So if you’re looking for a pair of headphones to travel with, then the Bose QC Ultra Headphones 2 and both the Sony WH-1000XM6 and Sony WH-1000XM5 are perhaps the best options to consider. But these headphones are very different from one another, like by a lot, so lets see which one is right for you.
Regarding pricing, both the Bose QC Ultra headphones and the Sony WH-1000XM6 have a retail price of $450, where as the Sony WH-1000XM5’s have a retail price of $400… but all of these headphones do like to go on sale. So if you want to pick any of these headphones up they’ll be linked down below or you can always press on the YouTube shopping button, and if you want to further support the channel then you can always watch some of the related videos in the description below.
So first we have to talk about the case, now all of these headphones come with a hardshell case as you’d expect, and all of these cases are going to have no problem protecting your headphones even if you stuff them into a cramped backpack. However, size is the main issue here. I have always been super impressed by the Active noise cancellation on the Sony XM5’s, but since these headphones don’t fully collapse, they have a very large case. Where as with these other two headphones, since they are fully collapable, thankfully their cases have a smaller foot print, and they are a little thinner as well. So case size is one of the reasons why it was always so hard for me to justify traveling with the Sony XM5’s even though their ANC is super imrepssive. But case size on both the Ultra 2 and XM6 are perfectly fine.
But with the cases out of the way, lets talk about the headphones themselves, Now like I mentioned earlier, the XM5’s aren’t fully collapseable, where as these other two headphones are. But besides that, all of these wear cups pivot and swivel a good amount. All of these headbands glide in and out, and personally I prefer when my headbands click cause its easier to find your fit. But more importantly, the leatherette on the Bose feels like I has a nice grain to it where as Sony’s leatherette feels more like soft touch but with less fiction. But also, Sony’s headphones are using recycled plastic where as Bose’s headphones are using new plastic. And durability wise, the bose feel more durable. Now Sony’s headphones also have good build quality and they feel solid, but these feel lighter and I would be gentler with them. But I also have to address the hinges on Sony’s headphones. Unfortunly Sony’s hinges do have a reputation of breaking, now I’ve never had issue with any of my Sony hinges breaking… but Bose’s hinges and arms are just a lot sturdier by comparisons. So if you’re someone that’s going to be carless with your headphones, id recommend the Bose over the sony.
But then there’s their fit, all of these headphones feel very different from one another. Now when it comes to clamping force, all of these headphones have a neutral fit to them, they’re big head approved and even if you like to wear hats, they will all have you covered. However when it comes to their padding, one of the things that I really dislike about the XM5’s is that their headband has very little padding and it has very little surface area, so for me hot spots can be an issue. Where as with the XM6’s sony addressed this by adding some padding and they also increased their surface area, so hot spots aren’t as big of an issue as before. But then there’s the bose which has more padding and hot spots are never an issue for these headphones.
And when it comes to the ear pads on these headphones, with the Sony XM5’s these ear pads have a large diameter to them, but they can be a little shallow for some people, they are for me, so they can get a little uncomfortable after awhile. Where as with the XM6’s, these ear pads are a little more spacious, so they are going to do a better job of fitting more people. But then there are the Bose QC Ultra 2 who’s ear pads are a lot more spacious, so if you have larger ears or ears that stick out a lot, then you do want to go with these.
But then there’s their weight, now the Bose QC Ultra 2’s went on a bulk and they added 10 grams from their predecessors, so now they weigh in at 262 grams, now 262 grams is still light weight for a pair of premium ANC headphones, but the Sony 1000XM6’s weigh in at 254 grams and the Sony 1000XM5’s weigh in at 250 grams. Regardless, all of these headphones are light weight for a pair of premium ANC headphones cause on average they weigh in between 280 to 300 grams… and then there are some super heavier boys out there like the AirPods Max which weigh in at 387 grams which is just too much. Nonetheless, with all of these headphones you don’t notice them shifting around too much when you’re walking around with them on, and they are easy enough to forget that you’re wearing them if you’re sitting at your deck or lying in bed or on an airplane… but Sony’s headphones are a little little noticeable cause they are 10 grams lighter, but I don’t think a 10 gram difference is too big of a deal.
But overall, the Bose QC Ultra Headphones 2 are a little more durable than both of Sony’s headphones, and they are more comfortable as well because their ear cups are more spacious and they also have better padding underneath this headband.
But now lets talk about tech specs, now all of these headphones have an advertised battery life of 30 hours with their ANC turned on, which is a little above average and this is actually an upgrade fro the Bose QC Ultra 2, and you can also use these headphones with their ANC turned off so you can extend their battery life that way, and this is also an upgrade for the Bose QC Ultra 2.
And to charge these headphones, they all charge via a USB C port as they should. But only the bose will also allow you to use its USB C port as a wired connection, where as with both of Sony’s headphones, its only used for charging. But with all of these headphones, you can still use them with a wired connection, and they all come included with an audio cable, which I know sounds basic but some headphones sell their audio cable separately. However with the bose, even if you want to use it with a wired connection, they have to be powered on, where as with Sony’s headphones they can be used passively which I feel is a big deal for travelers or content creators.
But when it comes to bluetooth connectivity, both of these headphones can be connected to any two bluetooth devices at the same, making them a great option for any power user out there that likes to hot swap between lets say your PC and iPhone… and latency is not an issue for any of these headphones so you can use them to watch videos with on your phone. And when it comes to audio codecs, all of these headphones have support for SBC and AAC, but the bose also has support for snap dragon sound where as Sony’s headphones have support for LDAC which is sony’s own high res audio codec. However in order to use either of these high res audio codecs you do have to be an android user cause iPhone’s top out at AAC, and if you were to use LDAC that is going to take an additional toll on your battery life.
But when it comes to actually lisenting to music with these headphones, I feel that both of Sony’s headphones are more versatile than the Bose QC Ultra 2. With the Bose QC Ultra 2, these are going to be better suited for someone that like a more neutral or vocals focused EQ cause these headphones don’t have all that much kick or resonance in their bass. And even if you were to go into their app and raise the bass all the way up, you’re going to hear it, but you’re not going to feel that bass. Where as with both of Sony’s headphones, they both have more physicality in their bass than the Bose. Its not a lot, but at least with both of Sony’s headphones you feel something. But more importantly, I actually feel that both of Sony;s headphones sound more open and they sound more balanced as well.
But another thing to keep in mind here is, with the Bose QC Ultra 2, for the best sound quality, you want to use them with their ANC turn off, they’re going to sound more open and the bass is going to be a little more present. Cause with their ANC turned on, these headphones sound a little more narrow and there’s a big emphasis on the mids. But with both of Sony’s headphones, their sound doesn’t really change whether you have their ANC turned on or off.
And then there’s the immersive audio on the Bose QC Ultra 2… and this is a feature that I never use for two reasons. For starters, immersive audio is going to take a toll on your battery life cause the Bose QC Ultra 2’s will go from 30 hours to 23 hours… but more importantly, I dont like immersive audio cause it adds a lot of reverb to your music, making it sound very unnatural. And with cinema mode, which is an all new feature for the Bose QC Ultra headphones 2… its another version of immersive mode which adds a lot of reverb to your audio, but it also amplifies the vocals. So overall, I don’t touch immersive audio on the Bose QC Ultra 2, and for the best sound quality you actually want to use the Bose with their ANC turned off. And even still the Bose are going to be better suited for someone that likes a more neutral or vocals focused EQ.
Where as with both of Sony;s headphones, they both sound more open than the Bose QC Ultra 2, and they both have a little more kick in their bass. Now the XM5’s do have slightly more kick than the XM6, but overall I think both of Sony’s headphones are more versatile than the Bose QC Ultra 2, and whether their ANC is turned on or off, they will sound the same.
Now when it comes to your media controls, the QC Ultra 2 have a hybrid system, they have a physical button so you can play and pause your music and you can double tap to skip through your music, but to adjust your volume they have a touch pad that you swipe up or down on. But honestly, I don't like this touch pad cause it very hard to get the volume that you actually want. I just really wish they had a physical volume rocker like on the Bose QC headphones, so anytime that I need to adjust my volume on these headphones, I usually just use my phone cause I don't want to deal with the QC Ultra 2’s touch pad.
Where as with both of Sony’s headphones, they have the same touch pad, and these touchpads are accurate and they are easy enough to use. You can tap to play or pause, swipe front or back to skip though your music and you can swipe up or down to adjust your volume, and pro tip if you swipe up and hold, you can continuously raise your volume. Overall, I refer the media controls on Sony’s headphones over the Bose QC Ultra 2.
And with all of these headphones, they have wear sensors, so they will automacitlly pause your music when you take them off and they’ll start playing your music again when you put them back on, now personally I don’t really care for wear sensors on my headphones, so thankfully you can turn them off, but they are there if you want them.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancelation on these headphones, now the active noise cancellation on all of these headphones is good, it blocks out a lot on noise with very little cabin pressure, however the ANC on both of Sony;s headphones is in a different league compared to the ANC found on the Bose QC Ultra 2, but so that you can see for yourself we’re going to jump into an ANC test.
ANC test
So like you may have just seen, both of Sony’s headphones are blocking out noticeably more noise than the Bose QC Ultra 2, but what really makes Sony’s headphones stand out here is that these headphones have built in atmospheric pressure sensors, so at cruising altitude, the ANC on both of Sony’s headphones is going to calibrate it self to compensate for the different pressure… but more importantly, both the Sony XM5 and XM6 are going to block out even more noise than the Bose QC Ultra 2 while at cursing altitude. And this isn’t marketing fluff, we have already tested these atmospishic pressure sensors in Sony’s headphones and we have compared them to multiple headphones, and we have found that Sony’s headphones with atmospheric pressure sensors do perform much better at crusing altitude compared to its competitors.
So simply put, both the Sony 1000XM6 and Sony 1000XM5 block out more noise than the Bose QC Ultra 2 while at ground level… and if you’re planning on flying a lot with your headphones and if active noise cancelation is very important to you, then you do want to go with Sony;s headphones cause thanks to their atmospheric pressure sensors, they will have better performance at cruising altitude compared to the Bose QC Ultra 2, and yes, the Sony 1000XM6’s do manage to block out noticeably more noise than the Sony 1000XM5.
But then there’s the ambient mode on these headphones, now all of these ambient modes sound fairly natural, you can adjust how much noise these headphones lets in and all of these microphones arrays do a great job of blocking out wind noise when walking out doors. Now these ambient modes don’t sound as natural as the ambient mode found on the AirPods Max, but regardless they’re all good. However Sony’s ambient mode does have a few other features over the bose, for starters both of these sony headphones have Speak to chat which works like this.
Speak to chat demo
But personally, I’m not a really big fan of speak to chat because it is very easy to accidentally active it. If you’re talking to yourself very quietly that can activate it, if you’re singing along to your music, that can activate it, if you start laughing that can active it, and on rare occasions loud enough outside noises can activate it. So that’s why I don’t use it.
Personally, I still prefer to use quick attention on these headphones cause its a lot more intentional. When you fully cover the touch pad on these headphones they’re going to lower the volume of your music and pump in all of the ambient sound around you like this.
Quick attention demo
And then when you let go, the headphones will go back to normal. Now like I said, I prefer quick attention cause its a lot more intentional. And this feature is extremely useful especially when you’re flying with these headphones. But I still feel that sony should change it so that when you have this touchpad covered for 5 seconds or more, they should lock themselves in this state so that you can let go, cause keeping your arm up can get uncomftabel and award after awhile. And this is something that they can change through a software update.
But regardless im glad that sony has quick attention cause the Bose QC Ultra 2 don’t have this feature… and this is a shame cause the Bose NC 700 did have a similar feature called conversation mode which actually worked better than quick attention… but bose just didn’t add this feature to their newer headphones. So with Bose’s headphones, if someone is going to talk to you, you have to pause your music and then switch them to aware mode.
Mic Bose Quiet
But finally here’s the microphone test, and overall, the microphone on all of these headphones is good enough to take phone calls with while in a quiet room, and the microphone on the Bose QC Ultra 2 is improved from the originals.
Mic XM6 Quiet
Where as the mic on the Sony XM6, this mic is still good enough to take phone calls with while in a quiet room, but I feel that this mic is a down grade from the Sony XM5.
Mic XM5 Quiet
Now while in a quiet room, the mic on both the Sony 1000XM5 and Sony 1000XM6 sound fairly similar, but keep in mind that the XM5’s have 4 beam forming mics where as the XM6 have 6 beam forming mics.
Mic XM5 road noise
But what really makes the Sony 1000XM5’s stand out here is that these headphones do a much better job of dealing with noise pollution, cause this mic is doing a much better job of reducing this road noise, because for comparison sake, if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone, you’re going to clearly hear all of this road noise, but if we were to switch back over to the Sony 1000XM5’s it is reduced with minimal interference on my voice.
Mix XM6 road noise
Where as with the Sony 1000XM6, which are newer and these have 6 beam forming mics versus 4, there’s a lot more interference going on with my voice.
Mic bose road noise
Where as with the Bose QC Ultra 2, you can hear a little bit of road noise in the back ground, but more importantly there’s less interference with my voice and I feel that this mic is more usable than the mic found on the Sony XM6.
Mic Bose Chatter
And when it comes to blocking out chatter, the Bose are trying to reduce this noise pollution but they are pushing down on my voices… but at least you can still understand me.
Mic XM6 Chatter
Where as with the Sony XM6’s these are doing the same thing as the Bose QC Ultra 2, however it is much harder to understand me, personally I don’t think that this is usable.
Mic XM5 chatter
Where as with the older Sony 1000XM5’s, these are doing a much better job of reducing all of this chatter with much less interference going on with my voice. Cause again for comparison sake, if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone you’re going to clearly hear all of this chatter, but if we were to switch back over to the Sony 1000XM5’s it is severely reduced. So overall, the Sony 1000XM5’s actually have a much better performing microphone for phone calls than these two newer headphones. Now bose has been struggling with this mic for phone calls for awhile… but for me it is super shocking to see that the mic on the Sony XM6 isn’t as good as the mic on the XM5.
But with all of that being said, the Bose QC Ultra headphones 2 might not have the best performance or the best tech specs, but where these headphones really excel is when it comes to comfort. The Bose QC Ultra 2 are more comfortable than both the Sony XM6 and Sony XM5 cause their ear pads are more spacious and they have more padding underneath their headband. Also, the Bose QC Ultra 2 are a little more durable than both of Sony’s headphones. And like I said, no matter how amazing your tech specs are, if your headphones don’t fit well, you’re not going to want to wear them. Or maybe comfort is your main priority. Nonetheless the Bose QC Ultra 2 are still a good pair of headphones to travel with cause they still block out a lot of noise. However both the Sony 1000XM6 and Sony 1000XM5 block out noticeably more noise than the Bose and they will outperform the bose at cruising altitude. Not don’t get me wrong, Sony’s headphones are also comfortable, just not as comfy as the bose. Now if active noise cancelation is your main priority, then you do want to go with the Sony 1000XM6’s, or if you want you can save some cash and go with the Sony 1000XM5’s, however their case is a lot bigger and they aren’t as comfortable as the XM6, but shockingly they do have a better performing microphone for phonecalls.