Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Tested on Note 9. WF-1000XM4 (XM4), Galaxy Buds Pro (GBP), and QuietComfort Earbuds (QC). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SOUND: *XM4 is a bit too much in the bass, and I couldn’t pick out details as well. Everything seemed narrow like I was really close to the speakers. Tuning via EQ and switching the foam for silicone helped bring the sound closer to what I prefer. But I'm pretty sure most people, especially if they don't A/B test, will love the XM4 sound out of the box--it's very fun. *I prefer the sound on the GBP, but they all sound really good for true wireless earbuds. I wouldn’t pick one out of the three on sound quality, alone. *Note on foam vs. silicone: XM4 sounds very narrow/bassy because of the foam. Using silicone will change the sound quality. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- COMFORT: XM4: *Can’t put foam on as easily as silicone. Once they expand, they're very secure and comfortable but can feel crowded after a while. *Supported by the ear, but there is a space between the bud and ear. Noticeable annoyance when your ear hits the buds while running. *Large and bulky (doesn’t pass the pillow test). GBP: *Silicone on the GBP is slippery w/ sweat. I know I had to adjust them every couple of minutes if I was working out. *The GBP slides in easily, and I barely feel them. They go into the ear canal a bit less than the XM4 (less invasive). *Small/flush enough to pass the pillow test, but you’ll still feel them since they go a bit deeper in the ear canal than the air pods pros. Diofit silicone ear tips are much softer than the stock tips; tremendously improved the comfort and fit. QC: *These fit the easiest by just plugging the outside of the ear canal. *But you must rotate the earbud to do so, and then the ear wing doesn’t hook onto anything; if fitted correctly, the ear wing just pushes back on the antihelix to ensure your ear canal is plugged. *Since they’re silicone, you’ll have to readjust the earbuds when sweat/earwax gets in the way. *Easiest to fall off during a rigorous head-shaking test (obviously hard to replicate in normal use though). *The biggest/bulkiest of the three (doesn’t pass the pillow test). *Note on foam vs. silicone: Foam is more secure and great when exercising. But it does feel congested over time, especially if you don’t have the right size on. Depending on the softness of the ear tip, silicone can vary in comfort and may not be the best for grip. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- USABILITY: GBP: *The GBP is very sensitive and small. Touch controls activate when you're adjusting your earbuds. *Voice-detect. Activates when I brush my teeth w/ an electric toothbrush. Yet, the GBP isn't as sensitive when you're actually talking, like saying "hello" which I have to repeat twice for it to work. It's useful when it works like it should, though. *Can have a volume control, playback function, and NC/ambient switch enabled if you use edge touching for volume. No passthrough. *I personally love edge touching. I can get it working by just touching my ear. XM4: *The XM4 is more polished when it comes to controls. No issues found. *The XM4, however, doesn't allow you to use NC/ambient, media playback, and volume; you must pick 2 out of the 3. *I found ditching NC/ambient/passthrough function and using the adaptive sound control, voice detection, and voice assistance (need to set up Google Assistance via the Headphones app first) to be an adequate substitute whenever you want to use ambient mode. *The adaptive sound control determines if you need ambient mode if you’re moving or if you’re in a location that you set to ambient mode. It determines this by your phone, so if you set your phone down while moving about, you’ll still be in NC. QC: *Impossible to have any accidental touches. Pause/play is double tap and the earbud itself is very big. *Can’t use both forwards/backward. Must pick one as a shortcut. *Volume slider sometimes increases/decreases too much depending on how you swipe. *Switching between NC modes is tedious. Wish there were a way to only use 2 levels, but it forces you to rotate between 3. *Note on foam vs. silicone: You have to compress foam before inserting them, so if you don’t wash your ear tips/fingers, you might run into some sanitary/durability problems. Silicone is easy to put on, very durable, and easy to clean. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOISE-CANCELLING: XM4 and Bose are comparable. I don't think it's worth trying to figure out which of the two is better in NC. The GBP is weaker, but it is still very good out in public. It also has the benefit of less cabin pressure. *Bose has 11 modes of NC from full NC to ambient mode. *XM4 has 1 NC and 20 levels of ambient mode. *GBP has 2 modes of NC, 4 of ambient sound, 2 of which amplify the environment a lot. And you can toggle hearing enhancement which is an even higher level of ambient sound. Can be good to hear more, but also makes stuff like car doors sound way too harsh. *Note on foam vs. silicone: XM4 has amazing NC because of the foam. If you can’t get a good seal and/or want to use silicone, the NC will not be as effective. The QC has stiff silicone (at least compared to the QC20), so it's a tradeoff between NC and comfort. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CASE: *XM4: Good, small case. VERY strong magnets. *GBP: Good, small case. Sometimes I mix the left and right earbuds, but the case only closes when they’re in the right place. *QC: The worst. Biggest case. Lowest battery life capacity. Weakest magnets. The latch doesn’t work if you simply press it; you must deliberately put some pressure on it and push it in. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONCLUSION: Pricewise, I think the GBP offers the best value out of any noise-canceling true wireless earbuds I tried, but they don’t have an app for IOS AFAIK. The XM4 is IMO a better earbud to use (polished controls, hands-free voice assistance, better App/EQ), but I don’t know if it’s worth costing $100 more than the GBP. I don’t think the QC is worth the price unless you really like the ear tips. Regardless, if you have any of the three and are fine with them, there isn’t really a need to switch. They’re just noise-canceling true wireless earbuds--they all do the job. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EDIT: Found my first bug with the XM4. Pausing your music or changing noise-canceling modes will cause a whooshing/pulsating effect from your right earbud to the left. Thought it was the noise-canceling trying to turn itself on via ambient sound control but turning it off didn't fix it. It's a subtle but noticeable sound with noise canceling on. With ambient mode on, it's very apparent. LATE EDIT: Found the culprit. It's LDAC/DSEE. Disabling both and using AAC only fixes it, so you'll probably have to wait for a firmware fix. EDIT2: If you use Google voice assistance (haven't tested Alexa) with the XM4 and want to use an earbud independently, you can only do that with the earbud you assigned playback functions. If you use the default voice assistance (your phone), you can use either earbud by itself but can’t use voice assistance to do playback/NC functions. LAST EDIT: Returned the XM4s. Going to be keeping the GBP as they're better to use in daily use (using the azla crystal tips RN). I think the XM4 earbud is really good if you're prioritizing on ANC while having a good package (obviously the GBP isn't the best at ANC). Now that I've been using them for a while now, I do think it's worth spending $100 more if you really want the best ANC (I don't). As for sound quality, I found that the treble preset is the best. . . . either that or the bright preset should have been the stock tuning IMO. Experiment with raising 2.5k/6.3k Hz, depending on the ear tips you use on the XM4. Maybe the 16k hz if you want some more air. As for the sound quality vs the GBP, I think they're the same if you tune them both to your liking. The LDAC/DSEE vs scalable isn't that noticeable, and the XM4's dynamic driver does well up against the GBP's subwoofer/tweeter combo. IMO, the only way to get a "better" sound quality earbud is to include more drivers, like your typical audiophile IEMs . . . but then, you'd be buying those instead of TWEs.