Sony WH-1000XM6: the right development of the super popular series of wireless headphones

Despite my preference for less popular, but more specialized in high-quality sound, audio equipment brands, I have always had a good attitude towards both the mainstream Sony 1000 series wireless headphones (both full-size and in-ear), and more specialized armature models like the Sony IER-M7/M9, or the studio classic Sony Pro MDR-7506. Therefore, it was very interesting to try the new flagship full-size model Sony WH-1000XM6, especially considering that the 5th generation model was somewhat disappointing. Now I will tell you in more detail how the new model of the super-popular line turned out.

Sony WH-1000XM6 specifications

Package contents

The Sony WH-1000XM6 come in a large rectangular recycled cardboard box with rounded corners and a soft cover that shows the headphones themselves, as well as all the main features and specifications.

The kit includes the headphones themselves in a protective case, a 3.5 mm cable for wired connection, a short USB Type-C cable for charging, and the necessary documentation.

The case is hard with a magnetic closure and a very nice light gray fabric cover. There is space for cables inside.

Design and usability

The 1000 series of full-size headphones has changed quite a lot structurally and visually with the release of the 5th generation. The Sony WH-1000XM6 received many features from the previous model, but also a number of improvements. The headphones are almost entirely made of pleasant matte plastic, which has a coating similar to Soft Touch. The model is available in black, dark blue and light gray. The latter, as in the review, seems to me the most practical: there are no visible prints and other traces of use on it.

Sony WH-1000XM6 are full-size (circumaural) headphones with a closed acoustic design. They have large cups that completely enclose the auricle. The headphones have a minimalist design: there are no decorative elements on the cups. Each cup has a flat outer part, on the right earbud it is touch-sensitive. There are 4 small meshes around the perimeter of each cup, under which microphones are located.

Unlike the Sony WH-1000XM4, the cups are not attached with a fork-shaped mount, but at one point, as in the previous generation. In the attachment points there are small Sony logos and golden metal inserts that merge into the inner frame. The headband has a sliding design with smooth size adjustment, without clear notches. The upper part of the headband is upholstered in artificial leather, with soft foam filler. The pressing force is optimal: the headphones do not press, but hold on the head perfectly.

The ear cups can be folded up when the headphones are hanging around the neck and not in use. Unlike the previous model, the Sony WH-1000XM6 have a foldable design for more compact storage in a protective case.

The ear pads are large, soft, and have a memory foam filling inside, and a faux leather exterior. They are very comfortable, but in the summer heat, your ears still sweat a little. But the fabric option would not be appropriate in this case, as it has a very negative effect on sound insulation.

There are not many physical functional elements. On the left earbud, there is a large, slightly recessed, round power and connection mode button with an LED indicator, a thin small button for switching active noise cancellation modes, and a standard 3.5 mm jack for wired connection. On the right earbud, there is only a Type-C connector with an indicator.

The Sony WH-1000XM6 look very stylish and feel expensive. Although it's too early to say about durability. They are very comfortable, and weighing only 254g, you can use them for hours without discomfort.

Control

To control the Sony WH-1000XM6, there are a pair of physical buttons on the left earcup and a touch panel on the right. The power button is also responsible for switching to connection mode. The noise cancellation mode button can not only turn on ANC, transparency mode, or turn off the system altogether. In the proprietary Sony Sound Connect application, you can add actions to the ANC button by double and triple pressing. For example, launching Spotify, YouTube Music or Endel services.

Playback and volume control is done using the touch panel on the right earbud, as in previous models of the line. Sony has done a good job with the system: the sensor has excellent sensitivity, and the gestures are quite logical. Thanks to this, you can use it almost immediately without false touches. Double-tap is responsible for playing, pausing and answering a call. Swiping forward and backward is the next or previous track. Up and down movements are responsible for adjusting the volume. A long touch launches the voice assistant, Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa are supported. An additional function of the touch panel is a quick volume decrease and activation of transparency mode if you close the earbud with your hand. The headphones return to their previous settings immediately after the user releases the earbud.

Another option for interacting with the headphones is head gestures. To answer or reject a call, you need to nod or shake your head accordingly. You can also control the headphones using voice commands, all of which are listed in the settings. All of these additional control functions can be enabled or disabled in the application. There is no touch control setting, but it is quite convenient and intuitive.

Connectivity and functionality

The "brains" of the Sony WH-1000XM6 are an updated system-on-a-chip, which Sony called V2. It is the Mediatek MT2833A. A Bluetooth 5.3 module is used to connect to the sound source, and SBC, AAC, LDAC, and LC3 codecs are supported. There is Multipoint support. The connection is stable. There were no connection drops either outdoors or indoors through a couple of walls.

The Sony Sound Connect app is used to configure the headphones. The main screen shows the headphones, the charge level, the current Bluetooth codec, and DSEE Extreme (if active). Below are tiles with quick settings: noise cancellation and transparency modes, listening mode (standard, or with movie or background sound effects), the current equalizer, Adaptive Sound Control, Multipoint, Speak-to-Chat, Bluetooth connection quality settings (quality, connection stability, or low latency), player controls, and access to advanced settings.

Let's move on to advanced settings. The Sound tab has noise cancellation and transparency modes. For transparency mode, intensity settings and an option to focus on voices are available. Speak-to-Chat — automatic volume minimization and enabling of transparency mode when the user starts talking. Next — the aforementioned listening effects, a 10-band equalizer with presets, and the ability to automatically create an equalizer by listening to different sound options. The listener is offered to choose the one whose sound he likes the most from among the various settings in several stages. In the same section, there are settings for Bluetooth connection quality (which we already wrote about above), activation of the DSEE Extreme sound "enhancer", head tracking settings, as well as Spatial Audio and 360 Reality Sound spatial sound functions.

The System tab contains Multipoint settings, voice assistant, the ability to turn off the touch panel, settings for actions on the ANC button, automatic pause when the headphones are removed, auto-shutdown, automatic download of new firmware, etc. The last tab, Services, is responsible for setting up accounts for Spotify, YouTube Music, Ingress Prime, and Endel services.

There are four sections at the bottom of the application, we examined the first. The second is Scene. In it, you can configure automatic playback of certain playlists from various services in certain scenarios. For example, while working out in the gym. You can bind to geolocations. This also includes the Adaptive Sound Control function, which automatically changes the headphone settings under certain conditions and works using sensors and can also be based on the user's geolocation.

The Discover section contains various tips and instructions for using the headphones. The Menu section contains news about the application itself, a help section, and the ability to back up your settings.

Sound and noise cancellation

The Sony WH-1000XM6 uses 30mm dynamic drivers. The company concluded that compared to the previous model WH-1000XM5, the sound has changed for the better. It has become more neutral and versatile, without a clear bias towards the lower part of the range. And more natural, which is especially noticeable when listening to instrumental music. Instruments sound more detailed, clearer, with greater attention to detail. In general, the sound has become more lively.

The low frequencies are very voluminous, dense and deep, while they do not overlap the midrange. There is a sufficient amount of sub-bass. The lows do not mix into a mush, they are well controlled and there is a clear attack, thanks to which rhythmic patterns are reproduced clearly. The midrange is not drowned out or relegated to the background. They are quite well detailed and sound lively. This is especially noticeable on live instruments and vocal parts. The upper part of the range is slightly smoothed, which is typical for headphones aimed at the mass user. On the other hand, there are enough of them in quantity so that the sound is not "dark" and there is enough air and volume. The imaginary stage is not ideal, but quite wide, as for a closed model. Instrument separation is not bad.

As for genres, the headphones are quite universal. They sound pleasant and exciting, both heavy music and something like D&B. Both jazz or orchestral music, and hip-hop. The only thing worth noting personally is that DSEE Extreme works well with electronics and generally light genres. In instrumental music, the midrange starts to sound a little dirtier.

Sony's top wireless headphones have always had an excellent active noise cancellation system. The company claims that the Sony WH-1000XM6 has it even better. It uses an updated proprietary QN3 processor and 12 microphones (versus 8 in the Sony WH-1000XM5). Low and mid frequencies are almost completely removed, high frequencies remain at a minimum and are slightly audible only if nothing is playing in the headphones. At the same time, there is no pressure on the ears or a vacuum effect.

As mentioned above, the transparency mode has intensity settings, a voice highlighting feature, and the ability to automatically adjust the intensity based on ambient noise. It works really well and even slightly amplifies background sounds at maximum intensity.

For conversations, 6 microphones and AI-based algorithms are used, as Sony claims. It seems that today there is no way without AI. In any case, the microphones really do their job well. Even on a rather noisy street with wind, the interlocutor clearly hears the voice and does not ask questions. Of course, the quality is inferior to microphones for streams or podcasts, but in this case the main thing is clarity in voice transmission.

Battery life

The company doesn't specify battery capacity, but claims that the Sony WH-1000XM6 can last up to 30 hours with active noise cancellation on and up to 40 hours without it. This is likely referring to a volume of 50%.

The headphones were used exclusively with active noise cancellation at 70% volume with the LDAC codec. With this use, the battery lasts for about 26-27 hours. So the real indicators correspond to the declared ones. It takes 3.5 hours to fully charge. There is also fast charging: they promise 1 hour of operation after 3 minutes of charging.