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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.
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Customer Questions & Answers
From the manufacturer
WH1000XM3
ONLY MUSIC. NOTHING ELSE.
Industry-leading noise canceling headphones with mic and Alexa voice control.
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Industry-leading Digital Noise Cancellation
Hear every word, note, and tune with incredible clarity, no matter your environment.
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Proprietary HD Noise Canceling Processor QN1
Dramatically improves the sound quality of whatever you choose to listen to.
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Wear all day in total comfort
Soft pressure-relieving earpads with larger and deeper ergonomic ear space. Lighter weight design.
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Swivel & folding structure for easy carrying
Swivel and fold neatly into the carry case along with the cable for easy storage and portability.
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Clear hands-free calling
Phone conversations are even more clear than before with a microphone dedicated to voice input.
1 Noise Cancellation 2 Premium Sound Quality 3 All-day Comfort 4 Easy to carry 5 Hands-free Calling
Extra-long battery life with quick charging
Up to 30 hours of battery life on a single charge keeps you listening instead of charging. Low on battery? No problem – 10 minutes of charge time gives you an amazing 5 hours of playback.
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Amazon Alexa-Built in
Alexa-enabled for hands-free voice access to music, information, and more.
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Smart Listening by SENSE ENGINE
Automatically detects your activity and balances the noise canceling levels.
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“Sony | Headphones Connect” App for Android /iOS
Control your ambient sound settings and adjust the sound levels with the Equalizer.
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Noise cancellation personalized
Analyzes the sonic characteristics caused by head size, glasses, hair, & optimizes the sound to you.
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Wireless freedom with Bluetooth and NFC
Hassle-free wireless connections to stream high-quality music and phone calls.
1 Alexa built in 2 Smart Listening 3 Connect with App 4 Personal Optimizing 5 Bluetooth and NFC
Sony Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones
 WH-1000XM3 |  WH-1000XM4 |  WH-XB910N |  WH-CH710N | |
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Type
| Over-ear | Over-ear | Over-ear | Over-ear |
|
Noise Cancelling
| Premium Noise Canceling | Industry-leading NC | Digital Noise Cancellation | Digital Noise Cancellation |
|
Battery Life
| 30 Hrs | 30 Hrs | 30 Hrs | 35 Hrs |
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Quick Charge Battery
| 10 Min charge 5 Hrs playback | 10 Min charge 5 Hrs playback | 10 Min charge 4.5 Hr playback | 10 Min charge 60 Min playback |
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DSEE Extreme with Edge-AI
| ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ |
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Hands-free calling
| Yes | Yes, with 5 microphones | Yes | Yes |
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Touch control
| ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ |
|
Ambient Sound Mode
| ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
|
Customize Sound with app
| ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ |
|
Multi Device Connection
| ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ |
|
Wearing Detection
| ✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ |
|
Foldable design
| ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ |
Customer reviews
Best noise cancelling headphones I've every tried
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2018
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.
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2018
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Top reviews from other countries
Ashley
Love them.
Reviewed in Canada on September 5, 2018Color: BlackVerified Purchase
Ashley
Reviewed in Canada on September 5, 2018
Edit 09/07/2018:
After having used the M3's in different environments near construction sites, public transit, malls and in the busy city, I can confidently say that the noise canceling is A LOT better on the M3's maybe even 4X better as Sony states.
Edit 02/27/2019:
After a few months of using the 1000XM3 its hard to recommend these. They sound fantastic. But if you're living in a place where its 0°C/32°F or below for almost half the year you may want to skip these, or wait until Sony finds a way to fix the phantom touch issues where your touch pad triggers play/pause, assistant, noise canceling, volume and quick attention at random, making these headphones very annoying to use.
Sony's fix:
Turn your headphones OFF and ON again — this simple act of rebooting resets certain parameters within the device and will solve any unpredictable product behavior.
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Jeremy
Fantastic Headphones, Garbage Microphone
Reviewed in Canada on September 14, 2018Color: BlackVerified Purchase
Quebec007
Francais # english review
Reviewed in Canada on September 14, 2018Color: BlackVerified Purchase
Dennis Liu
Really great headphone with amazing sound and big improvement compared to last gen.
Reviewed in Canada on September 11, 2018Color: SilverVerified Purchase
Dennis Liu
Reviewed in Canada on September 11, 2018
Great sound - Instrument separation is top class, the bass is strong, high pitch is quite nice.
Fairly comfortable - All I can say is that this model is much better than XM2, it might not be the most comfortable as far as I can tell.
Amazing charge + playback time - Longest playback time in the industry + fastest charging speed! Just google it then you will see.
Ez to use playback control - One of the easiest to use playback control with the help of the help of a side touch panel.
Much improved call quality - Much better sound quality when compared to the last gen. Some people might hate the fact that the ANC does not work during the call and you can hear your own sound really really clearly during the call. However, this was done so that you won't talk EXTRA loud in the public because you cannot hear yourself that well; you can also feel fairly safe when you are talking and walking because you will become quite aware of your surrounding.
BEST! NOISE CANCELLING! - After comparing to QC35 II and other products, this XM3 cancels out the most amount of noise in all situation. Try it out for yourself to tell the difference.
Wonderful build quality - This time sony really tried really hard to build something that feels like a premium headphone. Everything about it feels high-end!
USB Type C - Finally supporting USB type c. Faster charge and I do not need to use an additional out-dated cable to charge it.
Cons:
Bad Bluetooth connection - Cannot connect to more than 1 device at a time and it is SOOO slow to connect to it when you are switching from one device to another when you are comparing to QC35 II.
High pitch sounds/treble is often too sharp - Listing to female vocal at higher volume often sound like needles poking at your ear. You must learn how to use EQ to lower the frequency at around 5khz - 8khz range so the sound can be more balanced. This is less of a problem on something like QC35 II. Although listing to music at around 60% - 70% on your phone will sound perfectly fine.
Compare to QC35 II:
Better sound from a pure instrument playback perspective. Everything sounds a bit clearer than QC35 II. However, it seems like QC35 II has a better soundstage; everything feels a bit more lifelike. I would pick QC35 II for listening to anything that is similar to live performance while the XM3 is great for something like EDM/Hip-pop/Rap.
QC35 II is more comfortable still. The way that QC35 II is built gives a bit more space for the back of your ear. For anyone that has big ears, you will 100% fine QC35 to be more comfortable! If your ear is somewhat smaller, then your ear will never even touch the inner earcup.
QC35 also has much much quicker Bluetooth connection than XM3. XM3 takes like 5-6 seconds at least to connect to the phone.
XM3's mic is less sensitive than QC35 II. Voice is a bit far away from away when I asked my friends to give me feedback on the quality of phone call. QC35 II sounds really really clear but it picks up a bit more noise from the surrounding especially sounds in the mid frequency.
XM3's build quality feels a lot more solid whereas the QC35 feels like something that you won't mind throwing around since it feels like something that is cheaper. However, the material used for QC35 does allow it to be EXTREMELY Flexible! Hence, the really high degree of wearing comfort.
Final thoughts:
Buy XM3 if you listen to EDM a lot. Buy it if you have smaller size ear. Buy it if you have want long playback hr and fast charge speed. Buy it if you want THE BEST noise cancellation!
Update:
After 3 month of usage, I found out that the sharp high pitch issue (sound crack when playing extremely high pitch sound) only happens when ANC is on. The high frequency playback for this headphone is in fact quite amazing now that I found out how the problem can be resolved.
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Imtiaz Mirza
You will find peaceful existence tailor made for you in a noisy city
Reviewed in Canada on September 17, 2018Color: BlackVerified Purchase
