SonyWF-1000XM3 Industry Leading Noise Canceling Truly Wireless Earbuds Headset/Headphones with AlexaVoice Control And Mic For Phone Call, Black

UNBOXING:The first thing to do is to find the correct fit. This, like it has always been for in-ear buds, is a trial and error process. Out of the box, Sony provides you with six pair of tips - 3 pairs of silicone ones and 3 pairs of memory foam ones. I have large ears with almighty ear canals, and based on my past experience with other in-ear buds, I went for the large memory foam tips. These turned out to be too big, and the earphones dangled precariously off my ears. So I swapped them with the medium foam tips; this gave me the perfect and the most comfortable tip. The next thing I did was pop the earphones back into the case, and the case to a power supply so that both the case and the buds charged to 100%. I already had the companion Sony Headphones app on my phone, but if you don't, you can download it.Once they were charged, I launched the Sony Headphones app, went through the connection wizard, tapped my phone on the case (NFC) and that's it. They were paired - a very hassle free, and a no tech challenge process, which anyone can do. Bluetooth connectivity was perfect. I could roam around anywhere in my 1 room kitchen apartment without losing connectivity. Once these babies were paired, I popped them into my ear, and then launched the companion app to configure them.CONFIGURATION & PLAYBACK:Right out of the box, this pair provides a very neutral sound-stage with clear mids, though the highs can be very tinny and the lows quite muffled. This might make some people to take the knee jerk reaction of returning them as they do not sound all that well for the price. Well, don't, and have patience. Configure them to suit yourself, and that's how you'll get the best out of them. Configuration depends on the kind of music you listen to, and hence this step is critical.Personally, I'm not beholden to a particular genre, which makes this stage of the onboarding a bit difficult. I launched the Youtube music app, and started cycling through some of my favorite songs in the metal, pop, vocal, reggaeton, hip-hop, EDM and trap genres. To give an idea: I cycled through songs by Pink Floyd, Paradise Lost, John Legend, Post Malone, Nicky Jam, Alan Walker, Lil Nas X, Skrillex, Flosstradamus, Fever Ray, Florence + The Machine & Eminem. And post that, I went to work with the Equalizer, tweaking it while cycling through the same songs to find the perfect blend of settings that can achieve the sweet spot of a great sound-stage applicable to all these genres.My final equalizer settings for the slider bars: +4, +2, -2, -2, 0 with Clear Bass set to +8. I found that these settings gave me the best sound-stage across all the genres (of course, these won't be perfect for any one genre, but it is either that, or tweak them according to the genre that you listen to). I also set DSEE HX to ON, since this allows for the audio stream to be upscaled to simulate a high resolution stream - a good to have feature if you listen to streamed audio like I do. With the afore mentioned settings, I found that I retained the clear mids, but I was also able to deepen the lows and make the highs sound natural.USAGE:The drivers do taking some burn-in, and I started hearing a slight upgrade in quality after the first 10-12 hours of use. This was the same for my WH-1000XM3s, which sound absolutely wonderful after 4 months of use.While this pair is great on the ears while traveling (I sweat quite a bit, and the over-ear cans become uncomfortable for me), I'd still prefer the WH-1000XM3 if I'm at my desk working, or if I'm in an airplane traveling, because there is definitely some ear fatigue (which is typical for in-ears). The fit, once you have achieved it correctly as described in the first part of this review, is secure, and I did not feel any risk of these falling off.I would definitely not take this pair out for jogging or any gym exercises, since they are not water resistant, and the fit is not secure enough to handle strenuous activities of jumping, running, etc.CONCLUSION:All in all, this is a great pair, and well worth the price, if you have the patience to configure them according to your specific use cases. I highly recommend both the models from Sony, both are winners in my book, and I hope to use them for many years.PS: If you use the Tidal app, it's probably a good idea to go through the 360 degree music setup. I don't, and hence I didn't.

All I can say is that I, like the many reviewers who have already posted, are thoroughly impressed with these new noise-canceling earbuds from Sony.Let’s start with the easiest. These things are visually gorgeous. The charging box in which they sit reminds us of the Sony of “yore” (is Sony seeing somewhat of a Renaissance these days? It sure seems so). The black and rose gold color combination is stunning, and the functionality of the charging box matches it. The individual earbuds fit perfectly in their holding spots inside the case, and are magnetically pulled and held into place. A USB 3 (thank you, Sony!) connects the charging case to the power source. The earbuds and the case are simultaneously charged if both are low, or only the earbuds are charged if the case is charged, or if you are using the case apart from a power source to charge the earbuds. Great design.Next, the comfort of the earbuds themselves is exceptional. I was highly skeptical that they would be either comfortable or stable in the ear, but I am happy to report that they are both comfortable AND easily stay in place. Of course, getting good sound depends very heavily on putting the correct size of the ear caps on the earbuds, so make this choice carefully. If you do not have the proper size on ANY earbuds, they will generally sound terrible. Again, Sony did well here by providing three sizes of two material types of buds so that you can get the perfect fit.Bluetooth connection is accomplished by a touch sensor on the right and left earbuds. You simply touch each simultaneously and the headphones go into connection mode. I had no trouble getting them connected to my phone. Both blue and red lights on the buds and on the charger signal charging, pairing, and connection. (It is advised to quickly look over the included blue-and-white instruction sheet to see the sequence of steps for each of these operations.)Sounds quality is very good. The headphones will not produce pounding bass, but with the right equalization settings, the correctly-sized earbuds, etc. Little practice, the sound is very pleasing. The signature is more-or-less flat throughout the range, with a drop in the lower end of low bass. However, there is still plenty of mid-range bass, and I find the speakers quite pleasant in the manner in which they accurately and clearly reduce the music. This part of any headphones is a highly personalized factor, but I can’t imagine anyone would be disappointed unless they are looking for something that turns out massive amounts of bass at all times.Finally, noise reduction. I don’t claim to be an expert, but I’ve been using Sony noise reduction systems for nearly 20 years on a variety of models with different headphones with great satisfaction (and before most people were even interested in noise reduction). There is absolutely no question that the noise reduction on these earbuds is beyond exceptional: it's almost unbelievable how well they work. As many people point out, they will not remove all voice noise (but will reduce it), but it’s the other noises—airplanes, fans, generators, cars, etc.—that these just handle with aplomb. To be honest, I did not expect them to be any better than my last Sony noise reduction sets, but they certainly are, no kidding. You have to hear them to believe them.This is a five-star item in nearly every respect. As people find out about them, they will become more and more popular. Amazing!