Get Them Here:
Sony WF-1000XM6: https://geni.us/GC-SonyWF1000XM6
Sony WF-1000XM5: https://geni.us/GC-WF1000XM5
Im going to start by saying that I think Sony has done a great job of improving their latest products. The Sony WH-1000XM6 are a good upgrade over the Sony WH-1000XM5 cause they are much sleeker and they’re amazing for flying. I really like the Sony ULT Field 5, I think the Sony Tower 9 is a great sounding box speaker that a lot of people sleep on and I really like Sony’s new TV’s and soundbars… and I was pleasantly surprised by the linkbuds clip. But when it comes to the Sony WF-1000XM6’s… I can’t get excited about these especially when their case is larger than the Sony WF-1000XM5’s.
Regarding pricing, the Sony WF-1000XM6’s have a retail price of $330, which is up there and this is a price increase from both the WF-1000XM5’s and the Sony WF-1000XM4’s. So personally I would wait for these earbuds to go on sale. Nonetheless if you want to pick these 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 overall, everything else that I just said still stands. I feel that the WF-1000XM6’s case is a noticeable down grade from the WF-1000XM5’s cause this case is larger and its more noticeable when its in your pocket. But when it comes to chargning, everything is still the same. This case charges via a USB C port as it should and its still Sony’s only line of earbuds that have wireless chargning.
And when it comes to battery life, sadly the battery life on the WF-1000XM6 is still that same as the WF-1000XM5 and WF-1000XM4. Which is a shame cause if the WF-1000XM6’s had a longer lasting battery life, then we could excuse the larger case. Now the WF-1000XM6’s have an advertised combined battery life of 24 hours with their active noise cancellation turned on, the earbuds themselves can go for up to 8 hours, which is good stamina… and the case can supply two additional full charges. And if you were to use these earbuds with their active noise cancelation turned off, then you can extend their battery life that way.
But with the case out of the way, lets talk about the earbuds themselves. Now the WF-1000XM6’s, XM5’s and XM4’s are all standard fitting in ear earbuds. As in they go into your ear canals a decent amount. These aren’t shallow fitting in ear earbuds like lets say the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3 or the Galaxy Buds 3 pro. Now when it comes to the sculpt of these earbuds, all three of these earbuds are different. Most importantly, both the XM6’s and XM5’s are much sleeker than the XM4’s cause these things are bulky. However, just like the cases, I feel that the XM6’s earbuds are slightly bulkier and I feel that they are less sleek looking thank the XM5’s. Cause with the XM6’s these look like beans in your ears where as the XM5’s do have some style to them. But more importantly, when it comes to fit, the XM6’s do seem to give you more contact with the bowl of your ears, so they do offer you a little more lock down than the XM5’s… but they aren’t as bulky as the XM4 which give you a little bit too much lock down.
But then there are the ear tip on these earbuds… the Sony WF-1000XM6’s still only com included with comply ear tips. Now what comply ear tips are supposed to do is that they are meant to better conform to the shape of your ear canals which is going to give you better lock down so your earbuds aren’t going to wiggle around when you’re walking around with them on… and comply ear tips will passively block out more noise than silicon ear tips like the ones that you’ll find on the AirPods Pro 2. However just like the XM5’s and XM4’s… these comply ear tips are pretty big, so you are going to have to size down… im usually a medium… but with these I have to go with the small ear tips. But personally im still not the biggest fan of comply ear tips cause to me they do get itchy after a few minutes. I just really wish that sony would include silicon ear tips in the box like they did with their original 1000X earbuds, so that you can choose between silicon ear tips for a more comfortable fit… or you can go with the comply ear tips so that you can have the best active noise cancelation… cause comply ear tips like these, since they are foam, they passively block out more noise… and keep in mind, the ear tips on the AirPods Pro 3 are a silicone foam hybrid… the inside is foam to give you that better fit and to block out noise… but the outer shell is still silicon for that more comfortable fit.
But overall, the Sony WF-1000XM6’s are a little bulkier than the WF-1000XM5’s… they do offer a little more lock down cause they do have more surface area coming in contact with the bowl of your ears… but I do feel that both the XM5’s and XM6’s are in the same league. And more importantly, both of these earbuds are less bulky than the XM4’s. But I think the XM5’s are sleeker and better looking than the XM6. And all of these earbuds still only come included with comply ear tips… which do offer a more secure fit and they passively blockout more noise… but im still not a fan of the comply ear tips on the XM6’s cause they still get itchy after a few minutes just like the XM5’s… I just wish these earbuds came included with silicon ear tips.
Now when it comes to connectivity, things are pretty standard here. Each earbud 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. And these earbuds can be connected to any two Bluetooth devices at the same time, regardless of eco system. Which is great if you’re a power user that likes to hot swap between an iPhone and a pc on a regular basis.
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, the WF-1000XM6’s have support for SBC, AAC and LDAC which is Sony’s own high res audio codec. However if you want to use LDAC you do have to be an android user cause iPhones top out at AAC and if you do decide to use LDAC that is going to take an additional toll on the battery life.
now when it comes to actually listening to music with these earbuds… the XM6’s do have new drivers from the XM5’s… but honestly, to me these earbuds sound the same, and that’s fine. Both of these earbuds do like to lean towards a brighter sound signature while in their stock EQ… so vocals are very prominent and there’s good detail in the mids and highs. Now these earbuds also have a good amount of bass to them… but it doesn’t resonate as much as lets say the AirPods Pro 2. Now you can go into these earbuds app and you can adjust their EQ to your liking… or you can choose from a few pre made ones… and im actually a fan of the Heavy setting, and I feel that this is where you’re going to get the most dynamic sound out of these earbuds. You’re still going to have strong vocals… but that bass is going to come in harder. Overall, these earbuds sound good and they should be able to please most people… but don’t expect them to sound all that much more different than the XM5’s… which is fine cause the XM5’s sound good too.
And when it comes to your media controls, its the same thing, the XM6’s are using touchpads where you can tap to play or pause, double tap to skip a track, triple tap to go back a track and you can continually tap to raise or lower your volume. And these touch pads are easy enough to use and they are fairly accurate, however I still wish that Sony would bring back haptic touchpads like on their original linkbuds where you could tap your cheek bones to control your media. But more importantly, though their app you can also go in an adjust these touchpads if you want. And just as you’d expect, these earbuds do have wear sensors so they will automatically play and pause your music when you take them out and put them in. Now I know this sounds very basic, but I do have to point it out cause there are some premium earbuds that just don’t have wear sensors, like the Linkbuds Clip.
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 the 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.
So overall, yes the Sony WF-1000XM6 do have the best ANC on earbuds right now and they are also blocking out more noise than the XM5’s which honestly doesn’t shock me right now cause when we went from the XM5 headphones to the XM6 headphones we also so an ANC improvement. However, with both the XM6’s and XM5’s these two earbuds manage to block out a lot of noise with the help of their foam ear tips which passively block out more noise than silicon ear tips… but personally im not a fan of foam ear tips cause they do get itchy very fast. So there is a trade off here.. personally I still prefer earbuds with silicon ear tips for the simple reason cause they don’t get itchy. I feel that sony should include silicon ear tips with these earbuds and they should say, hey for a more comfy fit use the silicone tips… and for the best ANC use the foam tips… or they are going to have to copy apple and make their own hybrid tips with foam on the inside and silicon on the outside.
But then there’s the ambient mode on these earbuds… and I will admit that the ambient mode on the XM6’s does sound a little more natural than the ambient mode found on the XM5’s… its not a reason to upgrade, but it is an observation. And even though this ambient mode sounds very natural and the microphone array does a good job of rejecting wind noise when walking out doors… it still doesn’t sound as good as the ambient mode found on the AirPods Pro… but its still really good.
Another feature that the XM6’s have is speak to chat, where if you start talking these earbuds will autoamitlly 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 touch your earbuds… but personally I think this feature is point on earbuds cause if you’re going to talk to someone its more natural to take your earbud out cause it also acts as a que for the other person that youre listening to them. Plus speak to chat can accidentally activate if you start talking to yourself or if you start laughing.
But finally here’s the microphone test, and well sony is hit or miss when it comes to their microphones on both their earbuds and headphones for phone calls.
Now while in a quite room, these three earbuds are similar, you can understand me but my voice does sound a little hollow.
Now with the Sony WF-1000XM6’s, these earbuds have a total of 8 mics versus the 6 mics found on the XM5’s and the XM6 do have improved bone conduction sensors… but while in a quiet room, these still sound similar to the XM5’s.
However, what really makes the Sony WF-1000XM6’s stand out here is how they deal with noise pollution, cause right now this mic is doing a really good job of blocking out 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 my lapel mic, it is reduced, however my voice still sounds hollow.
But the XM6’s are doing a much better job of reducing this road noise cause with the XM5’s there is a lot of noise pollution in the back grouf and its very hard to actually hear me.
And with the XM4’s these are trying to reduce this road noise better than the XM5’s, but my voice is getting blocked out as well. And keep in mind all of these earbuds are running the latest firmwares.
Now when it comes to blocking out chatter, the XM4’s are doing okay, its still not the greatest, but I think this is better than the XM5’s.
Cause with the XM5’s you can still hear chatter in the background, but more importantly there’s a lot of interference on my voice, so I wouldn’t take phone calls with these while outdoors.
Where as with the Sony WF-1000XM6’s there’s very little chatter in the background. Cause again 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 Sony WF-1000XM6’s it is reduced… however my voice still sounds shallow and it can be hard to understand me. So overall, Sony’s mics are hit and miss… this mic is doing a good job of blocking out noise pollution, but they aren’t doing the best job of focusing on my voice.
And this isn’t just an issue for Sony’s earbuds, Sonys headphones also have their issues… cause with the Sony WH-1000XM5’s… these are actually great to take phone calls with, they block out noise pollution and they focus on your voice. And the XM5’s still have a better performing mic than the WH-1000XM6’s. So overall, the mic on the WF-1000XM6 is better… but I would mainly take phone calls with them while in a quiet room.
But with all of that being said, the Sony WF-1000XM6 offer you amazing active noise cancelation for earbuds, they sound great and they should be able to please most people. However for me it is difficult to get excited for these earbuds. Yes they block out more noise than the Sony WF-1000XM5’s, and their mic does a much better job of dealing with noise pollution… but other than that, I don’t see a real reason to upgrade from the XM5’s. Now both of these earbuds have foam ear tips, I don’t like them cause they are itchy… but maybe you like them. But more importantly, with the Sony WF-1000XM5’s these have a smaller case than the XM6’s… all while having the same battery life performance as well. The XM5 earbuds themselves are also smaller and I feel that they look better. If you’re looking for a pair of earbuds that block out a lot of noise, then get the Sony WF-1000XM6’s… but other than that, I prefer the Sony WF-1000XM5’s.