[MaXGTS]

Hello everyone. Picked up the XM3 today at my local Best Buy. Just wanted to let you know my right earcup makes the "driver flex pop" when I press it in towards my head. If it do it slowly it doesn't happen, but a quick push produces it every time. I tried reproducing this with my Bose QC25 and both earcups produce the "pop", though not as loud as the Sony. Not really a big deal since it doesn't seem to happen with normal use.

 

[Sonic Defender]

Oh I've just review your post, did you ripped When We Were Free from Pat Metheny original Day Trip CD? Or which website you've downloaded it from? Asking you this as I want to do an apple to apple comparison, if I can. You know sometimes there's a difference with different source, even remaster CD sounded differently

Ripped to lossless Flac right from the CD. The vast majority of my collection is CDs that I have purchased. If I purchase music in downloads I always purchase lossless versions where possible. The Metheny album was a first issue and I don't believe it has been reissued as it was from about 2005 or thereabouts.

 

[dweaver]

AAC actually has pretty solid specifications so it really can and does sound very good, in my experience. I would also strongly encourage you to try the free version of Onkyo HF Player. The only functionality it is missing from the unlocked version is the ability to play DSD files, so in other words, it isn't missing anything you could ever hear anyway. Really nice player and it has caused me to abandon my once beloved Neutron.

Excellent recommendation on a music player! I own Neutron but just find it to confusing for me. But this Onkyo player is awesome! The EQ is easy to use and more importantly works like I expect an EQ to. Between this and headphone app I think I will be able to find the sweet spot for me.

BTW anyone who likes the 1000XM3 and want a headphone for home use that offers a similar sound but with much much better clarity and sound stage. Grab a pair of the Nighthawk Carbon. The last time I heard anything this good was my old XBA Z5 before they died. It is better than my MDR Z7, Hifiman 400I, and anything else I own at the moment. Simply loving it...

 

[NewForce]

Ripped to lossless Flac right from the CD. The vast majority of my collection is CDs that I have purchased. If I purchase music in downloads I always purchase lossless versions where possible. The Metheny album was a first issue and I don't believe it has been reissued as it was from about 2005 or thereabouts.

Thanks for the info

 

[dweaver]

Ok the onkyo music player is gonna replace the Samsung player permanently. It has actually made the NAD HP70 enjoyable and similarly has done the same thing with the 1000XM3. Love the ability to set you curve the way you like it and slide it so your peaks are close to zero and everything else is reduced. This allows for reduction versus adding to eliminate clipping.

 

[Sonic Defender]

Ok the onkyo music player is gonna replace the Samsung player permanently. It has actually made the NAD HP70 enjoyable and similarly has done the same thing with the 1000XM3. Love the ability to set you curve the way you like it and slide it so your peaks are close to zero and everything else is reduced. This allows for reduction versus adding to eliminate clipping.

Nice, glad you like it as well. And if you ever need to use DSD I believe I paid only $7 or maybe less to unlock it.

 

[Sonic Defender]

Thanks for the info

No worries. And just to be clear, I would agree that if you are listening to music that was mastered quietly (60s, 70, 80s and even some 90s material) the extra bass energy of the xM3 adds some satisfying, and typically missing weight to the notes that is the temporary aesthetic in consumer preferences for many consumers. So yes today when I listened to When we Were Free, the song sounded nice and meaty due to the fact that while it has adequate and detailed bass in the recording, there was definitely room to bloom where the bass was concerned so the effect, even at full volume would not be unpleasant. Saying that, when I applied the EQ setting I use, after about 15 seconds of acclimating to the loss of some thickness and overall volume, I quickly become aware of how much more accurate and natural the bass notes are. The snap of the percussion also becomes more nuanced and more natural sounding.

So as I have said from the very beginning, the extra bass energy is not always a negative, it is subjective, but with some material it is not going to be subjective, the bass bloat is apparent and certainly not needed. You are correct in noting that very many modern recordings of all stripes, not just popular music, has quite a bit more bass energy than comparatively older recordings. Given that fact, it is odd that Sony who clearly would know that a significant, if not vast majority, of the likely consumers who would buy the xM3 are younger (30s and up is my guess) and they certainly as a group would listen to popular music (all kinds of different genres) perhaps predominantly, so to elevate the lower frequencies as much as they did does seem out of step.

Anyway, all I can say is that for me, at louder volumes a significant percentage of all music that I listen to sounds better and still engaging to me with some bass trimmed. I am sure this won't be true for everybody and I am not stating my views as the ultimate truth, everybody is going to like what they like and I won't change that nor would I want to even if I could.

 

[Sonic Defender]

Excellent recommendation on a music player! I own Neutron but just find it to confusing for me. But this Onkyo player is awesome! The EQ is easy to use and more importantly works like I expect an EQ to. Between this and headphone app I think I will be able to find the sweet spot for me.

BTW anyone who likes the 1000XM3 and want a headphone for home use that offers a similar sound but with much much better clarity and sound stage. Grab a pair of the Nighthawk Carbon. The last time I heard anything this good was my old XBA Z5 before they died. It is better than my MDR Z7, Hifiman 400I, and anything else I own at the moment. Simply loving it...

Awesome. I owned the Night Owl Carbon and really liked that headphone, very engaging signature that just made me want to keep listening to the music. I may reacquire it again someday.

 

[dweaver]

I clicked on the DSD as it seems that it needs to be in in order for the EQ to work. With it off I hear no difference between enabling and disabling the EQ.

 

[dubbzy104]

So it sounds like this issue isn't specific to these headphones, but whenever I connect my iPhone (7, running iOS 12.0.1), a notification pops up saying that the Ringer volume is set to 50% (the volume I keep the headphones at). When I turn off the headphones, the ringer volume stays at 50%, and I have to manually set it back to 100%. I did some googling around and it doesn't sound like there's an easy fix for this. I haven't had this issue with other bluetooth devices. It's annoying because I use my iPhone for my morning alarms, and today I almost slept through them

 

[ryanmatic]

So it sounds like this issue isn't specific to these headphones, but whenever I connect my iPhone (7, running iOS 12.0.1), a notification pops up saying that the Ringer volume is set to 50% (the volume I keep the headphones at). When I turn off the headphones, the ringer volume stays at 50%, and I have to manually set it back to 100%. I did some googling around and it doesn't sound like there's an easy fix for this. I haven't had this issue with other bluetooth devices. It's annoying because I use my iPhone for my morning alarms, and today I almost slept through them

Head to Settings > General > Sounds & Haptics and uncheck the Change with Buttons setting. I believe that will disassociate audio playback from sound effects such as ringers and alarms.

 

[dubbzy104]

Head to Settings > General > Sounds & Haptics and uncheck the Change with Buttons setting. I believe that will disassociate audio playback from sound effects such as ringers and alarms.

Thanks, I'll try that out. I saw that mentioned as a reply while googling around, and at first I was kind of apprehensive. But I guess I never change my ringer volume anyways, so it's fine.

Not to sound too nit-picky, but it's just Settings > Sounds & Haptics

 

[willtim]

These headphones have +5db more bass than something with a flat response, that's pretty much a fact based on measurements reviews have made. What's subjective is whether you like this or not. I can't help but feel it's a strange default.

Today I've crank the volume to the max, none of those original CD ripped flac tracks bass sounded bloated. So can confirm all the newer pop CD was Bass Head tunes. No wonder so many people who listening to those downloaded pop songs mostly keep complaining XM3 bass are heavy, the fault is actually the downloaded pop songs.

 

[CagedTiger]

I got into the ANC game as I didn't want to wear IEMs all the time for reasons of convenience and wax buildup. Bought the XM2s on sale last spring thinking that I could forgo the extra comfort of Bose for better SQ, ANC and tech (the codecs, the touch controls etc.). However, as soon as the XM3s were announced I sold them as the clamping force, the weight and even the 'mickeymouse' aesthetics had begun to bother me a bit. I'm getting my pair on Friday as I was fortunate enough to pull the trigger on a one-day UK-Amazon sale a few weeks ago.

A few questions... Many have said that you really should use an EQ with these headphones. The problem is that at least regarding Android (which I have along with Mac OS X) you cannot use the EQ of the Sony headphones app if you want to the hi-res codecs such as LDAC. So am I right in thinking that you can bypass this just by using EQ in the audio source? I should mention that I only stream music from Spotify so I don't have any audio files (in case you were going to recommend me an audio player with a good EQ).

So take my Sony Xperia phone with Android Oreo. I should just connect the XM3s to my phone using LDAC and then apply the EQ settings using the built-in EQ in my Sony phone (you have to access it by disabling ClearAudio+ audio optimizer), right?

How about my desktop computer running OS X (High Sierra)? I have apps such as Boom 2 and currently eqMac2. Should I just connect the XM3s using aptX (the best that my old iMac can handle) and then apply the EQ settings using eqMac2?

Or will I get a better result just by going with SBC and using the Sony Headphone app for universal EQ settings?

Finally, as I'm not used to dabbling with EQs, can anyone advise how to set say a 10-band EQ for the XM3s (as the examples in this thread are for a 5-band EQ with a Clear Bass setting). What would you do differently concerning the EQ image in this post?

 

[hifi80sman]

Yes, from what I experienced, totally. It seems that weather Your BT codec is not LDAC, the settings You set via Your phons Sony App is being applied to the headphones at all time. It becomes a default EQ for headphones. Something like H9i have.



I had H9i and ANC was actually great both on street and airplane to me, but comparing to Sony mk3, it was no where near to my ears. My H9i sounded really bad, harsh sibilant highs, super treble focused, total lack of bass. Saying that they were the most comfortable of all I find Sony to be better on both sound and ANC side of things.

Totally agree. The H9i was a nasal nightmare with ANC on. It's like it caught a cold.

Just got my hands on the MK3 (again) and took more time to A/B with the MK2 and PX. This seems to be a new manufacture batch after the initial release.

For pure fidelity, the PX (ANC off) can't be beat at present, IMHO. However, they do not sit very stable, so I can only use it sitting in my office or at my personal desk. Doing things around the house whilst bending over, etc., cause it to slip and break the seal.

I think the MK3, for lack of a better comparison, fall some where inbetween the MK2 and PX in terms of overall sound quality. The MK3 also sounds better than it measures (rtings.com), so please don't use that as gospel. The bass is definitely elevated, but I do enjoy that particular element, so it's not an issue for me. In comparison with the MK2, the MK3 has better:

- Soundstage. The MK3 drivers are slightly angled, have wider & thicker ear pads, and just more acoustic real estate.
- Instrument separation.
- Detail retrieval.
- Comfort.
- From what I understand, they added a secondary analog amplification process (post-DAC). Whatever they're doing, it definitely sounds more "analog" and less "processed".

If ANC is not your cup of tea and you're flexible with respect to comfort, the PX are a can't miss. If you want the best ANC and still get high-end wireless sound, then the MK3 is the ticket.