Sony WH-1000XM6 review: the safe answer to "which headphones should I get?"

What changed from the XM5

The XM5 was a very good pair of headphones with one daft decision: it did not fold. Sony has fixed that. The XM6 folds flat and then folds in, and the new case closes with a magnet rather than a zip. I get them in and out one-handed on a platform while holding a coffee, which sounds trivial until you have tried it with a zipped case. It is the small thing people moaned about most, and it was the thing I noticed first.

Under the hood there is a new noise cancelling processor, the QN3, and twelve microphones rather than eight. Sony says the chip is around seven times faster than the previous one. What I actually notice is that the cancelling adapts faster when the noise around me changes. Stepping off a quiet carriage onto a platform, my XM4s gave me a second of roar before they caught up. The XM6 does not.

Sound

Sony tuned these with a handful of mastering engineers and it shows in the marketing, but the practical bit is the ten-band EQ in the app. Out of the box the sound is warm with a bit of extra low end, which is how Sony always ships. I pulled the bass down two notches on day one and have not touched it since.

There is a 360 Upmix mode that turns stereo into fake surround for films. It is a gimmick, but I did leave it on for two films on a long flight and enjoyed it. The game EQ preset I tried once and turned off. The headline point is that these sound as good as anything I have owned at this price, and better than anything with cancelling this strong.

Comfort and battery

At 250 g they are light for a full-size pair and the headband is wider than before, which spreads the weight. Sony has also softened the earpads. I wear glasses, and the XM4 pads used to press the arms into my head after an hour. I have done a full working day in the XM6 without taking them off.

Battery is 30 hours with cancelling on, 40 with it off. I charge them about once a week. A three minute charge gets you about three hours, which has saved a forgotten-to-charge commute more than once. You can use them while they charge, which the XM5 would not let you do.

What bothered me

The clamp. Mine ran snug for the first fortnight and then settled. The folding hinge is new and has not been through years of being stuffed into rucksacks yet, so I am gentler with it than I was with the old pair. And the price is proper flagship money. If you mostly listen at home on a quiet sofa, a cheaper pair with weaker cancelling will do the same job.