recommending more the m3 (maybe with little eq down, or not, is depending in your preference!).

I can't remembering well about multi point about the sa50 but I'm almost 100% sure both sa50 and m3 having multi point (in m3 is very good, this I remember well).

The more old shure iems (se530/535/420/425) having usually good frequency response but dip in treble, 'very polite'. From my memory, the sa50 is better than this models. I don't know other shure full size headphone, unfortunately, for more opinions here.

(By the way, thank you about the positive comment about my posts)

 

[SparkOnShore]

About the problem of the heat and the sweat, from my memory, the sa50 isn't so bad like bose qc35 or nc700, or my xm3 that I still owning (I owning the xm4 but don't testing for the heat or sweat because is uncomfortable in my ears after only 10 minutes!). Of the artificial leather headphones I'm trying in the past, I think the sa50 is the less bad in this aspect (this meaning that is taking more time for my ears getting hot and/or sweating).

About the weight, I don't think the weight is a problem at all in the sa50. Is depending in every person, of course, but I think the majority of people in this thread will telling you is not really a problem. When I owning the sa50, and the weather is more low (not hot ears or sweat), I can wearing (at home) for 4 hours or more with no problems of discomfort.

About the sub-bass, this is little weak aspect of the sa50, but isn't serious like you maybe thinking, is just isn't rattling your head (like APM or m3 in factory sound), but is needing some presence definitely. Remember the majority of music isn't having sub bass presence. With electronic music, you must asking others people because this type of music I listening very rarely (I know one person that posting a lot in this thread that listening to sa50 a lot with electronic music and he's very happy, BUT this is always a personal thing about taste). For me, specially after buying the h95, I hearing little better, more realistic body 'weight' in the low frequencies (including, of course, sub-bass) and midrange, but if your music is heavy in sub-bass, I think I maybe recommending more the m3 (maybe with little eq down, or not, is depending in your preference!).

I can't remembering well about multi point about the sa50 but I'm almost 100% sure both sa50 and m3 having multi point (in m3 is very good, this I remember well).

The more old shure iems (se530/535/420/425) having usually good frequency response but dip in treble, 'very polite'. From my memory, the sa50 is better than this models. I don't know other shure full size headphone, unfortunately, for more opinions here.

(By the way, thank you about the positive comment about my posts)

Thanks a lot! I deeply appreciate your opinion offer!

 

[fret]

1 week into the Aonic 50. They don't fit my use case in the end but are nice nontheless. Very functional wireless, great build, highly detailed and resolving neutral audio and not many terrible design choices.

GENERAL NOTES:

• Do not buy these for portable use (train, airplane, bus). The case is hilariously large and they are on the heavy/bulky side for modern ANC cans. Any offering from Sony/Sennheiser/B&W/Bose would do you so much better for that purpose.
• The PXC550 ii is better for portability and don't sound hollow like these tend to, while retaining good technicality.
• These are the only pair of cans I've owned that actually feel like the price tag. Exceptionally well-built and great to hold.
• Noise cancelling degrades audio quite a bit on max, and a little bit on normal. I don't intend to use NC on these at all, and it's not up to modern standards.
• Comfort is great. Cups are shallow but cushioned and very snug. Not hot weather cans, but the threaded material on the inside of the pads seem to reduce some heat.
• Weight is 350g...not a light can but distributed very well across the head. Don't notice it while wearing.

SOUND:

• Wired or wireless sound indistinguishable. They can be completely off while wired. They sound best with NC off.
• Soundstage is wide, imaging is great and instrument separation is excellent. Haven't heard better in the price range.
• These are bright, albeit with a slight treble rolloff and a low-mid/high-bass presence.
• Here's where they lose me: The timbre is strangely off. Everything feels veiled, but without a lack of detail...like I couldn't turn it up enough to feel the music. Detail, texture, separation are wonderful but something is missing...instruments and voices are without body. Every other detail about sound is rendered beautifully, but nothing has presence.
• I boil this down to a recessed mid-midrange, combined with a lack of midbass, subbass (which is completely rolled off), and treble sparkle.
• I guess this is a great example of a somewhat dry hollow sound.
• Mids are a little shouty, which gets annoying with the aforementioned thinness.
• Bass is there, it's beautifully textured and detailed, but it's not fun. It's got an obnoxious granular bark to it and feels informational rather than foundational. Desperately in need of some sub-bass presence.
• Fullbright mentioned these sound like what Audeze was aiming for with the LCD-1. I disagree. The LCD-1 has more natural timbre with a meatier representation of instruments and does not lean so obtusely into brightness. It has a more "complete" representation of the bass frequencies all the way down to subbass without the irregular low-mid hump these seem to have, and an absolutely gorgeous bloom in the upper bass that is fun and sounds entirely natural.

These are probably the most technically proficient NC-wireless cans around, with incredible separation and high-mid detail, but I just couldn't get around the oddly thin timbre. Sennheiser has timbre and body in the bag.
Shure went for a studio sound with these, BUT WHY? No-one will be tracking, mixing or mastering with these, and the wannabe-studio tuning takes away from the presence of the music. Detail, resolution and separation are excellent but there's a lack of engagement and hollowness in the FR I can't get over.

In summary: Not portable, bulky, lazy ANC, great build quality and comfort, AWESOME wired/wireless sound consistency, and a sound that gets everything right but is annoyingly hollow.

So I finally got this today, and I'm sorry to say but I not finding most of what you have said to be true. Is it possible you got a defective unit? Or maybe you're used to a different sound signature, and you ought to give it more time to get used to this sound? I'm finding the headphones to be quite musical and not clinical, slightly bass heavy but with nice, not overly bright trebles, and a great vocal presence.

 

[fret]

Anyone know if you can turn off the annoying beep when you reach the max volume? It stops me from listening to the music for a second. So far the biggest annoyance about these headphones.

 

[Ettepet]

Anyone know if you can turn off the annoying beep when you reach the max volume? It stops me from listening to the music for a second. So far the biggest annoyance about these headphones.

It goes away when you disable “Prompts & Tones”. That used to be my default setting, but currently happy with “Prompts”, volume “Low”. It is somewhat annoying, yes, but in practice I seldom bump into it.

For most situations 80% is plenty loud. Do you have “normalize volume level” enabled in your player? Some songs are played at a really low volume if you have. Blame the player I would say.

 

[fret]

It goes away when you disable “Prompts & Tones”. That used to be my default setting, but currently happy with “Prompts”, volume “Low”. It is somewhat annoying, yes, but in practice I seldom bump into it.

For most situations 80% is plenty loud. Do you have “normalize volume level” enabled in your player? Some songs are played at a really low volume if you have. Blame the player I would say.

Thank you very much for both of those! I did get a new macbook so had to reinstall Spotify. Didn't realise the settings had reverted. All good now.

Where do I find "Prompts & Tones"? Is that in a Shure application?

 

[Ettepet]

Thank you very much for both of those! I did get a new macbook so had to reinstall Spotify. Didn't realise the settings had reverted. All good now.

Where do I find "Prompts & Tones"? Is that in a Shure application?

Yes. Be aware that the app uses/needs 1 of the 2 Bluetooth connections, so disable one of the connected devices if your app cannot find the Aonic 50, and (force) close the app after usage if you want to connect a second device.

Glad you are happy with the Aonic! Still very much thrilled with mine.

 

[fret]

Yes. Be aware that the app uses/needs 1 of the 2 Bluetooth connections, so disable one of the connected devices if your app cannot find the Aonic 50, and (force) close the app after usage if you want to connect a second device.

Glad you are happy with the Aonic! Still very much thrilled with mine.

Thank you again! Yes, it beat my expectations by a huge margin!

I didn't see anything about the 2 bluetooth connections in the little manual either. Are you saying the headphone can connect to two bluetooth music sources simultaneously and play two different things at the same time?

 

[Ettepet]

Thank you again! Yes, it beat my expectations by a huge margin!

I didn't see anything about the 2 bluetooth connections in the little manual either. Are you saying the headphone can connect to two bluetooth music sources simultaneously and play two different things at the same time?

Yes. Not at the same time, but if you stop (pauze) one, you can use the other. And vice versa.

 

[fret]

Yes. Not at the same time, but if you stop (pauze) one, you can use the other. And vice versa.

Got it, thank you!