STEREO GUIDE verdict
The Sony WH-1000XM6 outshines its predecessor in every discipline and can now be folded up again for easier transportation.
Pros
- Balanced sound with rich, clean bass
- Good spatial representation
- Long battery life
- Very good noise-canceling, especially in the bass
Cons
- Surfaces do not look as elegant
- Sometimes difficult to stow in the case
-
Tonal balance / transparency9.1
-
Bass / Dynamics9.5
-
Usability / Connectivity9.5
-
Price/Performance9.2
The predecessor to the Sony WH-1000 XM6 presented at the end of last week was in the Japanese electronics giant’s range for three years. In the world of consumer electronics, that’s quite a long time. However, anyone who thinks that the successor will demonstratively set itself apart from its successful predecessor, as in the case of the fourth and fifth generations of the successful series, is in for a surprise. I had to look closely to see the differences. Sony has retained the basic design of the new over-ear headphones with Active Noise Cancelling (ANC).
Only at second glance do you notice differences in the joints of the headband and the controls on the ear cups. The aim: more intuitive control of the most important functions. You can now activate the Bluetooth headphones with a round button on the underside of the left ear cup and easily switch between noise canceling, ambient sound and microphone mute with an equally easy-to-touch square button. It can also be used to directly activate music streaming services such as Spotify Tap or Amazon Music Play Now using tap commands. In addition to the tactile buttons, there is also a touchpad on the right-hand side. There you can start or stop playback with a double-tap command and skip by swiping horizontally. Vertical swiping on the silk-matt plastic surface controls the volume.
Long live evolution
The developers therefore took an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary approach, incorporating the wishes and criticisms of the many users around the world. The externally visible changes are therefore more user-friendly in practice. For example, the Sony WH-1000XM6 can be folded and stored more conveniently in the relatively compact hard case. The mechanics appear solid. Even if the feel of the plastic ear cups in particular doesn’t impress me, the folding mechanism with its double joints inspires confidence.
ANC with ambitions
However, anyone who concludes from the external features described above that there is nothing new to report in the East is very much mistaken. A lot has happened on the inside of these headphones, which weigh around 250 grams. For example, there is the new QN3 HD noise-canceling processor, with which Sony has made an explicit claim to leadership: The Japanese company promises nothing less than the “best noise canceling on the market”.
And anyone familiar with the WH-1000XM6’s predecessors will know that Sony has been a leader in this field for some time, alongside pioneers such as Bose. The XM6 focuses on adaptability. The ANC can be configured in the Sony Sound Connect app. Sony relies on autonomous recognition of locations and situations, i.e. the question of whether the user is sitting in the living room or moving in city traffic. A virtual slider can be used in the app to adjust the effect of the isolation.
A dozen willing
What is noticeable before you have spent any time with Sony’s new flagship headphones: the transparency function (“Ambient Adaptive Sound Mode”) is practically noise-free. A whole lot of competitors can take a leaf out of this book. Of course, the microphones have a considerable influence on this function. This is where Sony really goes all out with its new over-ear. The predecessor of the WH-1000 XM six was already very well equipped in this respect with its eight microphones. Now the Japanese are increasing this to twelve. Of this dozen microphones, six instead of the previous four now benefit voice quality when making calls.
The WH-1000XM6 even uses artificial intelligence to better filter out the voice from the ambient noise. With its AI beamforming, it achieves an increased directional effect. Everything that is not directly in the wearer’s field of vision is masked out with acoustic focusing. The ANC also benefits enormously from the extensive microphone array. Four feed-forward microphones on the outside of each ear cup capture the ambient noise. Additional microphones on the inside of the ear cups, with their soft, leather-like pads that fit snugly against the head, provide feedback to optimize noise suppression. The adaptive noise-cancelling optimization function is also designed to compensate for fluctuations in air pressure or leaks, such as those caused by glasses.
New beading against bitching
At the heart of the XM6, however, are the drivers. And this is where Sony went into detail. The diaphragm diameter remains at 30 millimeters. The domes are made of carbon fibre composite material and use optimized voice coils for the drive. Soft surrounds are also intended to improve the effect of active noise canceling.
However, the sound improvements that Sony expects from the XM6 are not just down to the two transducers. The V2 processor is also intended to boost the sound. Sony’s digital DSP tricks with its two new processors address several points. One of these is the proactive optimization of quantization noise during digital-to-analogue conversion.
Using LDAC Sony’s proprietary audio coding technology, Hi-Res audio can be enjoyed on compatible devices via Bluetooth 5.3 without a cable. For everyone else and for music that is only available in standard resolution, DSEE Extreme provides an upscaling option that uses AI to upscale the audio data to high-resolution quality in real time.
Besides the AI, there is a lot of humanity
Sony then relied on real people with proven expertise to tune the sound of the WH-1000XM6. The new over-ear from Sony was developed in close collaboration with renowned mastering engineers from Sterling Sound, Battery Studios and Coast Mastering. Grammy award winners such as Randy Merrill (Ed Sheeran), Chris Gehringer (Rihanna, Lady Gaga), Mike Piacentini (Bob Dylan) and Michael Romanowski (Alicia Keys, Star Wars soundtracks) helped to refine the sound to studio level. The development goal was to create headphones that would transmit musical details, emotions and dynamics as precisely as intended by the creative minds behind the instruments, microphones and mixing consoles.
With the new Sony WH-1000XM6, the developers didn’t just think about natural music playback. They also provided movie fans and gamers with a few goodies. The over-ear offers a “360 Upmix for Cinema” mode, which builds on Sony’s existing Spatial Audio technology. There is also a gaming EQ preset for gamers. Another sound preset imitates distanced, muted background music in a bar – ideal for chilling out on the train or plane. And if you want to influence the frequency response yourself in the app, the Sony Sound Connect app for iOS and Android now has a 10-band equalizer, whereas the WH-1000XM5 had to make do with just five bands.
Enduring even with ANC
One important thing for mobile Bluetooth headphones is, of course, battery life. In this respect, headband headphones have a clear advantage over earbuds. They only achieve comparable runtimes with repeated recharging in the case. This is a point where, on the way back from the presentation at the Sony Center in Berlin, even as a convinced in-ear user, I started to wonder. And I’m not just referring to Deutsche Bahn, which, after my years-long boycott due to the guaranteed breakdowns, actually delivered, apart from marginal issues such as a lack of water in the dining car.
The Sony ran and ran and ran. On the four-hour train journey from Berlin to Munich, where I had connecting appointments, it consumed just over 10 percent. With its paper data of 30 hours operating time with ANC and 40 without, it doesn’t set any new records in the field of over-ear and on-ear headphones. But Sony’s figures are very conservative, as my experience shows. In terms of practice, I think it’s an announcement – especially when you consider that I had the ANC activated the whole time in the noisy environment of the ICE and would still have exceeded 40 hours of operation (if the train had broken down).
Perfect for long journeys
Should I ever go into politics and jet hundreds of thousands of kilometers around the world every year to save the world, these would definitely be my headphones of choice at the moment. If you get yourself an airline adapter, you can connect the WH-1000XM6 to the in-flight entertainment system using the supplied jack cable. It then consumes no power at all, provided you do not use active noise-canceling. When connecting the cable to the left ear cup, the gold-plated 3.5 mm jack plug must be pressed in firmly. Otherwise, no sound will come out of the headphones, which, with their nominal impedance of 48 ohms, played very dynamically and balanced at the headphone output of my MacBook Pro. Playback via the USB socket is not intended, it is only used for charging.
Runs and runs and runs
But not only the remarkable endurance under practical conditions would be an argument in favor of the Sony WH-1000XM6 for me. The ANC also convinced me in practice. After all, it wasn’t just a mixture of comfort and a thirst for adventure that led me to entrust myself to Deutsche Bahn on the Munich – Berlin route. For noise-canceling, such a journey is of course a real treat. Despite the stress of the trade fair, I was able to test the Sony under practical conditions at the HIGH END in Munich, which started immediately afterwards(click here for the trade fair report).
The ICE train, which despite its less dynamic driving style (if you’re familiar with the Japanese Shinkansen or the French TGV) was at times quite a bit faster than a commuter train, provided ideal conditions for testing the sound and active noise canceling. This confirmed what was already apparent during the premiere event in the noisy test cabins: the WH-1000XM6’s adaptive ANC is particularly effective in the low-frequency range, which is a blessing in such cases. At the same time, the transparency mode allows conversations to pass through without noise, which is very pleasant when you’re on the move. The Sony over-ear therefore delivers a solid, practical solution.
Very harmonious sound
But the noise-canceling thing wouldn’t be worth half as much if the sound hadn’t convinced me. Of course, I have reviewed all kinds of expensive headphone exotics in the four and even five-digit range in my job as a reviewer, especially for magazines such as AUDIO or stereoplay. Above a certain price, dynamic drivers are usually not used, but electric or magnetostats with feather-light foil diaphragms. And with the right amplifiers and audiophile recordings, these sometimes produce unforgettable goosebump moments. Some of these are effects that only work with selected music productions.
The Sony WH-1000XM6 is different. It doesn’t want to be a diva that whisks you away to other spheres. The Japanese over-ear is a down-to-earth, reliable travel companion. Headphones that are equally suitable for all types of music. One that does not dazzle with a particular effect, but rather illuminates all frequency ranges with equal balance and detail. It was able to reproduce any sound I served it via Bluetooth from my iPhone at a high level without any distracting rough edges, no matter what the conditions.
In my experience, it combines fine treble resolution with a silkiness that, just like the homogeneous, natural voice reproduction, doesn’t make you think about timbre and frequency response in a technical sense. You just listen to the music and enjoy it. The combination of rich punch and clean reproduction without a tendency to boom also works in the bass range.
Relax and enjoy for hours
The spectacularly unspectacular sound experience is rounded off by a pleasant sense of spatiality that is hard to beat, especially with closed headphones. The stage is evenly distributed around the head, although this works better at the sides than with soloists in the center of the sound panorama for physical reasons. During some live recordings, I really had the feeling that there were people clapping next to me. Thanks to the effective ANC, even complex music can be enjoyed very quietly, which is easy on the ears. And the drive in rock and pop music doesn’t only come into its own at high levels.
As far as the effect of DSEE Extreme is concerned, when connected to the iPhone 16 Pro, a nuance of increase in silkiness was really noticeable with many listening test tracks.
Duel of the generations: Sony WH-1000XM6 vs WH-1000XM5
Of course, I compared the WH-1000XM6 at home with all possible competitors. But the most exciting comparison was with its direct predecessor, the WH-1000XM5. Unlike the fourth generation (click here for the report), we at STEREO GUIDE had not reviewed the fifth generation However, I was able to see a sample of the XM5 on display at Sony in Berlin. Despite the many improvements under the hood, a comparison of the two generations revealed a lot of fundamental similarities. Both headphones follow the same natural tuning philosophy.
However, the XM6 can do everything a little better than its predecessor, which was highly rated by many reviewer colleagues in various magazines. Two key disciplines stand out more clearly with increasing listening time: The WH-1000XM6 conveys more pressure and contour in the bass. This should please fans of rock, pop and electronic music in particular, just like me.
The more natural mid-range reproduction is equally positive for all genres of music, which was particularly noticeable in vocals as a plus in authenticity. Compared to the new XM6, the predecessor sounded more artificial in a direct comparison, for example with the voice of the versatile Norwegian musician Anette Asvik “Liberty”. In Sony’s sound booths, I found the difference in noise-canceling to be perceptible, but not dramatic. Sony’s biggest over-ears were among the best in this respect anyway.
Conclusion and alternatives: Sony WH-1000XM6
We made numerous comparisons with other Bluetooth over-ears in the editorial team. These included, for example, the Teufel Real Blue Pro, which was extremely successful in terms of sound, with a slightly fresher sound in the treble, but not quite as seamless integration of the mids. In the bass, it offered comparable volume to the Sony, but not quite the same contour. The Berlin speaker also seemed a little more constricted and less transparent. In live recordings, the Japanese speaker offered a greater sense of space and brought out the reverberation of the concert hall better, integrating it perfectly into the stage presentation.
However, there is also a price difference of 100 euros between the two headphones, which is also well spent on the Sony for the more effective noise-canceling. The moderate surcharge compared to the Sony WH-1000XM5 is not a waste either. As far as I’m concerned, the Sony WH-1000XM6 is a pair of headphones whose long-term sound tuning and good wearing comfort for an over-ear (I don’t really like having anything in and on my ears) are convincing. But tomorrow I have another appointment in Nuremberg. As a Petrol Head and in-ear advocate, I’ll give the great over-ear and Deutsche Bahn another chance to convince me.
Technical specifications Sony WH-1000XM6
- Manufacturer’s suggested retail price: 450 euros
- Type: Over-Ear
- Transducer principle: Dynamic
- Battery life: Up to 30 hours (with ANC), up to 40 hours (without ANC), 3 min charging time for approx. 1 hour of music playback
- Weight: approx. 250 g
- Special features: Bluetooth 5.3, active noise-canceling, app control, 10-band EQ, headset microphone, cable operation possible, (connection cable included), multi-pin connection to two devices possible at the same time, black, silver and midnight blue
- More at: www.sony.com
