I currently own about 30 headphones of various brands and types. I have tried many Bluetooth headphones and own the Bose QC35 II and Bowers and Wilkins PX. I bought both the Sony WH-1000x MKI & MKII but returned them after weighing the shortcomings vs the cost, my main complaints being comfort and sound (the ANC was always good). My portable-everyday-beat-them-up headphones were the Bose QC 35 II. I liked them primarily for the comfort and ANC. The sound on the Bose can best be described as adequate but generally lifeless. Always in search of something better I read a couple of “First Look” articles about the Sony WH-MX1000M3 and decided to pull the plug on the first day that they were available on Amazon. When I received the Sony’s I was pleased to see that the case was similar to the Bose QC 35, a little bigger but shaped well enough to fit comfortably in my backpack. When I removed the headphones and put them on my head I realized immediately that these would be as comfortable as the Bose. Good job Sony.
After charging for a couple of hours I paired them to my phone and went to my headphone test playlist on Spotify. My main complaint with the previous Sony model's sound was that they had very little soundstage (defined as perceived distance between your ears and the music) and little definition (defined as the clarity and separation of the various instruments in a piece of music). The M3 sounded better than the previous Sony’s and better than the Bose, but the highs appeared to be quite subdued and overwhelmed by the bass. This was disappointing.
But, Sony has a phone app that allows for EQ so I go download the app. Frustration. The app did not recognize the MK3. Patience. I figure that Sony has not updated the app yet. So I wait a day and see that the Sony app has automatically updated on my phone. I open and hurray! It is recognizing the MK3 now. Now I can play with EQ: -1 on 400 Hz. +1 on 1K. +2 on 2.5K. +3 on 6K. +4 on 16K and “Clear Bass” remains at 0. Play music and now were talking! I’m not going to say that these sound nearly as good as most of my wired headphones, but for everyday-on-the-go-beat-them-up-with-ANC these are exciting. They blow the Bose away. The Bowers and Wilkins PX which weigh about three times more than the Sony’s have decent BT sound when the ANC is off but the sound changes considerably and not for the better when you apply one of three ANC modes. They PX is OK for about an hour of no ANC listening while sitting at home, but after that my ears and the top of my head hurt.
The noise cancellation of the Sony is a generation ahead of Bose. There, I said it. Most reviewers crown the Bose as the best ANC you can get. Well, Sony has just showed Bose that they are the new big boy on the block. I did some A/B comparisons with both headphones and realized that the Sony not only cancels steady noise like jet engines or the sound of the air conditioning intake in my condo, but it does a great job of virtually eliminating all other sounds, including television voices and even other people, as my wife can attest to when she had to stand in front of me and wave her hands to get my attention because I could not hear her talking (so, if you want to block out your wife’s talking… LOL!). And this is without even messing with the settings in the app. Others reviewer here have not had the same experience, stating that it does not cancel voices. I frankly did not expect it to cancel voices, but I must say that the Sony comes as close as anything I have ever not heard.
So, if you want very comfortable headphones with the best sound and Active Noise Cancelling that you can expect with wireless Bluetooth in 2018 get these. They will not sound as good as wired closed back or open back headphones, but “you can’t always get what you want”, “nothing is perfect”, and “everybody is different”.
In addition to the Sony WH-1000XM3 during this review period I used:
Bose QC 35 II
Bowers & Wilkins PX
Bang and Olufsen H6 (wired)
Sennheiser HD650 (wired)
AKG 7KXX (wired)
Spotify
Flac files on phone and desktop computer
UPDATE 2018-09-21: I did experience an issue with phone calls where people at the other end were hearing an echo of their voice. I tested the headphones with three different phones and the problem occurred with all three. So I replaced them through Amazon. I am glad to say that the new pair does not have the issue. After some tests with phone calls I will say that Sony still needs to do some work on the call quality at the other end of the call (the call sounds fine in the Sony itself). In this regard, the Bose QC 35 is better. I think the call quality is really with the sound processing that Sony has implemented and not the hardware. Hopefully this will be improved in future firmware upgrades. Another minor con that the Bose handles better is the support for multiple BT sources. But this is a minor annoyance and I only use the Sony's for my phone anyway, so I am not constantly switching sources. Small price to pay for better ANC and musical sound.
I was in NYC last week on a biz trip and after a few drinks at dinner decided I had to have a pair of ANC headphones.....I walked into Best Buy and picked up the Sony 1000xM2 headphones as id heard great things about them apart from some of the well known build quality issues. I was able to use them for a few hours that night and on my flight home the next day. When I got home I saw in my newsfeed that the M3 was just announced with new features like USB C, new processor, better design etc. I returned the M2 and saw on amazon they already were selling the M3. I was shocked as nowhere else seemed to even have them listed on their site yet for sale. I ordered them assuming it was a mistake and they would not show up. Well, they did show up on time.....:) NIce surprise.
I will say by impressions after using them for a few days compared to the M2:
-WAY better design, more comfy, lighter weight, more padding on top, better larger earcups and overall quality seems better than the M2. The changes are subtle but if you look closely you will see them.
-Battery life is incredible on both M2 and M3 but now with USBC its even a better experience. I literally put them on the charger for like 15 or 20 minutes and they were at 90%. Sony states that a 10 min charge will get 5 hours of playback.
-Sony claims that the noise reduction is 4x better than before. This is where I think I disagree. the M2's had exceptional ANC and these are much the same. You can still hear things going on around you with ANC on and its certainly not 4x better than before. The one area I notice is better is when you cup your hand over the right ear to allow the external microphones to let in noise going on around you, its not as loud and hissy as it was on the M2. IT still lets in the external sound but in a MUCH cleaner way without all the blown out noise around it. Well Done.
-I constantly read on how the M2's and M3's are terrible for use making phone calls. Reviewers mentioned how people complained of echos, terrible mic quality etc,. I was expecting the worst. I called my wife yesterday while she was in her car to try this out for the first time on a call. We spoke for about 20 minutes. She said that my voice was loud and clear and she would not have known I wasn't speaking directly into my phone, but rather the headset. She was in her car which usually would make it even worse so I was nicely surprised. I could hear her well on my end via the M3s so was happy there. I wonder whether this was fixed in these new gen M3s as my call experience was fantastic. My wife usually hates when I call her from a speakerphone etc and often complains that I need to speak into the phone etc so for the M3 to pass her test was pretty incredible.
-I am Happy they finally made a carry case that fits the headphones AND the cables that come with it.....M2 was stupid that only the headphones fit in the case but none of the cords....lol.....really?
-The Sony App is the key here too in that is allows for great customization of the sound on the M3 so i highly recommend using it. THe strange thing is that it supports super high quality sound like LDAC but if you make any change via the app to the EQ settings etc it makes you default to lesser quality codec......weird.....not sure why.
-I have heard some people say they are a bit Bass heavy but really with the app you can tailor however you like. That said i like bass and man these things can put out in a clean way where the bass isnt distracting at all. THese are very clean headphones and the sound to me is better than Bose QC35.......
All in all, very happy with them and i presume over time Sony will keep pushing updates to them via the app. For instance now they allow Google Assistant and Siri. Ive been using Google assistant on them and its pretty great albeit with a bit of latency to the responses.
Let's not forget how great it is to have touch gestures built into the right earcup too. Man I can't imagine not being able to do this now on every headphone. It's kinda like when your on a buddy's PC and you go to swipe or pinch the screen only to find their PC isn't touchscreen. Lol. Yeah the m3 is that cool. Love using gestures for volume, play, pause, skip, activating Google assistant etc.
All in all these are a great experience. Hope this helps if you are on the fence.
As someone who owns Bose noise cancelling headphones, these new headphones have blown me away. The noise cancelling is a noticeable step up from the QC 35 I currently. It's light (a tad heavier than the Bose), comfortable (I usually can't stand having most headphones on for a long time as my ears tend to get sore - no issues 3 hours in with this pair), and have a sound quality that blows the Bose or any other noise cancelling headphones I've tried out of the water. Being able to cup the right headphone to pause the noise cancelling to listen to people talking to you without taking off the headphone is a pretty cool feature.
Aesthetically, I prefer how the Bose looks, but then again I purchased this for the audio and noise-cancelling properties, not how it looks. The touch controls on the right earpiece took a bit to get used to, but quickly became second nature.
Being able to charge via USB-C is a plus as someone who has a Galaxy S8 and a Nintendo Switch, as I can use the same cable. It also lets you charge the headphones via Quick Charge. While I can't speak to it's longevity, the headphones seem to be high quality, and I don't notice any discernible issue with the headband - something that I understand the previous models suffered from.
Overall, I am extremely impressed by the WH1000XM3, and it will easily become my every day carry headphones.
We were able to compare Sony WH1000XM3 with Bose QC35II. They are both high quality, but optimized for very different use cases. At the end, I decided to keep Bose and my wife decided to keep Sony.
Sony is optimized for music listening. It makes you feel you are sitting inside the orchestra, or as if you are the conductor. If the recording is high quality, you hear every detail and you breathe with the musicians. (Default setting is too bassy, but if you decrease the "clear bass" on the equalizer screen in the app, it becomes better.)
Bose, on the other hand, does not immerse you in the music. You feel like sitting among audience, you are not the conductor. You can put a mental distance between you and the music, so that you can concentrate on other things while listening music. Don't get me wrong, the sound is still high quality. And it let's you work.
Sony's "ambient sound control" is very impressive and innovative. Previous to testing it, I did not understand what they are doing from the advertisements and from other reviews. I thought they just let you control the level of noise cancelling, like Bose does. What they actually do is a kind of "anti-noise-cancelling". When you want to hear your surrounding while listening music, you turn surrounding noise on, and the headphone amplifies the surrounding noise for you, blending it with the music. You can put a human voice filter to this amplified surrounding noise so that you hear people but not other low-pitch sounds. They simply cancel out both active and passive noise canceling when you use this feature. You hear people as if you are not wearing any headphones. Isn't that the coolest thing? I can still be around, conversing with people while listening music privately. One thing they can improve in this feature is that I actually want to amplify human sound around me more than the natural levels. It is because I am hearing the music but other people don't, so they don't talk as loudly as they would if they heard the music. Even if I hear them at the same level, I still need to turn the music down to understand them.
If you are walking and listening music, forget Sony. You will hear your steps as "thud"s, 3 times louder than Bose. If you will make a phone call or a conference call on your computer, again forget Sony. Its mic is surprisingly horrible. People won't hear you. I wonder if that can be fixed with a new firmware.
The touch controls on Sony is brilliant, works very nice. I can skip a song in a second, with swipe of a finger. With Bose, I have to search for that multi-function button every time with my right thumb and double click on it. Takes about 5 seconds.
The main reason I prefer Bose is because its ear cups are bigger and deeper. Sony hurts my ears after an hour. I am fine indefinitely with Bose. But my wife is comfortable with both of them. She may have smaller ears than me.
The main reason my wife decided to keep Sony is because it has much better noise cancellation; she does not get distracted while working.
From this review I learned that there is no one ideal headphone to get. Sony can improve by making ear cups wider and deeper, working on that thud sound, and using a decent microphone. Bose can improve by copying the touch controls. Even though its sound quality is inferior, I prefer that while I am working. Do you want to feel like in the studio every time you listen to music? I don't.
One last note .. Sony says it supports aptX low latency codec so that you can use it for watching tv and hearing sounds synchronized with people's lip movements. Bose does not support that. But I have to admit that I don't notice any latency when watching Netflix on my phone with Bose. Maybe that is not very important, or there is something specific to tv that I don't know.
See below for update!
So far, my experienced is mixed. The current version of the Sony Headphone Connect app on iOS doesn’t support these. Talk about poorly planned release. So, none of the advance capabilities are available, and therefore are currently basic Bluetooth headphones with noise cancelling....that you can’t adjust. Fortunately, the default NC profile is good, and they do sound good. Also, they are lighter than the XM2s, but the headband feels more solidly built. I think they also sound better (clarity, dynamics, bass) than the XM2 and QC35. Comfort is very good, not quite as good as Bose QC35, but pretty close.
Update: about 12hrs after posting this, Sony has released the updated software to the iOS App Store. Works great with the software. Allows for tweaking and calibration of NC, eq, etc. sweet.
Feature Product
- DIGITAL NOISE CANCELLING: Industry leading ANC lends a personalized, virtually soundproof experience
- VOICE ASSISTANT: Alexa-enabled for hands-free voice access to music, information, and more
- QUICK ATTENTION MODE: Cover the right ear cup to turn down your music for instant, easy conversation
- SMART LISTENING: Adjusts the ambient sound to your activity to give you the best noise cancellation
- TOUCH CONTROLS: Control music tracks and volume, activate your voice assistant and take phone calls
- FAST CHARGE: Get up to 30hrs of battery life on a single charge / 5hrs of playback on a 10min charge
- PREMIUM SOUND QUALITY: Enjoy amazingly clear HiRes audio at work, at home or on an airplane
- COMFORTABLE TO WEAR: Ergonomically redesigned foldable earphones for easy travel / listening comfort
- IN THE BOX: Hands free headphone, carry case, charging cable and audio cable for a wired connection
- NOTE: KINDLY REFER USE GUIDE BEFORE USE
Description
Sony industry-leading noise cancellation evolves to further immerse you in your music. The addition of Sony proprietary HD noise canceling processor Qn1 masterfully eliminates the noise around you. Listen all day with up to 30 hours of battery life. Quick charging gives five hours of playback with just a 10-minute charge. Cord Length: Headphone cable (approx. 3.94 ft, OFC strands, gold-plated stereo mini plug); Frequency Response: 4 Hz-40,000 Hz; NFC: Yes; Cord Type: Single-sided (detachable); Volume Sensor: Touch Sensor. Diaphragm - Aluminium-coated LCP
So preordered these because I figured I'd break them in for awhile before posting. Then compare them side by side to the WH1000xm2. I will list the advantage this has over the m2 then finding out if you need to upgrade to help with your purchase decision. I use the Sony pretty religiously so no nitpicking here.
1. Sound quality: The Wh1000xm3 sound better than the wh1000xm2 for obvious reason but not blow out the water better. You hear more separation in your music. Also if you ever use the surround modes (dont hate me for this mx2 owners) but there is a very faint but slightly annoying static that occurs when you use the surround modes. Especially on arena mode. The wh1000xm3 erased this totally and that static is no longer there. This may be a big reason of Sony adding the QN1 chip as the wh1000xm2 may have tried to process the music and noise cancelling but since there was no medium, both went throughthe same channels which causes static that you hear. It made my listening experience far more enjoyable.
2. Noise cancelling: Noise cancelling is not noise proof. It does block out more sound than its predecessor however with noise cancelling I felt that the m2 cancelled more sound. Although with noise cancelling on, the m3 do a much better job. I no longer had to put music up to 50 percent to block out sound from very moist environments. Just 20-25 does the trick. Although by itself it already cancels noise out exceptionally better.
Now to clarify the reason the reason why noise cancelling headphones have a hard time cancelling voices. It's really because your voice is not a constant sound wave. It constantly oscillates and to produce counter sound waves to that requires a lot. Despite this, these are the best noise cancelling headphones on the market right now. Now are they 4x better in noise cancelling? I would say 40%better but not 4x which seems like a stretch. But getting rid of the static may have been something.
Build quality: To cut down on costs since you already have the QN1 chip and for a smoother design. Sony added the plastic over the brush aluminum. Also to appeal to their female market as well, they tried to make headphones that appealedto both genders. If you notice, not many girls really wanted to try the wh1000xm2. I did a test of and I got a positive response for men about wearing the wh1000xm2 about 82% while only 18%of females really wanted to try the wh1000xm2. However for the xm3 with the same even 100 amount. I got a higher positive response from females about 42% to 56% men. Plus the lighter xm3 adds to longer hours of listening. The wh1000xm3 is still built well, although you had a leather cup to create a better noise cancelling seal. The wh1000xm3 does not need that so it can afford a sleek appearance. Plus it cuts down on the weight. There is added padding at the top of the wh1000xm3 so when you bump your head, you are protected from most of the shock whereas with the m2 they get scratched at the top fairly easily.
USB: USB-C instead of micro is a vast improvement. Do keep in mind your charger is also a prominent factor on how well it stays. I recommend using anker products for their cables and wall charger. The Sony cable is pretty short. The audio cable us really not THAT bad and it seems most people are overreacting about this and I'm not sure why.
Case: the case is definitely sturdier and has more room inside. Although I do miss the snap on and snap off case of the m2.
What I pointed out where key points as most other things can be looked up on the Sony page and reading the features of the headphones. Although please note neither have multipoint connecting abilities. Although this never bothered as my phone my main source so that's never bothered me.
But is it worth the upgrade? If it really isnt in your budget, I would sell your XM2 first then get the XM3. If the xm2 has been working well for you then you are fine. Save yourself another $350. If it is in your budget just measure against other items you could get, if this is it, go for it. I can say you will not be disappointed.
I purchased these just when my old Bose QuietComfort on ear headphones had one of the ear pads fall off after 3 years of use and I was not a happy camper about it.
So to say that the timing of these being introduced was perfect is an understatement so let's get on with a bit of a review....
Sound
There been lots of reviews online about these it's no secret that the noise cancellation feature is superb on these it's also no secret that the sound is also superb and I found it to be accurate and pleasing to the ear no matter if I've been listening to rock music, classical music come or reggae. Another thing that I'm really happy about is that I can plug these into the TV through the 3. 5 mm cord with an extender and there is no sound delay listening to the TV but I have not yet tried Bluetooth connecting it with the other sound mode yet.
Hand touch features
The hand touch features on the ear outside of the ear pads is nothing less than brilliant and I prefer the motion touch ability to increase or lower the volume change tracks Etc by simply using my hand motion as opposed to a hard Hardware button. Took me about 5 minutes to get used to it but it was pretty intuitive and pretty easy to pick up.
They don't have to rest on the top of your head:
one thing that you won't see in any of the reviews except this one probably is that every pair of headphones I tried on at Best Buy and other places the top of the headphones almost always rested on my head. This was one department where Bose was a leader for me because I was able to increase the size of the headphones and have the headphones stay on my ears and stay on my head without the top actually resting on the top of my head and these Sony headphones have managed to achieve that and I give him credit for it. Having a pair of headphones partially supported with its weight on your head is not good for comfort factor so the fact that these can be expanded still stay on your ear and not be resting on top of your head for me is a big deal and adds to the overall comfort factor. my older Bose on ear headphones or more compact but that's to be expected compared to an over-the-ear Headphone set and although these are bulkier they are still quite portable.
The carrying case
The case that came with it is beautiful it's a hard shell case with a textured finish an open net on the back where you can sleep in a charger or anything else that'll fit and also has storage for your headphones inside along with two more what I call vertical pockets for your charger cord or other peripherals.
Headphone color choice:
I was tossed up on whether to get the black or silver headphones and I'm pleased to say the black ones were the right choice black tennis shoe look smaller aesthetically speaking and the copper colored accents really at A Classy Touch to the design in my opinion. Speaking of designs these are as far as I can tell 100% if not close to 100% plastic but they feel very sturdy and the joints on the swivel for the ear pads are smooth in operation and don't feel like they're going to break very easily unless you find a way to sit on them one day :-)
I'm not going to go into more detail than that because you can find millions of reviews online for these headphones and they will be going into much more detail than I am but I did want to point out a few things that you won't find in other reviews.
These headphones are pricey there's no doubt about it but if she's got the bucks for it don't even blink an eye and order them they're superb
Edit the seconding: I was able to get in contact with Sony. They replaced the headset within a week and the second pair works perfectly. The call quality issues were fixed and they perform just as well in all other regards. I am going to adjust my rating from 3 to 5 stars.
Edit: I have found that this issue is not repeatable when calling through Skype or Whatsapp. When using the built in phone dialer for IOS and Android the issue with the hallway/echo occurs. When using a VOIP service the calls come through crystal clear on both ends.
I received my headphones yesterday and I have been very impressed. The sound quality and noise cancellation is very well done. There is just one issue from making them great. It is impossible to make a phone call through them. It sounds like I am down a hallway when talking. I have been told that the person on the other end could hear an echo of themselves better than the they can hear me. So far the tagline seems to be right "Only Music. Nothing Else".
The noise cancelling is amazing on these. They're going to be great for studying. They're very very comfortable as well. You don't feel like you're wearing anything at all. They charge really fast as well. The sound quality is amazing as well. I really suggest you take a look at these. The build quality is really excellent as well.
Just received these today...tested for a few hours on a range of music- from classical to jazz to hip hop, pop and classic rock. I am a bit of a headphone junkie and have had several pairs of Sennheisers (HD1, PXC550), Bose QC 25, QC 35, Parrot Zik 2 and 3, VModa Crossfade, Crossfade 2 wireless, Zn etc. Most of the positive reviews of these headphones are completely on point. Phenomenal noise cancellation. Great sound detail (I could hear people taking their foot off the piano pedals during Jazz songs such as Frank Morgan's Lullaby or the snare drum rattling from Barry Oakley's bass in Allman Brothers live at Fillmore east or Adele taking breaths between long notes) - HOWEVER, these headphones are so bass rich that it overwhelms the rest of the sound frequencies. If you're a bass-head, these are definitely for you. But, if you like a neutral soundstage, you will probably find this annoying. The good news is that on the app at least, there is a "clearbass" setting on the EQ that can be dialed down. However, they still overemphasize bass and I haven't figured out how to dial it down when connected to my laptop. Two other annoying things - while largely comfortable, I found the headband dug into the top of my head a bit and my ears got hot after an hour of listening. Second annoying thing - these things are HUGE when on (and I believe I have a normal size head). They look kind of dorky. If you want to look cool in your headphones, these are also probably not for you. However, if you're my age and care less about coolness than sound quality and noise cancellation, it matters much less (but still matters a bit). Anyway, just thought I'd share these thoughts with you. Thus the 4 star rating instead of 5. I'm out...
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