Sony WF-1000XM6 Review: My New Favorite Earbuds | WIRED

TriangleUp Buy Now Multiple Buying Options Available $328 at Amazon $330 at Sony Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Rating: 9 /10 Open rating explainer Information WIRED Industry-leading noise canceling. Amazing transparency. Fantastic tuning, with bass that's dynamic and fun to listen to. Good touch controls. Very customizable app. Amazing transparency mode. Comfortable, secure fit. TIRED Stiff competition from Apple if you own an iPhone, Bose if you don't. Eartips have a learning curve. Wireless earbuds have now gotten so good, many folks forget how far they've come. From the generation that seemingly grew up with one AirPod in their ear to those of us firmly from the iPod generation, wireless earbuds have become more or less ubiquitous, and decent in quality. Where early, more clunky generations of buds may have struggled, modern earbuds offer nearly all-day battery life, excellent noise canceling, and great software. But even with all these changes, I never actually forgot I was wearing them until I tried Sony's latest pair. The WF-1000XM6 (“Wirefree 1000X Mark 6”) blend ergonomic design, memory foam eartips, and shockingly transparent microphones to create a pair of noise-canceling earbuds I genuinely spaced having in my ears. For four hours, I forgot I had them on in transparency mode when using my normal desktop speakers. I attended Zoom meetings, listened to background music, and watched YouTube videos, all on my desktop speakers, without noticing. Everything sounded normal enough that I didn’t catch it until the earbuds told me the battery was getting low. Whoops. If you’re shopping for premium wireless earbuds (read: You’re willing to pay more than AirPods Pro money), and you want to use them every day for everything, these are probably the best do-it-all solution I’ve ever tested. Only Bose's QuietComfort Ultra come close, and, with apologies to my fellow Patriots, I prefer this Japanese fit and finish to the Boston one. Sixth Gen Design Photograph: Parker Hall Sony has never once flirted with the elephant trunk style that Apple has so faithfully—some would say woefully—stuck to, and that even Bose follows. Instead, the brand has offered more traditionally shaped pill earbuds, which, though larger in previous generations, have slowly shrunk to the very ergonomic size of the WF-1000XM6 model. The small black buds (they also come in a silvery tan) have two microphones visible on the outer shell, simple Sony logos on the side, and a pair of memory-foam eartips in four sizes. A word to the wise on fit: Once you figure out which size of eartips you want (I stuck with the factory-installed Medium, because I have freakishly average ears), you actually have to twist and compress the foam before you put the earbuds in. This is a key component of why these specific earbuds feel so natural to me, and a huge reason why the noise canceling is so good. Full noise canceling is impossible due to sound physics, but the nerds at Sony and Bose (and even Apple) have gotten pretty damn close. Adding foam is a good way to cut outside noise passively, with ANC software able to work less hard on top of better passive isolation. The more you can actually remove the outside world from a listener’s world physically, like with foam earplugs, the better you can determine what actually gets through. Foam eartips aren't new; many high-end in-ear headphones have come with them as an option in the past, and the latest AirPods Pro also use a bit of foam in their eartips for similar reasons. Pair excellent passive isolation with Sony’s top-tier noise canceling algorithms and processing, and you get a nearly unrivaled experience in the world of portable listening. It feels like I have a light switch on the sounds of the outside world. Neighbor mowing the lawn and bothering you? Not anymore. I can’t hear the clicks and clacks of my mechanical keyboard, and can actually feel physically in my chest—rather than actually hear—the 75 decibels (the average real noise level) of simulated airplane cabin noise I pipe in to test headphones when I have no personal flights planned. This type of isolation makes these headphones an utter delight to use for work or other activities where you really want to focus. When I do want to hear the world around me, the WF-1000XM6 do a tremendous job of achieving what so many before them have attempted: actual audio transparency. The two microphones on the outside of each bud are large and very good at catching everything going on around you. The audio that these mics pipe in when you want it to feel like the earbuds aren’t even there is better than any I have tested. As I said in the introduction to this review, I spent hours with them on and forgot they were there. I was even listening to music through my normal desktop speakers—a pair of Genelec 8040Bs, for the nerds—during that time. I tested transparency mode on multiple Zoom