Headphones - Sony WH-1000XM3

[Ducky]

I briefly had the XM4 last year but went back to my trusty XM3. They're far, far too sibilant/harsh in the treble range. No amount of EQ'ing (using Wavelet and Poweramp Pro) could change that. Found them to be unlistenable.

The hinge seems to be a regular failure point on the XM5, with the caveat that god only knows what lads/lassies online are subjecting their units to.

XM6 in a few years will probably be my XM3 replacement.

[Jward]

I'm looking for new headphones, & would appreciate some advice.

I'm thinking SONY WH-1000XM5.


EDIT:
Do headphones come down much for Black Friday?

I have heard very good things from 2 people I know about the Sony WH-1000XM5 - both in terms of noise cancelling and sound quality.

Caveat - both people who have told me this do not listen to metal. One lad is into indie and ambient, the other goes only as heavy as '70s rock.

I got a pair of Sonos ACE as a gift last Christmas - they sound fantastic, the ANC is top notch and they can handle anything that I listen to but they are really only 100% useful if you already have other Sonos products so that you can tap into them - i.e. switch from the speakers to the headphones if you're watching TV or want to listen to something different to another use on the same set.

Sonos make very good products in terms of hardware build quality but their software and customer service are fucking infuriating. 


EDIT: In terns of your Black Friday question - you may get some sort of deal then but Amazon are doing one of their Prime fuckology sale events at the start of next month so you may get a deal on the Sony item then too.

Cheers.

I listen to ambient & '70s rock too.
I suppose it's hard to get headphones that will suit all styles.

I reckon I'll need to take a few for a 'test drive' in-store.

[Jward]

I briefly had the XM4 last year but went back to my trusty XM3. They're far, far too sibilant/harsh in the treble range. No amount of EQ'ing (using Wavelet and Poweramp Pro) could change that. Found them to be unlistenable.

The hinge seems to be a regular failure point on the XM5, with the caveat that god only knows what lads/lassies online are subjecting their units to.

XM6 in a few years will probably be my XM3 replacement.

Cheers for that.

Sibilance would do my head in, but I don't notice it too much tbh.
I have hearing damage, more with the higher frequencies, 3kHz to 8kHz, so I mightn't have to worry about it too much 

[open face surgery]

I had a pair of XM3s for a few years but they broke earlier this year. Got a pair of OneOdio for 100e as a replacement. I hate them everyday.

[open face surgery]

Good to hear about XM4 cause I was gonna go for them soon.

[Jward]

I could do with these now!

I'm in a different gaff atm, and tip-toing around the fcking volume.

I would like to stick an emoji on that, but Christ Almighty

[Sworntothecans]

I'm currently using those Sony WH-CH520. It's their entry level one but the quality and battery are savage.

Little bit plastic-y in terms of the band but otherwise punch above their weight for €50. Plus you can tweak them via the app.

https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/sony-wh-ch520

[101_North]

I can highly recommend the new B&W PX7 S3. You'd struggle to get better sound quality in that price bracket. There is a trade off that the ANC is great but not as good as the Sony's. Depends on what you need them for. I find the ANC absolutely fine for flights, work etc but the Sony's as definitely a shade better. Sound Quality though is unreal and well worth the trade off for me. Plus the build quality is a different league

[Ducky]

Sennheiser Momentum 4 are supposed to have similarly amazing sound, with weaker ANC.

Bonkers 60 hour battery life on them too.

[Jward]

I picked up a pair of SONY WH-1000XM5 for €289 in Harvey Norman.
The price label was wrong; should have been €319, but he gave it to me for that anyway.

The songs on the demo station are fairly crap tbf, but didn't think the XM6 offered much over the XM5 (other than like €180!)
Probably too much separation for my liking.

I've the initial XM5 setup done now.
Playing around with the custom EQs.
It seems quite responsive for headphones.
I find the bass is always looking to creep in & overpower everything.

My go-to songs are Deep Purple.
Highway Star coming across nicely.
Perfect Strangers sounds great. Organ, drums, bass, guitar, vocals all given enough room - for a device shoved up onto your ears.
It'll never beat a room that can breathe with a handy setup, but this will do very nicely.

Fairly happy with them.

They probably need a bit of running in to loosen them up.

Will try the telly another time.
That'll be a different beast altogether.

Whether they are worth getting over the SONY WH-1000XM4 or the B&W PX7 S3, I have no idea.

It's all part of the fun I suppose!

PS The bass in Child In Time is very warm. Just toned it back a tad there now, & still sounding good.
Blackmore's guitar sound is very clear & raspy.
It's picking up the reverb on Gillan's voice too.
Will see how things pan out after a few hours of listening.

So far so good

8.5/10

[Jward]

I must try them wired too.

I assume that's possible, but I think I've read that they aren't designed for that. Maybe the ANC has a say in that; or some chipset yoke

[Ducky]

With my XM3 at least they don't run their audio via Bluetooth whizz-bang chip when wired, and sound like absolute rubbish as a result. Dunno if that's changed on newer models.

Glad you're enjoying them!

[Born of Fire]

Had a pair of XM4 earbuds that I liked the sound on but the ANC ended up developing a fault that caused a constant kind of popping and crackling sound and when playing music it felt like one ear was blocked when ANC was on.

I was fine with using them with ANC turned off but then came the common battery fault in them where they would fail to reach full charge and one bud mightn't charge at all.

My old XM3 over ears are still going strong though.

[Ducky]

Yeah those issues put me off the XM4 buds. Have a pair of Jabras Elite Active 75t. They're absolute champs. Great job for the gym too, as they're sweat-proof.

Using my XM3 headphones right now. Probably one of the absolute favourite things I've ever owned. The day they pack in I'll be legitimately sad.

[open face surgery]

I hear ya. I got mine for free and they were my first over ear headphones. I knew the fateful day would come, althought it still came as a shock, and I could never go back to my old life of aural peasantry.

Think I'm gonna try a pair of Seinheisser Monumentum 4s next.