Denon PerL Pro True Wireless Earbuds - Adaptive Active Noise Cancelling, Personalized Sound with Masimo Adaptive Acoustic Technology, Spatial Audio, Long-Lasting Battery, Wireless Charging, Black

nabbed them for open box price around $100. Absolute steal. Not totally convinced by the custom sound profile, which could be tricking the user with an intentionally terrible frequency response, which makes the custom profile seem technology seem more legitimate than it is. I'm basing this off the fact that they it sounded much better just paired up to Bluetooth without the app. So whatever my custom profile was using for comparison was something other than a stock setup; in my opinion it was intentionally compromised as a means to highlight the relative improvement from terrible to fairly decent. However, at the end of the day if they sound awesome in the end, then the end justifies the means, and after applying eq ontop of the custom profile, these sound amazing. As detailed as I've ever heard and i run LCD-3's, PRAT is through the roof, they attack fast with clean impactful bass. Note on the bass, it's easily adjusted from neutral response all the way to brain scrambling weaponry. Even with the bass it manages to preserve a sense of air with decent soundstage. It's all of the energy with non of the sibilance. Metal lovers dream. I was coming from Airpods Pro 2nd Gen and could not find an upgrade to the sound quality that justified retiring what are still very good earbuds. These are in a different league. I can't speak for call quality and i don't really care. ANC isn't great and I don't care. Transparency appears quite finicky using the touch function (works fine in app) and I don't really care. battery life is an improvement on the airpods without question. The sound is so good that everything else that isn't perfect is quickly forgiven, at least for me. at $300 or less, it's very good value. For $100, I definitely stole them.Responding to other reviews: these are not heavy in the slightest - that's 100% false. The fit can be iffy but they offer enough ways to make that a non-issue but you'll have to find what works and take the time. They look huge in the pics but when you're wearing them they are actually one of the better looking buds out there.

Just after the Sennheiser True Wireless Momentum 4 earbuds dethroned my Bose QC Ultra earbuds, mainly for the wireless charging case and punchy sound, the Denon Perl Pro came on sale. What was I supposed to do than to try this mythical contender that's relatively hard to find in the wild?Anyway, my home entertainment system is completely Denon and it never let me down. What really sparked my interest beyond that, however, is the fantastic smart speaker Home 250 which impresses me with the crystal clear sound, even compared to an Amazon Echo Studio and Bose Portable Smart Speaker in the same household. So, time to try out the Denon Perl Pro, with the 'Pro' being important for lossless codec support and custom sound profiles.The Denon Perl Pro is visually very similar to the standard model. The charging case is smaller than the Bose QC Ultra and the Sennheiser TWM4, but still larger than the Apple AirPods Pro 2. That may matter more to some than others. However, the Bose QC Ultra case being the only one of the mentioned examples that doesn't charge wirelessly despite feeling arguably the largest. Where the Denon case fails, however, is the ergonomics of removing the earbuds from it. It's easily the worst ergonomics of all four examples. Not a deal breaker but feels like an oversight nevertheless.The size and weight of the earbuds are sometimes mentioned as a negative. Neither bother me much, but if those criteria are important to you, it may be the main reason to look elsewhere. Maybe make sure to actually try them as this is a rather subjective thing. The large circular design sure looks different.The fit out of the box suits me just fine, just like the Bose and the Sennheiser. That is something I cannot say about the AirPods which never really fit me well. The touch buttons can be customized, with one odd difference: Tap-and-hold is reserved to reset/restart the earbuds, a unique feature, but also unavailable to the common "Volume Up/Down" function. The Tap-tap-hold is less intuitive and not always easy to execute.The iPhone app is decent, even if a bit temperamental, as the earbuds shut down in the case and become invisible to the app. Reconnecting then takes a few seconds, by far longer than any of the other earbuds I own. Once connected, you get basic settings in the home screen and most options are hidden away in the settings. There is no conversation awareness, a specialty of the AirPods, but spatial audio, environmental awareness (pass thru) are. The latter isn't configurable as to how to mix the environment with the music, but the spatial audio is easily the best I have heard so far. This is mostly since it doesn't try too hard to fake space, but is a subtle impact. That also means that audio quality actually improves, unlike the Bose QC Ultra implementation that's best when turned off.The ANC performance of the Bose QC Ultra (and AirPod Pro 2) are unmatched by the Denon Perl Pro (and the Sennheiser TWM4), but fairly useful in normal use. I don't use earbuds for making calls and cannot comment on the microphones in either of these earbuds.THE stand-out feature of the Denon Perl Pro is the Advanced Acoustic Technology (AAT). What sounds like a marketing term is surprisingly effective. The app plays sounds and measures "how you hear music". That's nothing short of black magic and sure worth a skeptical eye. The already good sounding earbuds really come alive with a customized profile. It was truly jaw-dropping how much more dynamic these sound with the personalized profile activated. Up to three profiles can be defined and stored. Just make sure to follow instructions to get a good seal and be quiet during the measurement.For me, the deciding factor was the deal during Prime Day(s) to give it a try and I do not regret it. It's easily one of my favorite earbuds. At full price it may still be a good choice, but less of a slam dunk.