Sony WH-1000XM3 Review - Review 2022

In recent years, Sony has been one of the few serious contenders to dethrone Bose as the superlative manufacturer of noise-cancelling Bluetooth headphones. In terms of audio performance, its new $349.99 WH-1000XM3 headphones come out on top, with drivers that deliver excellent bass depth and high-frequency clarity, with in-app EQ to dial in your preferences if the sound signature is a bit too bass-heavy or brilliant for your gustation. The ANC (active dissonance cancellation) is also fantastic, though Bose still has a slight edge there. Ultimately, the Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones are for those who place audio functioning on a college pedestal than dissonance cancellation—but still want excellent examples of both—and earn our Editors' Pick alongside the QuietComfort 35 2.

Blueprint

Available in beige or black, the circumaural (over-ear) WH-1000XM3 headphones are, from a concrete perspective, all about comfort and less about style. The materials used and the matte finishes await make clean and project an air of understated luxury, only the existent focus here is on how the headphones feel—and they feel lightweight, amply padded in the headband and earcups with memory foam, and exceptionally comfortable over long listening periods. The earcups actually exercise an excellent task of blocking out ambient noise passively.

The left earcup'southward outer panel is an NFC pairing zone for compatible phones, and the right ear'southward outer panel houses an array of touch-sensitive controls. There are no visible demarcations for the controls, merely the layout is relatively intuitive—swipe forward or astern for track navigation, up or down for volume control, and tap the center for play/pause/call management, or hold your finger in place to summon voice assist.

Inside each earcup, Sony employs a ane.half-dozen-inch neodymium dynamic driver, delivering a frequency range of 4Hz-40kHz. We'll give Sony the benefit of the incertitude here, but that'due south quite an upgrade over the more typical frequency range of roughly 20Hz-20kHz.

The headphones tin can exist used in Bluetooth mode or wired, but unlike many wireless headphones that include a cable connexion, plugging the audio cable in doesn't disable power. This a good affair in the sense that you can use the racket cancellation circuitry even in wired mode, but less good if you don't realize you are using the ANC and draining the battery when you continued the cable to preserve battery life. Luckily, the headphones can be used in wired, passive mode—just make sure the ANC is off. 1 more annotation: The cable has no inline remote, so when plugging information technology in, all controls revert to your mobile device (unless the headphones are powered on).

Sony WH-1000XM3 inline The earcups swivel flat and fold down into a handsome, clothbound travel case. The zip-up case is hands i of the nicest we've seen, with a compartment for the included plane adapter, charging cable, and sound cablevision for wired listening. The instance is relatively narrow, and so it should exist easy to pack in about carry-ons, and it also has a congenital-in textile loop for hanging from hooks.

The mic offers splendid intelligibility. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 6s, we could understand every give-and-take cleanly and clearly, with almost no audio artifacts. The mic sounds slightly far abroad from the mouth, but what information technology lacks in proximity it makes upwardly for in clarity.

Office of the WH-1000XM3'due south appeal is the complimentary app, Sony Headphones Connect. You tin use it to conform EQ with a 5-band blaster that has presets and custom settings. You can too adjust the noise cancellation and switch the Ambient Sound Control mode on or off, or adjust it using the in-app fader, or even cull to focus on voices. There are some less useful features (similar sound position command, which shifts audio to the front correct or left, or whatever position you choose on a graph), and some we can't actually test without booking a flight (like the one that measures atmospheric force per unit area and adjusts accordingly). Regardless, you don't need the app to employ the headphones, only it does offer some solid extra features.

Sony estimates battery life to be roughly 30 hours with ANC on and 38 hours with ANC off. But with a product that has so many extra features and combinations of usage, you lot'd be wise to take that number with a grain of salt—your volume levels will have a significant touch of bombardment life, as usual, simply and then will the mix of wired-ANC versus wireless-ANC, for instance.

Functioning

The WH-1000XM3 headphones deliver high-quality noise cancellation. Every bit I type these words with them on, I can simply barely hear my ordinarily loud, obnoxious keyboard. Low-frequency rumble is likewise cut out tremendously, making the WH-1000XM3 ideal for airplanes and trains. Voices—even your own vox—are drastically reduced. Like near ANC circuitry, there's an ever-so-slight hiss present, but mentioning it most feels misleading—it's probably the least noticeable hiss we've encountered in contempo memory when testing ANC.

In the app, yous tin optimize your ANC for your electric current environment, and to a certain extent, information technology seems to work, but the default mode is effective plenty that this characteristic seems virtually unnecessary. As mentioned previously, the earpads play a big role in aiding the ANC to evangelize a convincing driblet in ambience room sound.

If there is an annoyance, it's that the ANC does affect the sound signature somewhat. The reason this isn't much of a complaint is because the audio sounds solid in both modes, and the EQ is available to tweak the lows, mids, and highs should y'all want to change them slightly. Overall, the WH-1000XM3'southward ANC is withal 2nd fiddle to the Bose QC35 II, just the margin is getting more and more narrow.

The EQ on the app means you lot can truly dial in a sound signature that suits your tastes. At that place is a wide range to experiment with, and while the headphones never sound insanely bass-heavy or completely flat, there's plenty of room for adjustment. We tested the WH-1000XM3 with the EQ off, but know that bass and treble and mids can all be tweaked to taste.

On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife'south "Silent Shout," the headphones deliver a powerful bass depth that sounds quite boosted. The loftier-mids and highs are besides well represented, so there's a solid balance despite the boosting. And of course, if yous wish to tone things down, it's as elementary every bit dialing the bass back in the app.

Bill Callahan's "Drover," a runway with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a improve sense of the WH-1000XM3'due south full general audio signature. The drums on this track get some added thunder through the WH-1000XM3—this is definitely a bass-frontwards headphone pair in default mode. Callahan's baritone vocals also receive some added low-mid richness, but again, the loftier-mids and highs are sculpted enough to provide clarity and contour for the vocals, audio-visual guitar strums, and higher register percussion.

On Jay-Z and Kanye W's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop receives enough high-mid presence to retain its punchy assail. Peradventure we'd prefer a flake more than high-mid presence hither, simply again, zilch the app can't fix, and it'southward a affair of taste. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat out are delivered with gusto—bass lovers volition appreciate just how much depth the drivers are able to pack—perhaps that frequency range stat of 4Hz isn't as much of an exaggeration as we might've guessed. Those who don't need the intense lows tin can punch them dorsum.

Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, audio a flake likewise bass-forward in default fashion. The lower register instrumentation gets pushed forwards in the mix a bit more than seems necessary. In the app's EQ, I dialed back the lows slightly, and that did the play a trick on, allowing the higher register contumely, strings, and vocals to shine. The headphones tin evangelize wildly differing results when you lot mess with the EQ, and while only minor tweaking is required to tone the bass downwardly slightly, you tin certainly dial in very specific audio signatures.

Conclusions

To reiterate, Bose still offers the best overall noise cancellation on the market. But Sony's WH-1000XM3 headphones are a very close 2d in the ANC operation department, and they offer a amend audio experience. For plenty of users, this will sway things in Sony's favor, which is why both pairs earn our Editors' Choice. Nosotros're also fans of the AKG N60 NC Wireless, and for less money, the in-ear Jabra Aristocracy 65e deliver solid ANC. For the absolute best, however, information technology's your pick between Bose and Sony.

Sony WH-1000XM3 Specs

Type	Circumaural (over-ear)
Wireless	Yes
Wire-Free	No
Phone Controls	Yes
Connection Type	Bluetooth
Water/Sweat-Resistant	No
Removable Cablevision	Yes
Active Noise Counterfoil	Yeah
Boom Mic	No