topic Re: WH-1000XM3 Noise cancelling performance ruined by v4.1.1 android app upgrade in Portable Audio

WH-1000XM3 Noise cancelling performance ruined by v4.1.1 firmware upgrade :(

andrew_ashby — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 12:07:26 GMT

Sony - what have you done? the WH-1000XM3s that I bought (running firmware v4.1.0) are no longer class leading noise cancelling headphones.

V4.1.1 and now v5.0.0 have destroyed the noise cancelling performance - this is so disappointing.

For anyone else with this problem, I have found a v4.1.0 apk download..... I have just installed and will check later when I am travelling on the train again (known reference for noise cancelling performance):

On Android:

Uninstall Sony v4.1.1 (or later) app
Download 4.1.0 apk file from -
https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/sony-video-sound-products-inc/sony-headphones-connect/sony-headphones-connect-4-1-0-release/sony-headphones-connect-4-1-0-android-apk-download/download/
Install apk file (you will likely be prompted and need to allow the android security option to install a third party apk)
Disable automatic applications updates in Android playstore (to ensure the Sony app does not automatically update again to the latest version).

I really hope this fix works and that Sony fix V5.x.x very swiftly, or I will likely be heading back to where I bought them to exchange XM3s for QC35ii - it was a close call on which was best before 4.1.1 , but its not any more.

Re: WH-1000XM3 Noise cancelling performance ruined by v4.1.1 firmware upgrade :(

ricklen — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 14:03:02 GMT

Same problem, Sony states that the ANC was untouched during the update hinting to the users 'imagining' this issue. It would be nice if we could just roll back to a previous version of the software on the headphones.

Re: WH-1000XM3 Noise cancelling performance ruined by v4.1.1 firmware upgrade :(

jimdibb — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 18:42:02 GMT

Does the Apk back rev the firmware on the headphones themselves, as well as the android app?

Re: WH-1000XM3 Noise cancelling performance ruined by v4.1.1 android app upgrade

andrew_ashby — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 11:03:13 GMT

All, I've corrected the title of this thread as I have rightly been corrected that it is the android app and not the XM3 firmware that I refer to below. The bottom line though is that I think reverting the android app version back to V4.1.0 has solved the problem and I've updated, with a little more detail below, how I did it (I hope it helps):

For android:

Uninstall Sony headphones app v4.1.1 or later
Download v4.1.0 apk file from (fix the 'https:// w w w .' bit of the following url):
h t t p s: / / w w w . apkmirror.com/apk/sony-video-sound-products-inc/sony-headphones-connect/sony-headphones-connect-4-1-0-release/sony-headphones-connect-4-1-0-android-apk-download/download/
Disable automatic applications updates in Android playstore, to stop the Sony app updating again to the latest version (otherwise you will soon be back to square one)
hard reset the XM3s - I only did this to be sure I was at the XM3 firmware level that I knew to previously work ok, but you could choose not to do this: while charging - press and hold both buttons for a couple of seconds, then unplug and power off / back on
Install apk file. You will likely be prompted and you need to allow the android security option to install a third party apk - doing this at your own risk of course, but this is the standard procedure for installing any externally sourced APK
Run the freshly installed Sony app and check in Settings / 'about this app' that you are now at v4.1.0

WH-1000XM3 Noise cancelling performance ruined by v4.1.1 android app upgrade

andrew_ashby — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 11:07:48 GMT

Re: WH-1000XM3 Noise cancelling performance ruined by v4.1.1 android app upgrade

Aleksunn — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 11:07:57 GMT

Is it a prank? How can this work? App version do not influence on hp work.

Re: WH-1000XM3 Noise cancelling performance ruined by v4.1.1 android app upgrade

andrew_ashby — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 11:15:57 GMT

no really - I'm running V4.1.0 again and after a journey back home on the train, I'm pretty sure its back to how it was. I haven't yet understood the interaction between the app version and the firmware version, but I get the feeling that the change is connected in some way to the functionality of the 'ambient sound' setting in the app.

Anyway I think its worked for me and I've had no issues with the APK , so was just sharing what I've found.

Cheers

Re: WH-1000XM3 Noise cancelling performance ruined by v4.1.1 firmware upgrade :(

andrew_ashby — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 11:28:15 GMT

Jimdib - I'm not sure at this stage, but see my updated posting

Re: WH-1000XM3 Noise cancelling performance ruined by v4.1.1 android app upgrade

mrlemur — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 11:31:33 GMT

Sorry, I've tried this and no difference.

Re: WH-1000XM3 Noise cancelling performance ruined by v4.1.1 android app upgrade

andrew_ashby — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 11:36:42 GMT

@Aleksunn wrote:
Is it a prank? How can this work? App version do not influence on hp work.

No, but the App has direct control over how the XM3s operate (e.g. level of ambient noise allowed in etc etc ) - that's what its for! - We have no idea what changes Sony make with each App version 'update'

Re: WH-1000XM3 Noise cancelling performance ruined by v4.1.1 firmware upgrade :(

mean1979 — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 12:40:20 GMT

I must admit I bought the headphones off the back of reviews, youtube videos showing its abilities and also experience in using it in the likes of John Lewis so haven't really had the chance to compare it. The update installed the second I connected it to my phone on opening it. My experience since owning though does feel that the general noise cancelling is great, but I was surprised to hear that voices seem a lot clearer than I'd heard before hand. Very odd. Would be good if Sony could look at how voices are blocked and if this is a firmware issue or an app issue it would be good to see what could be done to fix it. thanks

Re: WH-1000XM3 Noise cancelling performance ruined by v4.1.1 firmware upgrade :(

ricklen — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 13:04:44 GMT

Can more people try older versions of the app? I'm on Iphone so I can't install old versions of applications.

Re: WH-1000XM3 Noise cancelling performance ruined by v4.1.1 firmware upgrade :(

mean1979 — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 13:25:27 GMT

I'm on Android. I'll try it to see if it makes any difference. I'll come back to you.

@ricklen wrote:
Can more people try older versions of the app? I'm on Iphone so I can't install old versions of applications.

Re: WH-1000XM3 Noise cancelling performance ruined by v4.1.1 android app upgrade

mean1979 — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 13:38:23 GMT

@andrew_ashby wrote:
All, I've corrected the title of this thread as I have rightly been corrected that it is the android app and not the XM3 firmware that I refer to below. The bottom line though is that I think reverting the android app version back to V4.1.0 has solved the problem and I've updated, with a little more detail below, how I did it (I hope it helps):

For android:
Uninstall Sony headphones app v4.1.1 or later

Download v4.1.0 apk file from (fix the 'https:// w w w .' bit of the following url):
h t t p s: / / w w w . apkmirror.com/apk/sony-video-sound-products-inc/sony-headphones-connect/sony-headphones-connect-4-1-0-release/sony-headphones-connect-4-1-0-android-apk-download/download/

Disable automatic applications updates in Android playstore, to stop the Sony app updating again to the latest version (otherwise you will soon be back to square one)

hard reset the XM3s - I only did this to be sure I was at the XM3 firmware level that I knew to previously work ok, but you could choose not to do this: while charging - press and hold both buttons for a couple of seconds, then unplug and power off / back on

Install apk file. You will likely be prompted and you need to allow the android security option to install a third party apk - doing this at your own risk of course, but this is the standard procedure for installing any externally sourced APK

Run the freshly installed Sony app and check in Settings / 'about this app' that you are now at v4.1.0

I've tried this but my WH1000XM3s firmware version remains at 4.1.1 despite the hard reset. please can you confirm what firmware version you're seeing when performing this and what we should expect to see? My Android app version is now 4.1.0 using the APK process. thanks

Re: WH-1000XM3 Noise cancelling performance ruined by v4.1.1 android app upgrade

ricklen — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 14:13:41 GMT

@mean1979 wrote:
@andrew_ashby wrote:
All, I've corrected the title of this thread as I have rightly been corrected that it is the android app and not the XM3 firmware that I refer to below. The bottom line though is that I think reverting the android app version back to V4.1.0 has solved the problem and I've updated, with a little more detail below, how I did it (I hope it helps):

For android:
Uninstall Sony headphones app v4.1.1 or later

Download v4.1.0 apk file from (fix the 'https:// w w w .' bit of the following url):
h t t p s: / / w w w . apkmirror.com/apk/sony-video-sound-products-inc/sony-headphones-connect/sony-headphones-connect-4-1-0-release/sony-headphones-connect-4-1-0-android-apk-download/download/

Disable automatic applications updates in Android playstore, to stop the Sony app updating again to the latest version (otherwise you will soon be back to square one)

hard reset the XM3s - I only did this to be sure I was at the XM3 firmware level that I knew to previously work ok, but you could choose not to do this: while charging - press and hold both buttons for a couple of seconds, then unplug and power off / back on

Install apk file. You will likely be prompted and you need to allow the android security option to install a third party apk - doing this at your own risk of course, but this is the standard procedure for installing any externally sourced APK

Run the freshly installed Sony app and check in Settings / 'about this app' that you are now at v4.1.0

I've tried this but my WH1000XM3s firmware version remains at 4.1.1 despite the hard reset. please can you confirm what firmware version you're seeing when performing this and what we should expect to see? My Android app version is now 4.1.0 using the APK process. thanks

I think he means that only the software version of the android app should matter. People are speculating that the mobile app has influence on the performance of Noise Cancelation, but you can't confirm any difference?

Re: WH-1000XM3 Noise cancelling performance ruined by v4.1.1 android app upgrade

mean1979 — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 20:10:06 GMT

I've bumped it back to app version 4.1.0 and can confirm no difference in cancelling. Tried this with exactly the same set of sounds using Google home to generate white noise, brown noise etc and also the same paragraphs from a Audible book. Exactly the same with both versions of the app (5.0 included). I'm wondering if there's been some faults for users updating the firmware if there's genuinely the problems cited in the various examples talked about on other threads. Wish I could offer better news for people

Re: WH-1000XM3 Noise cancelling performance ruined by v4.1.1 android app upgrade

andrew_ashby — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 22:31:05 GMT

My firmware is also at 4.1.1 and the app is at 4.1.0. My App was previously at 5.0.0 before I rolled it back. I do not know what defines how the firmware version updates - does anyone know this? Sony perhaps you could help us all understand this better please?

Re: WH-1000XM3 Noise cancelling performance ruined by v4.1.1 android app upgrade

Win_88 — Thu, 21 Mar 2019 15:56:10 GMT

Hi Andrew,

I know for a fact that Sony don't recommend side-loading APK files in this way (especially for software updates).

There's no benefit of installing that version of the Headphones Connect app at this point though.

I'd recommend trying the steps in this link as some users reported that it fixes the issue with NC:

https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/articles/00224928

Win_88

Re: WH-1000XM3 Noise cancelling performance ruined by v4.1.1 android app upgrade

Skylark001 — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 17:01:51 GMT

Andrew, I have just bought a pair of these headphones and the app shows that 4.1.1 is installed, but I am not experiencing complete noise-cancelling, I can still hear a bit of external sound even though I have switched off the Adaptive option, so I am wondering if I would benefit from your procedure.

Does 4.1.0 give you complete silence?

If so, can I use your procedure on an un-rooted Android phone?

Thank you.

Re: WH-1000XM3 Noise cancelling performance ruined by v4.1.1 android app upgrade

jimdibb — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 17:47:49 GMT

Hi,

If you are expecting complete silence, expect to be disappointed. No noise cancelling headphones provide complete silence in many or even most environments.

Go try some other brands in similar places (or just retail stores) and see what the baseline is.

Personally, I did the backrev exercise on mine and they are quite reasonable, but no, they are far from making everything silent.

Jim