Review on Sony WI1000X/B: Black Wireless Behind-Neck In-Ear Headphones with Premium Noise Cancelling by Candra ᠌

Initially, the main goal was to choose wired hybrid headphones up to 20 for Fiio X5 II player. But the Sony XZ premium was also available as an alternative source, which prompted us to try out the wireless option with the new LDAC codec. I listened to several models of wired hybrids in conjunction with the player (Metallica Master of Puppets (FLAC 192/24) and The Getaway RHCP (FLAC 96/24)): - Sony XBA-N3 - Sony XBA-A2 (also wanted A3, but they were not) - RHA T20i -Fiio F9 Pro - iBasso IT03 A2 and F9pro clearly lost to competitors in terms of balance and detail and quickly left the sample. The RHA T20i and iBasso IT03 are certainly good, but I found them to have a bit too much high end compared to the N3, which in turn sounded very balanced and appealed to my ears much more than the others. As a result, the choice fell on the N3. The consultant also recommended a custom balanced 2.5mm cord - as if the last remnants of cotton wool were taken out of the ears (the main part was taken out after their B&W P3 overheads - I love them, but they are not for fast music), but the cord in conjunction with the N3 was out of the budget (although the sound is straight the fire). And so, having decided on wired hybrids, I proceeded to compare with a wireless hybrid (since LDAC, according to the information I have, only supported the WI-1000x hybrid model, and it fit into my budget, I immediately settled on it). I listened to the above albums on WI-1000x & XZ P and Fiio & N3 and to my pleasant surprise did not find a critical difference, the sound of WI-1000x is very similar to N3, of course with a custom cord N3 gave out a cleaner sound, but not so much to make the choice in favor of additional carrying a not easy player, when you can get by with almost the same quality using a bunch of WI-1000x & XZ P, and even with NC - which turned out to be very useful in the subway.