Sony WH-1000XM3 review: Good sound, great noise cancelling

It seems every time Bose launches a pair of noise cancelling headphones, Sony is lurking around the corner with a pair of its own. A few days ago, the company launched the WH-1000XM3 as the successor to last year’s XM2s. The new ANC headphones from Sony is a through-and-through challenger to Bose’s QC 35 II, which have achieved widespread acclaim for offering terrific sound quality along with supreme noise cancelling. The XM3s will look to sway consumers with its updated design, improved noise cancelling and comfort.

The XM3 is priced at Rs 29,990, which what the XM2 were launched at late last year and around the same price as the QC 35 II. While the price remains similar, the XM3s brings some notable updates to its design by adding a USB Type-C port and better quick charge feature, improved noise cancelling thanks to a new QN1 chipset, and better overall sound quality over its predecessor. But are the XM3s a worthy successor to the XM2 and a better fit for you over the QC 35 II? Read our review to find out.

Design and comfort

A quick look at the new 1000XM3s and you would think they don’t look all that different from the XM2s, but that’s not quite true. Sony has made a lot of subtle changes to the design that makes the new headphone a little less premium and a little more comfortable. Sony has opted for a cleaner, minimalistic finish on the XM3s, moving away from the textured plastic and opting for a smooth, matt-like feel instead. It’s smooth to the touch and the added accents on the Sony logo and microphones adds a touch of class to the overall look. The copper accents look good on the black colour unit I received for the review, and I’m pretty sure it will look good on white as well.

There’s a lot more plastic being used here as the headband is no longer metal. This does make the XM3s look a little less premium, but Sony makes up for it by adding a generous amount of cushioning all around. The padding is softer and thicker around the earpads and the underside of the headband that rests on top of your head. This makes the XM3s absolutely a delight to wear and you won’t feel any discomfort even after prolonged usage. What makes it even more comfortable is the fact that the headphones are about 20 grams lighter over the XM2s thanks to the use of plastic.

You will also feel a lot less awkward sporting the XM3s as the headband is more contoured to your head as compared to the wider headband on the XM2s which showed a lot of gap in between. The only downside to this is that it makes the new model difficult to keep around your neck when you’re not using them.

On the left earcup, you have the power button and NC/ Ambient button. Long pressing the power button will switch on or switch off the headphones. A longer press will enable Bluetooth pairing. The right earcup is touch-sensitive and will allow you to increase/ decrease volume by vertically swiping across the earcup, skip tracks by horizontally swiping on the shell and play/ pause a song by tapping. You can also enable Quick Attention mode by cupping your hand on the right earcup. This will reduce the volume instantly so that you can listen to your surrounding. Once you let go, the volume will return to its original level. It’s a neat feature to have, but I was never comfortable talking to someone by keeping one hand on the cup.

Sound quality

The 1000XM3 are perhaps one of the best-sounding wireless headphones out there right now, and there are no two ways about it. It manages to take it up a notch over its predecessor, which is mighty impressive considering the XM2s were pretty fantastic already. The new headphones deliver rich and crystal sound quality that finds a delicate balance between lows, mids and highs. In a multi-instrument song like Guiding Light by Mumford and Sons, you’ll be able to hear the banjo, the acoustic guitar, the piano and the drums in the back clearly with a lot of space in between, making you feel like you’re watching the band play live. You can feel the anthemic build at the song’s crescendo that brings together the instruments and Marcus Mumford’s passionate vocals. The soundstage is supremely wide and spacious.

I moved on to New Light by John Mayer which involves a great electric guitar solo accompanied by a sweet bassline and Mayer’s mellow vocals. The 1000XM3s shines by delivering a balanced sound and a subtle mid bass thump. To get a better idea of how big the bass can get, I checked out Dark Necessities by Red Hot Chili Pepper and Madness by Muse. Flea’s bassline in the former sounds delicious as it gets that deep punch that sounds even better with ANC. The bassline in Madness puts you in a mood and Bellamy’s electric solo towards the end has tons of detail.

Treble-rich songs like Wisemen by James Blunt and Sit Next to Me by Foster the People sound crisp and detailed with a good amount of focus on vocals. There’s an acoustic solo in Wisemen where you can hear the strings being plucked with great clarity and that’s just delightful to hear. But in these songs, the vocals exhibited some sibilance and that’s largely because of Blunt’s and Foster’s high frequency range.

The balance in sound and a punchy bass delivered by the 1000XM3 makes it a more alive and fulfilling compared to Bose’s QC 35 II. That being said, Bose’s headphones are no slouch when it comes to sound quality and perhaps offer a marginally better noise cancelling than the 1000XM3, although a side-by-side comparison would be needed for a final judgement on that. It all boils down to preference and right now I’m really digging Sony’s new cans. The fact that wireless sound has gotten so good here is evident when you connect the headphones to a 3.5mm port and notice just a marginal difference between the quality.

Noise cancelling

The XM3s come with some of the best noise cancelling features I have ever tested. They’re noticeably better at blocking out external sounds compared to their predecessor, and that’s largely thanks to a new QN1 HD noise cancelling processor that offers four times better signal processing over the older chip. ANC can now be set to always on, so the headphones will continue to block external noise even when you’re not listening to anything. I appreciated this a lot while on a 5-hour flight from New Delhi to Kuala Lumpur. It’s quite brilliant in flights as the Atmospheric Pressure Optimiser feature improves the noise cancelling performance at high altitude, making sure a significant amount of noise is blocked out. The added padding and comfort also meant I didn’t have to take them off during the entire flight.

You also have the option to adjust the amount of noise cancelling by downloading the Headphones Connect app on iOS or Android. The app further offers aan Adaptive Sound Control option that will detect whether you’re in a still position or moving to better adjust noise cancelling. You can also play with the equaliser in case you feel the treble a bit too much in some songs, which is probably the only time you’ll want to tweak the settings. Sony has also added more microphones that not only help better detect atmospheric pressure but also improves call quality so the the person on the other end of the line is able to hear you better.

Battery

The 1000XM3s promise to deliver up to 30 hours of battery life on a single charge, which is about the same as the XM2s. And for the most part the new headphones deliver on its primise as I got around 26 to 28 hours on above average volume levels. That’s a satisfying amount of battery life as it took me though a week with ease on an average for 4-5 hours of listening everyday. I primarily used them while commuting to work and back.

What pleased me even more than the battery life, however, was Sony’s decision to finally bring a USB Type-C port and ditch the old micro-USB port. Type-C is now a more universal port and I have a few cables lying around the house apart from the cable that comes with the box. But what’s more notable is the fact that you can get up to 5 hours of playback on just 5 minutes of charge. So a quick charge in the morning just before leaving for work and the 1000XM3s lasted me through the day with ease.

Should you buy the Sony WH-1000XM3

The 1000XM3s are a solid upgrade over what are already amazon headphones. It brings a trifecta of sound, comfort and superior noise cancelling, all neatly packaged in a lightweght design. Unless you’re being really nitpicky about the treble, the 1000XM3s are perfect for pretty much every kind of music that you may listen to. The sound quality is pristine with balance all around, a wide soundstage and deep bass. Add to that you get a clean-looking pair of headphones that are supremely comfortable.

Sony has done well to ensure that the minor changes to the design and improvements to the sound quality are not overdone, allowing the 1000XM3 to stand higher than its predecessor. It’s also great to see that Sony has launched the 1000XM3 at the same price as its predecessor i.e Rs 29,990. At this price point, the most obvious choice in front of you is either the 1000XM3 or the Bose QC 35 II. Both are exceptional noise cancelling headphones, but I’m starting to lean more towards the 1000XM3, at least for now.

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