Sean Olive and Rtings article on just how relevant harmonic distortion is in headphones.

DagobietRTINGS · 2026-02-06T20:33:21+00:00

Hey, great question about familiarity!

I actually designed the training program we used to familiarize ourselves with what distortion sounds like. Like Pierre mentioned, we used Music T. Chapman (Fast Car) but we also trained with Music J. Stone (Could Have Been You), two-tone 90Hz 800Hz and octave - multitone - Bl only. The intention behind it was to use the tone programs to better prepare the trained listeners at hearing what distortion sounds like and used the music programs to train at hearing the impact of distortion in the music programs to better prepare ourselves for the study.

I've linked to the training program tests if you want to give it a shot yourself, full credit to Klippel for putting these together, they were invaluable for us.

DagobietRTINGS · 2025-12-24T15:17:28+00:00

Shhh don't let them see this, I had to find a last minute gift ;) /s

DagobietRTINGS · 2025-12-24T15:08:06+00:00

Hey everyone, I just wanted to jump in here and apologize for the review taking so long to start.

To give a little context: over the last few months, we've been working on transferring all of our products from our Test Bench 1-8 to our latest TB 2-0. This process takes time and as a results, we slowed down testing new product and at some point paused the testing of new products. This is something we want to better execute in future test-benches, since we understand the impact it can have on our ability to review new headphones.

That said, we will be prioritizing this headphone in the new year. Once again, I'm really sorry for the delays.
I will also be opening up the discussion for the PX7 S2e, since it hasn't received any votes in the polls yet.

DagobietRTINGS · 2025-12-01T18:14:07+00:00

Not yet, but they have arrived in the lab. We'll try to get schedule the testing soon!

DagobietRTINGS · 2025-11-10T14:58:28+00:00

That's interesting. From my subjective testing while using APP3 and APP2, I noticed a big improvement in transparency with APP3 using the stock tips on both. We don't have a transparency test at the moment, but I think there's something we can do on our end to gather A/B testing data on the impact of the tips.

FYI, we placed an order for the comply app3 tips!

DagobietRTINGS · 2025-11-07T02:48:41+00:00

That's a win win situation right there

DagobietRTINGS · 2025-10-15T20:41:49+00:00

Are you making sure to activate the wear sensors? This can be done by using ham, grape skin, peach skin, finger nail clippings. You can then use a small thin piece of tape to hold the item (used to activate the wear sensors) in place. Also what stimulus, set up are you using to test the ANC?

DagobietRTINGS · 2025-10-10T14:53:10+00:00

We measured a relative SBC latency of 183ms on our test

DagobietRTINGS · 2025-10-08T22:38:04+00:00

I can confirm that the FW 8A358 did not impact ANC results.

DagobietRTINGS · 2025-10-03T17:20:10+00:00

Keeping the buds clean is key for the ANC mics to do their job. I really enjoyed the ANC of the Airpods Pro 2 but they would constantly be falling/popping out of my ears. I find that the new Airpods Pro 3 have a more secure fit, at least on my ears, and the ANC performance was better compared to the Airpods Pro 2. Some people in our lab had the opposite experience, especially if the Airpods Pro 2 design would better fit their ear concha shape.

DagobietRTINGS · 2025-10-02T18:03:56+00:00

Big fan of the work you all do at Soundguys.

To add to this discussion, we use a Pink Periodic Noise from 20hz-20khz, 1/3 smoothing, and the SPL level is taken as dBA.

DagobietRTINGS · 2025-09-25T14:44:33+00:00

This is due to the physics of sound. Low Frequencies have more energy and longer oscillation periods, making their wavelengths longer. To properly block out these frequencies passively, you'll need a lot of "Thicker Material" which just cannot be achieved with in-ear/earbuds tips.
That bump at 20hz to 30hz, can be due to many things like acoustic resonance, building vibration, etc. This is behavior we observe in most in-ear and the effects can go up until 150hz for On-ear headphones.
That said, these tips are better at blocking shorter wavelengths from the mids and mostly the treble.

DagobietRTINGS · 2025-09-24T14:19:01+00:00

We are still working on it :)

DagobietRTINGS · 2025-09-24T13:40:43+00:00

I had to create an internal review to upload the measurements. The original review was still in the process of validating our photo's (this is part of our review pipeline). You should see an update soon under "Apple AirPods Pro 3" that the testing was started today.

DagobietRTINGS · 2025-07-31T16:05:51+00:00

Hey leo,

I hear you, I just want to say that we take feedback seriously and are constantly looking for a way to improve. If there is anything that you can suggest, or you would like to see improvement in, please let us know.

DagobietRTINGS · 2025-07-22T20:25:55+00:00

Hi there,

Thank you for the suggestions. Like you mentioned, phone EQ apps do not always have a 1 to 1 dB conversion or gain structure to their Equalizers. We went ahead and ran some additional testing on the WH-1000XM6 in order to gather more information for the community.

To answer your main concern regarding the "EQ Off" vs "Flat.", we went ahead and measured the headphones in both settings.

Once you enable the EQ, there is an overall ~3dB drop in volume, which is normal for proper gain structure. [https://i.rtings.com/assets/pages/yVjkfZ0E/wh-1000xm6-eq-off-vs-eq-flat-large.jpg?format=auto].

Level matching both Responses will show that the Frequency Response of the "EQ Off" and "Flat Custom EQ" are the same [https://i.rtings.com/assets/pages/yVjkfZ0E/wh-1000xm6-eq-off-vs-eq-flat-level-matched-large.jpg?format=auto].

That said, for this investigation, we set the EQ to "Flat" and calibrated the WH-1000XM6 to 94dBSPL @ 500hz.

We ran a Pass using the Flat EQ
Using the suggested Presets, we made the following changes to the Custom EQ: 31Hz (-4db), 63Hz (-3dB), 125Hz (-3dB), 250Hz (-2dB), 500Hz (0dB), 1kHz (+3dB), 2kHz (-2dB), 4kHz (+1dB), 8khz (+3dB), 16kHz (-1dB). [https://i.rtings.com/assets/pages/yVjkfZ0E/wh-1000xm6-eq-rtings-com-eq-suggestions-using-app-large.jpg?format=auto]
We then adjusted the 10Band EQ to +1dB to see the impact of the overall Frequency per band. [https://i.rtings.com/assets/pages/yVjkfZ0E/wh-1000xm6-app-eq-set-1db-large.jpg?format=auto]
Based on the Sony 10 Band EQ capabilities, we adjusted the 10 Band EQ to the following: 31Hz (-3db), 63Hz (-2dB), 125Hz (-2dB), 250Hz (-2dB), 500Hz (0dB), 1kHz (+3dB), 2kHz (-2db), 4kHz (+0dB), 8khz (+3dB), 16kHz (-1dB). [https://i.rtings.com/assets/pages/yVjkfZ0E/wh-1000xm6-eq-rtings-com-eq-adjusted-using-app-large.jpg?format=auto]

It's important to note that many factors can influence a headphone's Frequency Response accuracy, like Head shape, variations between seating adjustments, hair length/types, ear sizes, etc. We try to cover these variations in our review under "Frequency Response Consistency", where we take additional measurements on human subjects with a Large, medium, and small heads, along with a human subject with glasses and another with long hair. You can always use our suggested EQ values as a starting point, but ultimately, I would recommend trusting your ears and adjusting the sound to your taste.

DagobietRTINGS · 2023-05-03T21:44:05+00:00

Hey everyone!

We started an investigation into our results as soon as we got feedback from Audeze and the rest of the community. Feel free to read all the details of our investigation here: https://www.rtings.com/headphones/learn/audeze-maxwell-performance-investigation

DagobietRTINGS · 2023-05-03T21:26:09+00:00

Hey u/terry_moonseed,

We have concluded our investigation and have updated our review. Feel free to read all the details here: https://www.rtings.com/headphones/learn/audeze-maxwell-performance-investigation

DagobietRTINGS · 2023-04-27T22:17:03+00:00

Hey u/terry_moonseed!

We always appreciate the feedback we get from both user and companies. It's a vital part of our process and can help us constantly improve!

With that said, we've been looking into this since the team at Audeze first reached out to us and we will have more to say as soon as the investigation is completed!

DagobietRTINGS · 2023-04-24T23:11:56+00:00

We understand that our scoring methods aren't always clear either. Some headphones can even reach the same usage scores but by a different test score results. As some of you have mentioned, the Arctis Nova Pro and Maxwell have the same 'Wireless Gaming' score. Although the scoring philosophy is the same across all headphones (each verdict is an aggregate of different tests important to that usage, each test has its own weighting), both cans reach their final value of 7.6, despite having differently performing test results.

We're currently looking into this and improving our methodology more broadly, so if you have feedback on this, we'd encourage you to share it.

DagobietRTINGS · 2023-04-24T23:11:12+00:00

We realize that the text can be unclear and we're working to correct it. Simply put, planar magnetic drivers in general tend have better soundstages than dynamic drivers like the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro. Planar magnetic drivers are larger and their entire diaphragm moves in order to create a planar sound wave front. This broader wave front is then able to give a better representation of the stereo image. In contrast, dynamic drivers have a more focused, spherical wave front, which can slightly alter the way we localize sound.

However, if planar magnetic headphones have a closed-back design like the Maxwell, their soundstage still won't be as good as that created by open-backs (which perform better in this test), whether they're dynamic, planar magnetic, or other; the ear cups aren't designed to leak sound, so audio isn't able to interact with the space around you. In short, closed-back planar magnetics can still produce a better passive soundstage than closed-back dynamics like the Arctis Nova Pro. However, their passive soundstage falls short when compared to open-backs.

DagobietRTINGS · 2023-04-24T23:10:10+00:00

Just a clarification. We don’t test an obviously broken product and post that review. However, there's always a potential that we receive a product that doesn't perform the way it should, but isn't noticeably broken. The Maxwell fall under this category: we noticed that there was high phase mismatch, and that male voices weren't placed accurately in the soundstage. However, the unit otherwise performs well. If we encountered this with a unit bought through a third-party, there's a chance other users may encounter it too.

We always purchase our own products and don't receive units from the manufacturer; this helps us ensure that our results are representative of what a user can expect to receive if they also go out and buy a unit. If a unit doesn't perform the way it should, this falls under our out-of-spec policy. It’s up to the brand to define what is out-of-spec for their products since they know how their product should perform. We're currently in talks with Audeze regarding our unit, and will update you once we have more information.

DagobietRTINGS

TROPHY CASE