The Professional X, just like the Between 3ANC earlier than them, use a number of drivers: a dynamic unit for the bottom frequencies paired with a twin set of Knowles balanced armatures for the upper-mids and highs. Identical to in a tower speaker that has a woofer, a midrange, and a tweeter, multi-driver earbuds divide and conquer by sending particular frequencies to a driver that’s been tuned to deal with them.
Out of the field, the earbuds are set to Standing Signature—the Professional X’s default tuning. It’s a properly balanced EQ that reinforces neither highs nor lows, but nonetheless possesses a heat tone. There’s easy element within the midrange, and the highs have wonderful readability. Bass is tightly managed; even when pushing the Professional X to 95% quantity, Billie Eilish’s bass-tastic “dangerous man” sounded good, with no discernible distortion.
Switching to the Knowles Most popular preset provides an enormous bump to the higher mids and highs to indicate off what these balanced armatures can do. Usually, this type of tuning doesn’t do it for me, however on the Professional X, I used to be impressed by how pleasing it was. For those who’ve discovered your self drawn to Bose’s high-energy sound signature prior to now, this preset will get you very shut.
For those who can’t discover your favourite steadiness from among the many 5 out there presets, you’ll be able to roll your individual. The truth is, the most effective options is creating customized EQ presets by beginning with an present one. I goosed Standing Signature’s low-end only a tad, and obtained precisely the combination I wished. On that be aware, I’ve to provide Standing props for its app; it’s tremendous clear and really straightforward to make use of.
The soundstage isn’t particularly large—I’d place its extremities about 3-6 inches outdoors my head—however it’s obtained wonderful precision. Particular person components stand out from one another so clearly that you would be able to mentally level on the numerous musicians enjoying in entrance of you. A jazz traditional like Dave Brubeck’s “Take 5” advantages rather a lot from the Professional X’s clear separation of sounds, letting you respect every instrument in its personal area.
I did most of my listening on an iPhone 16, however it’s price noting that the Professional X assist Sony’s high-quality LDAC Bluetooth codec. For those who’re on Android, ensure you’ve obtained it enabled for a good smoother, extra refined efficiency.
In opposition to the Crowd
{Photograph}: Simon Cohen
I swapped the Professional X with Sony’s WF-1000XM5, Bose’s QuietComfort Extremely Earbuds, Sennheiser’s Momentum True Wi-fi 4, and Technics’ EAH-Z100. The Standing Professional X greater than held their very own on sound high quality. I personally nonetheless want the XM5’s sound signature due to its extra resonant bass response, however that’s extra about my style than any shortcomings of the Professional X—they’re wonderful.