Sony’s new flagship noise-cancelling wireless headphones are a combination of upgrades I’d been hoping for and a few changes I didn’t even know I wanted. The result is a set of cans that feel instantly familiar yet entirely new. That’s no small feat when the product you’re following has been topping best headphones lists for years. At $450, they’re also the most expensive of the 1000X series so far.

My evaluation loaner showed up later than expected, so I’m not ready to give the WH-1000XM6 the full review treatment. However, with two days of use, I can give you my first impressions, which are very favorable. Sony has clearly done it again.

Sony says it has improved the sound, the ANC, and the headphones’ call quality and I can vouch for those claims. These improvements are mostly subtle, but that’s to be expected. I recently updated our WH-1000XM5 review and found that even in 2025 — three years after they were released — they were still the best overall headphones you can buy. There’s only so much you can do to improve world-class capabilities while keeping the price under a certain threshold.

By the way, don’t let anyone tell you that you need big drivers for big bass. Sony’s relatively small, 30mm carbon fiber transducers produce prodigious amounts of low end.

For me, the biggest, most welcome changes in the WH-1000XM6 are in the little details. This is Sony’s most sophisticated and thoughtful headphone design to date.

Sleeker and more sophisticated

When Sony shifted from the WH-1000XM4 to the WH-1000XM5, it created an entirely new design. In doing so, some tradeoffs were made. The XM5 were sleeker, but they could only fold flat for storage. The headband connected to the earcups with slender, elegant rotating hinges, but many owners found they weren’t rugged enough and Sony ended up replacing a lot of broken units. They were exceptionally light, but they also felt a bit plasticky … not exactly what you expect from a set of $400 headphones.

The WH-1000XM6 address all of these shortcomings. They now fold up as well as flat, the hinges are reinforced with metal parts for greater durability, and Sony has found a plastic formulation that manages to be both light and luxurious, with a smooth, matte, stone-like finish that resists fingerprints much better than before.

Where the XM5 earcups had visible seams, the XM6 shells are a single continuous surface. The XM5 mic cutout openings always looked like afterthoughts. The XM6 uses tiny, flush-mounted metal grilles that match the narrow visible bands of metal at the hinge.

The overall effect, especially with Sony’s “silver” color, is pure elegance and simplicity. I’ve also got to give Sony props for the new travel case. It’s smaller than the one for the XM5, but the true stroke of genius is the magnetic closure — no more zippers!

Added comfort

In terms of comfort, the XM6 are also a step up. They weigh fractionally more than the XM5 (8.96 ounces versus 8.78 ounces), yet once they were on my head, they felt a little lighter. Sony has increased the clamping force and added springs to the earcup pivots (similar to the Apple AirPods Max), giving the XM6 a more secure fit. Thanks to deeper padding on the earcushions and headband, this doesn’t translate into a greater sense of pressure — even while wearing glasses.

You may laugh, but one of my favorite changes is how the earcups rotate when you aren’t wearing them. The XM5 could only rotate outward, leaving the hard exterior of the earcups resting on your collar bones when worn around the neck. The XM6 go the other way, letting you place them cushion side down. Speaking of the cushions, they’re way easier to remove and replace. Not as easy as the magnetic units on the AirPods Max, but at least you don’t need a mini crowbar.

I’m also happy that Sony now lets you charge the XM6 while using them wirelessly. You can’t do that with the XM5 (wired, analog operation is possible). However, Sony still includes a comically short charging cable, so if you want to take advantage of this new option, you’ll need to buy a longer one.

Lossless and spatial audio

Speaking of the cable, I’m stunned that the XM6 lack a lossless connection via USB-C. Virtually every set of current flagship headphones, from Bose to Apple to Beats to Bowers & Wilkins, has this option. It’s the one flaw in an otherwise stellar product.

Granted, most people will need very quiet conditions to hear the difference that lossless audio makes. But even when you’re not listening critically, a wired USB audio connection is handy: All current smartphones have USB-C ports, but precious few retain headphone jacks.

Sony still seems to struggle with spatial audio as an experience and can’t quite decide how it wants to enable it. On the XM5, it added the feature, along with head tracking, via a firmware update. But the only way to make it work is via a subscription music service like Nugs.net that supports Sony’s proprietary 360 Reality Audio format, and head tracking relies on Android software.

For the XM6, spatial audio is now available with any stereo source, on both iOS and Android. It’s bizarrely labeled — you need to change the listening mode from Standard to Cinema in the Sound Connect app. 

Unfortunately, head tracking is still confined to Android. This is odd when you consider what “Cinema” means in a spatial audio context. The idea is to recreate a surround sound home theater experience, such that when you turn your head, it feels like you’re looking away from the center channel source of sound. Without head tracking, it’s not very cinematic at all.

Still, even on an iPhone, it works well for music, and I’m happy to report it can provide a very immersive listening option, if you like that kind of thing. I need to do more testing, but I think I still prefer Bose’s Immersive Audio implementation (plus Bose has head tracking as an option).

XM5 or XM6?

I’ll delve into the details in my full review, but here’s a sneak peek: The WH-1000XM6 are amazing. They’re probably the new champs as far as wireless headphones go. But if you’re a happy WH-1000XM5 owner, I wouldn’t feel any pressure to upgrade. And if you’re looking to buy, it’s hard to ignore that Sony’s current discount on the XM5 brings them in at $100 less than the XM6.