Overall, really love these -- a solid upgrade to the solo 3's, and songs sound noticeably fuller on the pro's. They compare favorably to the Sony XM3's but each has specific advantages over the other. The Sony XM3's sound a bit better overall for classical/jazz music and are more comfortable, but are less ideal for exercise (as solo's have punchier bass for rap/pop/hip hop,+, water resistance, pair more easily w/ multiple devices.) IMPORTANT NOTE!! Concerning the fit ... these are surprisingly much tighter on my head than the Solo 3's, and I could see this being a total dealbreaker for some people. It took me a couple days to get used to it, and now I don't mind as much as I initially did. I'm not sure if it loosened up, but I don't think so -- I just think I adjusted. But, there is no question that for comfort, I would rather listen to my sony 1000XM3's for a very long period (1 hr+). For shorter listening, I really like these. The clamping force helps with the noise-cancelling, but it's also very very noticeable, even when I extend these out to their max-level of extension. Note that I have a larger size head, and wear glasses. Probably my favorite little feature: Because these automatically power on when opened, and power off when closed, you never have to fuss with a power button like you do on other headphones. When I go for runs, I just grab these, put them on my head, and start up music on my Apple Watch, and it quickly connects automatically and starts playing. It will quickly join any other Apple device you want, as long as it's on the same account. With the latest iOS, you don’t even need to go to the device menu — these headphones [like airpods] will auto-connect as soon as you start using another device. For instance, if I’m on my iPad listening to the solo pros, then close my iPad and go to my iPhone, the beats solo pros transition seamlessly to the iPhone. When I'm done, I fold them and put them down. This is more convenient than my XM3's, which only remember one device for Bluetooth. Some other nice Apple-specific benefits: When these are on, the headphones will automatically read out any texts ou get, allowing you to reply by voice without having to take out your phone. And, you can ask Siri to turn on or off noise canceling and transparency mode by voice, without messing with setttings. The sound quality is similar to the Solo 3's, but the bass, for lack of a better word, feels 'tighter.' It's still punchier than the bass in my Sony 1000xm3's, but it feels less like the low rumble of the Solo 3's. Instead, the bass in the Solo pros feels more like one component of the song. For shorter listening periods, I prefer the Solo Pros to both the Solo3's and my Sony 1000xm3's. The Solo pro's can get very, very loud without distorting the low end at all. The Solo 3's are not terrible by comparison, especially for workouts, but the bass feels less precise and the soundstage more limited. Given a choice between the Solo 3's and the Pros, I would pick the Pros every time -- BUT, when I use the Solo 3's, I still think they sound pretty good. One huge plus: The Solo pro's have sweat resistance -- woohoo! I can take these running. For many reasons, I would not take the XM3's running. These look incredible and have a far better, sturdier feel than the Solo 3's. As mentioned, a major advantage of these headphones for Apple users is that, like the Solo 3's, Airpods, Powerbeats, etc, these will pair with your apple account and are instantly accessible from any apple device tied to that account. I do love the passthrough mode, which uses the microphones to pipe sound into your headphones for when you need to hear ambient sounds. It's surprisingly significantly better than the one on the Sony 1000mx3's I have, and I think the noise cancelling is roughly similar. Really, the passthrough mode here (which you activate with a single press on the underside button) is almost crazy good -- doesn't feel like you're listening to microphones at all. The noise cancellation, with or without music playing, is also solid. With sound playing, like the XM3's, you won't hear much. It seems not quite on par with my Sony's XM3, but it's just very hard to be more specific than that. Jims' Review Room and Sound guys have a more comprehensive analysis that comes to a similar conclusion, but they do great, especially for canceling the low end. A double press on the solo pro's underside button will disable both passthrough mode and noise cancelling, doubling battery life to 40 hours. In this mode, outside sounds are partially muffled by the headphones' seal on your ears. The new iOS update also allows you to control these settings in the menu. I appreciate that music controls -- pause, play, Siri, next song etc -- are done using clicky and responsive physical buttons on the earcup. The Sony's touch interface has a big problem in winter and wet environments, due to condensation, and I had a lot of mis-presses with those. Love the way they auto-power off when folded. I don't mind the lack of a headphone jack. I prefer these to the Powerbeats pro, because those got earwax in them and always seemed to pop out, no matter which of the ear caps I used. The sound quality is a bit better as well. For weightlifers, you might want to check out the power beats pro, as they get in the way a bit less than on-ear headphones like this. Lastly, the carrying case is super cheap and not at all sturdy, which is disappointing.