Sony WH-1000XM3

Sony WH-1000XM3 

No longer with us……RIP.  I have replaced it with a Sony WH-1000XM4.

The Sony WH-1000XM3 is a wireless noise cancelling consumer headphone. Some gory details are found on the  RAA website.

I use this headphone when cycling and traveling by train, which I do on almost a daily basis. Consequently, I know the sound of these headphones very well. For this reason, I always check my ‘final’ mixes/masters on these headphones to see how it sounds compared to other commercial (Spotify) productions. I can immediately tell if something obvious is wrong. However, these are not headphones useful for mixing and mastering, and not all mixing/mastering artefacts will be audible on these headphones. Therefore, my regular monitor system (e.g., Kali IN-8, Avantones, VSX) remains in place.

Frequency Response

The Sony WH-1000XM3’s default sound profile is bass-heavy. Out-of-the-box, these headphones are well-suited for listening to genres like dubstep and electronica, with plenty of extra thump and rumble, well-balanced mids, and a slightly under-emphasized treble response. See also [here]. This unbalanced frequency response is very clear when comparing it to my other monitoring systems (e.g., Kali IN-8, Avantones, VSX).

Specifications

HEADPHONE TYPE
Closed, dynamic

DRIVER UNIT:
40mm, dome type (CCAW Voice coil)

MAGNET
Neodymium

IMPEDANCE (OHM)
47 ohm (1kHz) (when connecting via the headphone cable with the unit turned on) , 16 ohm (1kHz) (when connecting via the headphone cable with the unit turned off)

DIAPHRAGM
Aluminum coated LCP

FREQUENCY RESPONSE
4 – 40,000Hz

FREQUENCY RESPONSE (ACTIVE OPERATION)
4 – 40,000Hz

FREQUENCY RESPONSE(BLUETOOTH® COMMUNICATION)
20Hz – 20,000Hz (44.1kHz Sampling) / 20Hz – 40,000Hz (LDAC 96kHz Sampling, 990kbps)

SENSITIVITIES (DB/MW)
104.5dB / mW (1kHz) (when connecting via the headphone cable with the unit turned on), 101dB / mW (1kHz) (when connecting via the headphone cable with the unit turned off)

RIP