Sony WH-1000MX3 - any good? Currently £160 at amazon.co.uk

[threni]

I couldn't resist getting a pair, seeing as how I almost bought them for £330 a couple of years ago. They'll replace my Sony WH-CH500N which are great for the money.

I just read the review here of the WH-1000MX4 and I remember reading that they were similar to the WH-1000MX3. So this post is both a heads up about Black Friday, and a request for any info about what's good/not so good about them; how are you EQing them etc.

 

[PierreV]

I have a pair, with aftermarket using comply foam tips. I use them with their flat EQ which some might find a tad bass-heavy. I am happy with the SQ. Annoyances include high susceptibility to wind noise when I am cycling (on protected lanes). I have tried deactivating all kind of things in the Sony "headphone" to solve the wind issue, with very little success. I have reverted to my old cheap and partially wired MDR-XB50S for that purpose. I do occasionally have issues where I lose one side but I had the same issue with my Jabra Elite 65T but I think my relatively old phone flaky BT support is to blame there. I like them much more than the Jabra, but then I never got a good seal with the Jabra and couldn't fit comply foam tips because of the geometry of the Jabra charging box. I prefer also them to my son's Samsung buds, which are supposed to be closer to Harman's target.

Back to their bass, I feel they match the XB50S which are supposed to be bass boosted with the "flat" Sony profile, but they sound much cleaner and resolving in mid and treble.

I use them mostly indoors and, as I said, am happy with their SQ, even when I turn off the big systems and continue my listening session on them.
It's a very different experience, obviously, but it is quite a decent one.

 

[Koeitje]

@PierreV he is asking about the headphones, not the earbuds.

Anyway, I have the Sony WH-1000XM3. With Wavelet as an equalizer it sounds pretty good, without an equalizer there is too much bass (and I like bass) and a lack of clarity. Noise canceling is very good.

 

[spacevector]

@PierreV he is asking about the headphones, not the earbuds.

Anyway, I have the Sony WH-1000XM3. With Wavelet as an equalizer it sounds pretty good, without an equalizer there is too much bass (and I like bass) and a lack of clarity. Noise canceling is very good.

I am in agreement here. Price is pretty good.

 

[usern]

I like them. I also like bass so I even boost it a little, no EQ on mids and highs. For 160£ they are great value for Bluetooth headphones. They also have good BT codec support unlike newer version which does not have aptX support.

 

[GaryH]

I couldn't resist getting a pair, seeing as how I almost bought them for £330 a couple of years ago. They'll replace my Sony WH-CH500N which are great for the money.

I just read the review here of the WH-1000MX4 and I remember reading that they were similar to the WH-1000MX3. So this post is both a heads up about Black Friday, and a request for any info about what's good/not so good about them; how are you EQing them etc.

According to Rtings' measurements their ANC is actually better than the XM4's in the midrange. Their stock frequency response is awful though:

You can try Oratory EQ for them in order to (somewhat) fix this.

 

[JJB70]

It depends what you want them for. Their ANC is superb and as good as it get, battery life is excellent and they are pretty light and their folding design makes them compact for carrying. They are a brilliant traveling headphone for commuting, flying etc. Sound quality is a bit bass heavy and they aren't the first headphones I would choose for SQ, but their other attributes far outweigh this if you do a lot of flying or train travel etc.

 

[2ndHarm]

Like others here, I find my XM4s a bit bass heavy and treble shy. They are easy to listen to, last for a decently long time on their battery (and recharge quickly) and have great noise cancelling (in the house anyway). If I want to listen to something more accurate, I slip on my Sennheiser HD 598 headphones. Sorry I can't comment on the XM3s.

 

[Taddpole]

Impressed that we got this far without a mention of Bose. Oops.
Pondering these or the Bose QC35 II on Black Friday, though tbh I seldom wear headphones. Be useful when I get a flight i guess.

 

[threni]

Thanks for the responses so far.

I'll be EQing them, although with moOde which doesn't have shelf filters so I'll have to use AutoEq, at least as a starting point. This won't be my main pair (that's HD660S), but for work calls/meetings, walks and travel, especially when I need NC. I remember trying on the MX2 in a shop and despite being not powered on/connected to anything the noise cancellation was amazing just because of the fit/build. The review here of the MX4 mentioned that via bluetooth the sounds was anaemic because of the feeble amp. How much of a problem is that on the MX3? I can use it wired around the house, and power isn't a problem for meetings but it would be nice to have a decent volume outside. Perhaps the NC means you don't really have to push it in that respect. I too noticed the lack of aptx-hd support on the newer headphones which would have been a dealbreaker a while ago, except that since then more phones support ldac (which I understand is superior) plus this just won't be my main pair so I can tolerate a compromise when i'm using bluetooth in a field/train/etc.

 

[Destination: Moon]

I have them. They're great for flying. For daily use, with the NR off they are pretty good. The NR is wonderful for flying and helps mowing the lawn, but it affects the overall SQ and sounds much better with it off

 

[threni]

I have them. They're great for flying. For daily use, with the NR off they are pretty good. The NR is wonderful for flying and helps mowing the lawn, but it affects the overall SQ and sounds much better with it off

Is this correct. According to Oratory1990:
"noise cancelling does not affect the frequency response - it only matters whether or not the headphone is turned on or off (in the case of Sony's 1000X line)."

https://www.reddit.com/r/oratory1990/comments/dz53d8/_/fmayi3c

 

[Berwhale]

@threni They are 99EUR (under £90 with fee free card) from Amazon Germany...

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07T2FGG2Z?smid=A3JWKAKR8XB7XF

 

[threni]

@threni They are 99EUR (under £90 with fee free card) from Amazon Germany...

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07T2FGG2Z?smid=A3JWKAKR8XB7XF

Thanks but I've already ordered, and I'm not interested in the Sony WF-1000XM3.

 

[Berwhale]

Thanks but I've already ordered, and I'm not interested in the Sony WF-1000XM3.

Damn, PierreV confused me!

 

[Destination: Moon]

Is this correct. According to Oratory1990:
"noise cancelling does not affect the frequency response - it only matters whether or not the headphone is turned on or off (in the case of Sony's 1000X line)."

https://www.reddit.com/r/oratory1990/comments/dz53d8/_/fmayi3c

They definitely sound different with the NR on or off to my ears

 

[MayaTlab]

Is this correct. According to Oratory1990:
"noise cancelling does not affect the frequency response - it only matters whether or not the headphone is turned on or off (in the case of Sony's 1000X line)."

Different findings here on DIYaudio for the XM3 :

WH-1000X-M3

back to Sony back to measurements home Published: Mar-10-2019, updated: Apr-10-2019 NO SMOOTHING is applied to the shown plots. Most measurement sites have some smoothing applied which ‘irons flat’…

diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com

Some ANC headphones are tricky to measure because their feedback algorithm doesn't work superbly well with sweeps (that's the case with the AirPods lineup when ANC is disabled for example), but since it can be seen that the feedback mechanism is disabled with the XM3 in all modes but ANC on (as it's incapable of maintaining the same FR with varying degrees of seal), I think that reduces the likelihood that usual measurement methods introduced errors.

I only tried the XM3, but I used to own the XM4 and now own the H910N (which share the same electronics), and in both cases I think that they sounded differently between ANC on and off.
In the case of the H910N I measured them in situ and you can see the difference (and also how the feedback mechanism is disabled when ANC is turned off) :

HBK Headphone Measurement Talks from Head-Fi and Sean Olive

With tiny special mics inserted in your ear channels. Do any of the commercial options out there come with a calibration curve?

www.audiosciencereview.com

The difference isn't huge but it's across a large bandwidth so noticeable. It may depend on the level of seal that's achieved when ANC is turned off (depends on your own morphology as well).

 

[Phoney]

Hey. Anyone knows if these respond well to equalization in Bluetooth mode? Will they sound good if I use the Oratory eq on these?