3 
0 Sony have very kindly sent us out their latest premium Bluetooth ANC headphone. Owning and testing quite an array of ANC headphones already myself. I can’t wait to see how the Sony’s compare. Come and join me as we review the highly anticipated Sony WH-1000XM6.
The true ANC king
The Sony WH-1000XM6 are available today and cost £399/€449/$449/A$699 from their official website.
A tad more than the previous XM5, but still rivalling other premium ANC headphones from companies like Bose, Bowers & Wilkins and Sennheiser. Whilst sitting pretty close to offerings from Apple, Dali and Focal if your budget can stretch that little bit further. So, let’s find out if it needs to.
Design
Upon unboxing, it is clear Sony hasn’t strayed too far from previous iterations. They don’t push the boat out with the design. It’s tried and tested. Clean, simple and effective. Looks are obviously subjective, but for me, it is a little too safe. I would love to see something a bit different, not just from Sony, but many more manufacturers. The material used on the headphones is an almost smooth matte like texture. A lot nicer than the previous Sony XM4 and XM5 in my opinion and offering much better resistance to fingerprints.
The WH-1000XM6 adds metal swivel hinges. An upgrade from the troublesome hinges found on the previous XM4 and XM5. After the XM5 strayed from the folding hinged design of the XM4, I’m pleased to say it’s back. Thus, coming in a slightly smaller case too. This smaller case is actually really nice. It doesn’t have a zip closure, but a clever magnetic clip on the side. Making it much easier to open and close, even one handed. Something I really like.
Available in 3 colours on release. Black, White and Midnight Blue. This Midnight Blue is definitely my personal favourite and the one which I was kindly sent. Each colour does appear to have a slightly different texture as well. The Midnight Blue is definitely a little smoother to touch.
Earcups haven’t changed much since the XM4 and XM5 although they look a little more rounded. They are also all one piece of material, with no seam or join on show. Earpads are a little lacking in padding and are also a bit on a small side for my liking. But I am used to my Focal and Sennheiser offerings which have much deeper earcups.
Weighing in at approximately 254g, the Sony WH-1000XM6 are extremely light. Much more so than others I have tested and own. They are nearly 100g lighter than my daily drivers, the Focal Bathys.
Clamping force is definitely up though when compared to competitors. This is to help with noise isolation and ANC performance. Of which there is definitely a noticeable improvement.
I did find the clamping force a little excessive for me personally. I encountered quite a pressure point underneath the ear where the lower part of the earcup was clamping. However, I will say, even though it is a lot higher than the XM4 and XM5. Overtime those did ease up, so I’d expect the same for these given enough time.
The headband is probably my biggest gripe though here. The WH-1000XM6 feature a wider band, yet much thinner padding, compared to the XM4 and XM5. This is supposedly to rectify complaints people had with the previous iterations. However, this one for me is well, not good. It has little to no padding at all and even though the headphones are light, I couldn’t stand the feeling on top of my head. Especially for prolonged listening sessions. The headband here just shouldn’t be on a £400 premium headphone! It just feels out of place. Sony lead the way in nearly every category when it comes to ANC headphones. But for the XM4, XM5 and now the XM6, please Sony, give us a better headband. Our heads deserve great comfort as well as great sound!
The WH-1000XM6 don’t have an IP rating at all, as stated in the manual very clearly! So best to keep these in their case if you find yourself caught in a quick rain shower. This is unfortunately the norm nowadays for ANC headphones. Not many offer any protection against the elements.
There are only 2 physical buttons on the XM6, both located on the left earcup. The brand new, now nicely recessed power button is really easy to find and operate. While just above it is the slightly raised NC/AMB button.
There is a USB-C charging port on the right earcup and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the left.
Control
First things first, download the free Sony Connect app. Available on Android and Apple.
From here, there is an absolute plethora of features and functions available to you. Let’s fire through the main ones.
Sound Control
Listening mode, adjusts your listening experience from standard stereo mode, background music simulating being sat in a café, to cinema mode, enabled by Sony’s 360 reality upmix technology. This takes the stereo signal and upmixes it to create a 360 degree fully immersive experience. As an audio purist I still much prefer stereo for my music but for movies I did surprisingly enjoy this feature.
Head tracking can also be setup, working especially well with Sony’s 360 Reality Audio. Adjusting the sound to compensate for your head movements, creating a totally immersive experience.
Ambient sound control enables noise cancellation and ambient sound. This ambient sound has an impressive 20 levels of adjustment to tailor to your situation or need.
Adaptive Sound Control, enabling your headphones to adapt to your lifestyle and location. The noise cancellation and ambient sound modes can be adjusted based on you and what you do day to day. If you are out and about walking or running, ambient sound will be more prevalent. Quickly hop onto a bus or train and noise cancellation takes over. Seamlessly keeping the users listening experience at the forefront at all times.
Speak-to-Chat function recognises when you start talking and automatically activates ambient sound mode for the duration of your conversation. Done talking, it’ll then switch itself off again to carry on listening to those tunes.
DSEE Extreme is Sony’s proprietary audio upscaling technology. The Extreme variant uses AI to upscale and enhance compressed audio files. Making lower quality MP3 or AAC sources sound closer to higher resolution sources. This works extremely well. You can clearly hear improved clarity and detail. This will drain battery life a bit faster, but it’s a fair trade off for improved sound from those lower quality sources.
Graphic Equaliser
The Equaliser has had a much needed and welcome upgrade. The WH-1000XM6 now have a 10 band EQ, up from a 5 band EQ available on the XM4 and XM5. This is something I am a huge fan of. I find myself tinkering more and more, honing in on a sound that is to my personal preference. The 10 frequency adjustments are from low to high, 31, 63, 125, 250, 500, 1k, 2k, 4k, 8k and 16k. As good as a headphone may be, nothing is perfect and a more advanced EQ can help further the life and enjoyment of our purchase. Credit where credit is due, well done Sony.
There is also a new gaming EQ option that, seeing as we specialise in games here at TC I thought I’d have a go at. Performance was pleasantly surprising. Footsteps and detailing were good and the deep rumbles were soul shaking. The only issue as touched on before was the lack of aptX support. The aptX codec generally offers a lower latency than SBC, AAC and LDAC. So the higher latency was noticeable especially on faster FPS games.
Alongside the standard EQ there is even a find your Equaliser setting. Here you can listen to music and different frequencies to essentially work out where your hearing is failing you! The EQ will then tailor the sound to your ears. A very personal and individual experience that it my testing worked pretty well.
System Control
There’s Bluetooth multipoint connection with auto switching. This worked seamlessly, transferring between sources on my phone and pc.
Auto Pause function, which instantly pauses and resumes your music when the headphones are removed. This is incredibly fast and reliable compared to other brands I’ve tried.
Head gesture tech allows if desired, the ability to nod or shake your head to respond to certain commands. For example, if you receive a call. During those calls there is also an option to capture your own voice/add sidetone.
Voice control and voice assistant is included. Allowing users to conveniently control your headphones with just your voice.
Quick access is a neat feature where double or triple tapping the NC/AMB button can be setup to instantly activate and play services like Amazon, Spotify and YouTube music. Negating the need for even reaching for your phone.
The right earcup houses the touch sensor control panel. This is incredibly intuitive and an absolute pleasure to use. Double tapping pauses your music, whilst swiping up or down raises and lowers the volume. Swiping forward and back then skips tracks respectively. My favourite feature of previous iterations is, I’m pleased to say back on the Sony WH-1000XM6. Placing your whole right hand/palm over the right earcup, quietens the music right down and activates ambient sound mode. Allowing you to have quick on the fly conversations. Release your hand and it instantly fades your source material back up to full volume. I say instantly as I have tried a few ANC headphone recently that have this feature. They were delayed and laborious to say the least. I can confidently say nobody does it as well as Sony. It’s an invaluable feature that I find myself using more than any other.
Connection
The Sony WH-1000XM6 have a claimed 30 hours of battery life with ANC on and 40 hours with ANC off. In testing I was able to hit just under 38 hours of combined listening which I’d say was pretty solid. It’s by no means market leading like the Sennheiser Momentum 4 but it is pretty solid for ANC headphones. It’ll comfortably get you through a standard working week.
A full charge takes over 3 hours via the supplied USB-C cable. However, there is a quick fast-charging option if you have a USB-PD charger where only a 3-minute charge will give you a superb 3 hours of runtime. You can also listen to music whilst charging now which is a nice feature. Unfortunately, still only via Bluetooth. You cannot listen to the WH-1000XM6 via wired USB-C. This is a really strange move from Sony when nearly every other competitor has this option. You can listen when powered off using the 3.5mm connection. But USB-C personally should be the standard nowadays.
There is Bluetooth 5.3. With high resolution wireless certification. Supporting codecs of SBC, AAC, LDAC, and LC3. Unfortunately, there’s no aptX support which would have a been a nice option.
Sound and Performance
The Sony WH-1000XM6 feature brand new 30mm carbon fibre composite dynamic drivers. With a frequency response over Bluetooth of 20Hz-20,000Hz and in LDAC of 20Hz-40,000Khz.
Tuned with world renowned mastering engineers, do these sound as good as others at this price point? Well, quite simply, yes. But not quite out of the box.
Out of the box they are very mid bass heavy. There is so much mid bass it took me a bit by surprise. This is where that superb 10 band EQ comes in, just to tweak things slightly to my liking.
Lows
Those lower frequencies are truly excellent on the Sony’s. They really have that slam. There is a rich depth to the sub bass. The mid bass may overpower out of the box but they have an impact that I’ve not heard before. Most headphones that offer this much bass lose detail in pretty much every other frequency as a result. Definitely not here and that’s an impressive feat.
Mids
Mids out of the box were slightly veiled. EQ does help this enormously and though they don’t have the level of detail of the Focal Bathys, which have a glorious mid-range. Compared to every other wireless headphone I’ve heard they are extremely accomplished. There is a delicate level of intimacy, especially vocally that is just wonderful to listen to.
Highs
The treble range has a clarity and preciseness that blends really well no matter what is thrown at it. It doesn’t have the sparkle of some others and it certainly isn’t treble forward, but it is a frequency that won’t offend anyone. More than can be said of so many other ANC headphones.
Sound is obviously subjective, so your ears might love the overpowering bass but to me it was detriment to the mids and vocals. They are as mentioned ever so slightly veiled out of the box. But with some minor tweaks in the EQ, I was able to get a full rich, detailed sound that is pound for pound just about as good as any ANC headphone out there right now.
I say just about as good, because it just doesn’t have the soundstage of the Sennheiser Momentum 4 or the level of detail of the Focal Bathys.
The Sony WH-1000XM6 have a narrower soundstage overall. While it is a big improvement on the XM4 and XM5. It still feels like the sound is coming from inside your head. It doesn’t quite have that sense of space or layering that I love.
Going through my repertoire of songs, overall, the Sony’s give you an incredibly intimate experience. Combine that intimacy with the sublime bass, the sound on offer here is nothing short of incredible for a Bluetooth headphone. It is an experience you can’t help but love. Lively, punchy and energetic, yet never fatiguing. Timbre is superb and the massive bass response is the star of the show. It may not be a critical sound but my goodness it’s not half fun to listen to!
Active Noise Cancellation
Sony’s new WH-1000XM6 feature the brand new QN3 HD Noise Cancelling Processor. Upgraded from the QN1 on the XM5, the QN3 is apparently 7 times faster! The XM5 also had 8 microphones, that’s upgraded to 12 here with 6 on each earcup. The mics on the outside of the earcups now have a mesh covering to further help reduce wind noise. Something that I can confirm has helped quite a bit. Wind noise is a pet hate of mine and these really do a great job of minimising it.
As mentioned earlier with the higher clamp force, noise isolation is outrageously good. Probably the highest I’ve experienced. This enables the ANC to be even more effective.
Walking outside through a bustling high street, low and mid-range rumbles from the likes of cars and buses are almost totally wiped out. Walk into a café and high pitch clattering of cutlery and crockery are totally gone. Hiking up the tallest peak near me, wind noise is handled impeccably as well, something that is still the downfall of so many ANC products.
I really went out of my way to put these through their paces. No matter what noisy environment I challenged the Sony’s with, the ANC just quite simply excelled. They really are the true ANC kings. Everything is done so effortlessly as well, there’s a natural ease to the way these suppress noise. Consistently leaving you with a clear background to enjoy your music the way it was intended.
Microphone
Just like the noise cancellation mentioned above, this transfers to the way they handle noise whilst on a call. Now with 6 beamforming AI microphones and using Sony’s excellent precise voice pickup technology. I found any call I made, whether standing on top of a hill, sitting in the middle of a packed restaurant, or at work on a building site. Noise is almost totally cut off from my conversations. The people on the other end of the line can hear every word I say clearly, with no interruptions from my surroundings. Combine it with the ability to hear your own voice, available in the Sony Sound Connect app and it’s a near flawless experience.
The WH-1000XM6 have the best call quality I’ve heard from any ANC headphone, period. No offering from any other brand can compete with what’s on offer here.
Final Thoughts
In summary, how do the WH-1000XM6 compare to all the others on the market? Pretty darn well I’d say!
Despite some nit-picks and comfort issues which would personally put me off considering the price. They are quite probably the best all-rounders on the market right now. Yes, they may not sonically quite reach Focal’s level of detail, be as comfortable as Bose or have Sennheiser’s insane battery life. But, combined with Sony’s Sound Connect app, the sheer amount of tech crammed into these headphones means usability is phenomenal and I have to applaud this. With class leading noise cancellation and microphones, along with an incredibly fun, energetic sound that the vast majority will love. For day-to-day usage, these are quite possibly the best ANC headphones on the market right now.
The Sony WH-1000XM6 earn the coveted Thumb Culture Platinum Award!
Disclaimer: A sample was received in order to write this review.
If you love all things tech and audio, feel free to check out some of our previous hardware reviews here.
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