It also seemed odd that flagship headphones from Sony came without spatial audio and head-tracking, which the AirPods had made a thing in late 2021. We must confess that while we were very impressed by the level of ANC that the headphones served up, we were a little disappointed at a discernible dip in audio quality as compared to its predecessors. Sony had launched the WH-1000XM5 in May 2022. The WH-1000XM5: Going from Super ANC to ANC Supremo So much so that we ended the year recommending them to anyone wanting TWS and headphones outside the Apple ecosystem. However, 2023 saw Google and Sony use steady software updates to take their 2022 flagships to another level altogether. Other brands have since followed suit, making software updates to their audio products more visible. They both were acclaimed as very good products in that year, but in 2023, both went from being good to great, courtesy of something that has been mainly associated with computers and smartphones – software updates. This is why we think that the best ANC TWS and the best wireless headphones of 2023 were actually products launched in 2022 – the Google Pixel Buds Pro TWS and the Sony WH-1000XM5 Bluetooth headphones. But there was a silver lining: some of the old wine actually got better – significantly better – this year. To be brutally honest, we basically got the same wine in new bottles. We got lots and lots of shiny new products, but for the most part, brands seemed to stick with what had broadly worked for them in the past – even the claims-to-be-radical Nothing repeated the broad design and functionality of its Ear range of flagship TWS. There was the usual flurry of launches and new versions of established ranges, but in Star Wars terms, they were more an Attack of the Clones rather than A New Hope. In terms of personal audio, 2023 was a relatively quiet year.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |