[AaaBaa]

- Call quality both on the street and in a noisy café, according to people I was speaking to, was very good -- so far very satisfied. Will be testing this out more in subsequent days.

Update on the all-important voice quality on calls in cafés:

This morning I have been working in an even noisier café, nearer to the coffee machine...nearer to more noise essentially. People I have been speaking to have been reporting mixed-to-slightly negative results on the amount of ambient noise whilst I have been speaking to them. A bit disappointed today!

I was never expecting my voice to be crystal-clear but I wonder how much Sony have put into this side of the XM3s. Still testing. Bring on the next gen PXC 550s!

 

[pan mores]

I just started listening to these a few min ago & I'm wondering if these need a break in period. Sounds a little bit muffled & this is using the LDAC codec with a 24 bit 96khz FLAC file. Any thoughts?

Same here, sound is mushy, about 10 hours into listening, let's see if there's some change.

A bit disappointed about lack of clarity and detail, for now.

 

[openbaffle9978]

Mine arrive today. Looking forward to it.

 

[Cybertox]

My pair has arrived, will be posting pictures and my impressions when I arrive home from work. Hopefully the overall audio quality is good enough, I am not expecting anyhing as good as my DT1990 Pro or the LCD2-C obviously, but I hope they are an improvement over the Custom One Pro. The fact that NC can cause physical sickness sounds rather discouraging. I am usually quite sensitive to such things such as changes in pressure, but lets hope the acclimatization period is going to be short and pain free. Never used noise cancelling headphones before so its hard to assess how my ears will react.

 

[nevrsumr]

My pair has arrived, will be posting pictures and my impressions when I arrive home from work. Hopefully the overall audio quality is good enough, I am not expecting anyhing as good as my DT1990 Pro or the LCD2-C obviously, but I hope they are an improvement over the Custom One Pro. The fact that NC can cause physical sickness sounds rather discouraging. I am usually quite sensitive to such things such as changes in pressure, but lets hope the acclimatization period is going to be short and pain free. Never used noise cancelling headphones before so its hard to assess how my ears will react.

You will forget about it after a while. Just feels like some light gravity on your ears.

 

[davidmthekidd]

Ok, so I had a chance to hear both the XM3 and the QC 35 II.

Both are not to the level of better quality wired headphones we are used to obviously, but they are much better than the cheap skullcandy or JBL wireless. Both were pretty bad headphones that has that shrill sounds that cheap headphones output.

I found the difference between XM3 and QC 35 II to be the bass and treble. I found QC 35 treble to be more prominent and thicker, and a bit warmer in the mids (which reduces clarity). XM3 on the other hand has a bit too bloomy bass when hit, and there is some prominence in the treble in the upper frequencies in the XM3, but not as much as QC 35. I think the sound stage is better on the QC 35, but XM3 overall sounds smoother in the treble overall. I think with these closed cans, it's the imaging and mids that really falls a bit flat. But, these are the best in it's class compared to the cheap range NC that have pretty terrible SQ.

I'd have to hear more to see which sounds better to my ears. Personally, I liked the Beats Studio 3 better than either. It sounds laid back like I like, and great clarity and bass sounds cleaner than either. ANC however, do not know the performance of the Beats Studio 3. I think Beats has a bit of prejudice on this website, and they have come out with newer stuff that everybody should give a fair chance.

You lost me at "Beats 3".

 

[Maddog510]

Same here, sound is mushy, about 10 hours into listening, let's see if there's some change.

A bit disappointed about lack of clarity and detail, for now.

I found this on You Tube. Gonna give it a try & see if it helps bring out the treble some.

 

[ryanmatic]

Vlad's review on The Verge is up—his review seems to mostly match my experience as well:

https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/11/17844914/sony-1000x-m3-review-noise-canceling-headphones

 

[ryanmatic]

Yeah I've tried that. Unfortunately, adjusting the ANC mostly turns on the outside microphones and pipes in outside noise (louder outside noise than with passive / ANC off).

Just played around with the ANC settings today and discovered something I originally missed—there’s a “wind reduction” setting on the slider, right before the ambient modes kick in, which actually solves the pressure issues I described earlier when riding in a vehicle with the windows down. Did you give that a try? The setting is really easy to miss, but seems to be slightly less effective ANC but with much less aggressive pressure effects.

 

[Hubert481]

Vlad's review on The Verge is up—his review seems to mostly match my experience as well:

https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/11/17844914/sony-1000x-m3-review-noise-canceling-headphones

>>As I write this review, I can’t hear my fingers typing on the Apple Magic Keyboard. Or the creaky floor disturbed by my upstairs neighbors. Or my other neighbor’s kids playing in their backyard. It’s just silence. It’s bliss.

Nothing to hear about any voices - wonder, which firmware he was using, if he is hearing NOTHING!!! Just SILENCE!

 

[nevrsumr]

Is it a hardware limitation you can't pair to multiple devices? I switch between my phone and computer a lot. Its a pain having to turn off the bluetooth on one device to connect to another. That alone is making me want to wait for one more version.

 

[Cybertox]

Here they are, fresh out of the box. Haven't had much time with them yet, they are currently charging but here are some very early impressions: First thing I noticed is the fact that they are extremely light and very comfortable, the ear pads feel like they do not even exist, barely any pressure is applied to the ears by the padding and the material. In terms of sound, there is an overwhelming amount of bass, but I need some more time to deduce the actual quality and the overall sound presentation of the headphone. In terms of looks, slick and stylish, no complaints in terms of design whatsoever.

 

[andrewlwood]

Got mine today after a huge amount of humming and hawing, will be selling XM2 and PX to fund them. EQ'ed them to take some of the bass off and raise the mids a bit - the PX sound signature and separation is slightly better to my ear, just more engaging and exciting/compelling, but the battery life, passive use, comfort and noise cancelling on the Sonys is just insane, and as someone who works out of coffee shops and shared spaces a lot, it's a life-improving feature.

I wore them for the morning and the commute home, and tested it on London streets, in cafes and on trains, and they were truly wonderful. I will miss the PXs and might not sell them - but the Sonys are an immediate new favourite. Comfort much improved. ANC much improved. Sound much improved. Microphones still hopelessly awful (AirPods always on hand for conference calls).

Bummer is that there's a small mark on the headband that looks like a weak spot in the pleather - as the material is not particularly thick to start with, it makes me nervous that it might develop into a tear, and so I'll be exchanging them as soon as I can get back to the shop.

 

[openbaffle9978]

Well looks like I'm not going to be giving any impressions on these any time soon. Received my "wh1000xm3" today. Inside was the xm3 box, case, accessories but a re-packaged wh1000x inside (original version). Not cool. Good thing I bought from a retailer with a good return policy, but they should be checking these things more carefully.

 

[nevrsumr]

Well looks like I'm not going to be giving any impressions on these any time soon. Received my "wh1000xm3" today. Inside was the xm3 box, case, accessories but a re-packaged wh1000x inside (original version). Not cool. Good thing I bought from a retailer with a good return policy, but they should be checking these things more carefully.

Well that makes so sense. MX1 is way out of production so not Sony's fault. Where did you buy these?