For the past three years, our number one recommendation for anyone in the market for premium wireless headphones has been the Sony WH-1000XM5.
Since their release in May 2022, they have stood loud and proud as our Best Overall pick in our best noise-cancelling headphones buying guide, accompanied by more affordable, more premium and earbud-style options to point buyers to the class-leading model for their budget and/or preference.
Our headphone buying guides exclusively feature pairs that have most impressed our expert reviews team, which has over 150 years of collective experience, and which have proven themselves superior to their closest rivals on our comparison testbench.
New competitors from headphone stalwarts Bose, Sennheiser and Bowers & Wilkins have arrived since the XM5, and while all have gained five-star reviews from our expert in-house reviews team, and come pretty close to matching the XM5’s all-round talents, only the latest arrival in the market has been able to knock the kings off the throne... their own successors.
New noise-cancelling kings
Indeed, Sony has pushed forward with its WH-1000XM6, improving across the design, features, noise-cancelling and sound quality departments to set a new benchmark in the premium space.
You can read our test team’s comprehensive Sony WH-1000XM6 review for all the ins and outs, but in short the biggest upgrades are in the added comfort and return to a folding hinge design; the effectiveness of the noise cancellation, which now automatically constantly adapts to changes in your environment as you’re moving around; the addition of next-gen Bluetooth features such as LE Audio, LC3 and Auracast; and the increased sonic detail and dynamic expression.
At £400 / $450 / AU$699, the new XM6 are pricier than the XM5, which started life only very slightly cheaper but have been available at roughly a 30 per cent discount for the past year, and still are.
The older model remains the front runner for those who cannot afford the new model’s outlay, then. But those who do have the not-inconsiderable budget should jump on the XM6, which, going by Sony’s typical launch cycle, won’t likely be replaced for two to three years.
Competitors to consider
Should you consider any similarly priced alternatives first? Well, the closest performers are the also new Bowers & Wilkins PX7 S3, which are arguably more stylish and do rival the XM6’s sound – “especially when it comes to precision and fine detail,” says our experts, who tested the two headphones directly against one another.
“The Bowers sound better defined, with the Sony's bringing a greater sense of expressiveness,” they say. The B&Ws simply don’t match the Sonys’ level of noise-cancelling ability, which is why the XM6 edge it in our opinion. They do, however, support the aptX Bluetooth codecs widely supported by Android devices, while the Sonys do not (they back LDAC instead).
As for Bose’s flagship, the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones, the Sonys sound notably better, have a longer battery life (30 hours vs 24) and, amazingly, aren’t even second best in the noise-cancelling content anymore.
The Bose’s ANC performance “isn’t as natural, sophisticated or subtle as the Sonys, which will make the WH-1000XM6 the better option for a lot of people,” reads our XM6 review. This is actually the first time we haven’t been convinced that the Bose pair clinches the ANC rivalry.
The XM6 also extends the gap between Sony’s wireless flagships and Apple’s AirPods Max, the latter now thoroughly beaten for sound quality, noise-cancelling performance, battery life, Android friendliness and Bluetooth codec support.
That said, we can still see many Apple fans siding with the AirPods due to their iOS device slickness and features, one of which is spatial audio with dynamic head tracking. While the XM6 support Sony’s 360 Reality Audio Upmix for Cinema, which adds spatial processing to any content you’re watching in stereo, we doubt it will be as mature as Apple’s spatial offering.
So there you have it. The premium noise-cancelling market is as competitive as it’s ever been, and yet Sony manages to remain top of the pile by being the best (or joint best) in every area, with only a couple of weaknesses: you still can’t listen via a wired USB-C connection, and again that lack of aptX Bluetooth support is a shame.
Otherwise, you can consider every other box ticked. The Sony WH-1000XM6 are a resounding success and the Best Overall pick in our best ANC buying guide.
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