Words: Anshuman Ghosh
I must admit, few headphones get as much attention as Sony’s latest active noise cancelling (ANC) cans, and the Sony WH-1000XM6 probably stands out as the most-anticipated of its line. Topping the lists of “best ANC headphones” from outlets online, do these new cans stack up to the rest of the lineup, or do they fall flat? Let’s discover!
The Sony WH-1000XM6 is for commuters, travellers, or anyone who needs an all-rounder set of wireless noise cancelling headphones. I’ve tested the Sony WH-1000XM6 over a week’s period, from a company provided unit, especially for this review. Interestingly, it’s the story of Sony, hunting and removing gripes from its past models, in the same line. The fragile hinge has vanished, gone is the odd lay-flat-only design of the WH-1000XM5, and gone is the difficult-to-distinguish power button on the earcup! The company even fixed the ANC mic cover issue by replacing the shield with a grille. Looks like Sony, very intently addressed what people found objectionable about past headphones and attacked each gripe, head-on! This is good: you wouldn’t have to worry about these little things any longer! As these headphones are meant to assume the roles of a primary music vehicle, telecom headset, and noise attenuators, guess they’ve got a lot on their plate! Using the Sony WH-1000XM6 could seem a tad boring, but if one has used wireless ANC headphones before, there aren’t many in-built surprises: the connection is super easy, the control scheme is familiar, and you don’t even need the app to use the Sony WH-1000XM6. You can just pair and play! Installing the app yields more advanced features, even without it, you can get the best these headphones have to offer. Isn’t that superb?
There is no ingress protection rating for the Sony WH-1000XM6 yet, these headphones could be susceptible to moisture. Included in the packaging of this Sony is a magnetic closure case that holds the cables, headphones, and a little else. It works fairly-well, however, it doesn’t inspire the confidence a zipper does! Ear pads are easy to remove for cleaning. As it is with most top-tier ANC headsets, there’s no easy access to the battery. It claims a 30 hrs. long battery life, and a 3 hrs worth of charge, in just 3 minutes! The notable gripe with the Sony WH-1000XM6 is its comfort, which could be tad tough to contextualize, because of how different everyone’s ears are. The wider band structure is more accommodating to larger heads though, but the pads are relatively thin, compared to what many might prefer. The ANC mic protrudes a couple of millimetres from the mesh plane.
They indeed sound very good, have commendable ANC, and are equipped to handle demanding users. The incorporation of a new chip, the QN3 multi-noise sensor technology is an adaptive noise cancellation optimizer for delivering the best NC levels. Controlling the Sony WH-1000XM6 can either happen through your phone, or by using the dedicated inputs on the headphones themselves. On the left earcup is an ANC/passthrough mode button, and a Power/BT pairing button as well. The flat surface on the back of the right earcup hides a capacitive touch plate that allows you to control calls and playback through a series of gestures. It proudly proclaims its sound tuning, done by its reference creators! These cans allow you to hear music as it was meant to be, developed in collaboration with world-renowned mastering engineers at three of the industry top recording studios: Sterling Sound, Battery Studios and Coast Mastering. All intended to deliver the artist’s intended emotion, energy and detail with marked precision. I’ve played some of my favourite jazz and rock albums, all sound warm, yet detailed, engaging and balanced!
The Sony WH-1000XM6 is the flagship headphone product, it’s no surprise that the feature list is long! For example, installing the Sony Sound Connect app enables such things as a 10-band equalizer, EQ presets, advanced Bluetooth settings, toggling passthrough features like speak-to-chat and head gestures, and spatial audio via the 360 Reality Audio platform. One can also now up-mix audio through the app to emulate what it may sound like with Sony’s proprietary spatial audio solution for cinema. Additionally, you can enable DSEE extreme, enable a volume limiter, prioritize connection quality, and all sorts of things that only power users will tinker with. The call quality too comes beefed up with the first AI noise reduction using AI beamforming mics. Ah! There’s even the Game EQ for casual gamers. Thats a lot! Suffice to say: most of the software/firmware features that you’d want in a set of top-tier ANC headphones are there. Most! Though being LE ready, it’s not having a USB-C passthrough for audio and not having the latest Bluetooth standard, could be just glaring. These might become a sore spot for niche users, in a couple of years!
This flagship Sony WH-1000XM6 is every bit a worthy successor to Sony’s other ANC headphones, as you’d hope. They sort of cement Sony’s status as the “go to” ANC pair! Every aspect gets upgraded, they sound very good, have excellent ANC, and are equipped to handle demanding users. They can be on top recall for a quick upgrade, provided the price disparity isn’t too glaring, upon comparisons with your current headphone pairs!
VERDICT:
WE’RE IMPRESSED:
- Super Light to wear
- Intuitive touch controls
- Excellent in ANC and music
- Versatile and tons of tech to use
WE’D IMPROVE: - Still not specified as waterproof
- Include a USB-C passthrough for audio
THE LAST WORD:
Try this next level of Sony ANC!
Price: Rs. 39,990
Availability: Sony.co.in
Leave a Reply