The change in style of the WF-1000XM6 caused a lot of controversy. Their predecessors were small, shapely, elegant and fit perfectly in the ear. Minus – made of shiny plastic, they could slip out of your hand when taking them out of the case or from your ear. The new headphones have a less sophisticated bean shape, are made of matte plastic and are no longer as elegant. However, they are easily and securely removed from the case and still sit comfortably in the ears. In my opinion, these are definitely positive changes.
If you ask your friends which companies make headphones with the best ANC, the results of such a survey will probably always show the same three: Apple, Bose and Sony (alphabetical order). In the new WF-1000XM6, the manufacturer has added one additional microphone – now there are four per handset, and for ANC and call quality purposes, it has used a new, more efficient QN3e processor (also present in the WH-1000XM6 over-ear headphones). Effect? WF-1000XM6 are currently (together with Apple AirPods Pro 3) TWS headphones with the most effective ANC on the market. They will effectively take care of our peace of mind when traveling by plane or train, but also while working in the office. Absolutely first league.
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Sony's new product also works very well during conversations. The Japanese have not yet achieved the voice quality and background noise suppression efficiency available in Huawei's flagship headphones, but it is still much better than in the older WF-1000XM5. The clearly improved, natural-sounding awareness mode also deserves praise, although… here, in turn, Apple and its AirPods Pro 3 are still the quality leader.
Sony WF-1000XM6
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Piotr Kwiatkowski / Onet
Sound quality – a big step forward
Looking at the dry technical specifications, one may get the impression that the new generation of Sony headphones has practically not changed compared to its predecessor – a single dynamic driver of the same size, the same frequency response, etc. Nothing could be further from the truth. The WF-1000XM6 sound much more mature and natural.
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This time, Sony's tuners limited the excessively overflowing bass of the older WF-1000XM5, improved the midrange and vocals, which were often too withdrawn in the predecessor, and also improved the precision of the high tones. The whole thing now sounds precise and detailed. The width of the music scene is also well maintained. The new WF-1000XM6 are proving to be one of the best-sounding TWS headphones with ANC on the consumer market today.
WF-1000XM6 transfer characteristics. Without ANC enabled (green graph) and with ANC enabled (red graph). Without ANC, the headphones maintain a more neutral sound
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Piotr Kwiatkowski / Onet
Measurements show that the Sony WF-1000XM6 maintains a consistent audio character up to 90 percent volume – 30 percent volume (yellow graph), 50 percent (blue graph), 70 percent (green graph) and 90 percent volume (purple graph)
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Piotr Kwiatkowski / Onet
Battery – it's the same as its predecessor, which means… very good
Sony promises us 8 hours. operation of headphones with ANC enabled. We checked it immediately in the least favorable scenario possible for the WF-1000XM6 – using encoding requiring LDAC, with ANC turned on and, of course, at maximum volume. The headphones worked in such conditions for 7 hours. and 30 min, so by listening more healthily, i.e. more quietly… we will easily achieve the result recommended by the manufacturer, or even exceed it. This means that the WF-1000XM6 will survive a transcontinental flight, for example from Warsaw to New York, without recharging.
It takes 60 minutes to fully charge the headphones in the case and 90 minutes to recharge the case's battery. In turn, the case battery will replenish the energy in the headphones twice.
Sony WF-1000XM6
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Piotr Kwiatkowski / Onet
Price – is it worth it?
If you have been feeling a bit dissatisfied so far due to too many praises for the WF-1000XM6, unfortunately now you may be less optimistic. The headphones were priced at PLN 1,299, so they are among the most expensive consumer models on the market. You can buy both Apple AirPods Pro 3 and the valued Technics EAH-AZ100 cheaper, and the older, still very good Sony WF-1000XM5 cost only PLN 800 today.
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Is it worth thinking about buying WF-1000XM6 in this situation? If you use an iPhone or already have WF-1000XM5 – probably not. It is better to choose AirPods Pro 3 or older Sony and wait for the price drop of WF-1000XM6 or the premiere of the next iteration of Mark 7. However, people looking for new, high-class TWS headphones with ANC should definitely take a look at WF-1000XM6 and at least test listen to them. This may completely change their mobile audio expectations.
