Whether you use a pair of earbuds to just listen to music or escape the world, it’s difficult to deny the power of noise cancellation in this form. Compact and capable, earbuds and earphones with active noise cancellation onboard help us to cancel out sounds we don’t want to hear, and they’re getting better each and ever year.
The year 2025 might feel like a bit of a distant memory, but it offered some of the best technology in noise cancellation we’ve seen and heard yet.
Models such as the Apple AirPods Pro 3 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd-gen delivered such strong competition, you’d question why you’d need over-ear as an option ever again, though both Bose and Sony also offered new headphones there, as well.
Sony’s WH-1000XM6 headphones were among the year’s best noise cancelling options, but an update to Sony’s in-ear offering was missing in action, with no WF model to go with the WH XM6.
Fast forward to February, and it seems Sony is ready, announcing the WF-1000XM6, the model designed to basically be the in-ear equivalent of last year’s Best Pick winning WH-1000XM6.
The sixth generation take on Sony’s MDR-1000X model sees improvements to its ergonomics and a design that’s around 11 percent slimmer, complete with tips made specifically for Sony called “Noise Isolation Earbud Tips”, designed to be comfortable, secure, and block noise.
It won’t just be tips doing this job, because the “active” part of active noise cancellation means microphones and algorithms working away, and that’s here, too. Here in the WF-1000XM6, you’ll find Sony’s QN3e noise cancellation processor, working with four microphones per ear, an upgrade from three in the previous WF XM5 generation.
In terms of what this handles, Sony says there’s up to a further 25 percent reduction, focusing on mid-to-high frequency noise, which basically means the noise consistent with every day life, and sitting on buses and the like.
Those microphones will see two used for calls, complete with a bone conduction sensor on each side and beamforming using AI, which should help with call audio.
Meanwhile, the QN3e processor will be doing double duty for other reasons, powering a digital-to-analogue amplifier (DAC) and working with Sony’s V2 Integrated Processor for processing audio, outputting at a maximum of 32-bit processing compared to 24-bit. The long and short of this is audio should be improved, which given it was already pretty solid should be quite an achievement.
But it’s not just processor tech. Sony also has a new driver design focused on delivering accurate high-resolution audio, using a combination of a soft edge for deep bass and a light dome for highs.
Sony hasn’t said what the materials are, beyond suggesting “different materials” between dome and edge, but it does imply the XM6 aren’t just a rehash of the previous generation.
What Sony hasn’t said is whether the WF-1000XM6 will support spatial audio beyond 360 Reality Audio, Sony’s lesser used format that only a handful of music services support (and may not have the same music selection as Dolby Atmos, at that).
However, the battery life does offer up to 8 hours before needing a charge, with a total of 24 hours in the case and support for Qi wireless charging there, too.
Pricing will see the Sony WF-1000XM6 launched on the high side for noise cancelling earbuds, set for a $499.95 recommended retail price in Australia, making it just beyond its obvious competitors from Apple, Bose, yet priced to match Technics’ AZ100. Release is this month, though, so we should have some thoughts soon.
