One of the industry’s best pair of noise cancelling headphones is getting better, as the Sony stalwart gets a serious upgrade.
In the world of techonlogy, a year of updates can make all the difference. This year’s phones will be faster than last year’s, and last year’s were faster than those from the previous year, and so and so on. The same is true when you look at other categories as well, such as computers and TVs, because technology changes year on year.
But in audio, things can move a little slowly by comparison. Speaker upgrades can be years apart, while headphones may follow a similar trajectory. When they do get an upgrade however, the announcement is a pretty big deal, especially when the hardware changes are pretty serious, and they often are.
That’s what’s happening this week, as Sony pulls the sheet off a pair of headphones that last saw an update three years ago, almost an eternity in regards to how often headphones see updates.
While most headphones typically see a change in the space of two years, Sony’s award-winning WH-1000X series that first launched as the MDR-1000X back in 2016 is finally seeing a move to version six. And what a move it plans to be.
The name isn’t a surprise, and neither is the design, with Sony keeping much of the look from the WH-1000XM5 in the WH-1000XM6, albeit with a change to the portability.
When we reviewed the XM5 headphones a few years ago, we were confused as to why the portable design had been removed. In this model, it’s back, and Sony has made a few more changes, too.
For starters, there are more microphones, as the eight of the XM5 becomes double digits in its successor, offering 12 in the XM6. More microphones means more ways for the headphones to analyse the world against what you’re listening to, giving you better noise cancelation, something improved processing technology will assist with.
The chip is now the HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN3, an updated system able to response to sudden sound changes and predict noise, optimising for it with more speed. Inside the headphones, the software triggered Adaptive NC Optimiser has been worked to adjust to external noise and air pressure, something that previously also accounted for hair styles and fit.
On the audio side of things, the 30mm driver has been tuned for noise cancellation, and uses a carbon fibre composite for the dome and neodymium for the magnet in what Sony calls a “specially designed driver unit.
Sony is also using its Digital Sound Enhancement Engine known more familiarly as “DSEE Extreme”, with this using AI to upscale compressed audio to sound better overall. Support for high-res audio is also here, as is high-res wireless , and even support for spatial audio on Android for music using a stereo upmix technology that doesn’t require 360 Reality Audio, handy since so few services support it.
The company has also worked with Grammy-nominated and winning artists and engineers to hone the sound of the headphones, including Post Malone, Randy Merrill, and plenty of others to help tune the headphones accordingly.
When talking on a phone, the active noise cancellation may not be quite as high-end, but that’s because the microphones will split their time for your talking time. Sony notes that a six microphone AI system will use beam-forming to filter out the background noise while capturing your voice, something that’s sure to make regularly talkers happier.
There are other features, too, such as the location-changing sound settings we’ve seen on previous generations, as well as support for Bluetooth multi-point and Bluetooth LE.
Like other high-end noise cancelling headphones, the WH-1000XM6 won’t come cheap, priced in Australia at $699.95 and $749.95 in New Zealand, making one of the more expensive pairs of noise cancelling cans. That seems to be the norm lately, though neither reaches as high as the $899 AirPods Max or even the $1300 Focal Bathys above them (both AUD).
That said, we’d reviewed every generation since the first came out, covering the WH-1000XM2 (when the name changed from MDR-1000X), the WH-1000XM3, XM4, and the previous XM5, so we have pretty high expectations for the XM6.
Expect to find them in stores across Australia and New Zealand in June this year, with pre-order kicking in now.
