Headphones - Sony WH-1000XM3

[DeletedUsermNqGIiIuGy]

I thought there was a thread on this already but might be thinking of one from the MI site?

So I've been given a budget of 300 euros to pick out any pair of headphones I want for work. 

I've been looking around online, reading reviews and what not for a pair of noise cancelling ones and the best by far seem to be the Sony WH-1000XM3 @ 290 yoyo's

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-WH-1000XM3-Wireless-Cancelling-Headphones-Black/dp/B07GDR2LYK

Any comments on them, good/bad/indifferent?

[pete]

I have the original Sony WH-1000X since they came out. Would highly recommend. Great sound, comfortable, noise cancelling is great for the open plan office I'm in.
Great for long haul flights too, you can plug them into the entertainment thingy and then turn on noise cancelling,
Battery life is great too.

I can only imagine the WH-1000X M3 are that bit better all round.

Think they are pretty much considered best at what they do.

[Ducky]

Bought them at Christmas for myself (€269 in Curry's) and I fucking love them. Sound, build, features, usability, they're honestly my favourite headphones in over 20 years of geeking out over headphones.

The battery life is effectively as advertised (30 hours, with ANC turned on) once you tweak a few settings (the main one is one of those "upscaling" tricks that to my ears does nothing bar skim five hours off the battery). It's got a USB C connection (you get a cable in the box but it's about 10cm long) - I plug it into the same charger as my S8. You can effectively go from flat to fully charged in about an hour. The only caveat there is you can't use them while they're charging and you don't get a power brick included, but you can get a few hours of use out of a few minutes of charge. Worst comes to worst they come with a 3.5mm double-sided male cable, so you can just use them as a regular set of passive, wired headphones.

They're comfortable as fuck too, I've worn them all day with no issues, certainly lighter than some hi-fi headphones I've owned. They're heavy duty plastic (apparently the older models had metal in the headband but this really added to their weight) and so far seem sturdy and well built. You get a hard carry pouch that has space for a few cables and the headphones. I wear glasses with chunky arms and they don't cause any bother. They fit me good and sturdy but don't clamp excessively (I have the Sennheiser BT4.40 as well and they feel like having your head in a vice).

There's only a few physical buttons on them. The biggest thing to get used to is skipping songs, by swiping the right earcup (you can swipe up and down for volume too but I just leave the headphones at max and control volume via the source). It's a bit fiddly at first, but super handy when you get used to it. If you cover the right earcup it will almost totally mute the audio you're listening to and use the noise cancelling mics to feed in audio around you, so you can quickly do that if you need to talk to someone briefly, cross the road, etc. There's no delay when you lift your fingers off as you're returned to the listening instantly. One of the early issues reported with the set is that extreme cold apparently plays havoc with the touch controls - they apparently calibrate the touch panel to whatever the ambient temperature is when you turn them on, so the issues arose with folks turning them on indoors and then going outside into the freezing cold. I personally never experienced an issue with this and they've included a toggle in the app to disable the touch controls entirely if you prefer.

I've not tried them on Windows yet, but there's an app for them (and other sets) on Android called "Headphones Connect". There's a whole suite of options in it for different things; loads of different noise cancelling levels, an optimiser for 3D audio, an optimiser for noise cancelling, your normal and atmospheric pressure, the touch panel toggle, what your ANC button does, a robust graphic equaliser, connection codec choice.

It supports the most common Bluetooth codecs - SBC, AAC, aptX, aptxHD, LDAC. I stick with SBC as the lower overhead allows you to use the app's graphic equaliser and the (imperceptible) drop in quality vs. one of the "better" codecs is more than worth it to EQ them via the app. I'll post a link that deep dives on Bluetooth codecs below if you fancy the read.

If you're buying them now they're probably gonna be on firmware 4.1.1 out of the box. This apparently neutered the noise cancelling. They quickly pushed out an update (v.4.2.2), that's what I'm using and it's bang on. You can confirm the firmware version and update through the app.

The only complaint I've seen about their overall quality is they're not the best for phonecalls - I've not actually used them on a call yet, so don't know (might ring one of the lads tomorrow for the craic to try it out! ).

Personally, the only thing I'd add to them is waterproofing.

This is an interesting read on codecs!

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.habr.com/en/post/456182/&ved=2ahUKEwisoMfIyvXoAhUlUBUIHbCIDgUQFjAAegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw0431L28Ze86Cx1812UxSS3

[DeletedUsermNqGIiIuGy]

Good stuff, will probably go with them if thats the case. The tests for noise cancelling with them sounded unreal and although im working from home they will be great to block out the little shits running around outside the house while Im trying to do said job and when back in the office.

Will have a look at that article, cheers lads

[DeletedUsermNqGIiIuGy]

Arrived today, great choice tbh

Incedently when I set the app up it was plugging the3 apps out atm that support the 360 reality audio, so said id just do a free trial of one of they aren't cheap.
Went with nugs.net as it was primarily live concerts. It's 24.99 a month  but the trials has been upped I'd say to attract more people, it's currently 90 days free so going to check through it.
Came across an Alice in Chains concert (Layne years), its unreal quality and performance.

[Ducky]

I haven't actually touched the 3D Reality thingy! Must give it a gawk.

[Giggles]

Managed to nab a second hand set for 200 squids, only used once. Should arrive soon. Happy days! The reviews seem fairly spot on.

[DeletedUsermNqGIiIuGy]

Managed to nab a second hand set for 200 squids, only used once. Should arrive soon. Happy days! The reviews seem fairly spot on.

They are so good, the noise cancellation is insanely good.

[astfgyl]

Managed to nab a second hand set for 200 squids, only used once. Should arrive soon. Happy days! The reviews seem fairly spot on.

Don't touch them if anyone else touched off them

[Giggles]

Ok dad.

[Ducky]

Giggles, did you catch ear-AIDS from the headphones? 🤔

I'm so used to the noise cancelling on these I kinda take it for granted. Sometimes I think "does it really block out that much noise?"... so I turn off the ANC for about and the answer is "yes, yes it blocks that much"

[H]

I have these headphones. Love them!

[Giggles]

They're fairly tasty alright! First time I've ever used a set of high quality headphones and also the first time I've ever listened to Bolt Thrower 
Cheers Ducky for the write up which persuaded me to get them. I've downloaded the app but I haven't had a gawk at it yet.

[Ducky]

No worries, glad you like them! 😀

Get on the app if you're using the SBC codec - the graphic equaliser is tops, the amount of different sounds you can squeeze out of it is amazing. It's that level of customisation that really elevates them for me.

I was properly impressed with the connection today as I had them on upstairs, forgot the phone,  went downstairs to the kitchen and then the stairhole with no drop in connection.

[H]

Only fault I'd say is not being able to disable the ear controls. They're kinda annoying at times if you accidentally cup it with your hand and it mutes or sometimes  in the gym (back in the day when when we could go to gyms) I'll accidentally tap it and it pauses....things like that. I'd rather be without those and just control from the phone.