Customer Ratings & Reviews

Out of the world experience.Added this to my Sony collection. XM3 is a great improvement from the XM2. I’ve had the XM2 for more than 4 years now and still sounds brand new. XM2 is great at handling bass and eases anything heavy without any distortion. But the XM3 has surpassed that with ease. The clarity has improved with clear vocals too. Just mind blowing to see how better these can get every time and Sony has worked very hard this time too with ease of use, better build too with staying over the ears better and with weight. The sony headphones app is a major advantage to improve the quality of sound. Takes down the Bose and the Beats in side by side comparison. Proud to own another Sony product.

Great Noise Cancellation. Great Sound. Great Battery life. Great look! Never regretted this purchase. I was going for Bose QC35 until I sampled these in the store and changed my decision completely.

I'm not going to waste any time comparing the Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones to any other Noise Canceling (NC) headphone because it would be like a football linebacker getting into a fight with a middle schooler. I have the XM2 version of this headphone and now am the proud owner of the XM3 model. You can read my review of the XM2 from 10 months ago, it is usually towards the top of the review lists. Like I said there and I'll say again here... Sony makes the best NC headphones. Period. Full Stop. I have used my XM2s in the office, at home, on trains, airplanes, on a cruise ship, and they have never let me down. I love them as much now, if not more, than I did when I wrote that previous review. The have held on to their awesome battery life, sound, and are still in perfect shape (I do baby them though). So how do you improve perfection? Well, this is the first time I have ever owned two generations of the same headphone, so I was able to A-B test them using my 92 track, 4 hour & 10 minute headphone testing playlist (no joke), and I have used them both extensively over the last week. I just wish I had them prior to my trip two weeks ago so I could have tested them in flight, my XM2s went though and did a beautiful job on the 11 hour flight to London I was on. So what did I learn over the last week about improving perfection? I learned that it is all about the little things. To be fair though, I personally don't feel that all of the tweaks that were made were for the better but that is just my thought on it. I'm going to start with this, if you are looking for the best NC headphone on the market, it is a no-brainer. Get the XM3s or the XM2s. Either way, you are going to be extremely happy with them. I'm going to list out the changes I've noticed and tell you what I think about that change. Here we go.... - The XM3 is much more comfortable than the XM2s and I thought the XM2s were great but the positioning of the ear cups, the extra curvature to the headband, and the extra cushioning make the XM3s incredibly easy to wear for long periods of time. - The XM3s are lighter due to the removal of some of the metal elements from the XM2s. That helps with their comfort, and they don't seem any less solid so I don't have a problem with this. - Really like the new case. I like that it is almost a denim fabric kind of feel and they listened to me and made a dedicated spot inside of the case for all the cords. The only thing I don't like about the new case is that it got rid of the snap closure for the loop so you can't secure it to anything, and they changed the outside pouch to a mesh instead of the XM2s neoprene. I really wish they would just get rid of the outer pouch especially now that there is room inside for the cables. - Went to USB-C for charging cable. I have a ton of micro-USB cords so it was never hard for me to find one, but this is the wave of the future so I guess that's nice. It is a really short cable though, like really short. 6 inches at best. - The wired connection cable is not as nice as the old one. Granted these are supposed to be used wirelessly most of the time but when you are on an airplane, you are going to need it. The XM2 cable was much thicker, had better plugs, and WAY better strain relief. I guess Sony had to cut costs somewhere to keep these at the same price point. - The buttons to turn on the headphones and change the NC settings are much nicer on the XM3s. On the XM2s they are flush with the headphone with just a small raised area, the XM3 buttons are fully raised and much easier to use. - The texture of the ear cups have changed from a rougher leather-like material to a satin-smooth finish. They have also made the touch control area on the ear cup slightly bigger. As for the texture change, I don't have much of an opinion either way. I will say though that I have had a lot of trouble using the touch controls on the new XM3s. I don't know if Sony changed the sensitivity or the active areas but where I could always reliably adjust the volume or change the tracks on my XM2s, it takes multiple tries to change the track on the XM3s. I'm always getting a volume change instead of a track change. I may just need to get use to them more. - The noise cancelling on the XM3s is better in every area I tested them in. The XM2s were awesome at this but the improvement is there and it is noticeable. - The bass is more pronounced on the XM3s. They are not bass heavy but it comes out when you play tracks with a nice bass groove. I'm actually not a huge fan of this change, because I thought the XM2s were just about perfect sonically. - Finally, and this is super nit-picky, the presentation when opening the box isn't as nice as the XM2s. Again, gotta save some money somewhere, and the box is as good of place as any (and way better than taking it out of the headphones themselves). So that's it. You can buy either and be a very happy person. I would only differentiate them in this way. If you are going to be using these in more of an office type setting where you might notice your music a little more and don't have to drown out as much noise, go for the XM2s. If you want these headphones primarily for travel and will be wearing them for long periods of time, go with the XM3s. That is how I'm going to use these. My XM2s are going to live at the office now, and the XM3s go in my carry-on bag for travel. I'm all set!

[Short] Super lightweight and excellent sound from these Sony over the ear headphones. All day battery life and comfort. Ears stayed cool during full day use while connected to my windows 10 desktop. Pros: -Finally usb-c charging (fast charges) -Finish doesn’t show any finger smudges -very lightweight and ear pads comfortable -when I headband does not squeeze head -Sound is excellent and equalizer can adjust sound to your satisfaction -Phone call sounded clear -Gears of war 4 sounded great -Google Assistant Cons: -For some reason my car charger wouldn’t charge the headphones and the cord in my car had bad fit to the charging port (fits my nexus 6p fine) -Out of the box the sound was flat while streaming Pandora -Earphone software update slow over Bluetooth -Ear pads don’t look as well constructed as those found on Bose QC 35ii -No wall power adapter included [Long] Sony includes a carrying case, 3.5mm dual headphone jack splitter, usb-c cable, and some instructional paperwork. The headphones are neatly secured in the case. Once removed from the carrying case I inspected the headphones and everything looked great. The sound however was initially flat while streaming Hip-Hop through Pandora. I immediately downloaded the Android app called “Sony Headphones Connect” and was greeted with a firmware update for the headphones. Update over Bluetooth took roughly 15 minutes. I proceeded to connect the headphones via Bluetooth to my windows 10 desktop. Initially connected as unknown device then updated to the proper Sony name. Fired up Gears of War 4 and played a couple of rounds. The sound was amazing. To top it off, I could no longer hear the room ceiling fan whooshing sound above my head. I was immersed with just the sound of the game. The outside world sound cut off! Switched over to the THX theme and these headphones just continued to amaze. Watched a couple of movie trailers by the good folks at Dolby and the voice reproduction was better than the theater sound experience. After that I had some shopping to do so I took these with me to Costco and Sam’s Club. The noise cancelling was amazing. It was like watching a movie without the soundtrack on. It was 106 degrees F outside and the pads did trap in some sweat while outside. Being I am in a low humidity area the sweat quickly evaporated once I adjusted the set. Ears did not feel hot while using them outside or inside. At times I would forget I had these on. They are lightweight and the ear pad softness and comfort challenges the Bose QC 35ii. I would say the material is softer than and almost as comfortable as the Bose. I would give the Bose ear cups a slight win (like 0.000001% better). On smaller heads (kids) these fit a little too loosely but the kids enjoyed the sound and the noise cancelling. For 40mm drivers, these do a great job reproducing the sound with all the music I listened too. The better the quality of music, the better these sounded (of course). Since I will be mainly using these with my phone, I tried a T-mobile to T-mobile call over WiFi (bad signal in my house). Other end caller said I came in clear and loud. That's good. I also did some voice recording on the computer. I read a couple of paragraphs of text. The playback was crystal clear and the dual mics did a great job of not picking up the ceiling fan noise. I haven't tried using the mic as an in game mic. Very easy to put away in the case for extra protection.

WOW such a beautiful color and WOW the amazing sound of this headset is second to none. I love how I can put my hand over the left side and the music gets extremely low and I can hear my surroundings. When I am in noise canceling mode I can NOT hear my surroundings. This is music to my ears (Literally) especially while on a plane Sitting next to a crying baby. You can swipe up to turn up sound or swipe down to lower music. If you swipe to the right it forwards your track of your playlist or swipe left to replay last song. I picked the gold color because it looks so classic. The handy carrying case makes it easy to travel with.

Sony is synonymous with electronics. Naturally, there’d be headphones. Noise cancelling ones, though, is in the realm that’s dominated by a certain company starting with a B and ending in an E. So when Sony brings out their 3rd generation noise cancelling wireless headphones, and early reports indicated that they managed to cancel out even more noise, it’s time to give it a test run through some noisy environment of Boston’s MBTA subway system. But first… I personally do not have any competitor headphones to compare it to. So there’s no way I can tell you just how well it cancels out noise when compared to the competition. Anything said here will be based on experience with almost two weeks use. I have reviewed other audio products and thus I have a set playlist to test its audio range. This headphone is surprisingly light. And with it being that light, the headphones become quite comfortable to wear in the long run. There’s a cushion on the top headband that helps with some of the weight. And it’s soft enough that it rests nicely to not weigh the headphone down. The ear cushions are very soft and uses pleather for better noise isolation. This is necessary if you need to cancel out as much noise as possible. If you prefer fabric-based ear pads, you’re out of luck. But realize that fabric-based ear pads also leak in/out noise. Setting up is very easy, especially if you have an Android phone with NFC, which a lot of them do. Pairing them via NFC takes out much of the hassle of Bluetooth pairing and saves time. I first encountered this on a previous Sony headphone. And Sony is on the right track on using this for pairing feasibility. To maximize the features of the headphone, you’ll need to download their “Headphones Connect” app. (More on the app later.) Battery life on the headphone is very long. There was a time that I accidentally left the headphones on overnight. But it still had enough power to last me through the day and then some. Charging the headphone is done through USB-C, a rarity amongst wireless headphones. It’s a welcome change as USB-C is reversible and I don’t have to worry about port orientation. Sony documents to charge with at least 1.5a but that’s too little detail to be had. One has to wonder about whether it’ll handle USB-PD source without frying the headphones itself. But the biggest travesty for Sony is the supplied charging cable. It’s not the fact that it’s a USB Type-A to USB Type-C cable. Rather, it’s the length -- a mere 6 inch. Six. Inches. Sony, people are paying top dollars for this headphones. The least thing you could do is include a charging cable that’s at LEAST 3 feet. The listening experience is a new experience for me. The moment that noise cancelling system kicks in (as it turns on), the noise simply disappears. But that’s just normal ambient noise. Listening to music on the headphone is quite nice. There’s a bit of a bass but it has a more punchy sound to it. To get a more balance audio from it requires tinkering with the EQ, whether within Android or from the Headphones Connect app. Overall the audio is tolerable enough that I left all the EQ alone. To test out its noise cancelling ability, I ride Boston’s MBTA trains to and from work during commute hours. And with the aging train cars come the immense noise from its arrival at the station to its noise when riding in it. Amazingly, it turns all that to nothing but a whisper. You still hear the noise but it’s not as loud or as bad. Basically, the noise from the train becomes background noise. And all you hear are your music/media from the phone. I’ll admit it. I’m impressed by it. Controlling the playback is a bit of a learning curve. The touch controls are all on the right ear cup. Sliding up/down controls volume. Sliding front/back moves the track forward or back. And double-tapping in the center pauses/plays. The double-tapping also controls call answering as well. In the time I’ve used it, I find the double-tapping function to be the most inconsistent. It’s difficult to grasp just whether the sensor is or if you’re tapping in the correct area. It’s the same with the slide controls but at least you get to learn where the edges are. Still, there’s nothing to feel to indicate where I should be tapping to pause/play or answer that call. A different texture feel or a little bump, something for people to use to guide their finger over. I think this is a missed design opportunity. Customizing your listening experience means going into Sony’s Headphones Connect app. There you can customize the EQ, the noise cancelling level (ie. how much noise to let in), and calibrate the noise environment. By default, the headphones uses LDAC for its audio codec. It can support AptX and AptX HD, along with the usual SBC and AAC. However, should you tinker with the app’s EQ, the codec gets downgraded to SBC. I have yet to try if I can force it to use AptX or AptX HD while using the app’s EQ. So it may be something to keep in mind when playing around. In the end, I think this is the coolest headphones I have tried. The price matches that to a certain competitor’s wireless noise cancelling headphone. But if I were to choose, I’d pick this one up over the other. There are maybe other things that I did not mentioned in this review. Such as temporarily turning off the noise cancelling system by palming the right ear cup so you can listen to what’s going on. (Perfect for when you’re placing an order at a Starbucks? Who knows!) I can safely recommend this to anyone looking for a noise cancelling headphone.

It’s very comfortable to wear. The quality of the headphones is very light, and the ear-wrap design makes it a pleasure to listen to music with headphones. The noise reduction effect is very good.

Awesome sound/very very comfortable on the ears exception that it's poor when it comes to taking phone calls

Sony has done it, they've developed the BEST noise cancelling wireless headphones available! The WH-1000XM3 Wireless Noise Canceling Over-the-Ear Headphones are the newly released version from Sony and they are exactly what I've been looking for for the last few years. The headphones ship with a great carrying case, a USB-C fast charging cable, an audio cable for wired connection and instructions/paperwork. The headphones fold up perfectly to fit in the case which is a good size for traveling. The came fully charged and ready to go, so all you need to do is (optional really, as they headphones will connect to your bluetooth device anyway) download the Sony Connect app and set up the earphones. First let's talk about the Connect App - it's a great tool for taking advantage of the many settings these headphones provide like Adaptive Sound Control, Noise Canceling Optimizer, Surround, Equalizer, Sound Quality Mode, etc. Open the app, turn on the headphones and hold them close to connect and you're off and adjusting. Some of the functions are automatic like the Adaptive Sound Control - this will detect your surroundings and adjust the headphones accordingly. You can also select the Noise Canceling levels. Super easy to use and a great tool. Onto the headphones, the first thing I noticed when putting them on was the plush feel of the ear pads and the headband. They are super comfortable and easy to adjust to your head size. I've been wearing them almost non-stop for the last couple of days and there are zero hotspots or uncomfortable rubbing. Hold the power button for a couple of seconds and then the magic starts, the noise canceling technology is fantastic, literally cutting out all the background noise as I walked around crowded streets. I'm not an audiophile by any stretch, but the sound quality is the BEST I've ever heard from a BT headphone. The music is so rich and you can hear all the different levels from the bass lows up to the crips highs. The sound out of the box was pretty amazing, and I've also adjusted it using the Connect App. There are a number of preset equalizer settings for every type of music lover. Not only do these headphones rock, they are loaded with super cool and totally useful Touch Features so you can adjust the music level, FF, Pause, answer phone calls, etc. just by touching the right ear cup. And if that isn't enough, if you place your palm over the entire ear cup, Sony's Quick Attention mode kicks in...the sound level is automatically turned down, along with the noise canceling level so you can hear the outside world and talk to someone or listen to a flight change announcement....all without having to take the headphones off! It really works! As mentioned, they came fully charged and after multiple days of use, they are still at 90%...this absolutely crushes the battery performance of my other NC headphones. Pros: - Fit and comfort is outstanding, even after hours of wearing them - Noise Canceling and Sound Quality are second to none - Nice Carry Case for traveling - Touch Controls - control your music or call without ever touching your phone - Sony Connect App is a great control app for individual setup - Taking Phone Calls - crisp and clear even in a crowded store Cons: - Haven't found any yet!!! The Sony WH-1000XM3 Wireless Noise Canceling Over-the-Ear Headphones are by far one of my new favorite devices and would 100% recommend them to anyone looking for the BEST noise canceling headphones available.

Works great while I WFH during Pandemic!! Use supplied 3.5mm cable to my laptop and I’m in the meeting. The REAL fun is watching Dolby Atmos war movie late at night on our new LG UHD OLED TV via Bluetooth and no one but me hears a thing! I love the Ambient sound and volume controls at the wireless earpiece! When you are in noise canceling, it is the cone of silence!! Unreal!!!

These sound amazing. Especially the noise cancelling just leaves me in my own little bubble of silence. The cool feature when I need to listen to the outside world, I just have to put my hand on the right side and listen without removing them.

I bought these thinking they were going to sound like any other regular headphones. I was wrong and music sounded more clear and rich, vocals are great and the base is not overpowering like other brands. Mids and lows are excellent, also noise canceling is top notch. These are a must have is you are a music head

These headphones offer great immersive sound quality. The app that acompanies them seems complex at first but offers soo many great functions. It takes a little dedication at first to get theapp set up but is well worth it. The investment with these premium headphones is more than worth the money spent.

Well worth the money!! I love all of the features they come with. Super noise canceling and the fact that you can just place your hand on the right ear to allow ambient noise, freaking awesome headphones. GET YOU SOME!! I’ve made like 4 people go buy these same pair I love them.

I bought these before taking a flight to Hawaii and once we took off absolutely fell in love with them, when they say all you hear is your music they mean. Once again Sony has put out another great product.

This is the best Headphone I know so far this year this Headphone has so many Technology I Love it so much and the sound quality is so good I highly recommend this to anyone who looking to buy Headphones

I have had several Bose and Sony noise cancelling headphones because l travel a lot but this particular model beats all the models l have owned in both sound quality and the noise cancelling. You don’t miss any of the high and low frequencies. Highly recommended model.

Switched to this headphone and it’s really easy to use with top notch noise canceling. I got it when it went on sale so definitely try to do that

I am using these headphones from a long time now. I really liked the sound quality of these. Noise cancellation is best in class. Build quality is amazing. Here are 2 missing features which I think there is must at this price range: - No multi-device support - No head detection to play/pause music I would recommend these headphones for music, gaming, watching movies.

Great sound quality, specially for music. It does a good job with noise cancellation as well. USB-C port is a cherry on top. You can use a macbook/macbook pro charger to charge the headphones. No multi-point bluetooth connectivity, though, which is a huge miss, compared to the Bose QC35 ii & AirPods.