Sony WH-1000XM6 Review: Hail to the New Noise-Canceling King

Over the last several years, Sony has made some of the best noise-canceling headphones on the market, so it’s a big deal when the company comes out with a new flagship model like the WH-1000XM6, which arrives three years after the release of the WH-1000XM5. Though the XM5 was — and still is — one of the top over-ear Bluetooth headphones, there’s always room for improvement. With the XM6, Sony has fixed the small design flaws of its predecessor while bumping up the overall performance. The result is a headphone that’s arguably edged just ahead of the competition and is now at the top of its class.  

If that sounds like high praise, it is. But before I get into everything I like about the XM6, let’s start with one thing I don’t like so much: the price. It costs $450, or $50 more than the XM5, which was already expensive at $400. You can blame tariffs or inflation in general, but $450 is still a lot to pay for headphones. That said, Bose has quietly raised the list price of its QuietComfort Ultra Headphones from $430 to $450, and both the new Bowers and Wilkins Px7 S3 and the highly rated Sonos Ace list for $450. Meanwhile, Apple’s excellent AirPods Max are selling for around $480. So, sadly, this is where pricing for high-end noise-canceling headphones has settled.

Sony WH-1000XM6’s design upgrades lead to a better fit

At first glance, the XM6 looks pretty similar to the XM5. It’s available in three color options — platinum silver, black and midnight blue — and at 254 grams, it weighs only 4 grams more than the XM5. That makes it pretty lightweight, especially compared with the AirPods Max, which tip the scales at 385 grams. However, as I said, Sony has upgraded the design in a few ways to address some small but notable complaints about the XM5 from owners and critics.

When moving from the XM4 to the XM5, Sony removed the dual-hinge design that let you fold the headphones up, not just flat, and some people weren’t thrilled with that change. Now the dual-hinge design is back, which also allowed Sony to make the carrying case a little smaller. It’s slightly trickier to get the headphones into the case, but I do like the case’s design, particularly the new magnetic latch.

I also like the updated power button design. It’s now round and recessed, physically distinguishing it from the button for toggling between noise-canceling and transparency modes (Sony calls its transparency mode Ambient Sound mode). That button can also be programmed to mute and unmute the microphones when you’re on a voice or videoconference call (you have to enable that feature in the settings of the Sony Connect app for iOS and Android).

I didn’t have an issue with the headband on the XM5, but some people thought it was a little too narrow and wasn’t as comfortable on their heads. The XM6’s headband is wider, and the earcups have a circular design on their exterior instead of an oval. However, the well-designed and well-cushioned earpads are the same (like all over-ear headphones, these will steam up your ears on a hot day, but the faux leather material on the earpads offers a little more breathability compared with sheepskin leather pads).

The touch controls are also the same as the XM5’s (the headphones’ only physical buttons are the power and NC/Ambient buttons). They include swiping up and down on the ear cup to raise and lower volume and swiping forward or back to skip tracks forward or back. I tend to prefer physical control buttons, but Sony’s touch controls are quite good and they seem to have overcome the problem of the controls not working in very cold weather (this was an issue with the WH-1000XM3 in particular). 

Overall, the XM6 fit my head a little better than the XM5. By that, I mean it fit a little more snugly and securely, without clamping too much. They really are comfortable headphones, and the slightly snugger fit helped me get a slightly tighter seal from the earpads. Subtle design changes can affect both noise canceling and sound quality a bit. But Sony also equipped the XM6 with a new, more powerful QN3 chip — seven times more powerful compared with the XM5’s QN1 chip, according to Sony — as well as more microphones, with a total of six in each earpiece for 12 total compared with eight mics for the XM5. The 30-millimeter drivers have also been upgraded with a more rigid dome. Those updates are the biggest factors when it comes to performance boosts.

The WH-1000XM6’s noise canceling levels up

The XM5 had excellent noise-canceling and voice-calling performance. I’ll get to the sound quality in a minute, but after some comparisons with Bose’s Quiet Comfort Ultra Headphones, I’d say the XM6’s noise canceling has edged slightly ahead and is arguably the best noise canceling I’ve experienced to date. Apple’s AirPods Max and the Sonos Ace also have excellent noise canceling, but Bose and Sony have typically vied for the noise-canceling crown, with one inching ahead of the other with each new release.       

I spent a lot of time walking around the noisy streets of New York and riding the subway, and the headphones do a remarkably good job of muffling sound across an even wider range of frequencies. Most noise-canceling headphones do a good job of muffling lower frequencies but have a harder time with higher frequencies and people’s voices. With the XM6, you can still hear people talking around you, but voices are now even more toned down.

Because I’m just one person with one set of ears, I had a few of my colleagues test the headphones’ noise-muffling abilities, and most of them ended up feeling that the XM6 offered slightly better noise-canceling than the Bose (it wasn’t the most scientific test, but you can view their reactions in my companion review video).

The XM6’s noise canceling uses something called Adaptive NC Optimizer, which Sony says is an upgrade over the XM5’s Auto Optimizer. I assume that’s a fancy way of saying the digital processing has improved. Whatever the case, there’s something about the XM5’s noise canceling that just seems a little more natural and precise when muffling sound. I also thought the ambient sound mode has improved a bit — it, too, sounds more natural (Apple set the gold standard for transparency mode, but others are now catching up).

The Sony WH-1000XM6 has stellar voice-calling performance  

The XM5 was great for calls with top-notch noise reduction. Sony says the XM6 offers even better voice-calling performance, with six AI beam-forming microphones devoted to voice calls, instead of four.

When I used the XM5 in the noisy streets of New York, callers said they thought I was inside — they could barely hear any background noise and said my voice sounded mostly clear. The same was true for the XM6, so it’s hard to say how much better it really is for voice calling. I can only say they’re among the best headphones for reducing background noise while homing in on your voice so that it remains clear with minimal warbling as the headphones’ digital processing acts as a noise filter.

You can hear a call sample in my video review of the XM6.   

Sony WH-1000XM5 features

Sony’s headphones have always been loaded with features, and the XM6 is no different. For instance, you’ll find Sony’s pioneering Speak to Chat feature, which automatically lowers the volume of whatever you’re listening to and switches from noise-canceling to ambient sound mode to let sound in when you initiate a conversation with someone. Similarly, with Sony’s Quick Attention feature, you can put your hand over the right ear cup to automatically lower the volume and enter ambient sound mode. 

Sony has made some progress simplifying its Sony Connect companion app for iOS and Android, but there’s still a lot to navigate and plenty of settings to play around with, including EQ settings, scene-based listening settings and gesture settings that allow you to nod your head to answer a call or shake it to reject it.

New to the XM6 is spatial audio with head tracking using Sony’s 360 Reality Audio “upmix” technology, which is part of the cinema listening mode. Though I used it a little, I’m still testing it out, and frankly, it’s a little unclear how you engage it, since there doesn’t seem to be a simple spatial audio on/off option (with head tracking or fixed) like there is with Apple headphones or earbuds.    

The default audio codec is AAC, but Android users can also opt for Sony’s high-quality LDAC codec for Bluetooth streaming. There’s also SBC and LC3. The XM6 uses Bluetooth 5.3. I didn’t see any mention of Auracast broadcast audio, but it’s possible the headphones may support it in the future. 

Upgraded sound quality

When Sony moved from the XM4 to the XM5, it went from using 40mm drivers to 30mm drivers, which changed the sound fairly dramatically, and not everyone liked the change. The XM4, which remains available, is a warmer headphone with bigger, more energetic bass, while the XM5 offers more detailed sound and tighter bass. 

The XM6’s sound is essentially an enhanced version of the XM5’s, with even smoother, more detailed sound, better midrange clarity and slightly better bass performance. It’s a richer-sounding headphone with a little more depth and extension to the sound. Well-balanced and fairly precise (various instruments feel like they’re right where they’re supposed to be in the soundstage), the XM6 has a bit more of a studio headphone vibe, more in line with Sony’s top wired headphones, though Sony doesn’t classify these as “analytical” headphones.   

I ran through the usual tracks I use for testing headphones — it’s an eclectic mix. Tracks included Spoon’s Knock Knock Knock, Athletes of God’s Don’t Wanna Be Normal, Orbital’s Dirty Rat, Bjork’s Hollow, Drake’s Passionfruit, Pixies’ Vault of Heaven, Florence and the Machine’s Choreomania, various Foo Fighters songs, plus some tracks from Car Seat Headrest’s The Scholars, CNET home audio editor Ty Pendelbury’s favorite new album (it is well recorded).

I spent a fair amount of time comparing the XM6’s sound to those competing models I mentioned earlier, including the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones, the Sonos Ace and AirPods Max (I didn’t get a chance to compare it to the Bowers & Wilkins PX7 S3 yet, but I’ll add my comments once I get a review sample). All those models are certainly very good-sounding Bluetooth headphones, and they have subtle differences in sound quality.

Sony has touted how it had some exceptionally accomplished sound engineers in New York tune the headphones, and I spoke with one of them before the launch of the headphones. He said the stiffest competition for sound quality came from the AirPods Max, and I tend to agree with that, although I also think the Sonos Ace is quite competitive. However, I liked the midrange on the Sony slightly better, and the bass has a little more kick to it. With tracks that had very deep bass, the Sony resolved the lows with aplomb and sounded quite consistent.

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One of the issues with wireless Bluetooth headphones is that they simply have sound quality limitations. You can get a $250 wired headphone from Sony and others that sounds just as good as these or better. So I spent some time listening to the XM6s in wired mode to hear what they sounded like at their best. They don’t have USB-C audio like the AirPods Max has now, but they come with a cord, and I plugged it into a portable headphone amplifier and listened to some lossless music. There’s a noticeable tick up in clarity, and the headphones start to sound more special in wired mode, as do the AirPods Max. By that, I mean they become more appealing to audiophiles. 

A quick note on battery life: Like the XM5, the XM6 is rated for 30 hours of battery life at moderate volume levels with noise canceling on and 40 hours with it off. If the headphones run out of juice, a 3-minute charge gets you 3 hours of battery life. What’s new with the XM6 is that you can listen to the headphones while charging them. That wasn’t the case with the XM5. You do need power to listen in wired mode.

Sony WH-1000XM6 final thoughts

That’s the Sony WH-1000XM6 in a nutshell. After Sony bought Audeze and equipped its $150 PlayStation Pulse Elite gaming headset with planar magnetic drivers, I was hoping it would figure out a way to incorporate that high-end driver technology into this headphone. That didn’t happen, but the XM6 is certainly an improvement overall — about 20% to 25% by my rough estimate.

If you already own the XM5, you don’t need to rush to buy this new model while it’s at full price. If you own the XM4, you might be more tempted. 

As for how they stack up against other premium noise-canceling headphones, I’d have to give them the slight edge. With their design tweaks, improved sound quality, noise canceling and stellar voice-calling performance, they’re pretty much the complete package when it comes to noise-canceling headphones.

One day, we may see an AirPods Max 2, and Bose will eventually upgrade its QuietComfort Ultra headphones, which came out in October 2023. But for the moment, the Sony WH-1000XM6 is arguably the noise-canceling king. It’s a shame it costs $450, but hopefully, we’ll see some decent discounts in the fall and during the holiday buying season.  

Sony WH-1000XM6 key specs

• New foldable design with wider headband
• Weight: 254 grams
• New QN3 processor (seven times faster than QN1)
• 12 microphones
• Multi-Noise Sensor technology
• Auto NC Optimizer
• Ear-detection sensors
• Multipoint Bluetooth 
• Bluetooth 5.3
• Touch controls
• Battery life: 30 hours with noise canceling on (40 hours with it off)
• Fast charge (USB-C): 3-minute charge gets you 3 hours of battery life
• Supported audio codecs: SBC, AAC, LDAC, LC3
• Frequency response: 4Hz to 40,000Hz
• Additional features: Speak to Chat, Adaptive Sound Control, Quick Attention, 360 Reality Audio with head tracking, 10-band EQ
• 3.5mm jack audio cable (length 1.2m)
• Colors: black, platinum silver, midnight blue
• Price: $450