Received mine today. Estimated ship date was March 16th. Did not ship until the 20th. Arrived in 2 days on the 22nd. I received a shipping email from Massdrop shortly after receiving the Fedex notification. A little behind schedule, but for the price I was willing to wait.
I ordered the Black version. They are New condition and I am very happy so far with my testing. I have a Sony Xperia XZ Premium for my phone, so I was really looking to get an over-the-ear headphone to take advantage of the LDAC quality. I've loaded some FLAC files on my phone, and If I listen to the same song comparing Spotify's extreme quality via LDAC to a FLAC file via LDAC, the FLAC via LDAC sounds amazing. I believe Spotify Extreme is 320 kbps OGG, which don't get me wrong, sounded much better than it did before too, just not as good as FLAC, so the bump up to a max of 990kbps was noticeable to me. You are definitely getting something extra through with the additional bandwidth of LDAC (although I have no formal testing equipment to prove this, just a good old fashioned ear test). 320 kbps MP3s and above sound amazing as well, although they probably don't benefit quite as much as true HD lossless formats. I've compared them to some wired Audio Technica ATH-M50s, wireless Jlab Epic BT 2 earbuds, and wireless Sony MDR-XB80BS earbuds. I also tested a floor model at Best Buy prior to purchasing and I personally preferred them to the Bose QC35s, and I figured Sony was the way to go having an LDAC compatible device. The WH1000XM2's are the best so far IMO. Very happy with the sound for my tastes. I listen to a bit of everything Rock/Hip-hop/electronic/jazz/acoustic/low-fi/podcasts/etc. so I find them to be overall very balanced across multiple sound profiles. I have the Sony Headphone App installed, but I am only using it for the Noise Cancelling options. The sound and EQ options are not available over LDAC (only SBC, which can be switched to in situations to prioritize stability over quality). SBC sounds good compared to other headphones, and okay compared to LDAC. If you are listening to lower-res audio files or lower quality streaming the SBC will be good enough. I honestly didn't find much of a sound advantage being able to tweak the Headphone app EQ with SBC, and even over LDAC, I prefer a pure connection (disabling DSEE HX and ClearAudio+ options). I found DSEE HX could "maybe" help in certain situations but overall I don't think its worth keeping it enabled. I can use the built-in software EQ in my phone over LDAC, so that comes in handy if I want to tweak at all.
Noise Cancelling works very well. I tested listening to music while also having music blaring through some speakers in my room and it did a great job drowning out speakers at reasonable levels, TV noise and my washing machine running. Even when listening to a podcast which is just dialogue it held up really well IMO, as long as the external noise wasn't overwhelmingly loud. I don't have a lot of experience with other noise cancelling headphones, but I have used some over the years and tried friends, and this is the most impressive I can recall. I have noticed a little bit of "ear pressure" change when the NC is really kicked on drowning out louder noises when I put them on or off, but my ear's didn't pop or anything, it was just noticeable slightly.
Build quality looks good and no sign of a cracking problem, but I only just got them. I like the touch controls, they work just fine for me but its not necessarily better or worse than buttons or dials. One MAJOR plus of the touch panel is the Quick Attention mode. It is so simple, intuitive, and convenient, but really comes in handy. Surprised at how much I appreciate it, as I consider stuff like this a "bonus" feature. Comfort is definitely good, I have been wearing them for a while now today and have felt no discomfort, and have no complaints.
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I ordered the Black version. They are New condition and I am very happy so far with my testing. I have a Sony Xperia XZ Premium for my phone, so I was really looking to get an over-the-ear headphone to take advantage of the LDAC quality. I've loaded some FLAC files on my phone, and If I listen to the same song comparing Spotify's extreme quality via LDAC to a FLAC file via LDAC, the FLAC via LDAC sounds amazing. I believe Spotify Extreme is 320 kbps OGG, which don't get me wrong, sounded much better than it did before too, just not as good as FLAC, so the bump up to a max of 990kbps was noticeable to me. You are definitely getting something extra through with the additional bandwidth of LDAC (although I have no formal testing equipment to prove this, just a good old fashioned ear test). 320 kbps MP3s and above sound amazing as well, although they probably don't benefit quite as much as true HD lossless formats. I've compared them to some wired Audio Technica ATH-M50s, wireless Jlab Epic BT 2 earbuds, and wireless Sony MDR-XB80BS earbuds. I also tested a floor model at Best Buy prior to purchasing and I personally preferred them to the Bose QC35s, and I figured Sony was the way to go having an LDAC compatible device. The WH1000XM2's are the best so far IMO. Very happy with the sound for my tastes. I listen to a bit of everything Rock/Hip-hop/electronic/jazz/acoustic/low-fi/podcasts/etc. so I find them to be overall very balanced across multiple sound profiles. I have the Sony Headphone App installed, but I am only using it for the Noise Cancelling options. The sound and EQ options are not available over LDAC (only SBC, which can be switched to in situations to prioritize stability over quality). SBC sounds good compared to other headphones, and okay compared to LDAC. If you are listening to lower-res audio files or lower quality streaming the SBC will be good enough. I honestly didn't find much of a sound advantage being able to tweak the Headphone app EQ with SBC, and even over LDAC, I prefer a pure connection (disabling DSEE HX and ClearAudio+ options). I found DSEE HX could "maybe" help in certain situations but overall I don't think its worth keeping it enabled. I can use the built-in software EQ in my phone over LDAC, so that comes in handy if I want to tweak at all.
Noise Cancelling works very well. I tested listening to music while also having music blaring through some speakers in my room and it did a great job drowning out speakers at reasonable levels, TV noise and my washing machine running. Even when listening to a podcast which is just dialogue it held up really well IMO, as long as the external noise wasn't overwhelmingly loud. I don't have a lot of experience with other noise cancelling headphones, but I have used some over the years and tried friends, and this is the most impressive I can recall. I have noticed a little bit of "ear pressure" change when the NC is really kicked on drowning out louder noises when I put them on or off, but my ear's didn't pop or anything, it was just noticeable slightly.
Build quality looks good and no sign of a cracking problem, but I only just got them. I like the touch controls, they work just fine for me but its not necessarily better or worse than buttons or dials. One MAJOR plus of the touch panel is the Quick Attention mode. It is so simple, intuitive, and convenient, but really comes in handy. Surprised at how much I appreciate it, as I consider stuff like this a "bonus" feature. Comfort is definitely good, I have been wearing them for a while now today and have felt no discomfort, and have no complaints.