These are very expensive but if you want high end sound, noise canceling, and features, you're going to have to pay for it. It's difficult to express the range of perfect sound from these buds. Highs, mods, and lows alike sound like you're in the sound studio where it's being played. I listen to all kinds of crazy genres of music simply to hear the range on these buds. I love it! This far, battery life has been great. I've used them for 6 hours straight at the longest so far without problems. There are a ton of settings in the app to adjust sound and touch controls. The design shape is not the best for my ears but they fit well and are comfortable for extended wear. Mic quality is outstanding as well with people able to hear me without background noise. If you want great quality sound as I've come to expect from Sony wf and wh designs, here's your next set. Read more
Prior to purchase only 1 month after the XM6s hit the market, there were only a few reviews from buyers, so I relied on "expert" comparisons. Largely up againt Bose QCs and XM5s and Bowers and Wilkens. I made this purchase. One commented if you already have XM5s just sit tight on price. For me, I have only 5 year old Taotronic TTs. As of now on this site, there are many more extensive reviews worth reading. Overall these are an upgrade from the XM5s. They have better features than B & W for less $$. As for Bose, the deal breaker were complaints about the very cheap case lid, lack of decent EQ controls and poor battery life . Bose tends to cut corners on other products ie headphone bands,etc. So I didn't mind paying $60 more. Pros: music audio quality, ANC, BT, EQ, app, battery life, and case construction. Cons: earpiece fit and comfort. NOTE TO SONY- PLEASE PRODUCE SILICONE REPLACEMENTS !! The foam inserts even with size options are not very comfortable. Do they optimize ANC? No doubt they do. But this tradeoff to comfort can be fixed with well designed silicone replacements. Of course the pin attachment changed since XM4 & XM5s and this model is not compatible. What is the reason to abandon the earlier pin standard? Also, why does the app have to include a "how to" insert guidance feature if there was no concern about this foam deficiency? I have small on the right and medium on left. Some ear fatigue. Guess I have to adapt rather than the other way around at such expense. Anyway these are the best technical buds on the market between $250 and $500. Not a fair comparison with over-the-ear. But if you want overall high quality, for in ear, these are your best choice. Taking a trip to EU next month. To be continued... Read more
Sound Quality: Absolutely perfect. Sony has been making excellent audio products for years and this is just another example of the care they put into their sound. No complaints, except for the fact that they sound more or less identical to the XM5 from a few years ago. Not much has changed. ANC/Transparency: Scary good. These are "rob me" levels of ANC, the kind where you can't hear someone sneaking up on you. You can't hear a damn thing while it's on, as long as you get a good seal. The transparency mode is really good too, but it's just a tiny bit robotic. The part I love the most is that Sony finally added some extra pressure-relieving vents around these earbuds (the little dotted areas where the microphones sit). Why does that matter? It means you no longer get any rumbling or popping sounds in your ears when you move your jaw, such as when you're eating, yawning, talking, etc. This was a huge problem with the XM5, because they only had one pressure-relieving vent per earbud, whereas these have three per bud. They finally solved this problem with the XM6, and I couldn't be happier about it. Other Features: The "background music" listening mode is neat, it basically simulates a virtual surround environment to trick your brain into thinking the music is coming from all around you. The only downside is that you can't use any of your equalizer presets when it's on, which is a bit strange. I love speech detection too, and I think more earbud manufacturers need to start implementing this technology. So far, I think Sony and Google are the only ones that do. If you start talking, it automatically forces you into transparency mode and lowers the volume of your media so you can talk to people. Once you go 15 seconds without speaking or making noise (you can change the timing in the app, as well as the sensitivity), it goes back to normal. No more quickly reaching to tap an earbud or switch modes if you need to chat. Touch Controls: Meh. They're not as sensitive as some of the other earbuds I've used over the years, but at least Sony is allowing for more customization compared to the XM5. Still wish you could swipe to increase or decrease your volume, like you get with Bose and Google earbuds. Fit/Comfort: This is where my personal problems start to arise. Sony is still using the same eartips made of the same stiff, uncomfortable foam after all these years. I was hoping they'd move to something softer, or maybe give customers silicone tips that actually don't slip out, but no. People with certain ear shapes will not find these comfortable at all, either due to the eartips or due to the body of the earbuds pressing against parts of your ear (depending on how you orient them for stability). Others might be able to wear them comfortably for hours and hours without a single issue. It all depends on your ears. I bought some Azla foam eartips and they're more comfortable for me personally, but I'm still experimenting. If, after a while, they haven't solved the problem, I'll just have to return these earbuds. I'm really not a fan of this big, bulky "pill" shape either. Sony could stand to add some removable wing tips for these earbuds in order to help with the stability. Hopefully some aftermarket manufacturer will make some in the near future; there's plenty of room inside the charging case so that they won't interfere with it. **Please bear in mind that anything you read online related to the fit or the comfort of these earbuds (or ANY earbuds, for that matter) will depend entirely on the shape of your ears, the size of your ears, your skin type, how easily you sweat, your environment, etc. There are over eight billion people on this planet, which means there are over sixteen billion ears. No two are alike. Some people think these earbuds fit perfectly. Others will struggle. We're all different in this regard. Try them out for yourself and make your own judgments.** Battery: Fairly impressive, but it could be better. 8 hours of listening with ANC/transparency mode is good, but in 2026, it's a little lacking. But at least they give you the option to turn off those modes, which boosts the battery life to 12 hours. I feel like the case needs to be recharged more frequently than some of my other earbuds. I also noticed that it's a LOT harder to get these earbuds to line up with the charging pins in the case compared to their older earbuds. You really need to twist and fiddle with them to get them to charge, even if the pins and the contacts are totally clean. If you don't, they'll just stay connected to your phone and drain the battery. Be careful! App: Good god, I wish they would fix their app. There's been a recurring problem for years where, when you open it, it displays the UI that suggests your earbuds are connected and it gives you all of the options to fiddle with. Then, after about 5-10 seconds, it switches back to the "connect" screen and it reveals that it didn't register any of your inputs, if you made any. You then have to tap connect twice (in two separate pop-ups!) to reopen the app and get your settings back. THEN you can make your changes. This problem isn't exclusive to the XM6, all of Sony's earbuds have been doing this since at least 2024. It's not very intuitive to navigate either (some things are named weirdly or hidden behind unexpected menus), but I chalk part of this up to the fact that Sony is a Japanese company and English is not their strong suit. Overall Quality: Sony made a lot of smart decisions with these earbuds, but they also made a few stupid ones. I love the quality of the sound. I love the ANC and transparency modes. I love the extra features. But I hate the fact that I need to rely on third-party products to make them fit comfortably in my ears. The battery is fine, but feels slightly lacking. My advice is to buy these earbuds, but ONLY when they're on sale. $329 is pretty steep. These earbuds aren't a straight upgrade, it's more like a minor update that introduces a couple of new problems that need to be solved in the next generation... which we probably won't see until 2030 at this rate. 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