This is my honest review of the Sony Wh-1000XM6. Sony WH-1000XM6 launches on May 15, 2025, and builds on Sony’s popular WH-1000X series. It became highly successful due to its excellent noise-cancellation feature. I am sharing my best about it. They have a foldable design.
I bought these headphones with my own money. This article is not sponsored or paid. All opinions are mine. I am telling you whether this headphone is worth your money. We need to examine their key features.
Sony WH-1000XM6 Pros and Cons:
Pros:
- Lightweight
- Active noise cancelling feature available
- Superior sound quality after EQ
- The hinge issue has been improved
Cons:
- A more compact soundstage
- Clamping power
- There is little earcup room inside
- Sibilance Without EQ
Sony WH-1000XM6: The King of Noise-Canceling Headphones is Back
Sony is back with their new flagship wireless noise-cancelling headphones, which have a super easy-to-remember.
Introduction to the XM6 and its Improvements:
A straightforward way to think of it is that most people refer to these as the XM6, which is exciting because the Mark 5s from last year left some room for improvement. They improved many things, but they also made some things worse, which was unusual because the Sony noise-cancelling headphones had been king of the hill for so long. They didn’t have a ton of reason to change a whole lot. Thankfully, though, the newest generation updates many of the areas where the Mark 5s fell short. So that’s good to see. It’s exciting that there’s a new design, new sound, a new case, and a new price. We’ll get there.
Design and Comfort:
To start, I still love this super clean, simple design. They kept what was good about the Mark 5s. They are very, very lightweight. The vegan leather ear pads are super soft. The headband is incredibly flexible. These are just some of the most comfortable headphones to wear for extended periods, which is what you want from them. If you wear them for a long time, whether for travelling, commuting, or something similar, they are still awesome.
Thoughtful Design Details and Included Accessories:
So, the first thing I was happy to see is the Mark 6s are back to being able to fold up again. They have a new, significantly smaller case designed around them that also accommodates some cables. And bonus, the case doesn’t zipper anymore. It just closes with magnets at this buckle on the side, and it is way faster to open and close than everyone else’s zipper cases. I’m not sure why we haven’t seen this more often, as this case is perfect. It’s about to be copied a whole lot in a whole bunch of places because I wouldn’t change a thing.
Button and Port Layout Changes:
And then, they adjusted the buttons and microphones on the outside of the headphones slightly. The right side still features only the USB Type-C port. And then, on the left, next to the audio jack, they’ve made the power button much bigger, which doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it now lets you distinguish between the power button and the noise cancellation button more easily, especially when you can’t see them.
Advanced Noise Cancellation Technology:
Now, speaking of noise cancellation, they’ve made several behind-the-scenes changes to these headphones that could potentially lead to a significant improvement. There are 12 microphones on these, compared to eight from the last generation. There’s also a significantly more powerful Sony QN3 chip inside, which should be able to handle much more processing. They also stated that they have trained these headphones on 500 million voice samples by using AI to better distinguish human voices from environmental noise.
New Sound Connect App Features:
Not only are these headphones new, but Sony has also refreshed its app. The Sony Headphones Connect app is now just called Sound Connect. However, it still performs most of the same functions. There are still 20 different levels of ambient sound, literally. There are still custom EQs that you can easily switch between. This is also where you can deactivate or activate any of the other convenience features.
New Listening Modes:
One new thing I found interesting is listening to the mode. So, you can listen to your audio as usual in standard mode, or you can switch to background music mode, which does an excellent job of making it sound like the music is coming from a small set of tinny speakers, even from a distance of 20 feet. Like as if you’re in a cafe somewhere, which, you know, you might be into that. There are even actually three modes:
- Cafe
- Living room
- My room
Effective Customization and Core Strengths:
There’s also still the EQ stuff. The point is you can make these headphones sound precisely the way you want them to. The sound is intense. The noise cancellation is excellent. They are incredibly comfortable to wear for extended periods. They fold up into a smaller case. The battery life remains the same, at 30 hours, as it was last year. My only downside is that your ears can get sweaty without any ventilation after a couple of hours. The touchpad controls on the side are still finicky, just as they have been every year. But clearly, these have a lot of great things going for them.