[hanswannop]

Just picked up some XM3s last week. It’s the most I’ve ever spent on headphones, but as soon as I tried them on and the noise cancelling kicked in I knew it was money well spent. A little bit of high frequency still comes through but it works so well that the initial experience is a little eerie. I’m prone to finding many headphones apply too much pressure to the top and sides very quickly, these I can happily use for a few hours at a time. I’m not an audiophile by any stretch but I have found other Bluetooth headphones I’ve tried pretty lacking, and streaming with LDAC on these sounds really great to me, if a touch cool/clinical. Bass is well handled as long as you’re not producing, it isn’t monitor level flat, nor Beats muddy. Touch interface takes some getting used to, I’d probably prefer buttons, but it does avoid applying lateral pressure so it’s a win on the comfort front. I haven’t tried competing high end ACN products from Bose and Shure (wasn’t possible do to Covid restrictions here), but you won’t be disappointed with these… or the XM4 presumably, the 100€ premium was hard to justify for me.