[Ralphee]

As good as possible for who ? There are millioms and millions of ears out there all with different oppinions on what as good as possible is.

That is right. Yet, my comments were based on a comparison between XM4 and N3AP, as asked for by @Gioacchino

Of course, any aural evaluation from anyone is an OPINION, as we all hear differently, no doubt. In that context, the “best possible sound…” wasn’t meant as “…for me”, but rather “…with those other IEMs as a reference”.

Despite sounding quite different side by side, the N3AP and A3 share a distinctive sound characteristic that makes them members of one family, just like quite a few other Sony IEMs I own and owned. That’s what makes the Sony house sound - to me. I think, the XM4 are not of that family: compared to the aforementioned, their „smooth“ tuning, to my ears, sounds a little too lifeless. I’m convinced if Sony managed to bring that distinctive sound signature to many of their other headphones, then they could have done this to XM4 as well. They didn’t, and obviously they have their reasons for it. It’s perhaps called evolution, and that’s totally OK for me, even if I dislike it.

So, absolutely, the WF-1000XM4 are awesome and refined sounding headphones. Relatively to these other Sony IEMs, however, they lack that certain character that makes them an equally engaging listen.

 

[helmutcheese]

Of to test the magnets.

 

[Devodonaldson]

Do you have a link to the epro ep01? I looked on Amazon UK but not found them. What size do we need for the XM4?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08SW7JTZ...abc_AVG0YV49G78TTZ8YQEYJ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

[ForgotMyName]

Anyone tried the flc8s, gr07, or melomania touch? I haven't tried a million earphones like the people on this site have, so it's hard to see where these ear phones might be. I thought the touches were good for their price, except the vocals sounded pretty bad compared to the flc8s that I've been using for years.

 

[nc8000]

Mine were shipped today so I should get them tomorrow or more likely Friday

 

[snapandslide]

Mine arrived today - just tried them on and much better fit than the XM3. So far so good with that and the app says I have a seal too.

Sound wise, I've started with treble boost, lowered the top end a little and a bit of clear bass boost. So far so good and a clear upgrade from the XM3s.

Next up, I couldn't resist a little tip rolling - I replaced the stock foam with the silicone from the XM3s, the bass cleans up a lot? Anyone else tried the silicone from the XM3s?

I'll decide tonight what tips to use tomorrow on London's Underground as I am commuting now...

 

[PixelSquish]

For those that are having issues with comfort, give them a few days. I've had these for a week, the second day my tragus on my right ear was pretty sore. But that went away completely and the last few days have been totally comfortable. But these are definitely not going to be a one size fits all TWS for people due to being quite bulbous.

 

[howdy]

For those that are having issues with comfort, give them a few days. I've had these for a week, the second day my tragus on my right ear was pretty sore. But that went away completely and the last few days have been totally comfortable. But these are definitely not going to be a one size fits all TWS for people due to being quite bulbous.

Now that you have owned these for a bit and hopefully the new toy syndrome has worn off(not saying this is you), from a purely sound quality standpoint which do you prefer, MTW2 or XM4?

 

[PixelSquish]

Now that you have owned these for a bit and hopefully the new toy syndrome has worn off(not saying this is you), from a purely sound quality standpoint which do you prefer, MTW2 or XM4?

Oh I get the new toy syndrome, so no offense taken. If something has a fatal flaw though I do realize it sooner than later. These do not have a fatal flaw to me. They don't have a strong POV like say my T90's do, but that's ok. And yes, they do lean to the warm side.

I have only A/B'd a few tracks, just to see if the Sony's were really muddying something up or if it was the recording, and it was not the Sonys. I've mostly been spending my time with the XM4. Averaging close to a few hours per day with these over a week now. I feel the bass is kind of tightening up though. Maybe burn in a bit?

The XM4 are comfy to me now to the point I'm wearing them in bed just to chill with music. But the MTW2 are lighter and more comfy. If you have smaller ears, this will probably be more prevalent?

I have a particular need for the XM4 - my shared backyard as I have stated can get quite loud from AC units. The XM4 makes it serene and peaceful with the ANC. I can't replicate that with the Senns. I also love the battery life of the XM4. I do like the more robust EQ too. The case of the Senns are more inspiring build quality wise. The customizable controls of the Senns are slightly better too. Both have a strong reliable connection so far.

If I had to pick one it would be the XM4 for those features. Both sound signatures suits my music and my ears and are more similar than different. I can see how the XM4 sound is not for everyone. But if the XM4 sound is not for you, I don't think the MTW2 is going to be a massive change. You may prefer one over the other but it's going to be more of a subtle thing than massive. So think about the features and fit more than anything is at least how I would look at it.

 

[Maukey]

If I had to pick one it would be the XM4 for those features. Both sound signatures suits my music and my ears and are more similar than different. I can see how the XM4 sound is not for everyone. But if the XM4 sound is not for you, I don't think the MTW2 is going to be a massive change. You may prefer one over the other but it's going to be more of a subtle thing than massive. So think about the features and fit more than anything is at least how I would look at it.

I agree with this whole heartedly. The XM4 are no question the most feature rich TWS earbuds on the market! The sound is right up there with the MTW2. To me, the next step up in sound quality is the B&W PI7. However, just like the MTW2, their features and ANC can't hold a candle to the XM4.

 

[Domin0]

Taking a listen to these and experiencing that DD bass has really gotten me more interested in sony's IER-Z1R. Curious to see how much larger that hunk of metal is compared to the already somewhat chunky XM4.

 

[SilverEars]

Just got these in, and I'm not so thrilled with the sound. Sound is similar to the full-sized XM3/4, it's really warm and treble is dark.

Dark sig can still be acceptable as long as it sounds detailed, but these don't even sound detailed. It's a dark and smooth sounding response with lots of bass. Bass isn't quality, but somewhat boomy that you'd find with most TWS earphones. Mushy bass with ANC on.

It's got a weird echoey effect to the sound like there's mids resonance. It's very warm and wet sounding so it loses on clarity and separation, and thus, imaging suffers.

There is some sort of resonance or echoey sound. I can hear the resonance with the piano hits.

And when treble is noticed, the quality isn't good. It has that digital sounding treble you'd expect with BT phones. I think it sounds muddier with ANC on. I don't think the stock foam like tips helps either.

These are really bad when it comes to clarity. Pretty sorry for SQ for how much it costs. Youtube reviews are just totally unreliable.

 

[joshnor713]

Just got these in. Sound quality I'll label as "pretty good". Not blown away whatsoever, but for being a dark-tilted sound sig, pretty clear and detailed sound for a true wireless pair. Sony house sound as expected, which I'm not a big fan of (don't like recessed mids), but the tech in this thing was my priority. The noise cancelling is out of this world. Everything but voices is silenced. That blew me away. The foam tips muffles voices but doesn't completely silence them. That's expected.

People Sony tested these on must have small ears. The middle tips are like small and large are like medium. I'd say caution for anyone who regularly uses large tip with IEMs.

I got LDAC to work with a bit a fiddling. That part I didn't like. I expected their to be a codec switcher in the Sony app. There's a toggle to set priority on sound quality, but you don't know for sure if it's LDAC. I went under the Bluetooth settings for the device and set it to "Best sound quality" from there as well. But still, you can't see if it's LDAC for sure because it stupidly doesn't say (on my LG V60). As a last resort I ended up going under Developer Settings to check and confirmed it is in LDAC. You shouldn't have to do that though.

Another annoyance is, still in the Developer Settings, that the sample rate and bitrate default to 96 kHz and 32-bit. I want it at CD quality. That's what I listen to most. However, each time you turn the headphones on again, it reverts back to the default. Annoying the hoops audiophiles have to jump through to get what we want. Oh, and the LDAC Playback Quality defaults to Best Effort also. I want 909kbps all the time. So every time I turn on the headphones, I'll have to go through this ritual of selecting settings that don't stick. Awesome.

 

[wordfool]

Just got these in, and I'm not so thrilled with the sound. Sound is similar to the full-sized XM3/4, it's really warm and treble is dark.

Dark sig can still be acceptable as long as it sounds detailed, but these don't even sound detailed. It's a dark and smooth sounding response with lots of bass. Bass isn't quality, but somewhat boomy that you'd find with most TWS earphones. Mushy bass with ANC on.

It's got a weird echoey effect to the sound like there's mids resonance. It's very warm and wet sounding so it loses on clarity and separation, and thus, imaging suffers.

There is some sort of resonance or echoey sound. I can hear the resonance with the piano hits.

And when treble is noticed, the quality isn't good. It has that digital sounding treble you'd expect with BT phones. I think it sounds muddier with ANC on. I don't think the stock foam like tips helps either.

Yes, it's essentially the Sony "house" sound for the wireless-X series so I was really not surprised the darkness persisted. I don't have the WF-XM3s, but the WF-XM4s are slightly better sounding than the WH-XM3s IMO. Adjust the EQ in the Sony app to boost treble and dial back the bass a bit and they sound pretty good to me. I'm not hearing resonance issues and I am hearing plenty of detail, albeit a bit back in the mix due to the rolled off high end (another Sony house sound thing)

Overall I think SQ impressions are all about perceptions. I went in not expecting <$300 ANC TWS earphones to sound anywhere close to something like my ZMF headphones or my Westone IEMs, but for the money and features I'm pretty impressed. Try tip rolling to see if you can improve things. Ultimately it's about overall fit and expectations, which are going to be a very YMMV things.

 

[SilverEars]

Yes, it's essentially the Sony "house" sound for the wireless-X series so I was really not surprised the darkness persisted. I don't have the WF-XM3s, but the WF-XM4s are slightly better sounding than the WH-XM3s IMO. Adjust the EQ in the Sony app to boost treble and dial back the bass a bit and they sound pretty good to me. I'm not hearing resonance issues and I am hearing plenty of detail, albeit a bit back in the mix due to the rolled off treble (another Sony house sound thing)

Overall I think SQ impressions are all about perceptions. I went in not expecting <$300 ANC TWS earphones to sound anywhere close to something like my ZMF headphones or my Westone IEMs, but for the money and features I'm pretty impressed. Try tip rolling to see if you can improve things. Ultimately it's about overall fit and expectations, which are going to be a very YMMV things.

The sound is so smoothed out on these, you really can't say these have details to the sound. It's all drowned out due to the warmth. $300 for this SQ is a joke. There's nothing special to warrant $300 price tag. There are many better sounding stuff at much lower costs. I don't even know why you bring up ZMF for perspective. Who is here expecting ZMF full sized headphones? lol These are obviously TWS.