Well that sure didn’t take very long. As discussed
previously in my HD1 Free post, the Pixel 3 is USB-C only. The headphone jack
is dead, long live the headphone jack! I was battered and beaten by the Senn’s
being absolute hot garbage, but I soldiered on. My hallmarks of (mostly)
affordable audio quality – Etymotic – set a very high bar, and for me are an
absolutely perfect sound signature. The only closest ‘phones I’ve found is in the
full size AKG K701s and oddly enough the Apple dual driver IEMs (Long live you,
you affordable, glorious bastards), but then again I haven’t looked extremely
hard. I love clarity, I love a prominent midrange, I love what most would call “anemic”
bass. For me, detail is king. I want to be wowed by accuracy, speed, and finesse,
not by bass so hard it loosens my molars and obliterates the mids and highs.
But, then there’s the Sony WI-1000X, and maybe, just maybe, I can find a middle
ground.
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| WI-1000X |
The WI-1000X are a neckband style Bluetooth IEM with a very
premium build of metal and rubber covered plastic with a padded leather neckband
weighing in at a featherlight 70-ish grams. They feature a 10-hour battery life
and active noise cancellation on the pair of hybrid drivers. High tech!
Initial impressions were good! I got mine used (Only about a
week, practically new!) at less than half retail cost, and they arrived without
any retail packaging, but did sport the charging cable, headphone cable, carrying
case, and full arsenal of both silicone and triple comfort tips. Out of the
bag, I got a pretty much perfect fit with just the included large tips. Isolation
was mediocre as expected with a shallow fit canal phone, but I knew this going
in. I immediately threw on noise cancellation, and outside of a faint buzzing
noise, outside noise was cut to the point of about my Etymotics.
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| Accessories! Travel bag, MicroUSB to headphone, airplane adapter, microUSB cable, and a full arsenal of tips. |
Sound quality wise, I will say they’re not Etymotic, but
they’re good. Streaming Sony’s LDAC codec off my Pixel 3 gave me what I could
call a pretty full, enthusiastic, yet smooth sound. I do still find the low end
just a bit sloppy, but then again, I’m not used to having a dynamic driver in
my ear. The hybrid design leads to a pretty wicked experience though, with all
the boom of a dynamic driver and the articulation and speed of a balanced
armature. A-Ha’s “Take on me” has the synth perfectly placed and articulated
over the bass line, with the vocals not getting lost in the mix. Kygo’s “Here
for you” sees Ella’s vocals smooth as ever, and nothing ever really gets lost or
jumbled in the mids of “Mr Brightside” by The Killers. They trade the Etymotic’s
intimacy for an improved soundstage, as seen in Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines”,
which I find plays well on soundstage in general. They’re warmer, smoother, and
less precise than Etymotic, but they’re enjoyable!
There’re a few things I’m a bit annoyed by, but they’re
minor at most and not at all make or break for these things.
- The stock tips fit great, but don’t isolate well. I was able to work around this a bit by placing some comply foam between the tube and hood on the large hybrid tips, which both improved comfort and fit, and increased isolation.
- The IEMs also take well to EQ, however the Sony app on Android limits you to the SBC codec when using the EQ in the app – Too bad.
- When powering the IEMs on, they default to noise cancelling as well. I notice a bit of a change in sound with noise cancelling, and it’s only two taps on the right neck button to change it, but it would be nice if it remembered your last setting.
- The charge port on them is MicroUSB and you can’t charge and listen at the same time.
- They’re on Bluetooth 4.1 with no multipoint connection. It’d be nice to be able to switch quickly between say, my Surface Pro and my Pixel 3, but you need to manually disconnect from the last device before connecting to another.
Overall these are a tech nerd’s dream Bluetooth IEMs and I’m
pretty darn happy with them. They’re packed with sweet features like ambient
passthrough, they noise cancel, they sound great, have better battery life than
true wireless, and they’re built well. I’m happy with these, and if I had a
wish list for Sony’s next version, it’d include a couple cool things like
Bluetooth 5.0 with multipoint connection, USB-C with fast charge, improved
battery life, and settings memory when
powering off!