[bizkid]

I've been listening to these the whole day yesterday, took them with me with the bus and subway. Listening right now as well.

Before i start here's a small list of the ANC Headphones i have/had in the last 2 years: Shure Aonic 50, Momentum 3, Sony WH910 & XM3 and auditioned serveral oddballs like the JBL Club One (not too bad soundwise actually).

So here my impressions:

Yes they are big and bulky, but more transportable than the non folding Shure Aonic 50s.
Comfort is average, i usually don't have problems with even slightly uncomfortable headphones so i can't be a big help on judging the comfort. It's good enough for me. One comment however is that it very probably won't fit large heads unfortunately.

ANC: Introduces some background noise and filters out bass frequencies very well. Mid and Highs, not that much. I didnt detect any changes in sound with ANC on yet but i didnt listen critical to the differences to this moment.

Now the sound: I honestly didnt expect much after reading so many differing reviews. I expected them to be a muddy veiled mess like the XM3. But on my first listen i was pleasently surprised. Overall this ANC headphone has (surprise surprise) a typical consumer tuning like most other ANC headphones. Let's get into Detail:

Bass: Yes it's boosted quite a bit.. HOWEVER.. Stock Momentum 3 and especially the XM3 are worse offenders. Compared to the XM3 the bass is actually detailed and textured, atleast for what you could expect in a ANC headphone. 20 years ago too much bass would give me a headache but i quite like bass today. The Momentum 3 has probably 1-2 dB more in the bass region without EQ. I can't talk much about subbass because i don't listen to music that has obvious subbass content. The Momentum 3 has that juicy bass punch that this headphone lacks, but it's very punchy (probably a bit more even than the Senns) nontheless and i think more textured and detailed. It will massage your ears on occasion aswell

Mids: Very good clarity and texture for a consumer headphone.. to make the bass not bleed into the mids as much as possible there is a typical dip in the lower mids. Upper mids are a little bit pronounced. Due to this the Yamaha will probably sound better on female than male vocals, i don't have any male vocals here to test The Shures are ahead in terms of clarity but that's their big selling point and it's not that much of a difference.

Treble: Nothing special going on here, it's reasonably detailed but not noteworthy smooth nor offending.

Soundstage/Imaging: Here comes what i love the most about this headphone. It layers the music in a very atmospheric manner, the soundstage envelopes you and all the elements of the mix will come out naturally and seperated well enough for you to notice them even in busy mixes. I would even say in terms of instrument seperation and thus detail this is the best ANC headphone i heard. I noticed alot more small details in mixes than with the Aonic 50 and Momentum 3. Soundstage is very wide for a closed ANC can. Vocals can be more or less holographic and seperated depending on the track and recording quality. Choirs/Vocals that are panned completely left and right sound pleasently airy and not "in your head".

Use case: Thanks to APTX Adaptive these are the perfect Movie/TV Bluetooth headphones. The ANC is probably not needed at home, low latency, extra bass for that boom just like in theatres and that enveloping soundstage and the mids clarity make up for a great immersive movie watching experience at night.
But they are great for music as well: When listening to Music i switch to APTX HD and turn down the bass a bit in UAPP. It sounds very addicting to me this way, especially the soundstage is one of it's highlights.


What could be improved: Undoubtly ANC and an EQ that is stored directly to the headphones.

But for a first mass market ANC headphone from Yamaha i think this a great product especially if you get it at around 200€.

 

[JoshG1217]

I've been listening to these the whole day yesterday, took them with me with the bus and subway. Listening right now as well.

Before i start here's a small list of the ANC Headphones i have/had in the last 2 years: Shure Aonic 50, Momentum 3, Sony WH910 & XM3 and auditioned serveral oddballs like the JBL Club One (not too bad soundwise actually).

So here my impressions:

Yes they are big and bulky, but more transportable than the non folding Shure Aonic 50s.
Comfort is average, i usually don't have problems with even slightly uncomfortable headphones so i can't be a big help on judging the comfort. It's good enough for me. One comment however is that it very probably won't fit large heads unfortunately.

ANC: Introduces some background noise and filters out bass frequencies very well. Mid and Highs, not that much. I didnt detect any changes in sound with ANC on yet but i didnt listen critical to the differences to this moment.

Now the sound: I honestly didnt expect much after reading so many differing reviews. I expected them to be a muddy veiled mess like the XM3. But on my first listen i was pleasently surprised. Overall this ANC headphone has (surprise surprise) a typical consumer tuning like most other ANC headphones. Let's get into Detail:

Bass: Yes it's boosted quite a bit.. HOWEVER.. Stock Momentum 3 and especially the XM3 are worse offenders. Compared to the XM3 the bass is actually detailed and textured, atleast for what you could expect in a ANC headphone. 20 years ago too much bass would give me a headache but i quite like bass today. The Momentum 3 has probably 1-2 dB more in the bass region without EQ. I can't talk much about subbass because i don't listen to music that has obvious subbass content. The Momentum 3 has that juicy bass punch that this headphone lacks, but it's very punchy (probably a bit more even than the Senns) nontheless and i think more textured and detailed. It will massage your ears on occasion aswell

Mids: Very good clarity and texture for a consumer headphone.. to make the bass not bleed into the mids as much as possible there is a typical dip in the lower mids. Upper mids are a little bit pronounced. Due to this the Yamaha will probably sound better on female than male vocals, i don't have any male vocals here to test The Shures are ahead in terms of clarity but that's their big selling point and it's not that much of a difference.

Treble: Nothing special going on here, it's reasonably detailed but not noteworthy smooth nor offending.

Soundstage/Imaging: Here comes what i love the most about this headphone. It layers the music in a very atmospheric manner, the soundstage envelopes you and all the elements of the mix will come out naturally and seperated well enough for you to notice them even in busy mixes. I would even say in terms of instrument seperation and thus detail this is the best ANC headphone i heard. I noticed alot more small details in mixes than with the Aonic 50 and Momentum 3. Soundstage is very wide for a closed ANC can. Vocals can be more or less holographic and seperated depending on the track and recording quality. Choirs/Vocals that are panned completely left and right sound pleasently airy and not "in your head".

Use case: Thanks to APTX Adaptive these are the perfect Movie/TV Bluetooth headphones. The ANC is probably not needed at home, low latency, extra bass for that boom just like in theatres and that enveloping soundstage and the mids clarity make up for a great immersive movie watching experience at night.
But they are great for music as well: When listening to Music i switch to APTX HD and turn down the bass a bit in UAPP. It sounds very addicting to me this way, especially the soundstage is one of it's highlights.


What could be improved: Undoubtly ANC and an EQ that is stored directly to the headphones.

But for a first mass market ANC headphone from Yamaha i think this a great product especially if you get it at around 200€.

Thanks for reviewing! In terms of overall SQ (Clarity and stage), do they dethrone the Shure? That's the best I have found to date. Beats everything else by a mile. Thanks!

 

[bizkid]

Thanks for reviewing! In terms of overall SQ (Clarity and stage), do they dethrone the Shure? That's the best I have found to date. Beats everything else by a mile. Thanks!

I would say no, the shure's natural timbre and clarity is unmatched in a bluetooth headphone to this date. The Yamahas tonality is a bit synthetic but still very clear imho if you turn the bass down. But recently i seem to have become a basshead of some kind so i just leave it as it is most of the times, especially for movies. I really like the Yamahas soundstage over the Shure, but the Shure can come of as more impressive because it sounds more natural. That natural tone impacts how instruments panned to the left and right will impress you, even though technically, the Yamaha has the edge in Soundstage width (but not depth).

 

[JoshG1217]

I would say no, the shure's natural timbre and clarity is unmatched in a bluetooth headphone to this date. The Yamahas tonality is a bit synthetic but still very clear imho if you turn the bass down. But recently i seem to have become a basshead of some kind so i just leave it as it is most of the times, especially for movies. I really like the Yamahas soundstage over the Shure, but the Shure can come of as more impressive because it sounds more natural. That natural tone impacts how instruments panned to the left and right will impress you, even though technically, the Yamaha has the edge in Soundstage width (but not depth).

Yeah, I picked them up on Amazon. Aending them back. I liked them at first but after some a/b, the Shure are obvious winners.

 

[scarfacegt]

Two norwegian hifi magazines give these fantastic review.They really like their sound.

 

[scarfacegt]

I ordered mine now

 

[scarfacegt]

I dont care that much of the anc.Sound quality is most important.And i wanted bluetooth headphones again.And warm bassy sound.Going to use them on movies/series and youtube with bluetooth to my tv.I also have the modhouse argon t50rp mk3 wich i use on movies/series/youtube.But sometimes its great to not have that cable

 

[scarfacegt]

https://www.lbtechreviews.com/test/...Fo1dzNoZFdidEY4RXlMR19oM19SbzVNLTk.#lesvidere

 

[navii]

I actually wish there was an EQ app, or some EQ presets to reduce the bass. It's a wonderful immersive sound. But sometimes I wanna listen like I am not standing in-front of the speakers at a rock concert.

 

[rinoreinz]

I recently have these headphones, but I think they are musically superior to the WH-1000XM4 that I own and that I think are excellent headphones

 

[Xerath]

anyone know how to factory reset this guy? my pair went wild and there's no such thing in the guide , weird

 

[navii]

Looks like Yamaha released a B version.

 

[diogoobpa]

Are these good for flights?

 

[ResidentAlien]

How do these Yanaha's compare to the Technics EA8000a?

 

[Tim van der Leeuw]

I've been listening to these the whole day yesterday, took them with me with the bus and subway. Listening right now as well.

Before i start here's a small list of the ANC Headphones i have/had in the last 2 years: Shure Aonic 50, Momentum 3, Sony WH910 & XM3 and auditioned serveral oddballs like the JBL Club One (not too bad soundwise actually).

So here my impressions:

Yes they are big and bulky, but more transportable than the non folding Shure Aonic 50s.
Comfort is average, i usually don't have problems with even slightly uncomfortable headphones so i can't be a big help on judging the comfort. It's good enough for me. One comment however is that it very probably won't fit large heads unfortunately.

ANC: Introduces some background noise and filters out bass frequencies very well. Mid and Highs, not that much. I didnt detect any changes in sound with ANC on yet but i didnt listen critical to the differences to this moment.

Now the sound: I honestly didnt expect much after reading so many differing reviews. I expected them to be a muddy veiled mess like the XM3. But on my first listen i was pleasently surprised. Overall this ANC headphone has (surprise surprise) a typical consumer tuning like most other ANC headphones. Let's get into Detail:

Bass: Yes it's boosted quite a bit.. HOWEVER.. Stock Momentum 3 and especially the XM3 are worse offenders. Compared to the XM3 the bass is actually detailed and textured, atleast for what you could expect in a ANC headphone. 20 years ago too much bass would give me a headache but i quite like bass today. The Momentum 3 has probably 1-2 dB more in the bass region without EQ. I can't talk much about subbass because i don't listen to music that has obvious subbass content. The Momentum 3 has that juicy bass punch that this headphone lacks, but it's very punchy (probably a bit more even than the Senns) nontheless and i think more textured and detailed. It will massage your ears on occasion aswell

Mids: Very good clarity and texture for a consumer headphone.. to make the bass not bleed into the mids as much as possible there is a typical dip in the lower mids. Upper mids are a little bit pronounced. Due to this the Yamaha will probably sound better on female than male vocals, i don't have any male vocals here to test The Shures are ahead in terms of clarity but that's their big selling point and it's not that much of a difference.

Treble: Nothing special going on here, it's reasonably detailed but not noteworthy smooth nor offending.

Soundstage/Imaging: Here comes what i love the most about this headphone. It layers the music in a very atmospheric manner, the soundstage envelopes you and all the elements of the mix will come out naturally and seperated well enough for you to notice them even in busy mixes. I would even say in terms of instrument seperation and thus detail this is the best ANC headphone i heard. I noticed alot more small details in mixes than with the Aonic 50 and Momentum 3. Soundstage is very wide for a closed ANC can. Vocals can be more or less holographic and seperated depending on the track and recording quality. Choirs/Vocals that are panned completely left and right sound pleasently airy and not "in your head".

Use case: Thanks to APTX Adaptive these are the perfect Movie/TV Bluetooth headphones. The ANC is probably not needed at home, low latency, extra bass for that boom just like in theatres and that enveloping soundstage and the mids clarity make up for a great immersive movie watching experience at night.
But they are great for music as well: When listening to Music i switch to APTX HD and turn down the bass a bit in UAPP. It sounds very addicting to me this way, especially the soundstage is one of it's highlights.


What could be improved: Undoubtly ANC and an EQ that is stored directly to the headphones.

But for a first mass market ANC headphone from Yamaha i think this a great product especially if you get it at around 200€.

It's now the start of 2024 and I'm on the lookout to replace my old bluetooth headphones... and I'm kind of curious about these.

Do you still use them? How did you like them over time?

Do they support multipoint connect? (So can they simultanuously connect to phone and laptop and switch between these two sources automatically).

Can they be used in passive mode? (non-powered).

And if anyone knows, how do these compare to the B versions that Yamaha has now released?


I'm aware these headphones are not the most high-end hifi cans available but they're cheap, I had a short tryout in a store and liked their musicality initially but could only test them there with the demo sounds in the store and not over bluetooth with my own music.
I also have my doubts about other features of the headphones like above mentioned multipoint connect, distance over which they can connect, call quality (in sometimes noisy environments).

I use my headphones mostly with iPhone and Apple MacBook, sometimes with a Windows laptop. (In case this makes a difference for codec support etc).