Having recently tested the rather brilliant MW07 Plus from Master & Dynamic, I placed an order for what’s said to be the best true wireless earphones to calibrate my bearings.
Packaging of the Sony WF-1000XM3 is a clinical, no nonsense, straightforward approach. Setting these up wasn’t as plain sailing as I had hoped so opting to forget the device and starting over was required. The same can be said when it comes to the computer since some Googling was needed to get them paired.
PRO
Natural tones
Tailoring and customisability
Range
CON
Erratic connection
Setup
SPECIFICATION
8 + 24 hours of battery life
Bluetooth 5.0
8.5 grams each
84 grams charging case
RM 949
A$ 299
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Much like its headphone equivalent, the XM3 sounds neutral but by no means flat or boring. Everything is well presented with no extroversion from either the lows or highs while retaining a detailed mid. No power struggle here, everyone’s living in harmony. With that, it might not immediately please most listeners after all we have been accustomed to more bass heavy sounds.
There are earphones that get you hooked like a quick test drive, the WF1000 is not one of those things. What can be done is in-app adjustments to these earbuds sound the way you want as there are ample of equalisers to choose from alongside custom profiles. All in all, sound does not get a lot better in an earphone even if twice the money is spent.
Noise cancelling is impressive but to shut yourself from the outside world, Sony's equivalent headphone does it a lot more effectively. Another feature brought from the headphone side of things is holding on the left to let sound in is genius. No interference occurred in my time of testing even if walls get in between.
Despite missing out on AptX, audio quality remaining crisp could be down to DSEE HX working its magic. Aside from initial pairing obstacles, connection stability is questionable where there are recurring skips when consuming lossless audio. Also, some water resistance would be nice.
Considering how talented the WF1000XM3s are, not everyone makes purchase decisions based on figures and numbers because emotion counts too. That being said, the MW07 may be my pick but I’d happily listen to this Sony.
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