Sony WH1000XM6 Headphones Review – 6 Months Later

By Josh Teder

I’ve had the Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones for six months now, and I’m going to walk you through the standout features, the things I can’t stand about them, and whether I think you should pick up a pair.

Sound Quality

First, let’s talk about sound quality. This is the main reason I think you would go with these headphones. They have great clarity, and it’s very tight around your ears audio-wise. It feels like the instruments are just right outside of your ears, probably thanks to their driver placement and shallower ear cups compared to other headphones. Though I do have an issue with that driver placement, which I’ll talk about in the downsides portion of this review.

The sound is well-balanced. Nothing feels like it has too much bass or treble. It’s not as punchy by default as something like the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Gen 2 that I’m reviewing, but you still get a lot of great dynamic sound with these, and they’re one of, if not the best, headphones that I’ve tested where the sound profile is this good out of the box.

Design & Build

Next up, let’s talk about the design. I went with the blue color, and it just looks stunning in person. It still provides the darker contrast you may want while wearing them, but without appearing totally black. The folding hinges make the case significantly smaller than those of many competitors, which is a huge plus for portability.

Another great thing about the case is that instead of a zipper, it uses this magnetic clasp, which has worked really well over the past six months, and I much prefer it over a zipper. The headband also looks more premium with fewer seams that you can see compared to the previous generation.

They’re also extremely lightweight at 254 grams compared to the other headphones that they’re competing against, like the AirPods Max and Nothing Headphone 1, which I’m currently reviewing. And make sure you subscribe to the channel if you want to see my thoughts on those headphones.

Guided EQ Feature

Another feature I really appreciate is the guided EQ feature. It helps you find your own EQ setting by allowing you to start playing music and then try different options to determine what sounds better. But by default, I actually found these just sound great on their own, so I just kept them with their default tuning.

Battery Life

The next standout feature is battery life. These have great battery life at 30 hours. Now, that’s comparable to most of the headphones that these compete with, and they beat out the AirPods Max by a full 10 hours.

Mic Quality and Transparency Mode

Next, let’s talk about mic quality and transparency mode, which are both highlights. The transparency mode on these when talking to other people is pretty damn good.

“The Sony headphones have the best mics out of any that I’ve tested.”

Now, the Sony headphones have the best mics out of any that I’ve tested. And here’s an example of how they sound. All right. And these are the Sonys. This is how their mics sound. And when I’m wearing these, I can definitely—I can hear a little bit of my voice. The only thing I don’t like is how much Sony amplifies your voice when you’re using the mics on these. It just makes things sound a bit unnatural to me compared to what other headphones do. And there doesn’t seem to be a way to tone that down, as you get with the Nothing Headphone 1 as well as other headphones via their app. Fortunately, you can thankfully turn this side feature off in Sony’s headphones app.

The transparency mode is also quite good on these and sounds, I’d say just—it’s a step below the AirPods Max, which still have the best transparency mode out of any pairs of headphones I’ve used. And with those, it just sounds like you’re not even wearing headphones. With these, it’s pretty close to that, but you can still tell when you hear your own voice. That’s the real tell that it’s like, “No, I’m definitely still wearing headphones.”

Features I Haven’t Used

So, what features have I not found myself using with these headphones? All the extra features in the Sony app, such as contextual listening modes and ambient sound control, which adjust the amount of noise cancellation based on your environment. I didn’t really use these. I do like that you can back up your headphones settings to Sony’s cloud, but features like automatic switching from headphones to Sony’s speakers and services like Amazon Music Play Now or Endel, I didn’t use those either.

360 Reality Audio is another feature that you’ll see in Sony’s app. And this technology is basically Sony’s rival to Dolby Atmos. Now, outside of Amazon Music, Tidal actually dropped support for this format back in 2024. It’s not really a feature that’s worth it in my opinion. Sony—they may have won the Blu-ray battle way back when, but I think it’s pretty clear at this point they’ve lost the format wars to Atmos. Now, these headphones can do Atmos. I just, for whatever reason, have found the AirPods Max with Apple Music—that just seems to be the combination where Atmos music has sounded the best to me on a pair of headphones for whatever reason.

Downsides: Comfort Issues

All right, now let’s talk about some of the downsides I’ve encountered with these headphones. First up is comfort. By making the ear cups shallower and placing the drivers closer to your ears, it actually makes wearing these headphones way less comfortable than their competition. I feel like the inner part of the ear cup just sits on and puts too much pressure, specifically on my right ear, which makes it really hard for me to wear these for any extended period of time. And this is not something that I’ve experienced with any of the other major wireless headphones that I’ve reviewed.

This was something that I noticed with the previous Sony headphones that I had hoped would have been fixed with this version, but it was not.

Downsides: Controls and Build Materials

Another downside is the controls. You basically have to turn these headphones off and then back on again just to get them into Bluetooth pairing mode, which is annoying. And I don’t care for the touch controls either. While they do work, I’d much prefer something more physical and precise, like the digital crown on the AirPods Max or the roller button on the Nothing Headphone 1. Basically, I think Sony has gone almost too minimalist here with their two physical buttons.

And while I do appreciate the lightweight construction, I will say they don’t feel as premium with the materials they use compared to the nice metal Bose is using in their new design or the aluminum material used in the Nothing Headphone 1 and AirPods Max.

Downsides: Aesthetics and Missing Features

Another downside is the aesthetics when wearing these headphones. They just stick out from your head a bit more than competing headphones do, which I think makes them look a bit more dorky and less sleek than some of their competition.

Another downside is that there’s no lossless audio via USB-C. This feels like an odd miss for a company that cares so much about great sound quality. Now, almost all of the competing wireless headphones in this space have this feature, so it’s a bit of an odd miss. There’s also no Apple Music Quick Trigger. Meta Ray-Bans have this, so it is a thing that exists, and I’m not sure why Sony didn’t implement it in their app.

The Sony Assistant

Now, one slightly innovative thing Sony added to these headphones was their own assistant. You just say, “Hey, headphones,” and you can control playback or bring up your phone’s assistant. Now, this is pretty cool in theory because the commands and the way to trigger them will stay consistent regardless of the device you’re using to listen to music.

The only issue I’ve had with this feature is it really hasn’t worked very consistently for me over the past six months. Like I constantly get the “I’m sorry I couldn’t recognize that command” error when I say “Hey, headphones, pause music” or “volume up.” You have to be even more precise than your typical smart assistant with the command that you want the headphones to execute, which is a bit annoying.

My Recommendation

So do I recommend getting the Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones? In general, yes, especially if you can find them on sale and if they fit your ears okay.

“If you can wear them, they do sound fantastic. They have excellent noise cancellation and are pretty lightweight. Those are honestly the main reasons to go for them.”

Definitely buy them from a retailer with a decent return policy. For me, if I weren’t reviewing these, I probably would have returned them just because I can’t stand their fit. But I know many people can wear them without issue and everyone’s ears and head shape is different. So, if you can, they do sound fantastic. They have excellent noise cancellation and are pretty lightweight. Those are honestly the main reasons to go for them.

If you’re an Apple user, however, yes, I do think it’s worth taking a look at the AirPods Max for their Apple ecosystem integration features, especially if you can find them on sale during the holidays. And I’ll leave the link to my AirPods Max review in the top right corner here.

Price Comparison and Alternatives

And the other headphones you might want to price compare with the Sony’s are the Nothing Headphone 1, which I’ve really been impressed by so far. They provide a pretty great value for the money and have way better controls. And overall, I think their design is just a bit better. So, make sure you subscribe to the channel if you want to see my full review of these.

So, even though in general I do recommend them, would I recommend them over some competing headphones? I recently put them up against the Nothing Headphone 1, AirPods Max, Bose’s new QuietComfort Ultra Gen 2, and the Sonos Ace in our best headphones of 2025 video, which I’ll leave here if you want to see how they compare to the competition in a variety of categories.

So, those are my thoughts on the Sony WH-1000XM6. Uh, wow, what a name, Sony. Uh, but let me know if you have these headphones or if you have the previous version, what you think of Sony’s cans. Do you think they’re a good buy? Let me know in the comments.

And to see more of my six months later reviews on popular products like the MacBook Air, the Galaxy S25 Ultra, and more, you can click here for those, or click here to see more videos on headphones, earbuds, and speakers like the Sonos Arc 300, Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, and the AirPods Pro 3 versus AirPods 4 with ANC.

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