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Sony WF-1000XM4 - AAC artefacts with iOS? (Patreon)

Published:
2021-07-04 17:18:25
Edited:
2021-07-04 17:25:58
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

The main reason I didn’t keep the Sony were the AAC artefacts hearable when streamed from iOS. The JBL Club Pro+ I reviewed recently had even stronger issues.

I heard exactly the same problems from the Earfun Free Pro before I started to work on the OE version. My premise was that AAC was disabled for the final version as it was unlistenable to me and I was sure that there must have been some bug in the AAC implementation of the Bluetooth chip inside the Earfun. But now hearing these artefacts from other IEMs as well I rather suppose Apple has some problem here although I haven’t noticed any issues when I was testing the AirPods Max, thus maybe just 2nd party products are affected.

Apart from that I would have kept the Sony despite the high price, although I personally still perceive the Earfun as more true sounding at least to my ear.

Here are my EQ settings for the Sony, which brings its response quite close to the response of the Earfun Free Pro OE:

Clearbass -1

400 -1

1K 0

2.5K +4

6.3K 0

16K -4

The setting to bring the response closer to the Harman Target is here, although it sounds way too harsh for me:

400 -2

1K 0

2.5K +3

6.3K +4

16K -3

Files

Sony WF-1000XM4 - the good, the bad and the ugly AAC artefacts

Earfun Free Pro OE available for a limited time only: https://www.myearfun.com/limited-edition/earfun-free-pro-tuned-by-oluv?shareid=40C8877044D Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/oluvsgadge EQ „Harman target“: Clearbass -1 400 -2 1K 0 2.5K +3 6.3K +4 16K -3 EQ „Oluv target“: Clearbass -1 400 -1 1K 0 2.5K +4 6.3K 0 16K -4

Comments

The

Thats a shame. i have an android and with ldac, the sound quality and feature set is unbeatable.

Simon Hibbert

Couple days ago I tried comply foam tips for earfun oe. They bloody didn't comply... they were uncomfortable and they made the sound screeched into a horrible treble mess.. im fairly new to in ears as always hated wired versions as they would pull out my ears too easily. Trying foam tips I wondered what all the fuss was about but unfortunately they didn't work for my ears.

oluvsgadgets

It’s the same for me. Although some IEMs need foamies to sound decent just like the Sony here. With standard silicone tips it sounds way too harsh for me. The Earfun probably would become muddy with foamies, regardless which other tips I tired they didn’t sound right to me as I used the original tips for tuning, so every deviation from this would change the frequency response for me. But others with different ears may get better results with other tips.

Marioragcurtain

I still like the sonys. The harman eq is also too harsh for me. I put 6.3 somewhere in between. On my galaxy s10 plus i can use the systemwide eq to adjust bass even further.

Simon Hibbert

Yes I tried all 3 sizes and medium size was the one that were more comfortable but all 3 sizes actually did a decent job maintaining frequency reponse except the small lost a tiny bit of lower end. I was really testing what I could do to increase comfort to my ears ... I think material and fairly sensitive dry ears can make it sore in a minor way. Probably need to put cream on the ear entrance 😆

oluvsgadgets

Also liked them but with my iPhone they were unusable to me. Would have been different if I used Android probably

oluvsgadgets

You may laugh but I sometimes had to lick the tips of the Etymotic to be able to insert them properly. Quite gross actually… I stopped using them and I am glad I somehow managed to get a similar response out of the Earfun, and the comfort and handling etc is also much better for me than it was with the Etymotics

Simon Hibbert

Haha. Love it.. I gonna try that.. its not like I share my buds lol. Thank you for everything you do and I hope you have great holiday. This year a staycation for our family.. Newquay. Cornwall. Holidaying at moment is costly and seems stressful with covid rules lol

oluvsgadgets

We are mostly just at the beach trying to avoid contact to other people and if shopping it’s the same as it was at home wearing masks. I actually shot some shorts when we arrived and may post them as some kind of Vlog

yossibm

tried analog with airpods pro on iphone 8 and no artifacts on the intro. I almost never use airpods with music but I had to use them a couple of times and I have heard the "90s mp3" artifacts on some tracks, when using primephonic. though when it happened I immediately switched to spotify and the same tracks had no artifacts, so i must blame primephonic. can't the sony be forced to use SBC with the app? anyway, they sound too muddy to me, with too much upper treble. It worth noting that they also sound much hissier then the earfun (though jbl sound even hissier then them).

. fankyy

Unfortunately SBC has its own flaws (quantization noise on heavy bassnotes). In my opinion, aptX would just be the better choice because it eliminates this problem and also the drop in the highs aac has (beginning around 15 to 18 khz depending on implementation/bitrate handshake). And it sounds smoother, even though this might be my subjective perception. However, I think we really shouldn't be limited by only apple compatible codecs (sbc, aac) if there are -sound quality wise and latency wise- definitely better codecs out there. For testing audio products it would be amazing if you could, if you ever have some spare money and interest for it, at least get a cheaper recent midrange android phone something like the realme 6/7/8 pro, they have a headphone jack and can even play simultaneously to bluetooth and aux output. You would have the advantages of both worlds for audio reviews and could enjoy the benefits of aptx, aptxHD and ldac. I know very well that driver design/quality/enclosure and dsp tuning has way more impact on the sound, but should we really be limited by a codec, when better ones are supported by already a lot of products?

KSo

What is the song you used to demonstrate the AAC artifact? Would like to test it for my self. EDIT: Thanks to shazam I found it. :-)