Wireless Hunt: Probably Over – Sony WI-1000X

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.

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.

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!

AKG K701s - Seven Months Later

Few weeks, seven months, what's the difference, really?

Lots of time to burn these in and get familiar with them, so let's start. These things are outright fantastic. Coming from my HD555s, these are more spacious, more neutral, and have a much wider range. Well produced tracks tend to be surgically picked apart, each instrument being easily identifiable. Poor tracks, on the other hand, are punished. Every single flaw in a poor rip, or a bad recording/master are noticeable. There's been some tracks I can't stand to listen to any longer because they're just poorly produced and full of flaws.

For those looking for a bass heavy headphone, these aren't it. Though I don't find them bass anemic - In fact I find them perfectly balanced - They're not what you'd get from a Sennheiser 5 series, but instead closer in clarity and sound signature to an Etymotic IEM. The big difference between these and the Etymtoics is the sound stage, along with the even more enhanced detail. Some will consider them sterile, but I would just say they're flat and analytical. If that's the sound signature you want, these are perfect.

Negative points? Well, the padding on the headphones isn't great. It's a bit on the hard side, even after seven months of use. It's fine, but you tend to notice it after an extended period of use. The cable is plenty long, but with the K701s, it's non-removable. So when it does get twisted, it's a bit more annoying to untangle. This could have been solved by grabbing the K702s, but the 701s were practically identical and cheaper. Otherwise, my only complaint would be that they ruin a lot of older tracks for me... Oh well, there's no time for bad tracks.

New Headphones Monday!

In a couple of weeks after burning them in, I should have a review! So far impressions are they're very similar to the Ety HF2s with a much wider and deeper sound stage. I'll be spending a lot of time comparing them to my HD555s and my HD25-iis. Had to post a picture though!

New Etymotic HF2s

After about 5 years of use, my old Etymotic HF2s kicked the bucket. The IEMs were stripped down to bare wire and still working! Of all the things to fail, the cable strain reducer at the 3.5mm connector was the failure point - arguably the best looking part of the old things. Anyway, once they died, I ended up rolling my Apple dual drivers (With foam supertips!) for a good couple months, the entire time wishing I had a new pair of Etys. Bonus time came around, and bonus was good! So the first thing I did was order some new Etys. I was very close to getting the ER4s, but I couldn't stomach the price difference, considering my source (Google Play Music).

Upon receiving the new HF2s, I replaced the stock brain-ticklers with a pair of medium Shure olives (My new favorite tips for these), and I've been in audio nirvana ever since. A lot of people would be turned off by Etymotic's sound signature - Most describe it as cold and lacking in low end resolution. I however find that it's amazingly accurate! The highs are extended, but not harshly bright. The mids are very revealing - Lots of microdetail - with excellent separation even in the busiest of tracks, and the low end hits are very well represented, with a fantastically quick decay. While I can agree that the vibrating bass you'd expect from a dynamic driver isn't there, the quality of the bass, along with the accuracy is unmatched. Listening to anything from dance pop to mellow indie acoustics is an absolute treat. To top it all off, the isolation, even with the Shure olives vs the brain tickler triple flanges is exceptional. Expect the world to melt away with a nice deep insertion.

As always with Etymotic, highly recommended if you're looking for a fantastically analytical and clean sound. Bassheads beware - These will give you quality, but not ear shaking quantity. Etymotic products like the HF lineup will always be a top choice in my books! On a side note, shout out to the Apple IEMs for being what they are. If you're strapped for cash, and can find a pair in the 30-50 dollar range, I found them very similar to the Etymotics, with less microdetail/clarity in the mids, and a bit more thump in the low end. On a tight budget, they're probably the best analytical IEMs out there!