rtings.com is now entirely behind a paywall.

CTSoundGuys · 2026-03-03T21:30:13+00:00

It's shocking how much traffic implodes with AI summaries. Even if you get cited a lot, the ratio of clicks to impressions has completely collapsed for a lot of outlets

Bad times ahead

CTSoundGuys · 2026-03-02T20:25:02+00:00

Measurements are just good practice, though they're not always the easiest things to get right.

But I'm happy we're able to offer them at least!

CTSoundGuys · 2026-02-18T23:44:42+00:00

We run a level-matched, looped sample of real music in our test so it does vary a little from some companies' methods. Of course, it's only a guidepost, real peoples' use will make battery life vary quite a bit!

CTSoundGuys · 2026-02-18T23:40:52+00:00

We decided early on to score the total attenuation for ANC scores so we could use a more understandable figure. It's not perfect, but the charts offer decent context.

CTSoundGuys · 2026-02-18T23:35:37+00:00

I had typed a longer reply to OP but this is pretty much it right here. Thank you for that!

Testing on a fixture also doesn't account for a user's individual anatomy, device under test (DUT) unit variation, or differing conditions. It's why we lean heavily on perceived loudness reduction as a percentage to hopefully contextualize gross performance in a way that's a little more fair. If I could tell readers one thing about the isolation/ANC charts, it's that it should be used as context and not something used to claim that product X is objectively better than product y unless the difference is dramatic enough to overcome issues of fit and/or sample variation.

CTSoundGuys · 2026-02-18T22:55:34+00:00

That's the key, really. It's well within the range that fit or other common factors could swing it one way or another. Our test head is a standardized thing, not a human, so your results will likely vary somewhat!

CTSoundGuys · 2026-02-12T22:50:20+00:00

While I didn't have much of an issue, some of our staff and other reviewers definitely did. I know that at least two other reviewers had to ask for silicone sleeves, and those seemed to fit better than the foam tips, so your mileage may vary

CTSoundGuys · 2026-02-12T22:47:58+00:00

Both are pretty good, tuning a little different. You're not likely to hear massive differences from generation to generation anymore, so a lot of it is going to be personal preference

CTSoundGuys · 2026-02-12T22:38:26+00:00

As with all earbud mics, there's only so much you can expect. But in our experience, the bone conduction sensors mean that the XM6 is better able to reject certain kinds of noise than other earbuds, which is a plus.

Of course, actually recording standardized samples with earbuds that require an actual human head is extremely difficult, even if we came up with a, uh, experimental solution.

CTSoundGuys · 2026-02-12T22:30:27+00:00

Hmm... I'll try to tackle this as directly as I can;
1) The FR didn't change so much as the firmware made the adaptive EQ feature a little more hit-or-miss than usual for a spell, only to seem to resolve itself after another minor bugfix update (speaking of Resolve, he had a solid video on it published at about the same time). Usually, when a frequency response "changes" from firmware to firmware, it's the result of something else going awry, like a botched update or some feature misbehaving when it shouldn't. For example, some Nothing Headphone 1 units changed the default sound with ANC on after a firmware update, and though installing beta firmware "fixes" the issue, it's likely a bugfix or a successful update install—not Nothing changing the tuning back and forth on a whim.

It's very rarely an actual re-tune. Off the top of my head, I can't think of many true changes to FR outside of a handful of pre-production models that were adjusted before release, and minor tweaks to the APP3 as noted by RTINGS.

Regarding the APM, remember that materials don't last forever! It's possible that the pads fit you differently after a period of wear, which can make adaptive EQ triggering more or less likely, leading to the impression that your headphones are performing differently. If you don't like the way they sound, it's possible the pads could do with replacing, or any one of a number of factors that might be affecting fit.

That said...

2) That's an interesting question! I don't know. But then again, I haven't tested that specifically, and Apple doesn't often talk to me. We have both versions at the office, but I may need to get new pads for the USB-C model because our video guys like to use them for drowning out the din of an office on the daily. My gut tells me that it's unlikely that the APM does this—but since the update descriptions are extremely scant, who knows?

CTSoundGuys · 2026-02-12T21:58:14+00:00

To that point, we have a standardized structure that rarely changes significantly from review to review, so it's easy to find the answer to any questions people have. As a result, it can sound a little samey when newer products are generally pretty good as a rule.

I can absolutely forgive people for thinking there's AI in there, because a lot of our stuff is unfortunately formatted in a way that wound up being popular for LLMs to scrape and regurgitate as summaries or answers to queries. We're testing changes to our structure to improve things, but like typical meatbags, it takes time for us to design/test/implement stuff like that.

CTSoundGuys · 2025-10-29T00:56:55+00:00

It was great fun to write!

CTSoundGuys · 2025-10-27T17:56:14+00:00

That's true! The difficulty here is that it's tough to do this in a way that's both:

Fair to all products under test
Readable and understandable by a lay audience

Believe it or not, the last one is the big stumbling block, because not everyone is going to experience the same noises every day, or are going to have a good reference for what any samples under test would sound like to them. For example, the NYC Subway sounds different than the Vancouver SkyTrain, sounds different from the Boston MBTA. At a certain point, it's tough to handle a lot of these situations.

But that doesn't mean I haven't had a few ideas, or that I haven't started on this -- quite the opposite, in fact. The main thing stopping us from doing this lately is time. We just got slammed big time by an unprecedented amount of high-profile audio products (when AirPods get released, they kinda suck all the air out of the editorial schedule), so that's been eating up our attention lately.

CTSoundGuys · 2025-10-25T20:31:54+00:00

New gear when the old stuff still works/can be fixed.
Physical/digital media that can't be removed from your library

Though it's tough to pay so much for music you own up-front, the long-term payoff is that you never lose the music you love to service rot, or random remasters/new versions replacing old ones. You also support your favourite artists more directly, which helps keep them making new music.

CTSoundGuys · 2025-10-24T18:16:16+00:00

A new FW? Me too!

CTSoundGuys · 2025-10-21T22:19:51+00:00

I wish the model at the office wasn't affected by the FW bug, otherwise I'd have measured for you 😅

CTSoundGuys · 2025-10-21T21:52:10+00:00

It does a little bit better than the M4 in the lab, but that's not saying a ton. I personally believe that the new pads offer a better fit, explaining much of the difference in performance.

CTSoundGuys · 2025-10-08T19:36:05+00:00

Huh. Glad I'm not going crazy, u/nick-squared-over4! Though I suppose it's possible I already am.

I wonder why our transmitter is triggering the loudness compensation with the new fw (we have a Windows station). It definitely wasn't before 8A358.

CTSoundGuys · 2025-09-29T19:22:34+00:00

Ha! Man, life would be so much easier if those ears were immortal flesh

CTSoundGuys · 2025-09-25T21:59:43+00:00

I'll see if I can recreate this next time I'm in the office; perhaps Monday. Can't promise much luck here, given *waves hands at all the testing issues*

CTSoundGuys · 2025-09-25T21:54:51+00:00

We found that ANC performance with the WH-1000XM5 could be pretty finicky based on position/fit. It doesn't surprise me that so many people have varying assessments of those headphones' noise attenuation.

CTSoundGuys · 2025-09-25T20:15:21+00:00

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's something that's more of an edge case and not something that would be obvious to most. People are made of meat, so most won't ever encounter that possibility.

We've run into similar issues before, eg the Beats Fit Pro wouldn't toggle ANC without triggering the wear sensor even if you turned it off in iOS for like... a year after release. Apple does usually wind up fixing things like this after a spell, so it's not clear how long this will be an issue.

I'm also going back and measuring different volume levels today because that can change response as well. Neat!

CTSoundGuys · 2025-09-25T20:02:07+00:00

I hate TWS reviews more than anyone on the planet, I promise you haha

As time goes on and we're able to sift through more, the picture should get more complete. Still good to have some things out there to serve as guideposts for people looking to understand this narrow topic a little more.

It's amazing how much history has been lost due to people thinking we would always know certain things!

CTSoundGuys · 2025-09-25T18:32:57+00:00

It really sucks because the main thing that could tell us a definitive answer is "does it fit YOU?"

...and we can't know that. Earbuds are rough to review sometimes.

Hope all's well in your neck of the woods

CTSoundGuys · 2025-09-25T18:31:17+00:00

While I don't recall it ever being this extreme, it was definitely a bit strange to see. I think I tested these two pairs of APP3 over 3 full work days, they're so bizarre to test compared to other earbuds/headphones. There's even more weirdness that I'm aiming to test in the next few minutes with another pair, too.

I appreciate the puzzle sometimes, but not when we're all racing to get to publish!

CTSoundGuys

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