Apple AirPods Pro vs Sony WF-1000XM3 - in-Depth Comparison - Surprising Conclusion

thebadmachine on 31/10/2019 - 16:35
Last edited 31/10/2019 - 19:59

https://youtu.be/dHgnhSsdhRc

So a direct comparison between True Wireless ANC in-ear buds from both companies.

Really surprised here that Apple has out-done Sony.

From my part I have very little interest in either product, but thought some may be interested in the outcome of this comparison.

For those who find the video a little long I will just list the negatives of each (it’s a shorter list to type):

Airpods Pro:

  • Shorter battery-life
  • Ambient-mode is controlled by a ‘toggle’ (on / off) instead of tap & hold of Sony.

Sony WF:

  • Noticeable hiss & distortion in treble (at higher volume) with ANC on
  • Ambient-mode (microphones) sounds digital / artificial (also therefore worse call quality than AirPods Pro’s very natural & clear call quality which is comparable to the Bose NCH 700)
  • case is ~30% larger in overall-size (this must be where the better battery-life comes from)
  • less ANC strength for low-frequency sounds
Electrical & Electronics Apple Bluetooth Earphones Earphones Sony

Comments

  • [Deactivated] on 31/10/2019 - 16:42
    -3

    I wouldn't buy Sony anyway, AirPods or Bose QC3511 i have had, just the new pro's now. If you have and swap between 3-4 Apple products can't beat the AirPods.

    • thebadmachine on 31/10/2019 - 17:02

      At the end of the video, the reviewer mentions that the WF-1000XM3 was their previous favourite truly-wireless-earphones, until the AirPods Pro (thought that was a pretty strong statement against Sony).

  • koreanfriedchicken on 31/10/2019 - 16:55
    +1

    Just picked up some Airpods pro and they're pretty sweet. I have AirPods as well and these sound much more pro overall, and I feel generally more professional while listening to podcasts.

    • thebadmachine on 31/10/2019 - 17:00
      +1

      Ample use of the word ‘pro’ I see.

    • brendanm on 31/10/2019 - 17:27
      +2

      Are they pro podcasts, or that amateur stuff?

      • aarick on 31/10/2019 - 18:53
        +1

        Got to be pro podcasts.. He would have used his standard airpods for those amateur stuff..

  • plmko on 31/10/2019 - 17:37
    +3

    The impression of which is 'better' will largely fall on which phone the earphones are connected to. Airpods are going to be a pretty bad experience on Android for instance. I can't be bothered watching the long video so I am unsure of the reviewers experience.

    The Sony have user refurb-able batteries, a VARTA Valta CP1254 cell costs about $20. Pretty big advantage for me when spending ~$350 on something that will continually deteriorate in battery life after a year or two.

    • ATangk on 01/11/2019 - 10:36

      Just buy applecare for $49 and get them to replace the battery at the end of your 2 years for free. Thatll be a brand new set since they cant really service it haha.

      • deme on 06/01/2020 - 13:31

        How?

    • onecentaday on 03/11/2019 - 15:09

      Airpods pro on Android gets all the same functions as iphones. Don't think it'll matter a lot (coming from an airpods on Andorid user)

  • CyberMurning on 31/10/2019 - 17:46

    It's pretty simple, all apple fans buy airpod, android users get Sony (and others).
    No need to compare they are apple and orange

    • thebadmachine on 31/10/2019 - 17:53
      +1

      To be fair they are both True-wireless ANC earphones.
      And I am sure AirPods can connect to other phones, I think that’s what the ‘pairing’ button on the back is for, although there may be differences in sound-quality / function when used with Android devices.

      • Rail Rider95 on 12/11/2019 - 21:16

        You lose the configurability and simplicity when using AirPods pro on Android

  • MagicMushroom on 31/10/2019 - 18:12
    +3

    No measurements, No graphs and No recording for call quality. Not an in-depth review at all.

  • p1 ama on 31/10/2019 - 18:31
    +1

    To be fair to both products, this isn't really a review. This seems like more of a gadget review than an earphones review. Mostly just about the "cool tech", not about what really matters, which is how they sound.

    • thebadmachine on 31/10/2019 - 19:06

      Yes I thought it is a good comparison for what matters to typical consumers.
      I have changed the title to “comparison”.

  • Thor Bargain God on 31/10/2019 - 19:34

    Has anyone seen the airpods Pro at Costco yet and if so, how much were they? Just replaced a lost paid of the wireless charging ones a month or so ago - wish I had known to wait :(

  • boomramada on 31/10/2019 - 20:38

    What kind of a doddgy review is this. He said Sony wasn't a best fit but iPod noise cancelling is better. Would be help if he fit it better to start with.

    • thebadmachine on 31/10/2019 - 20:41

      I think you are trying to say “He said Sony wasn’t a good fit, but AirPod Pro noise cancelling is better”.

      When talking about “fit” the reviewer is talking about how it sits & stays in the ‘outer’ ear.
      So the AirPod Pro design fills the ‘outer’ ear more therefore it stays better.
      I think you have mistaken the reviewers comment on “fit” as the earbuds “seal”, which yes would affect the Sound-quality / isolation / ANC.

      Both earphones come with multiple size tips to achieve proper seal.

      • boomramada on 31/10/2019 - 21:42
        +2

        When talking about “fit” the reviewer is talking about how it sits & stays in the ‘outer’ ear.

        Correct, it's all depend on person to person even it's comes with three size of fittings.

        How it's fits effect the Sound-quality / isolation / ANC

        Which make this a personal opinion than a review.

        I could buy each of these and put a YouTube video and say , product A works/sounds better for me than products B.

        Google it, now this guy saying Sony is better.

        https://www.cnet.com/news/seven-things-i-learned-after-my-fi… for sound quality. so now who you going to pick ?

        • thebadmachine on 31/10/2019 - 23:13
          -1

          I would say ‘fit’ in the ‘outer’ ear has much less effect on the sound, than how it ‘seals’ from outside noise.

          Anyhow the Cnet reviewer fails to mention the WF-1000XM3’s ‘hissing’ and distorted treble sound when ANC is turned on, and the artificial sound from microphones when using Ambient-mode or during a call.
          They do mention the AirPods Pro does have good call quality though (3 microphones per AirPod according to Cnet).

          I will pick neither. But both seem to have their strength and weakness, if you are interested in buying one I suggest you always do your research before committing to buy.
          I prefer wired over-ear headphones, and if I am outside I will just use cheap wired earphones.

          The review I linked is basically a ‘typical consumer perspective’ which I think is all most buyers are interested in, just user experience and basic differences.
          If buyers are after ‘best sound quality’ I think they will be after wired products from a different brand other than Apple or Sony.

          • elektron on 06/11/2019 - 16:59

            @thebadmachine:

            Anyhow the Cnet reviewer fails to mention the WF-1000XM3’s ‘hissing’ and distorted treble sound when ANC is turned on, and the artificial sound from microphones when using Ambient-mode or during a call.

            Perhaps because the reviewer did not experience any of this? I haven't either on my WF-1000XM3, although the call quality is not great with high ambient noise.

            The review I linked is basically a ‘typical consumer perspective’ which I think is all most buyers are interested in, just user experience and basic differences. If buyers are after ‘best sound quality’ I think they will be after wired products from a different brand other than Apple or Sony.

            I want the best sound quality in wireless headphones, especially with the headphone jacks disappearing fast from smartphones. Am I atypical? What Sony have done with the sound quality out of these tiny 6 mm drivers should be illegal…

            • thebadmachine on 06/11/2019 - 17:55

              @elektron: I appreciate your honest opinion. Instead of ‘this is trash’ or ‘this blows that out of the water’ statements.

              While I avoid in-ear design & wireless altogether, making great sounding in-ears with tiny drivers is maybe easier than you think.
              An example would be Sony’s MH755 which gets praise for its sound out-doing IEM’s costing hundreds of dollars (with its compromises of course being the J cable design), all while being mass-produced & costing under $20.
              (Some IEM customers will tell you IEM’s out-perform Over-Ear headphones in terms of sound)

              So I see the real bottleneck with portable wireless-audio (wireless earphones) as Bluetooth technology, it simply is just too-far behind in sound-quality / reliability to wired connection.
              On top of avoiding wireless, True wireless seems even more of a nightmare, with the fiddling and charging each earphone + the case. (Also the price)
              You may call me slow-to-adopt, but even if bluetooth provides a universal codec with Lossless transmission I would still be apprehensive about buying into it so soon.

              There are solutions out there for wired headphones (3.5mm jack), a dongle, and you just leave it on the end of your earphone / headphone cable and that’s it, it’s the same deal as when there was a jack on the device.
              I am totally neutral on the matter of Apple vs Sony, just wanted to point out I found it interesting AirPods was being compared to Sony with their experience in Audio / ANC technology (Flagship WH-1000XM3 Headphones) and was possibly a better (subjective) option.

  • Worulz on 02/11/2019 - 09:33
    +1

    I found this to be a better concise review by Dave Lee. 7 min video. He also compares the airpods pro vs the sony. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDdNGsqi1Ho

  • ATangk on 02/11/2019 - 17:45

    Can't even find any JB's with it in stock…

  • Rockets84 on 05/11/2019 - 18:47
    +1

    Of all the comparison reviews of those two products I've seen so far this review was the only one that said the AirPods had better sound & ANC than the Sony's. However all the reviewers have said that if you're using Apple devices the AirPod Pros are the better device because they have much better integration into the OS. Personally I'd go for the Sony's because I'm not that far into the Apple ecosystem with just a iPhone. Sony's have easily replaceable batteries too which is a big plus.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join