[openbaffle9978]

Thanks @Cybertox for the impressions. That is very helpful. I think the rose gold was a silly choice for accent colors. I'm a matchy-matchy kind of person, so this annoys me. I did audition them at BestBuy before placing my Amazon order (BestBuy didn't know when they would have them in stock and just had the display model). I look forward to more impressions and reviews on these especially wrt a comparison between the mk2 and mk3. Looks like people are unloading their xm2 for ~ 190-200.

 

[Sonic Defender]

My 1000XM3 will arrive on Friday so I'm looking forward to some time with these and posting impressions. Sadly I have just begun a grueling clinical master program in Social Work so time will be sparse for music listening, but I'll find time for sure. Looking forward to the new signature. I owned a first generation 1000X, but it was stolen while on vacation in France with less than 3 months of ownership so not much time to form an opinion.

 

[tcellguy]

Is anyone getting an asymmetrical hiss with the music off but ANC on? I just noticed a moderately loud hiss like TV static in the right earphone (still present only on the right earphone cup if I rotate them around to my left ear; not my hearing). I can still hear it when music is playing quietly. I don’t hear this at all with the 1000x first gen. Maybe mine are faulty.

 

[ixidor]

@tcellguy No, the only errant noise I get is my (short) hair brushing up against the material when I first put them on and whenever I turn my head, kinda like pine needles on gift wrap tissue. It sounds like yours are probably faulty, I tried switching L + R and haven't noticed any moderate hiss.

 

[Hubert481]

You have to send it back - if it has hiss only on one side, it is broken

 

[tcellguy]

Yeah might have to. I just toggled ANC a few times and the hiss stopped. Not sure but it may be intermittently getting stuck on overdrive on one side and that asymmetry may be causing the nausea.

 

[archmind]

My first day with the MK3s triggered mixed feelings TBH. First thing that I noticed right off the bat is that they are SO, SO LIGHT. I know that they are not substantially lighter than the MK2, however they are now unnaturally light for a pair of almost 400 euro headphones. To me, and this is entirely my opinion, they feel cheap. And... fragile. When I hold a pair of B&W PX I feel like I own a product that 's gonna outlast me. Hell even the MK2s had a bit of a heft to them, making me believe that I bought something more than a PCB, a battery and a bunch of drivers. The MK3 puts me on edge, I will have to "baby" them otherwise they're going to disintegrate. I realise that might be purely psychological and they might indeed have a great build quality but still...

ANC is definitely improved. Certainly not by a "4x" factor though and you really have to have been obsessing over ANC quality to notice the difference. It is the best ANC you can experience at this point in time. Certainly better than the QC35 and not by a small margin at that. I do believe that since they invested tons of R&D money in developing their own chip they should make sure to push firmware updates that further improve on the ANC quality.

The sound is exceptional for wireless ANC headphones. I think it is by far the most substantial improvement over the MK2. The low-end has more energy, sounds harmonically richer, warm and saturated. It is exaggerated, however I think it's fun. No one is going to be using those as a serious audiophile pair anyways. Midrange, although not as upfront and present as I'd love it to be seems to have more definition than the PX2.To me the soundstage seems to have widened a bit too. I'm sure in a couple of days I'd have more impressions. Overall I think it's an excellent improvement.

The comfort. Oh man the comfort. The fit is superb, the ear-pads are really comfortable straight out of the box and I honestly don't look towards the MK2s with any sort nostalgia on that front.

The buttons are easier to find when the headphones are on your head, they feel better in terms of tactile response as well. The annoying LED is still there and still blinking away with the same intensity.

I seem to recall that when using the EQ on the MK2, they reverted to the SBC codec, which results in lower quality output. That is no longer the case with the MK3...??? At least the app is not indicating any change. That would be excellent. I never used the EQ because of that.

I don't care for the plastics used throughout the product. It has that matte, rubbery feel and I think it might be pretty prone to scratches, dings and dents. Time will tell.

The clicking mechanism on the headband is not as snappy and reliable as on other headphones.

Call quality is still atrocious. They should improve that in following firmware updates, I sincerely hope that's not the best the headphone can offer on that front.

So yeah... overall, I'm pleased with the upgrade, however I shouldn't have hyped myself up as much as I did. I really count on Sony pushing the limits of this product through firmware updates, however I feel that's not going to happen.

 

[Sven2015]

I LOVE my new 1000XM3!
The device is much better as my old 1000X (first gen).
The new sound signature is really, really good! The bass is much better, the stage is better in my mind. It's a good way to my ref. phones MDR-1ABT....in this case, I don't like my 1000 (first gen, but the ANC was great).
But one thing.... I miss the different buttons for ANC & co., because I own a FiiO M7 without any android app support and I don't have smartphone....

 

[scarfacegt]

Have tried the xm3 a little bit,and in quite happy.Its maybe an little warm and bassy sounding,but i like all kinds of genres and especially electronica,so it suits me well.A fun sound.And i think it will suit movies as well (anyone tried movies/netflix on these).They are very light and comfortable.Maybe a little cheap felling and looks fragile.But overall very happy on this purchase.I think they will be my allround everday headphone.And when i have the time for some serious listening i have the audeze lcd2c and beyerdynamic xelento.But i guess the xm3 will be most used

 

[pan mores]

Amazingly, the XM3 doesn't sound too bad even switched off, at home...

 

[ryanmatic]

Yeah. I've been listening at home with the headphones on but NC off, driven by my Dragonfly Red, and with slight EQ (to reduce the low end heft and to bring up the mids a little), and I'm impressed by the difference that all makes compared to wireless. The bass tightens up a lot, the soundstage opens a bit, and everything sounds super engaging. It reminds me of when I first got my P7W—I can just close my eyes and drift off, enveloped by the music.

I'd highly encourage people to try out both the app EQ, and passive mode with a reasonable source, in addition to wireless. Wireless has the right sound profile for blocking out as much noise as possible, but in quieter environments, the XM3 can do a great job of revealing details.

 

[davidmthekidd]

Yeah. I've been listening at home with the headphones on but NC off, driven by my Dragonfly Red, and with slight EQ (to reduce the low end heft and to bring up the mids a little), and I'm impressed by the difference that all makes compared to wireless. The bass tightens up a lot, the soundstage opens a bit, and everything sounds super engaging. It reminds me of when I first got my P7W—I can just close my eyes and drift off, enveloped by the music.

I'd highly encourage people to try out both the app EQ, and passive mode with a reasonable source, in addition to wireless. Wireless has the right sound profile for blocking out as much noise as possible, but in quieter environments, the XM3 can do a great job of revealing details.

I agree, the sound quality is a lot better on the M3's I just feel like Noise Canceling took a hit on the M3's. I remember parking the volume slider in a very specific spot on certain songs on the M2's, With the M3's I need more volume while listening to the same songs. Has anyone noticed that as well? I still have the M2's I might test them side by side this weekend.

 

[ryanmatic]

I don’t have any experience with the XM2s, but I have noticed in general that I noodle the volume a lot with these, especially on playlists with songs from mixed albums. NC does generally require a little more source volume, compared to NC off.

 

[davidmthekidd]

I don’t have any experience with the XM2s, but I have noticed in general that I noodle the volume a lot with these, especially on playlists with songs from mixed albums. NC does generally require a little more source volume, compared to NC off.

with the M1 and M2's, I usually parked the Volume at around 55-65%. With the m3's, I would say 75% is my new normal.

 

[ryanmatic]

Gotcha. Android device, or iOS? When wireless w/ NC, on my iPhone X, volume is usually between 35% and 45%. Hard to say though, since I use the volume slider more often than the buttons (since the slider allows for smaller incremental changes compared to the volume buttons).