Sony WF-1000XM6 review: Are these pricey new earbuds worth the money?

The bar sits pretty high for premium earbuds. Apple AirPods Pro 3 , Bose QuietComfort Ultra 2nd-gen and Sony WF-1000XM5 all give your ears a veritable spa treatment, with lush sounds, featherweight fit and robust noise-canceling. So what does the new WF-1000XM6 bring to the table — besides a price increase?

A better design, for one thing: These 'buds are much easier to grip and insert than their predecessor, and they're also better at noise-cancelling. I found the warmer, fuller sound more to my liking, even compared with the great Apple and Bose. And Sony made much-needed improvements to its app, which is no longer atrocious but instead almost decent.

The question is, does all that justify a $329 price tag, especially considering that the competition costs less? Does it earn the product a spot in our roundup of the best wireless earbuds ? Here's my Sony WF-1000XM6 review.

Setup takes minutes — but here's what you should know first

Your setup experience with the XM6 may vary depending on whether you're using them with an Android phone or an iPhone. Either way, you're kind of on your own: Sony supplies no setup instructions beyond a QR code to scan. Doing that leads you to the Sony Sound Connect app, which you'll need to install. (An ongoing irritant: The app appears on your phone simply as "Sound Connect," so if you go looking for "Sony" — the thing you're more likely to remember — you won't find it.)

If your Android phone supports Fast Pair, all you have to do is pop open the XM6 case and bring it close. On my Pixel 9 Pro, the earbuds were immediately detected and paired — easy-peasy. (AirPods work similarly with iPhones.)

On my iPhone 17, however, I ran into the same problem that has plagued just about every Sony audio product I've tested: The earbuds simply didn't show up in the app. I had to manually put them into pairing mode.

With that step done, you do get a brief tutorial on wearing, tip selection, touch controls and so on, which I appreciated. But if you want a more complete instruction guide, you'll have to venture into the app's Help section and then look for the web-based manual.

XM6 design and comfort

Sony offers the XM6 in two colors: black and platinum silver. I tested the latter, and to be honest it's more like a drab matte-gray; I'd definitely choose black next time.

This boils down to personal taste, but I prefer stem-style earbuds like the AirPods and QuietComfort Ultra. Sony's WF lineup employs a "bullet" or "pill" style, which I find a little awkward to grip and therefore a little more challenging to properly wrangle into my ears.

The XM6s are a little larger and more oval-shaped than the XM5s, which were more circular (and also slipperier, so that's an improvement here). Sony continues to supply four sizes of memory-foam ear tips; I'm lucky in that the pre-installed mediums fit my ears just about perfectly, and I found them comfortable to wear for long stretches.

But no guarantees: Everyone has different ears, and there's no way to know if you'll like the XM6 fit or comfort until you try them.

As for usability, the earbuds' touch controls are like most others: They work, but it can be difficult to find the proper "tap spot." And although you can customize the controls, the process is a bit confusing. I do like the long-press function called "quick attention," which lowers the volume and enables the microphones so you can chat without having to remove the earbuds or pause playback.

Sony's app: Helpful upgrade or still overcomplicated?

I'm on record decrying Sony's companion app — the aforementioned Sound Connect — as woefully overcomplicated and borderline user-hostile.

Good news: It's much, much better. The My Device page provides quick toggles for frequently used settings — noise-canceling, listening mode, equalizer and so on — and a subsequent Device Settings page corrals everything into clearly labeled sections with pop-down menus.

That said, there's still some room for improvement. Certain settings have confusing wording, like "Enable the headphones' microphone operation" (which actually deals with disabling the microphone during calls, such as Zoom meetings) and "Sound AR." Meanwhile, the head-scratching equalizer presets have labels like Heavy, Clear, Hard and Soft — flying in the face of perfectly understandable norms like Rock and Classical.

To Sony's credit, nearly all settings have accompanying explanations. So while there's a lot to parse, you should be able to figure out most of it. Just note that firmware updates take a ridiculously long time: Up to 70 minutes on iPhone, up to 40 on Android.

How do the WF-1000XM6 earbuds sound?

This is arguably what matters most, and this will come as no surprise: They sound spectacular. That was also the case with the XM5 and just about every other wearable Sony audio product I've tested. These are premium earbuds, ideal for anyone who wants to hear every nuance of every note. I don't have the most finely tuned ear, but I thought Cat Stevens' "Peace Train" (as just one example) exhibited a bit more warmth and fullness on the XM6 than on AirPods Pro 3. And maybe a little more balance than on Bose QC Ultra?

While I'm loathe to ever say "this headphone has the best sound," because I think at this level they're all varying degrees of great, after several hours of testing I found I preferred the XM6. Call it recency bias or maybe a blurring of aural lines, but for whatever reason I liked the way music sounded here just a bit better.

And for anyone who likes to fine-tune their tunes, the aforementioned equalizer does include three slots you can save with custom settings. That's one option not available to AirPods users. For my part, I liked the sound best with the equalizer turned off.

How's the noise-cancelling?

ANC (active noise-cancelling) is perhaps the second most-important feature in premium earbuds, and I was surprised by the XM6's performance. It's better than the XM5, no question, but unfortunately not best-in-class.

Although I didn't have the chance to test them on an airplane, I did plunk myself down next to a loud HVAC unit (the kind used in many hotels) and turn the fan on full-blast. Without any music playing, I wore the XM6s — and then compared them with the Apple and Bose. The clear winner was Bose, followed by AirPods Pro 3 and then XM6. Where the QC Ultras all but eliminated the fan noise, the XM6 let some seep through.

Then I tested all three in a noisy cafe, and the results were largely the same: The Bose once again reduced nearly all the clatter, while the Sony cut down only some of it. (It definitely improved on the XM5, though, which seemed borderline weak in comparison.)

To be fair, when I repeated these same tests with music playing and the volume set to around 25%, both the fan and cafe noise were barely noticeable. I suspect that's how most people use ANC, but if you sometimes prefer straight-up quiet, Sony's earbuds may prove disappointing.

For the record, I did complete the app's "wearing test" to make sure the medium ear tips were giving me "appropriate air-tightness" and that I was wearing the earbuds correctly. Yes on both counts.

Has anything improved with spatial audio?

I'm a big fan of the effect that makes it seem like music or movie audio is coming from a fixed point in front of you. Even better is when it supports head-tracking, which keeps that point fixed even when you turn your head.

Apple and Bose excel at this, but previous Sony earbuds (and headphones) have offered fairly limited spatial audio: Only in a few obscure apps, and no head-tracking. The XM6 leverages something called Spatial Sound Optimization (which was previously known as 360 Reality Audio), and that includes head-tracking. However, it works only with Android, and in my testing it didn't seem to work at all. I've reached out to Sony for clarification on this feature and why it isn't currently active.

I did discover a listening mode called Background Music, which "adjusts the sound ... to simulate a distance ambiance, resembling the background music of a cafe." And there are three options here that adjust the "spread" of sound: my room, living room and cafe. I liked this effect; it made the music less "up front," and therefore better-suited to listening while working.

But if you want true spatial audio that works in most apps and on both platforms, look to Apple and Bose earbuds.

Anything else you should know?

Sony promises up to 24 total hours of playtime — eight per charge, and up to two full charges from the case — which is above-average but unchanged from the XM5.

I thought voice calls sounded fine in most situations, but did notice that my voice seemed ever-so-slightly metallic in my ears when I was speaking.

I've barely scratched the surface of the features and fine-tuning available for these earbuds, including automated "scene" settings that kick in at certain locations (the gym, your commute home, etc.) or during certain activities (like running). Similarly, the XM6 can automatically change sound modes based on actions or places. Anyone who likes customization will find plenty of it here.

Finally, the XM6 works with Google's Find Hub, the location-tracking network that's more often associated with Bluetooth trackers . It's a handy feature, great if you've left the earbuds behind somewhere but don't know where, but for some reason the XM6 never showed up in the Find Hub app — and I couldn't find any related settings in the Sony app. (It's possible this was because I'd paired it with an iPhone first; at this writing I'm still troubleshooting it.)

Sony WF-1000XM6 vs WF-1000XM5: Worth the upgrade?

Let's address the elephant in the ear: The XM6 lists for $329 (but is currently on sale for $298 ). The XM5 is marked down to $248 right now ; it's not uncommon to see it for even less. I do think the XM6 provides noticeable improvements in design, sound quality and ANC, so if you're trying to decide between the two, it's probably worth the extra cash to get the latest and greatest.

Now, if you're trying to decide between the Sony XM6 and, say, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra 2nd-gen, I have to give it to the latter. For $30 less you get superior noise-cancelling and compromise-free spatial audio. While it's true my ear did appreciate the Sony's slightly warmer tones, I rarely listen that critically.

Viewed in a vacuum, the WF-1000XM6 is an excellent audio product, one that's sure to please audiophiles. But I don't think it's the best set of earbuds you can buy.