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Comment by bhaney | Hacker News Reader

I also have a pair of XM4s. I installed the app briefly when I first got them so I could turn off the voice notifications on connection/mode change, and then immediately uninstalled it and have never needed it again. Why on earth would I want to update the firmware on my perfectly working headphones?

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* Resolves Bluetooth security issues (17 October 2024)

* Enhances the security features of the system software

* Improves Bluetooth connection stability

* Improves the hands-free calling quality

* Fixes an issue where the headphones cannot be paired on a Windows computer

* Fixes an issue where, when there are 2 Bluetooth devices connected at the same time, the connected devices repeatedly disconnect and reconnect

* Improves general performance of the headphones

Only 5th and 6th to be believed. Every time a manufacturer says vague descriptions like "security" or "performance" fixes, be wary - they probably removing perfectly working functionality for "reasons".

If it was something that really added value to the user they would mention it specifically (like on the 5th and 6th items).

I have a Dell laptop that mentioned such vague "improvements". After updating the firmware I couldn't undervolt anymore. Luckily I was able to downgrade.

> Every time a manufacturer says vague descriptions like "security" or "performance" fixes, be wary - they probably removing perfectly working functionality for "reasons"

I have a pair of WF-1000XM3s and this is painfully true. ANC was brilliant on these until I naively updated, and whoosh - instantly and grossly degraded ANC, to the point I previously almost didn't hear people talking at distance, keyboard chatter, city traffic etc. and now I do, no matter the app settings.

I wanted to upgrade to the in-ear XM4s, but after this? NEVER again Sony. At least for portable audio. I got instead a pair of cheap QCY HT07s (then $28, now ~$20) and got quite surprised with ANC performance on these: easily beats the crap of the XM3s-on-latest-firmware, and gets close to the previous one in audio quality. Which is a lot to say about Sony "updates".

updates are malware

Actual answer: better ANC. ANC algorithm improvements are one of the more common items I've seen in headphone firmware changelogs. Also, Bluetooth upgrades. I can't remember which, but one of my pairs of headphones gained multipoint support a year or so after release via a software update.

Or worse ANC.

On the Bose 700 headphones there was quite a bit of controversy after many users reported the ANC performance getting worse after an update. This was a few years after the headphones were released, so there were theories of it being intentional degradation to get people to upgrade.

Personally I didn't notice any difference. Bose denied any wrongdoing and seemed to spend real effort on investigating the customer complains.

What if they release a firmware update that ads “immersive advertisements” to your audio? I’d hate to miss out on that.

"Want a break from the ads?"

Because a version 1.0 of anything predates power management bugs fixed in 1.28, massive connection improvement in 1.33, basic compatibility fix in 1.57, whole load of problems added in 2.00.00 and binary signature enforcement added at some point(not real world examples).

By the way, Sony wearable products make use of their proprietary NN inference library called Nnabla, with a free helper GUI app Neural Network Console for Windows that can export low-code code into Spresense board codes. It is apparently used across the brand for tiny and transparent features like on-head detection through accelerometers. Not super related, but just so you know...

The firmware update does fix/cause battery issues depends on your batch. The wf-1000xm4 changed the battery model(thus voltage) it's using. And update the firmware to match the new battery model. However the new firmware did not handle different type of battery correctly. And damaged quite a few devices with incorrect voltage setting. (Some devices are also preload with these incorrect config) There is a firmware update to correct this setting problem.

How is the audio compression codec[0] negotiated between the phone and the headphones over Bluetooth? IIRC, Sony supports higher quality codes outside of the standard BT required ones. Is the app required for that negotiation or is it all in the operating system now?

[0] There is no lossless high quality audio over BT, only a bunch of lossy codecs.

IIRC, the app isn't actively involved in bluetooth audio negotiations, but it does allow you to change settings within the headphones around what codecs it will advertise support for and prefer to use. Those settings have reasonable defaults and any changes you make persist on the headphones even if you uninstall the app.

The app enables other features like changing EQs, etc.

Yeah, I'm not sure why I'd want that on my headphones themselves. I just set it to a neutral EQ during initial setup, and now I change the EQs elsewhere in the audio pipeline (music app, mixer, etc) just like we were all doing before the advent of headphones with their own apps.

None of my headphones have firmware to update. They connect with copper (8000BCE) wires (1830CE) to a 3.5mm jack (1950CE) based on a 1/4" phone plug (1890CE). Some of them use neodymium (1885CE) magnets.

If I want equalization or convolution I apply them upstream shortly after decoding.

The EQ settings should depend on what you device you are using to listen - your headphones or your phone's internal speaker - according to their natural response curves.

I don't think major music listening apps will switch your EQ automatically settings based on your listening device. So either you are doing that manually every time you switch devices, or you set your headphone EQ directly.

In any case, the software around this is not clean, and has lots of room for improvement.

I use EQ only to get speakers to a more baseline neutral response so it makes sense to set them on the device themselves.

I’ve had to set EQ on Bluetooth speakers themselves that didn’t sound so good out of the box.

Though at that point I rather throw away the speakers and get better ones…

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