After months of speculation, the Sony WH-1000XM6 are finally official, and the Japanese tech giant thinks you’ll like what its new flagship wireless headphones offer.
At the recent European launch for the £400 / €450 / $449 / AU$699 headphones, Sony Europe’s Head of Personal Entertainment Product Group, Adrian Price-Hunt, said they were “the best noise-cancelling product in the market”. Strong words, given the market boasts some big competition from some big players – Bose and Bowers & Wilkins, to name but two.
It has been three years since the release of the company’s last flagship, the five-star WH-1000XM5, and Sony has gone all out to improve the performance of the new model.
- Read our Sony WH-1000XM6 review
The headband has been redesigned so it is slightly wider, and the noiseless, stepless sliders now incorporate a hinge mechanism (made from stainless steel and plastic), which was missing from the XM5, much to the disappointment of some Sony headphones fans.
Inside the earcups, which now have a fingerprint-resistant coating, there’s a newly developed 30mm ‘soft edge’ dome driver which Sony claims, when combined with the headphones’ new processor, not only improves audio performance, but also helps with the quality of the active noise cancelling (ANC).
The new processor is called the HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN3. Sony has actually skipped a generation of processors for the XM6; the WH-1000XM5 launched with its QN1 chip, and Sony claims the new chip is an impressive seven times faster.
QN3 includes what Sony calls a ‘look-ahead noise shaper’ to improve the digital-to-analogue process by reducing distortion and improving dynamics.
Elsewhere on the processing front, Sony’s DSEE Extreme sound-enhancement engine returns from XM5 to help improve poor-quality digital audio files to near hi-res quality.
For the WH-1000XM6, Sony has also called on some of the technology found in its premium Walkman range and products such as the WM1ZM2. This includes the low phase noise crystal oscillator to help improve timing, and the use of gold-infused solder in certain parts of the circuitry.
Sony has also used experience from the Walkmans to optimise components and circuitry to minimise crosstalk and interference.
Sony’s has added call quality to its ANC claims, saying it is the best call quality ever on a pair of its headband headphones. The XM6 boast six microphones per earcup, compared with four on XM5. Three of the mics are used with beamforming AI to help make your calls sound as clear, detailed and noise-free as possible. Only two were used on XM5.
Where the WH-1000XM5 had Auto NC Optimiser, XM6 goes a step further with its adaptive NC optimiser, which constantly adapts to changes in your environment as you move around.
Other new features for the WH-1000XM6 include 360 upmix for cinema, a ten-band equaliser for extra customisation and a new Gaming EQ for casual gamers.
As with previous models, there is support for LDAC, SBC, and AAC, and high-res wireless certification, with the new model now adding Bluetooth LE Audio and Auracast support to the specification list too.
Battery life remains the same as XM5 at 30hrs per charge with Bluetooth and ANC turned on, while a three-minute charge will get you three hours of playback with a USB-PD charger. Multipoint support for two devices is included.
The Sony WH-1000XM6 are available to buy now in three finishes: Silver, Black or Midnight Blue.
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