Bose QC Ultra 2: https://geni.us/GC-BoseQCUltra2Earbuds
Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro: https://geni.us/GC-GalaxyBuds3Pro
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 them to both the Bose QC Ultra earbuds 2 and the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro…
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 the Bose QC Ultra earbuds 2, again Bose we need to work on your names… these have a retail price of $300 but they now like to go on sale for $250. And then there are the Galaxy Buds 3 pro and these have a retail price of $250… but they like to go on sale for $200… not bad at all. Nonetheless if you want to pick any of 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 videos in the description down 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 Sony WF-1000XM6 to either the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro or the Bose QC Ultra earbuds 2… the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are a touch smaller than the Sony… yes this case is taller than the Sony… but its not as wide and it is a little thinner as well. But regardless I would say the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro case is also a down grade from the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. And then there’s Bose case… now like I have said multiple times already, for me Bose’s case is just way too big and when compared to Sony’s case, the Bose does have a noticeably larger foot print… the only good thing the Bose has going for it is that it isn’t as thick as Sony’s case.
So overall, when it comes to cases… honestly I am shocked to see that this generation of cases are larger than last generation’s cases. The AirPods Pro 3 case is larger than the AirPods Pro 2, the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro case is larger than the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, and the Sony WF-1000XM6 case is larger than the Sony WF-1000XM6. But if we had to choose between Galaxy, Sony or Bose here… then the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro is the least worst here.
And when it comes to battery life… the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro do have the best battery life to case size ratio here… cause the Galaxy Buds 3 pro have an advertised combined battery life of 26 hours with their active noise cancelation turned on, the earbuds themselves can go for 6 hours and the case can supply 3 charges and a little bit. Where as both the Sony and Bose have an advertised combined battery life of 24 hours with their active noise cancellation turned on. But with both the Sony and Galaxy Buds, you can extend their battery life by using them with their active noise cancelation turned off, which is what I usually do. But with the Bose, you can’t turn off their Active noise cancelation.
But overall, the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro do have the best battery life to case size ratio here cause it is the smallest by a slim margin… and they do have a longer lasting combined battery life… by a slim margin. But I still think that all of these cases pale in comparison to the AirPods Pro 3 which is smaller and has more features… and I still think the AirPods Pro 2 are king cause this case is even smaller than the AirPods Pro 3 while having all of the same features like a built in speaker, you can track it down with your phone and you can charge it with your apple watch if you want.
But with the cases out of the way, lets talk about the earbuds themselves… and well… these three earbuds fit super differently from one another. Now I know I give Bose a lot of flack here… but Bose’s earbuds are perhaps some of the most comfortable and stable earbuds out there. Now for starters, these ear tips don’t go all that deep into your canals… they mostly rest in the bowl of your ears like lets say a pair of AirPods… but they also have the benefit of silicon feet so they are going to give you a very secure fit. So as a result, Bose’s earbuds are going to feel super comfortable cause they are not all that intrusive cause they don’t go all the deep into your ear canals… but they still manage to passively block out a lot of noise cause they create a good seal… and they also have a lot of lock down thanks to their feet… so they don’t wiggle out. Bose’s earbuds fit great, and its the main reason to put up with their large case. But then there’s the Galaxy Buds 3 pro… and these are a pair of shallow fitting in ear earbuds… as in they go into your ear canals, but not all that much. So they are fairly comfortable cause they aren’t all that intrusive… however they can wiggle out fairly easily.
And finally there are the Sony WF-1000XM6… now these are a pair of standard fitting in ear earbuds, as in they go into your ear canals a decent amount, more than the Galaxy Buds 3 pro… so these can feel more intrusive. But more importantly, these earbuds only come included with foam ear tips… where as these other earbuds only come with silicon ear tips. Now the idea with foam ear tips is that they are going to better comfort to the shape of your ear canals so they are going to offer you better lock down and they are going to passively block out more noise. But the problem with foam ear tips like these is that for starters they are very large. I usually use medium sized ear tips… but with these I have to go with the Small. But more importantly, to me, these foam ear tips get very itchy… so the comfort on Sony’s earbuds isn’t as good. And like I’ve said in other videos, no matter how amazing your tech specs are, if your earbuds or headphones don’t fit well, you’re not going to want to wear them. So even though there are a lot of reasons to hate on Bose’s earbuds… these earbuds fit extremely well and they offer you a lot of lock down… however you are going to have to put up with their super large case. The Galaxy Buds 3 pro fit fine… but with the Sony WF-1000XM6… just be aware of those foam ear tips… maybe you’ll might want to buy separate silicon ear tips… which I feel is unfair given the Sony WF-1000XM6’s already very premium price.
But when it comes to connectivity, all of these earbuds establish 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 this is the connection set up that we expect these days. But more importantly, with all of these earbuds, they can be connected to any two bluetooth devices at the same time, regardless of eco system, which is good if you’re a power user that likes to swap between an iPhone and a pc on a regular basis.
Latency is also 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, all of these earbuds have support for SBC and AAC… but all of these earbuds also have support for higher quality audio codecs…. But in order to use these higher quality audio codecs you do have to be an android user cause iPhones top out at AAC… but AAC is still fine.
But now lets talk about actually lisnting to music with these earbuds. And well, the bose are the least impressive sounding earbuds here. They have the least amount of instrument separation, so they sound narrow and the bass on these earbuds doesn’t resonate all that much and it doesn’t hit as hard. They sound good enough to get the job done, but these aren’t the best sounding earbuds here. But then there’s the Galaxy Buds 3 pro, and these are very interesting cause they have a woofer and a tweeter… so as a result these earbuds have amazing instrument separation cause the woofer handles the mids and the tweeter handles the highs. And these earbuds have a decent amount of resonance and kick in their bass. And then there’s the Sony WF-1000XM6… and these don’t sound as open as the Galaxy Buds 3 pro cause they don’t have a dedicated tweeter… but they still sound more open than the bose. But where the Sony really stand out is their bass… their bass does resonate a lot deeper than the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro. So when it comes to sound, the Bose sound good enough to get the job done… but they sound narrow and flat. The Sony should be able to please more people cause they have good instunrmet separation and they also have a good amount of resonance in their bass… and the Galaxy Buds 3 pro also sound good, but they sound a little more open…
But then there are the media controls on these earbuds… and they are all different as well. Now the Sony’s have a standard touch pad where you can tap to control your media. You can also continuously tap to adjust your volume… but its not as sleek as lets say the Bose. Cause with the Bose, these also have a touch pad, but this touch pad is much larger… and you can swipe up or down to adjust your volume. Better than having to tap on the Sony. And then there’s the Galaxy Buds 3 pro which copied apple here cause you squeeze on these stems to play and pause your media… and to adjust your volume you can swipe up or down… but the stems on the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro aren’t as intuitive as the stems on Airpods.
But next up there’s the active noise cancelation on these earbuds, and well, we have a very large range here. Now the active noise cancelation on the Sony WF-1000XM6 is very impressive, but don’t expect these earbuds to block out as much noise as a proper pair of over ear ANC headphones like lets say the Sony WH-1000XM6 or the XM5, or the Bose QC Ultra Headphones 2.
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 plainly put, the Sony WF-1000XM6 block out way more noise than the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro… honestly, Samsung has always struggled with their ANC on both their earbuds and Headphones. But keep in mind the Sony WF-1000XM6 do have an advantage cause their foam ear tips do passively block out more noise than silicon ear tips. But I don’t like foam ear tips cause they get itchy. The Bose QC Ultra Earbuds 2 are a good middle ground between the Sony and Galaxy Buds here. They still block out a decent amount of noise… and they do so while being super comfortable cause these ear tips are not intrusive and they still offer you great lock down thanks to their rubber feet.
And when it comes to the ambient mode on these earbuds… the Galaxy Buds 3 pro get the job done, but it is the least natural sounding one here cause it does still sound robotic. Where as the ambient mode on the Bose sounds more natural and there’s no static in the background. But then there’s the Sony which sounds the most natural here… it still doesn’t sound as good as the ambient mode found on the Airpods pro 2 or 3… but it is up there.
Mic Bose quiet
But finally here’s the microphone test, and well, bose does seem to struggle with their microphones for phone calls on both their earbuds and headphones. But while in a quiet room, this mic is usable, but I do sound a little hollow.
Mic Sony quiet
Sony also struggles when it comes to their microphones for phone calls. Which I feel is a shame cause the Mic on the Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones is really good, where as the mic on the XM6 earbuds is decent but I also sound a little hollow here.
Mic Galaxy quiet
And then there’s the galaxy buds 3 pro, and this mic also sounds a little hollow while in a quiet room… but nonetheless, all of these mics are good for taking phone calls while in a quiet room.
Mic Galaxy Road
But when it comes to noise pollution, these three mics are super different. Now when it comes to blocking out road noise, the galaxy buds 3 pro are doing a really good job of reducing all of this road noise, and my voice I still front and center. 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 galaxy buds 3 pro, it is severely reduced and my voice is front and center.
Mic Sony road
But then we have the Sony WF-1000XM6, and these are almost blocking out all of this road noise… cause with the galaxy buds 3 pro, there is like a little bit of noise pollution in the background which you’ll might here if you’re wearing headphones. But with the Sony, the trade off here is that there is some interference on your voice and your voice does sound a little hollow. Its still usable, but I wish my voice had better clarity to it.
Mic bose Road
But then here are the Bose QC Ultra Earbuds 2… and these are useless when it comes to blocking out road noise. Like im sorry, this is bad, no amount of AI is going to be able to fix this.
Mic bose Chatter
Now when it comes to blocking out chatter, these aren’t struggling as much when it comes to blocking out road noise… but this is still pretty bad. Bose’s earbuds are going to be better suited to take hone calls with while in a quiet room.
Mic Sony chatter
Now with the Sony WF-1000XM6’s, when it comes to blocking out chatter, its the same thing when it comes to blocking out road noise. These are blocking out a lot of noise, however my voice still sound a little hollow and there can still be some interfenrce I wish my voice was more present here.
Mic Galaxy Chatter
And finally here are the Galaxy Buds 3 pro, and these are also doing a really good job of reducing all of this chatter, cause again for comparison sake, if we were to switch over to my lapel mcirphoen, you’re going to clealery hear all of this chatter, but if we were to switch back over to the Galaxy Buds 3 pro, it is reduced, but more importantly, I feel that my voice is a little more focused on than compared to sony, and there’s a little less interference going on with my voice.
But with all of that being said, these three earbuds are very different from one another and I feel that we’re in a bit of a predicament. With the Sony WF-1000XM6’s, these have the best active noise cancelation here, they also have the best sounding ambient mode, they sound good and they give you lots of control over your sound. But personally I don’t like the foam ear tips on these earbuds cause they get itchy, and I feel that their case and earbuds are a down grade from the XM5 cause the case is bigger and the earbuds don’t look as sleek. Then there are the Galaxy Buds 3 pro… again I think the case and earbuds are a down grade from the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro cause the case is larger and I prefer the sculpt of the Galaxy Buds 2 pro over the 3. However the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro have the best instrument seperation here, they also have the best case size to battery life ratio here and I feel that they have the best performing microphone here for phone calls. And finally there are the Bose QC Ultra earbuds 2… for some reason Bose just can’t make a small case for their earbuds, and this microphone is really bad at blocking out noise pollution. And these earbuds just sound good enough to get the job done. However where the Bose excel here is when it comes to fit, these earbuds are super comfortable cause they don’t feel intrusive, they still manage to passively block out a lot of noise, and they give you lots of lock down thanks to their silicon feet. Overall, I feel that all of these earbuds still have room for improvement, and like I have said multiple times already, I still prefer the Airpods pro 2, and I recommend that you stack up on them while you can.