I was shopping for an ANC pair the other day because I will be going on a long flight soon and so to make a semi-informed decision, I tried a family member of mine’s XM4s, and boy am I disappointed. I was not expecting this from 400CAD headphones.
The sound is just so muddy and bassy, the mids are basically just drowned down. It feels like listening to what people say early beats were; just a bunch of muddy bass.
Maybe I just don’t like bass heavy headphones though. I like my ER2SE’s even though I think they are a bit lacking in the bass department, but not by much. I also quite like my HyperX Cloud II’s, but only with the velour ear pads, the leatherette earpads sound too boomy for me, and I like that they are more open that way. (I would love if someone with the equipment could compare the frequency response with both earpads!)
So yeah, is it only me? I ended up getting QC45’s because they were A) very cheap and B) are suppposed to have a more “neutral” curve. I don’t have many headphones to compare to, so I don’t know if the XM4’s are just shitty or if I am just not used to bass heavy headphones.
I wonder if this changed after the xm3s because I don’t dine my xm3s ti be this way. Then again, I’ve always felt AND headphones sound muddy no matter which I try. But I don’t find mine to be base heavy like beats.
I’ve considered replacing my xm3s with xm5s or whatever comes out next when these start to die. Was hoping for an improvement and usb c. Now I’m skeptical, and will be more cautious in that purchase.
I found this too, at first, but I think I ended up tweaking my EQ on my apps to compensate, which helped. It wasn’t a massive change. Now I’m pretty happy with them.
My biggest complaint is the stupid touch interface. Just give me buttons, dudes.
I tried tweaking around in the sony app, but I really didn’t like the navigation, it felt very old. I tried various EQ settings, some made it a tiny bit better, but I found most made it sound even boomier lol. I forgot to try it with wavelet which I kind of regret not doing though
And yeah the touch interface is what made me gravitate toward the QC45 over the Bose 700. I don’t think theres something less intuitive than a touch interface you don’t see and don’t get any feedback whatsoever for a few 1/100 of a second because it has to decide what gesture you were intending to do. Buttons. They are so easy. Click. Instant feedback. The action may not be instant because of delay but at least I know it registered my input
When I first tried the LinkBud S I had a similar reaction and was like “why is this so muddy and ultra bassy?” But as I spent a bit of time deactivating any random audio presets on the phone and then trying various settings with the sony app, they actually sound amazing. Very clear details and balanced bass. Mine is an IEM and not a headphone, but hopefully the experience to find a good audio balance for you is similar.
If on Android, try installing Wavelet. You can they apply the eq for that set of headphones.
I bought the xm5 and momentum 4 to upgrade my xm3s. But after applying the eq, adjusting the bass, and setting a bit more customized eq; I can’t justify the extra cost.
I forgot to try out wavelet when I had the XM4s sadly, but I had played around with the EQ settings in the app, that made it a tiny bit better, but when reducing the bass I also lost some clarity… The momentum 4’s were also a consideration especially for their battery life, but I already have received the QC45 and I quite like them, they were really cheap too
Wavelet is great, even for the qc45. They’re a little too bright for me, but wavelet really helps. It helps with my Linkbuds S, which have a really similar signature to the xm4 earbuds. I’ve never tried the headphones though.
I hate bluetooth audio as a whole, but the xm4 has a special place in hell
I tried a pair yesterday (very briefly) in a shop. Way to much bass for my preference. Felt my eardrums move so much it was uncomfortable.
Fit was comfortable and the anc seemed effective though. Just not for me. I prefer balanced or mid forward.
I was just looking for a bluetooth earbuds recommendation, and these ones were mentioned almost everywhere that they are the best choice.
It’s been a long time since I wanted to buy something and was doing research, but it looks like my favorite way of searching for “best xxx 2023 reddit”, that was pretty ok way of doing things few years ago, is useless now. Every post o article I find is blatantly sponsored or full of bots pushing someones product, instead of actual users.
But, it looks like it will take a while before the same happens to Lemmy, so - what bluetooth earbuds would people here recommend to get, or what are you using right now and are happy with? My budget is around 60$, and my use case is mostly to listen to music at work, and be able to walk around during meetings while having clear audio when I’m talking. I don’t have any experience with ANC, but it sounds amazing. I understand that the budget is pretty small - I don’t expect any miracles in term of audio quality, and the earbuds will be mostly for work related stuff. I try to avoid earbuds as much as possible, but ever since I started having more meetings, for which I regularly have to leave my computer, wired headphones are unfortunately not cutting it.
So far I’ve had Jabra Elite 4 recommended to me by a friend, and I like them on paper - is there anyone here who has experience with them?
It’s so frustrating, though. Finding a honest review for anything is almost impossible, the internet has really taken a turn for the worst. Thanks for any recommendation! I don’t need the best of the best in terms of quality for the price, just something that someone can say “Yeah, I have this, it’s ok.”
This is off topic and you should probably start a new post if you want better recommendations.
I’d recommend checking out earfun, everything I’ve gotten from them has had great sound and ANC, but usually is missing some bells and whistles.
Www.scarbir.com has some great reviews and recommendations.
You could many look in the 2nd hand market and then getting replacement ear inserts? Usually I prefer to get used high end vs new medium range. Do note that I have not bought earbuds recently and I am not sure myself if I would get those used
I tried the XM4s for about two weeks and ended up returning them for similar reasons. Found the bass to be way too overpowering and muddy. Had a similar experience with the Meze 99 Neo as well.
I tried them for a second at a Best Buy and immediately went “ew” and put them back. The XM5’s actually sounded good, which I wasn’t expecting after hearing the 4’s.
I didn’t have the opportunity to try the XM5s, but anyways, the QC45 were so much cheaper (320CAD taxes in vs 400 CAD +tx) that I am happy with my purchase. But thank you for confirming to me that I am not crazy and that the XM4s do indeed sound terrible. It’s weird how mainstream audio can be muddy and just loud
