So Sony recently released their Sony 1000XM6 headphones, and overall I think these are a great pair of headphones to fly with cause they block out the most amount of noise while at ground level, and thanks to their atmospheric pressure sensors, they are going to block out way more noise while at cruising altitude than lets say the Bose QC Ultra, Bose QC Headphones, AirPods Max or Sennehsier Momentum 4’s. Overall, theres a lot to like about these headphones… but in my recent batch of reviews I did have some critiques.
But now, Sony recently put out a new firmware update, and surprisingly, this firmware update has slightly improved the active noise cancellation on these headphones… which is pretty amazing. But one of the main critiques that I had about these headphones was the microphone for phone calls… now it is better… but I still feel that the Mic on the Sony 1000XM5’s is better than the mic on the Sony 1000XM6’s.
So right now we’re just going to jump into a quick any test between the silver XM6’s which are running the old firmware versus the blue XM6’s which are running the new firmware.
ANC Test
So the Sony 1000XM6’s running the old firmware was already blocking out noticeably more noise than the sony 1000XM5’s, sony 1000XM4’s, Bose QC Ultra, Bose QC Headphones, AirPods Max and sennheiser momentum 4 in our previous videos. But now with the new firmware… the blue XM6’s has a slightly lower noise floor when it came to blocking out both low frequency sounds like road noise and higher frequency sounds like chatter. Now this isn’t a huge performance difference and I dont think that your average person is going to notice too much… however if you already have the Sony 1000XM6’s and you were impressed by the Active noise cancellation, then your active noise cancellation is about to get another upgrade. And the improved active noise cancellation on the Sony 1000XM6’s running the latest firmware makes it an even better option for flying.
Mic XM6 OLD quiet room
But finally heres the microphone test, and this is perhaps the most important fix that sony needed to do, because the mic on the Sony 1000XM6’s running the original firmware wasn’t as good as the Mic on the Sony 1000XM5’s
Mic XM6 New Quiet room
Now while a quiet room, I think the mic on the Sony 1000XM6 was always fine, and I think this mic sounds the same as it did with the old firmware while in a quiet room.
Mic XM5 Quiet Room
But then here are the Sony 1000XM5’s, and overall I still think that these still sound and perform better than the mics found on the Sony 1000XM6’s even after the new firmware update. Now while in a quite room, I feel that these are doing a slightly better job of focusing on my voice.
Mic XM5 Road Noise
But where the Sony 1000XM5’s still out perform the Sony 1000XM6’s even after the firmware update is when it comes to blocking out noise pollution. Cause right now, these are doing a really good job of blocking out all of this road noise. Cause for comparison sake, if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone, you’re going to clealery hear all of this road noise. But if we were to switch back over to the Sony 1000XM5’s it is severely reduced.
Mic XM6 Old Road Noise
Cause if we were to switch over to the Sony 1000XM6’s running the old firmware, these aren’t doing as good of a job of blocking out this noise pollution cause you can hear a decent amount of road noise while in the background.
Mic XM6 New Road Noise
Where as with the new Firmware update, these Sony 1000XM6’s are going a better job of reducing this road noise… however there is a lot more choppiness going on with my voice… so sometimes it can be a little hard to understand me.
Mic XM5 Road Noise
And again for comparison sake, here are the sony 1000XM5’s and with these, these are doing a good job of reducing all of this road noise… but more importantly theres not chop going on with my voice, so its very easy to understand me compared to the Sony 1000XM6’s running either the old or new firmware update.
Mic XM5 Chatter
And when it comes to blocking out chatter, its the same thing, the Sony 1000XM5’s are doing a good job of reducing all of this chatter while keeping a focus on my voice, but 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 over to the Sony 1000XM5’s it is severely reduced.
Mic XM6 Old chatter
Where as with the Sony 1000XM6’s running the old firmware… these are trying to block out this chatter like on the Sony 1000XM5’s… but clarity isn’t as good and you can hear a noticeable amount of chatter in the background.
Mic XM6 New Chatter
Where as with the Sony 1000XM6 running the new firmware… these are trying to reduce more of this chat ter than the Sony 1000XM6’s running the old firmware… but theres more interference…. I feel like my voice goes up and down.
Mic XM5 Chatter
And again here are the Sony 1000XM5’s and these are just doing a better job than the Sony 1000XM6’s running the new firmware cause my voice has better clarity to it, all the while the Sony 1000XM5’s are reducing this chatter.
So overall, this new firmware update on the Sony 1000XM6’s did slightly improve the microphone for phone calls… they are doing a slightly better job of blocking out noise pollution. However I still feel that the mic on the Sony 1000XM5’s sounds and performs better than the mic on the Sony 1000XM6’s, and I really feel that the mic on the Sony 1000XM6’s should at least match the performance of the Sony 1000XM5. But something that I can say is, this new firmware update on the Sony 1000XM6’s did improve the active noise cancelation on these headphones making them even more immrepssive for flying.