Sony WH-1000XM6 reviewed: a new benchmark

Priced at roughly $700 in Australia, the WH-1000XM6 sets the benchmark for the best noise cancellation headphones that little bit higher. If you can afford them, they’re incredible, even though competition clearly exists in a tighter market.

Six generations in with Sony’s Bose-beating noise cancellation headphones, you might be wondering just what could the maker of the Walkman do to build a better pair of cans. After all, we’ve seen five generations of excellence, delivering some of the best stereo sets anyone could own.

Starting with the MDR-1000X back in 2016, which practically put Sony on the map for the best active noise cancelling headphones around, we have seen consistent improvements with each subsequent generation. The design has improved, the sound is better with every follow-up and model, and the noise cancellation had become a chef’s kiss of bravo brilliance.

And then in 2022, Sony took a bit of a back step. The design changed while the price increased, giving other players a bit of an opening.

Bose retuned and returned with a pair even better than its 700 Noise Cancelling Headphones in the excellent Quiet Comfort Ultra Headphones — a favourite of this reviewer — while Beats and Sennheiser and even smaller brand Soundcore showed what other headphone makers could do in the market for a lower price point.

The world of noise cancelling headphones appeared to grow over the past three years, which has seen more competition for Sony pop up bearing similar technology.

Fortunately, Sony hasn’t been resting on its laurels, and is ready with a new pair designed to show a new and improved benchmark.

In 2025, some three years on from the previous model, we’re being treated to the WH-1000XM6, and it’s more than just a name change with a fresh coat of paint.

Design and features

Let’s start with design, because on the surface, it could appear nothing has changed. In truth, very little has changed from the overall appearance and aesthetics between 2022’s WH-1000XM5 headphones and this year’s XM6.

And yet there’s one clear obvious change that makes all the difference: Sony has returned the foldable design. Huzzah!

It was there from the start of the 1000 series in 2016 all the way to the XM4 in 2020, and in 2022’s XM5, it just disappeared from the range. It was an unwelcome decision that made it more difficult to carry an otherwise great pair of headphones.

In the WH-1000XM6, the foldable approach is back complete with the same design used in the XM6, raising the question: why couldn’t Sony have done this before?

Whatever the answer, we’re glad we have it now, with the big cans encompassing most ears in a circumaural design that provides a plush faux leather (vegan leather) covering memory foam pads and isolating wearers from the world easily enough before the other technology of a noise cancelling headphone kicks in.

The feature set has slightly changed, too.

The sizeable over-ear headphones encase a 30mm composite drive made with carbon fibre and using a neodymium magnet, plus two processors to handle sound and noise, the Sony Integrated Processor V2 and the HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN3.

There are twelve microphones found across the headphones (six on each side) including microphones on the inside to measure noise and leakage when using cancellation, while noise is also handled for phone calls with AI-optimisations for voice pickup.

Previous features introduced and evolved by the company have also stuck around: you’ll find Sony’s Digital Signal Enhancement Extreme (DSEE) technology for audio upscaling, Bluetooth multipoint, and a GPS-based location tracker inside the newly named “Sound Connect” app (formerly Headphones) that can change the cancellation mode of your headphones based on pre-mapped spots on a map with scene-based listening.

In-use

Sony’s touch controls also exist for another year, allowing you to swipe and tap the right earpad for easy controls: swipe up and down for volume, or forward and backward for music track selection.

This generation, when you swipe up and down, there are little sound indicators to point out that’s exactly what you’ve done, making it easier to note if you intended to do just that.

One hand pressed on the right side panel still activates the quick hear-through mode, while pressing the “NC/AMB” button on the left can rotates through whether you’re turning the mics on for noise cancellation or switching them on to hear through entirely for ambient mode.

You can also use your head to answer calls if you choose, nodding or shaking your head to accept or refuse a call, while voice control is in the headphone, too.

Switching noise cancellation modes is actually handled from a button on the left side, while the automatic optimiser has disappeared. Thanks to the combination of algorithms, microphones, and sensors, the optimisation happens in real time, giving you one less thing to do.

However, you can still make some changes in the software, going through the various cancellation modes, scenes, and other features, too.

For instance, the headphones can automatically read out notifications, kind of like how Siri can on the iPhone with any model from the AirPods range. We had messages read out and the top of the hour mentioned, as well, a handy feature you might like, though we turned off quickly.

Performance

Of course, the feature list is nothing without a good, hard look at sound performance, so as usual, we’re diving in with the Pickr Sound Test, which you can listen to on your headphones yourself. We choose the same tracks every time to get a good benchmark of what’s great, and it’s a benchmark 1000X Sony’s headphones have consistently nailed with every subsequent generation.

For this review, that starts with electronic, and we’re greeted with a warm sound from Tycho and Daft Punk (independently), with excellent highs, while the mids and bass just deliver a round sound. The balance is clear, even though the lows are obvious and evident.

There’s punch where it’s needed. The push of the drums in Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Cut To The Feeling” has oomph, as does the bass line and drums in Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk”, which just delivers.

The soundstage is clear and detailed, too. Take the classics and run these through the excellent stereo separation, and you’ll hear a sound reminiscent of a lovely loudspeaker. Marvin Gaye, David Bowie, Paul Simon, and The Beatles offer up so much warmth from the lows and detail in the highs, letting you hear every bit of percussion and guitars and the bass. Oh, the rounded bass.

From rock to jazz to classical and pop and hip-hop and so on, we found no style these cans didn’t like. They are just lovely.

Sony’s headphones offer such a lovely recreation, they easily qualify as some of the best headphones around.

Noise cancellation

It’s not just the audio quality that impresses, but the active noise cancellation technology, as well.

With a staggering 12 microphones on the XM6 and a brand new noise cancelling chip, you better believe Sony’s latest pair aims to stay at the top and make it difficult to unseat.

The latest processor working away under the hood is the HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN3, a chip that can track sound changes and predict noise, essentially acting like an adaptive cancellation system in the process of dealing with current noise, while the aforementioned 30mm driver has also been reportedly tuned for noise cancellation, as well.

In practice, the approach pays off, with most types of noise and repeatable sound disappearing into the periphery with the XM6. You won’t be able to kill every bit of background sound — not everything is “noise” per se — but much of what you can block out will be removed, leaving you in a bubble of isolation to make others simply envious of.

For instance, much of the cars for street noise still managed to get through. It’s not a repeatable sound at all, unless you happen to be in the choir of traffic of some kind, which the headphones fare much better with.

Flights will be fine, as will sitting in trains, but if you’re expecting it to isolate you against all noise, the massive number of mics and noise cancelling engine don’t quite have the algorithmic superiority to pull that off just yet.

Battery

One thing that hasn’t changed dramatically is the battery life, which sees 30 hours of life until you’ll need to reach for the charging cable.

That’s pretty much identical to the previous generation, and hardly an update at all, especially while competitors in the form of the Sennheiser Momentum 4 nearly double that at 50 hours with noise cancellation switched on.

It’s better than the 24 of the Bose equivalent, but we’re typically looking for battery life improvements as technology gets better alongside.

The one upside to the 30 hours of the Sony XM6 could be that the life is clearly matched for some of the longest travel you might need: a flight from Sydney to Paris will typically hit around 24 hours, and these headphones can do it before you need a recharge.

Value

The price is another aspect that hasn’t changed positively, growing even higher since the previous model, with Sony tacking on another $50 for the privilege.

Priced in Australia at $699.95 (and New Zealand at $749.95), the Sony WH-1000XM6 aren’t cheap, though do fit in with the price range high-end headphones active noise cancelling headphones normally arrive with.

In terms of value, they’re not exactly unworthy of that cost — you are definitely getting high-end technology matched with excellent sound, and these are some of the best headphones around. Everything sounds so good through these headphones, it’s hard to imagine ever switching to anything else.

But the price can still make you clench your teeth a bit. It’s just a touch on the high side, especially when you consider the competition of what’s out there.

What needs work?

Before we get to that competition, we need to touch on what needs work in the WH-1000XM6, because it’s not a perfect pair.

The sound is superb, the cancellation is extremely impressive, and the comfort cannot be ignored.

However, one thing we’re surprised is missing is a more inclusive support for spatial audio.

The Sony WH-1000XM6 technically supports spatial, and even some head-tracked spatial. But it only fires if you use 360 Reality Audio, a format from Sony that few providers use.

It’s a distinctly different approach to what’s become more common in the industry: emulating the 360 degree head-tracking when it’s not supported (such as in Spotify) if the user wants to. It’s how the Bose QC Ultra headphones work and a few other earphones, while Apple’s AirPods Max support head-tracking only on its devices using Apple Music, plus a bunch of movie services.

Here on the WH-1000XM6, there’s only head tracking if you use Sony’s formats, which is a touch disheartening.

You’ll get great sound at all times, just only head tracking if you use something that supports 360 Reality Audio. That’s a select assortment of tracks on Tidal, Deezer, and Amazon Music Unlimited, but not quite the selection of Atmos on Apple Music.

We’re also surprised on the lack of USB-C support for the XM6.

Yes, the Sony WH-1000XM6 supports USB-C for charging, but you won’t be able to plug them into your computer, phone, or tablet using USB-C to get a high-res sound if that’s what you’re looking for.

It’s a minor issue — high-res folks like us are rare — but USB-C support inside headphones is becoming a thing. The Focal Bathys came out swinging with a built-in USB-C DAC, and even the Beats Studio Pro followed suit.

Omitting a USB method of high-res listening is a minor thing for Sony, largely because they can handle a degree of high-resolution over wireless, but it’s still one of those things we’d have liked to see. Our 24-bit 192kbps copies jazz albums are looking for a parity playback.

What we love

While wired high-res is a bit of a miss, it may not matter, because what we love is the sound.

Sony’s delivery of sound in the WH-1000XM6 is top class. These are a pair of headphones that don’t care for gimmicks. They just deliver the best audio they can over wireless, and the best a 3.5mm has to offer for everything else.

They are an excellent pair of headphones for a modern world, arriving with the technology needed to isolate you in a bubble of your own sound.

Four more microphones than their predecessor gives them an advantage in handling more noise, as does an improvement to the noise cancelling chip.

In fact, the whole thing feels like an improvement in just about every way. There’s better noise cancellation, a better design, and a better case, too.

We actually accidentally broke the zip on the XM5 case in the first week during the review, but there’s no zip on the XM6 case to break. The case has a clasp and yet feels more compact and secure. It’s a win.

Sony WH-1000XM6 vs the competition

Comparing the XM6 to the competition, you’ll find a fair amount of great headphones out there.

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones are the most obvious contender, a great pair that will likely get an update this year, as are Sennheiser’s Momentum 4. These three are the clear obvious competitors, but some of the other more expensive models such as the Apple AirPods Max also make a point for a recommendation, as well.

Like other high-end headphones, Sony’s XM6 are high-priced, fetching a good $50 more than the current Bose equivalent, or closer to $100 more than the Sennheiser Momentum 4 or another similar choice in the Beats Studio Pro. The AirPods Max cost more, but tend to only go for folks in the Apple ecosystem due to having most of their features align with Apple products.

So the competition for the XM6 can feel like it’s largely suited to the other major noise cancelling players.

But look a little closer at the current Sony noise cancellation range, and you may find that the WH-1000XM6’s most obvious competition comes from inside Sony, resulting in a difficult choice.

XM4 vs XM6

With the release of the XM6, Sony appears to be keeping both its XM5 and XM4 predecessors in market, which means excellent formerly flagship headphones are sticking around. They’ve all seen price drops, too, corroborated by Sony’s website showing the formerly $650 WH-1000XM5 headphones going for $499.95 at the time of publication, while the former $549 price of the WH-1000XM4 can now be found for $329.95.

That’s important because while computers and phones can all feel slow over time as new models turn up (and other features and app need more device power), flagship audio products typically don’t change. A fantastic pair of headphones from a few years ago will still be as fantastic now as they were back when they launched.

So the foldable once-flagship Sony XM4 headphones may end up being a slightly better choice than their XM5 or XM6 siblings on price alone.

For $330 — and street price says they’re even lower — the five-microphone active noise cancellation tech may be substantially lower than the XM6’s twelve — but they will also save you over $300 and sound absolutely amazing. They actually won Pickr’s Best Picks for the year 2020 and the year 2021. Both years. We really loved these headphones.

Sony’s competition for the XM6 really comes from within, and it makes its predecessors an absolute steal by comparison.

Final thoughts (TLDR)

Older headphones are great, but if you want the best of the best now, it’s hard to look past what is easily amongst the best of the best today.

Most people probably won’t care about the lack of fully supported head-tracked spatial audio, and that’s fine. Not every service uses it, and interactive head-tracked audio may not be something you’re into, either.

What you may want is real sound. You know what that is: the sort of direct uncompromising brilliant recreation of the tracks and artists and albums and spoken word you love and indulge in.

And that is really what the Sony WH-1000XM6 is built for: real and honest sound.

Sony’s WH-1000XM6 are a new benchmark with plenty to love. They’ll keep you going for a long time to come. Highly recommended.