Get Them Here:
Sony WF-1000XM6: https://geni.us/GC-SonyWF1000XM6
AirPods Pro 3: https://geni.us/GC-AirPodsPro3
So like I said in the initial review… Sony has been doing a great job of updating and improving a lot of their products… the Sony WH-1000XM6’s fit better than the XM5’s and they block out more noise. The Sony ULT Field 5 and ULT Filed 7 are great portable bluetooth speakers, I thin the Tower 9 is a sleeper hit that a lot of people ignore and I actually really like Sony’s TV’s cause they don’t just look great, they are very snappy as well. But with the Sony WF-1000XM6 earbuds… they do have some improvements… but I still prefer the XM5 earbuds… but today we’re going to compare the Sony WF-1000XM6 earbud to the AirPods Pro 3… which I also prefer the AirPods Pro 2 over the AirPods Pro 3.
Now first there’s pricing… the Sony WF-1000XM6 have a retail price of $330, which is up there so personally I would wait for these earbuds to go on sale. Where as with the AirPods Pro 3, these have a retail price of $250 just like the AirPods Pro 2… but they don’t come included with a charging cable… and personally I still prefer the AirPods Pro 2 over the AirPods Pro 3… but you do you. So if you want to pick either of these two earbuds 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 need to talk about this case, case for me when im looking at a pair of wireless earbuds, the case and fit are the most important things to me. And both the AirPods 4 and the AirPods Pro 2 are the gold standard when it comes to cases. And with the Sony WF-1000XM6’s, these earbuds have a completely new case, and personally I am very disappointed by this case. For starters this case is noticeably larger than the WF-1000XM5’s case. It has a larger foot print, its taller and its a little thicker as well. And when compared to the WF-1000Xm4’s case, the XM6’s case is noticeably thinner, and its not as wide, which is good, but it is taller.
But overall, I do consider the WF-1000XM6’s case to be a downgrade escpially when compared to the WF-1000XM5 cause it is more noticeable when its in your pocket. However, I do have a theory… now like I mentioned earlier, I think the AirPods 4 and the AirPods Pro 2 are the gold standard when it comes to earbuds cases… cause personally im also not a fan of the AirPods Pro 3 cause this case is also larger than its predesscors case, the AirPods Pro 2. However I do have a theory. Both the AirPods Pro 2’s case and WF-1000XM5’s case are manufactured in china. Where as both the AirPods Pro 3 and WF-1000XM6’s cases are manufactured in the Vietnam. So do other manufacturers just don’t have the same capabilities as china? Should we as consumers get ready for growing electronics since manufacturing is getting moved to outside of china? Granted this theory does fall apart very quickly cause the AirPods 4 are manufactured in Vietnam as well and they have a smaller case than the AirPods 3.
But more importantly, if we were to compare the AirPods Pro 3 directly to the Sony WF-1000XM6 case, the AirPods Pro 3 case is noticeably smaller. And also this case has a lot more capabilities. But starters both of these cases have wireless chargning, which is to be expected on premium earbuds like these, but with the AirPods Pro 3 you can use your apple watch charger to charge them up, something Sony’s case just can’t do. But also, with the AirPods Pro 3, you can track them down with the find my app for when you eventually lose them either cause you miss place them or they fall out of your pocket without you noticing… and more importantly, they have a built in speaker so that you can track them down even better. So overall, when it comes to case features… even though this case is a down grade from the AirPods Pro 2… the AirPods Pro 3 case is smaller and less noticeable than the Sony WF-1000XM6 and you can also track it down and they have that built in speaker which is a life saver.
Now when it comes to battery, these two earbuds are the same. Both of these earbuds have an advertised combined battery life of 24 hours with their ANC turned on. Both of these earbuds can go for 8 hours straight on a single charge which is good stamina, and their cases can supply two full charges. And with both of these earbuds you can extend their battery life by using them with their ANC turned off. But regardless, the AirPods Pro 3 have the better battery life to case size ratio here cause they have the same combined battery life of 24 hours… but they have a smaller case.
But with the cases out of the way, lets talk about the earbuds themselves… and they are very different from one another. Now both of these are in ear earbuds, however the Sony XM6’s are standard fitting in ear earbuds as in they actually go into your ear canals a decent amount. Where as with the AirPods Pro 3, these are shallow fitting in ear earbuds, as in they don’t go in as deep into your ear canals, so they feel less intrusive. However, I do want to quickly point out that the AirPods pro 3 do go in a little deeper than the AirPods Pro 2… so they do feel a little more intrusive by comparison. But overall the AirPods Pro 3 are a lot more comfortable than the Sony XM6 for one main reason, and that’s going to be the ear tips. With the Sony XM6’s these earbuds only come included with foam ear tips… now these foam ear tips are supposed to offer better lock down cause they are going to better conform to the shape of your ear canals and they will passively block out more noise pollution. But personally I don’t like foam ear tips cause they get very itchy for me. Where as with the AirPods Pro 3, these have a silicon foam ear tip hybrid. The inside of these ear tips are foam… so they are going to passively block out noise pollution… but more importantly, since the outside it silicon they don’t get itchy. And like I have mentioned in the past, not matter how amazing your headphones or earbuds tech specs are, if they don’t fit well, you’re not going to want to use them. So here, the AirPods Pro 3 are more comfortable than the Sony WF-1000XM6… but I still find the AirPods Pro 2 to be more comfortable than the AirPods Pro 2.
Now when it comes to Bluetooth connectivity, with both of these earbuds, each earbuds establishes a connection with your phone, so if you just want to use one earbud at a time you can use either one, it doesn’t matter. But with the Sony’s, these earbuds can be connected to any 2 bluetooth devices at the same, regardless of eco system… which is great for a power user that might want to hot swap between an iPhone and a pc on a regular basis.
Where as with the AirPods Pro 3, these are better for an Apple power user… cause with these you can hot swap between any of your apple devices associated to the same iCloud account. But if you want to switch between an apple product and a pc or android device, then you’re going to have to go looking in your bluetooth menu. So AirPods are great for an Apple power user and Sony is great for an agnostic power user.
But latency is not an issue for these earbuds so you can use them to watch videos with on your phone, and when it comes to audio codecs, both of these earbuds have support for SBC and AAC… but the Sony also have support for LDAC which is a higher quality audio codecs… but in order to use LDAC you do have to be an android user cause iPhone top out at AAC, and if you do decide use LDAC then that is going to take an additional toll on the battery life. Which I don’t think is worth it.
But now lets talk about actually listening to music with these earbuds. Now I actually like how AirPods sounds, specifically the AirPods Pro 3 give you a very dynamic listening experience… as in they have well defined vocals but they also give you a lot of bass when you need it. And this bass both hits hard and it resonates a lot… its actually very impressive. And when you have spatial audio on these earbuds set to fixed, they give you amazing instrument separation and they sound very open. Now I use spacial audio set to fixed cause I think the whole head tracking thing is dumb. Its Like 8K tv’s, which are starting to go away. But overall, the AirPods Pro 3 sound great. But with the Sony WF-1000XM6, these give you more control ovkryour audio. With the AirPods Pro 3 you’re kind of stuck with what apple gives you. Where as with the Sony WF-1000XM6 if you want you can go for a more vocals focused EQ, or if you like a lot of bass you can also do that. Now the bass on the Sony WF-1000XM6 doesn’t resonate or hit as hard as the Bass on the AirPods Pro 3, but it still good and it does like to resonate. But I think that for the best sound quality, you do want to use the WF-1000XM6 while in their Heavy EQ cause out of the box they do lean towards a brighter sound signature. But overall, both of these earbuds sound good… but with the Sony you do have more control over your sound.
But somewhere where the Sony XM6’s just can’t compete are the media controls. Now with the Sony you have a touch pad, and you can tap to play or pause, double tap to skip a track, triple tap to go back a track and you can continuously tap to raise or lower your volume. Where as with the AirPods Pro 3, it is a lot easier to adjust your volume cause you can swipe up or down on either stem… now personally I currently daily drive the AirPods 4… and I will admit that I really miss being able to swipe on my stems to adjust the volume. And instead of tapping on AirPods, you squeeze on the stems… now I am indifferent about tapping or squeezing… but I really like being able to swipe up and down to adjust the volume.
But next up there’s the ANC on these earbuds, and well, the ANC on these earbuds is very impressive and it has been improved from both the AirPods Pro 2 and XM5’s which honestly isn surprising cause Sony does ANC very well. Just don’t expect these earbuds to block out as much noise as a proper pair of ANC headphones like the Sony WH-1000XM6’s, XM5’s or the Bose QC Ultra headphones.
but when it comes to my overall rankings… it goes, Sony WF-1000XM6… but they do have an advantage cause of their foam ear tips which can get itchy… below them are the AirPods Pro 3, followed by the Sennheiser Momentum 4 but they go in super deep into your ear canals. right below them are the AirPods Pro 2 which are a lot more comfortable. Right below them are the Bose QC Ultra 2. Below them are the Sony WF-1000XM5’s, right below them are the Bose QC earbuds, below them are the AirPods 4, below them are the Sony Linkbuds S, below them are the Pixel Buds 2 pro, below them are the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro.
But overall, yes the Sony WH-1000XM6’s are blocking out more noise than the AirPods Pro 3… they do a better job of blocking out both lower frueqncy sounds and higher frequency sounds. Which is impressive cause some earbuds do a better job at blocking out lower frequency sounds or they do a better job of blocking out higher freuwnecy sounds. But with the Sony, they do well with both. However just keep in mind that they XM6’s do have those foam ear tips, which do give them a slight advantage cause they do passively block out more noise than silicon ear tips.. but personally I don’t like foam ear tips cause they get itchy. Where as with the AirPods Pro 3, these have a hybrid ear tip, foam on the inside and silicon on the outside… they might not passively block out as much noise as the foam ear tips… but more importantly they don’t get as itchy.
Now when it comes to the ambient mode on these earbuds, they are both really good, both of these microphone arrays do a great job of rejecting wind noise when walking outdoors and they both sound very natural, however the AirPods Pro 3 do sound more natural. But overall, therye both great… however both of these earbuds do have extra gimmicks. Mainly with both of these earbuds, you can set them so that when you start talking they will automatically lower the volume of your music and pump in all of the ambient sound around you, so that you can talk to someone without having to remove your earbuds. And personally I don’t like using this type of feature on earbuds… I think its more natural to remove your earbud when you’re going to talk to someone cause it also acts as a sue for the other person to let them know that you are listening to them.
Mic XM6 quiet
But finally here’s the microphone test, and well sony does struggle when it comes to their microphones for phone calls… but this mic has been improved over the XM5’s… now while in a quiet room, this mic sounds ok but my voice sounds a little hollow.
Mic AirPods Pro 3 quiet
Where as with the AirPods Pro 3, this mic does have better clarity to it while in a quiet room. However it doesn’t focus on my voice as much as id like it to.
Mic AirPods Pro 3 road noise
But where these two earbuds are very different from one another is when it comes to dealing with noise pollution. Now with the AirPods Pro 3, this mic is doing a good job of reducing this road noise… but you can still hear a good amount in the back ground, but 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 AirPods pro 3, it is reduced, but more importantly, my voice is still clear.
Mic XM6 road noise
Where as with the Sony WF-1000XM6, this microphone is working very hard to fully block out this road noise, which is impressive… however there is some interference on my voice and my voice does sound hollow.
Mic XM6 chatter
And its the same thing when it comes to blocking out chatter, the sony WF-1000XM6 are working very hard to block out all of this noise pollution, but as a result my voice does sound hollow and there is some interference on my voice… so the usability isn’t as good.
Mic AirPods Pro 3 chatter
Where as with the AirPods Pro 3, this microphone is reducing this chatter, but you can still hear a decent amount of noise pollution in the background. But for comparison sake, if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone, you’re going to clealery hear all of this chatter, but if we were to switch back over to the AirPods Pro 3, it is reduced. So with the AirPods Pro 3, you can still here noise pollution in the background, but I feel that the usability is better cause there’s less interference on your voice.
But with all of that being said, if you’re trying to choose between the AirPods Pro 3 and Sony WF-1000XM6, personally I do have to say that you should go with the AirPods Pro 3 cause they are more comfortable cause their ear tips don’t get itchy. They have a smaller case with the same battery life performance… plus their case can be tracked down and it has a built in speaker, the AirPods Pro 3 also have built in wear sensors, which I honestly forgot about, and the AirPods Pro 3 do have a more usable microphone for phone calls. But in general, I am also not a fan of the AirPods Pro 3 cause their case is larger than the AirPods Pro 2 and they don’t fit as well as the AirPods Pro 2. Peornsally I still prefer the AirPods Pro 2 over the AirPods Pro 3, and I recommend that you stack up on AirPods Pro 2’s while you can.