[Joseph Lin]

Unless you've tried the XM2's awesome Passive NC.

Mmm...I have XM2 as well...

 

[rkw]

I would be surprised to hear anyone saying ANC on other headphone works better than xm3, at least not until Bose's next generation QC is released. Once you heard the ANC on xm3, you will not satisfy with other lesser ANCs.

Unless you've tried the XM2's awesome Passive NC.

Just a small technical point... the terminology should be passive noise isolation (not cancellation).

Some have mentioned in this thread that they think the XM3's pads and earcups provide less passive isolation than XM2 (possibly a consequence of weight reduction).

 

[SubSTI]

I am new at the BT/ANC arena so forgive me my stupid question:
Since the XM3 has his own DAC, does the source DAC still matter, or is that just being degraded to a transport?
Playing FLAC files and I have a Pioneer XDP-300R DAP, which supports APTX, but also a Moto G5 Plus, which supports APTX HD.

 

[TooFrank]

I think bass is a bit elevated than it should, but it's not bad sounding headphone by any means. It's actually a good sounding closed-back headphone (There's plenty of bad ones out there). There's really not much for me to critique besides the a bit abundant bass (and the obvious reduced imaging of closed-backs), but this is probably tuned purposefully by Sony thinking people love bass (mainstream). If that bass was leveled like the mid-range, I'd be much happier.

Really, that response isn't all that bad.

If Sony is reading this, I hope in the next iteration, they get rid of that elevated bass. After more listening, I realized the bass isn't as bad as I heard earlier, and it does change how it sounds depending on if ANC is on or not. When ANC is on, the response sounds warmer and better with bass sounding better transitioned. Also the headphone sounds to have a more ambient feel as well.

You can run these passive, without the headphone powered through the aux port, but it sounds the worst. I thought it was odd that bypassing of the inner electronics (dsp and amp) sounds worse. Perhaps with ANC, adding a little bit of warmth, blends the bass better.

You will not get a Sennheiser open-back like response (it's a closed back, fully sealed) of imaging, but I think it's one of the best closed back sounding with ANC. So, you won't be getting that audiophile experience, but this is meant for on the go for commuting, etc.., so it full-fills that purpose well with the level of SQ. The purpose of this headphone is to be able to hear the music better by getting rid of the noise, and it does that quite well.

Looking at the Rtings frequency response, it's good that bass raises at 200hz compared to earlier like the Beats. I think the trouble with Beats (graph below) is that lower mid peak at about 200-400hz. You don't want to raise that up as the warmth will consume the mids, and loses coherency drastically (which is what I've heard). The reason why the XM3 sounds bass elevated and still sound mids coherent is because they kept the lower mids leveled and the bass starts climbing at 200k instead of earlier. And this is how you reduce bass bleed. I'm perfectly fine with the upper frequencies.

,
Thanks for this insight. Just tried with a high end cable and it absolutely tigthens everything including the bas. Was surprised to find that when cabled, the anc should still be turned on to give the best result. Compared the XM3s with the MDR1A (same cable), XM3 seems to win on many parameters although darker sounding.

 

[willtim]

I had the XM2's previously and now the XM3's. While I appreciated the NC of the 2's, the sound just didn't do it for me most of the time. So they were just for travel. But the 3's sound quality is MUCH better, sounding more like a very good headphone, period, without even regard to the NC feature. I don't see the bass as boomy, flabby, or loose.
My regular cans are top tier, but these are still very enjoyable. They sound crisp, and articulate, but still musical. The bass does not bleed into the midrange, and only appears when called for. They actually seem like an incredible deal to me for their balance and features. A lot of sound quality for very little money.

Well the bass is nearly +5db over and above what it should be. Thus you are not listening to your recordings with the sound that the artists intended.
You might like the sound, but it doesn't reflect the recording.

 

[SilverEars]

I am new at the BT/ANC arena so forgive me my stupid question:
Since the XM3 has his own DAC, does the source DAC still matter, or is that just being degraded to a transport?
Playing FLAC files and I have a Pioneer XDP-300R DAP, which supports APTX, but also a Moto G5 Plus, which supports APTX HD.

Like I've stated earlier on trials with headphone powered, wired(from a source like a DAC/Amp) and BT wireless, and not powered with wired from a source (DAC/Amp), Powered with ANC sounds best wired or not.

Let us know if you find other wise.

 

[SubSTI]

Like I've stated earlier on trials with headphone powered, wired(from a source like a DAC/Amp) and BT wireless, and not powered with wired from a source (DAC/Amp), Powered with ANC sounds best wired or not.

Let us know if you find other wise.

I don't have the XM3 yet and might have phrased my question wrong, but I would like to know if the source (in my case a XDP300R or Moto 5G Plus) makes a difference, both sending FLAC files over BT to the XM3 powered on and with ANC enabled. My assumption is that the XM3 uses it's own DAC, bypassing the one of the player?

 

[SubSTI]

,
Thanks for this insight. Just tried with a high end cable and it absolutely tigthens everything including the bas. Was surprised to find that when cabled, the anc should still be turned on to give the best result. Compared the XM3s with the MDR1A (same cable), XM3 seems to win on many parameters although darker sounding.

Thanks for this info, might be replacing my MDR1A with the XM3 for commuting purposes. Unfortunately they are out of stock and I can't find a demo nearby.

Since you own both, does the XM3 have more room for your ears? I do find the MDR1A a bit too small, touching my ears slightly which does get annoying after a while.

 

[SilverEars]

I don't have the XM3 yet and might have phrased my question wrong, but I would like to know if the source (in my case a XDP300R or Moto 5G Plus) makes a difference, both sending FLAC files over BT to the XM3 powered on and with ANC enabled. My assumption is that the XM3 uses it's own DAC, bypassing the one of the player?

I must have misunderstood. BT module inside the headphone is the DAC. Wireless steam is the data from the phone, and the bit rate varies depending on the BT connection type. LDAC I think has the highest bandwidth, but probably not lossless (not so sure).

It shouldn't matter what device, but what codecs are supported from the BT module of the phone as some may not support LDAC. I believe LDAC support is from Android Oreo onwards.

 

[SubSTI]

I must have misunderstood. BT module inside the headphone is the DAC. Wireless steam is the data from the phone, and the bit rate varies depending on the BT connection type. LDAC I think has the highest bandwidth, but probably not lossless (not so sure).

It shouldn't matter what device, but what codecs are supported from the BT module of the phone as some may not support LDAC. I believe LDAC support is from Android Oreo onwards.

Thanks, so just as I thought.
My DAP supports APTX, my mobile supports up to APTX HD, no LDAC on both.
So my mobile would be the source to go to get the best out of it, (if I am able to distinguish the sound quality difference in the first place... )

 

[SilverEars]

Thanks, so just as I thought.
My DAP supports APTX, my mobile supports up to APTX HD, no LDAC on both.
So my mobile would be the source to go to get the best out of it, (if I am able to distinguish the sound quality difference in the first place... )

You should check if XM3 supports AptX HD. There is also the Fiio BTR3 that you can connect to a USB device that supports pretty much every codec if you want to stream from a PC (if your library is in the PC). Not sure if OTG connection works with, there is a thread about it in portable amps section there.

 

[rkw]

Since the XM3 has his own DAC, does the source DAC still matter, or is that just being degraded to a transport?
Playing FLAC files and I have a Pioneer XDP-300R DAP, which supports APTX, but also a Moto G5 Plus, which supports APTX HD.

It doesn't matter because the source DAC isn't used during Bluetooth transmission — there is no conversion to analog at the transmitter. However the Bluetooth codec will do a digital lossy compression because of Bluetooth bandwidth limitations.

 

[rkw]

You should check if XM3 supports AptX HD. There is also the Fiio BTR3 that you can connect to a USB device that supports pretty much every codec if you want to stream from a PC (if your library is in the PC). Not sure if OTG connection works with, there is a thread about it in portable amps section there.

BTR3 is not a bluetooth transmitter (nor is Radsone ES100). You can use them as a DAC/amp using a wired connection (OTG for phone or USB for PC). XM3 does support aptX HD: http://helpguide.sony.net/mdr/wh1000xm3/v1/en/contents/TP0001703175.html

 

[SilverEars]

BTR3 is not a bluetooth transmitter (nor is Radsone ES100). You can use them as a DAC/amp using a wired connection (OTG for phone or USB for PC). XM3 does support aptX HD: http://helpguide.sony.net/mdr/wh1000xm3/v1/en/contents/TP0001703175.html

I thought it was a usb transmitter, but you're right, it's not (so you can't stream BT from the PC with it). Is there a usb to BT transmitter with LDAC or AptX HD? Come to think of it, how would we control the connection type under Windows? I couldn't find this option in Windows. Perhaps there is a device that shows what BT connection is active on the device itself and let you be able to select the Connection type?

 

[Sonic Defender]

@Leporello, I use Onkyo HF Player as my Android music source and it has a very nice built in Linear-Phase FIR equalizer and that is what I used to tame the bass on the xM3. Totally agree, at louder playback volumes the bass can be a total mess of boom and bloom as I call it, but man once you trim the bass the xM3 really does sound brilliant IMO.