Sony - WF-1000XM3 True Wireless Noise Cancelling In-Ear Headphones - Black

Sony has gone all-in on its wireless headphone lineup over the past couple of years. With the new WF-1000XM3, Sony aims to replicate the success of their excellent over-ear noise cancelling headphones. They have largely succeeded -- these are by far the best noise cancelling earbuds on the market -- but there are a few downfalls to be aware of. === DESIGN AND COMFORT (4.5 Stars) === - The earbuds aren't exactly small, and they resemble miniature versions of modern Bluetooth headsets. Likewise, the charging case is a little bulky -- almost twice the size of an AirPods case. - Regardless of their perceived size, the earbuds are surprisingly comfortable once in your ears. They sit flush against your ear and don't protrude out like the Bose Soundsport Free earbuds. - Seven pairs of ear tips are included in various sizes: four pairs of silicone tips and three pairs of foam tips. The default medium tips work well for me, but it's great to have so many options for different ear shapes and sizes. I wish Sony would have included an area in the charging case to store an extra pair of tips. - Summary: These aren't the smallest earbuds on the market, but given the technology packed into them, it's no surprise they they're a bit larger than others. At the end of the day, they're perfectly comfortable. === NOISE CANCELLATION (5 Stars) === - Sony has added its "HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN1e" to the WF-1000XM3 earbuds, which they claim cancels "significantly more noise across all frequencies" compared to the previous model. - So far, I've used the headphones in two very situations: at my desk in a busy office and while walking on the sidewalk of a busy street. At my office, I alternate between noise cancelling mode and ambient sound mode. The noise cancelling is so good that when people enter my office and start talking to me, I don't realize it until they tap me on the shoulder. With ambient sound mode turned on, co-workers approach my desk from behind me and I can hear their voice when they get within a few feet of me. It's an excellent feature and works better than I expected. While walking on the sidewalk, the noise cancellation tunes out almost all traces of car traffic and wind. - The Sony Connect app also has a feature that can detect when you are walking, sitting still, running, or commuting. It then automatically adjusts the noise cancellation level to allow in certain sounds such as car horns or voices if necessary. If you wear your earbuds around the city or while running, this could be an invaluable feature. - Summary: While not quite as good as the noise cancellation you'd get from over-ear headphones, I'm still absolutely amazed at what Sony has accomplished with such a small form factor. === FEATURES (4 Stars) === - Like other Sony headphones, these have a feature called Quick Attention, which is one of my favorite features. If someone starts talking to you and you want to hear what they're saying without pausing your music or taking the earbuds off, you can simply place your hand over the left earbud. The volume will lower, noise cancellation is will be paused, and you can hear the voices and sounds around you. I love it and it's great for being able to talk with a flight attendant or seatmate on the plane. - The right earbud has a touchpad that allows you to pause music, skip between tracks, and activate Siri/Google Assistant. The touchpad is fairly responsive, but I sometimes find that it takes a second or two for my taps to register. Amazingly, there is no way to adjust the volume from the earbuds -- volume can only be adjusted from your phone/tablet/computer. - Battery life on a single charge is rated at 6 hours, while the charging case supplies an additional three full charges. 6 hours isn't quite long enough to make it through a full work day or an international flight, so the extra power from the charging case is essential. Luckily, 10 minutes of charging in the case gives you 90 minutes of playback. - These earbuds are not rated for any sort of water or sweat resistance, which makes me very hesitant to wear them while working out. - Summary: All of the basic features are here, but the lack of volume control is frustrating. Battery life is great for earbuds, but don't expect it to rival the battery life of over-ear headphones. The lack of water resistance is also a notable omission. === SOUND QUALITY (5 Stars) === - Paired with the excellent noise cancellation system, these are the best sounding earbuds I've ever used. Highs are present but not overbearing. Vocals and mid-range are crisp and clear. There's plenty of bass and it's not overpowering. - Sony claims that its QN1e chip provides best-in-class audio processing and signal-to-noise ratio. I don't doubt it -- I've noticed zero distortion while streaming audio from Apple Music and testing some lossless audio tracks. - The earbuds are nicely tuned out of the box, but there is a full-fledged equalizer in the Sony Headphones Connect app. - I have yet to experience any dropouts or connectivity issues. The earbuds connect to your device independently, which means one earbud doesn't rely on the other to maintain its connection. - Summary: No complaints here. The 1000XM3s sounds excellent and are likely the best sounding earbuds available. === OVERALL (4.5 Stars, Rounding up to 5) === For me, the WF-1000XM3s won't be the only pair of earbuds or headphones that I own. For running or workouts, I need a pair of water resistant earbuds designed for the task. For long international flights, I'll likely grab my Sony over-ear noise cancelling headphones with better battery life. Sony says that the 1000XM3 earbuds are designed for professionals and frequent travelers -- and that is indeed where they excel. Sony has brought its outstanding noise cancelling technology to a product that can fit in your pocket, and that alone is enough to make me look past its shortcomings. Highly recommended!

WF-1000MX3 superbly top notch earbuds I’ll start off by saying I’m quite the fan when it comes to Sony headphones. My current fav is the WH-1000MX3 headphones followed by the Jabra Elite 65t earbuds. I currently also have the WH-1000MX3 earbuds. As far as earbuds go, my overall favorite are the Jabra Elite 65t. Overall sound is great on those. The real limiting factor for the WH-1000MX3 earbuds was when making a call with them on. Sound only came out of one ear which was really annoying. The 65t worked far better in the call functionality since sound came through both earbuds. Now that these WH-1000MX3 earbuds correct this issue, these are definitely my favorite earbuds. First thing, Sony really needs to revamp the naming conventions for the headphones. It gets a bit confusing since there are now two 1000MX3 model headphones from them. That said, these earbuds are, quite possibly, the best I’ve used so far. As with Sony headphones, the extra bass feature is probably one of the best features they have. I’ve used other earbuds/headphones with extra bass but none come close to the sound Sony headphones put out. I listen to EDM primarily and the bass these earbuds put out is satisfying to say the least. Nice, deep bass tones without the distortion you get from other earbuds. I’m REALLY pleased with the bass these earbuds put out and it’s a testament to Sony’s rep when it comes to their extra bass feature. Vocals on these earbuds is crisp and clear. Even with the extra bass feature, there is no muddy, garbled sound when all sounds come together. The music is crisp and vibrant as it should be. Sony really got it right with these earbuds. The noise canceling feature on these earbuds is surprisingly good. Earbuds, in general, are all noise cancelling to some extent since you’re plugging your ear with a rubber tipped earbud. That said, as far as the noise canceling goes, they’re right on par with the larger WH-1000MX3 headphones. They block a great deal of background noise. I had these on when an ambulance drove by and it was noticeable but not loud at all. On the subway; you can barely hear anything which is great. As I mentioned earlier, the biggest flaw they improved with these was having sound from both earbuds when making a call. The previous model was good but this one bit made them just plain irritating since I couldn’t really use those earbuds when making a call. In the event I had to take a call, I’d have to switch earbuds. BUT, these earbuds now have stereo sound when making calls which makes these earbuds pretty much perfect in my eyes. Another slight issue I had with the WH-1000MX3 earbuds (previous gen) was the battery life. On a recent train ride I took, the earbuds died during the 3 hour trip which was quite a nuisance. These supposedly have 6+ hours so we’ll see how these hold up for long periods of use. One thing that might be an issue for some is the size of the case for these earbuds. The previous gen case was comfortably small. The case for the Jabra Elite was a perfect size. The case for these earbuds is considerably larger which can be an issue for some people. Not so much for me since I throw the case in my backpack. For some who like to put their earbud case in their pocket or something, this case might not fit so well for them. Overall, these a really a top notch pair of earbuds and are now my favorite earbuds. Can’t really say anything negative about these as they perform well in every category you can think of. Battery life still has to be seen but that’s not a huge concern for me at the moment. Great earbuds and probably the last ones you’ll need for awhile.

TL:DR If you have the money and want great all around wireless earbuds with a long battery life and that’ll stay comfortable the whole time you’re wearing them, buy these. Just don’t expect much from the built in microphone or the bass response I just recently bought these earbuds and may I say this is the single best headphone purchase I have ever made. I have been through countless numbers of earbuds trying to find ones that would work the best for me but I could never find any that worked for me. I personally use the foam ear tips that come included (thank you Sony) in the box. These successfully block out every bit of unwanted sound. The only issue I have with this pair of earbuds is the microphone. Any time I try to take phone calls o just repeatedly get told that the person on the other end can’t hear me but that is the only issue I have.

Generally, I prefer on or over ear headphones but I like to have a good set of ear buds for situations where I can’t wear headphones. These Sony WF-1000XM3 arent just good but they are the best earbuds I have ever used. Period. Sony typically has great packaging so there isn’t much to say here as the trend continues. The packaging is nice with steps (1,2,3) as you open the product telling you to download the app, connect the earbuds, etc. In the box: - Earbuds - Short USB-A to USB-C charging cable - Four sizes of silicone ear tips and three sizes of foam ear tips - Reading material Pairing the earbuds was as simple as charging them up, taking them out of the case (already in pairing mode) and pairing them to your device. These earbuds are feature packed with industry leading noise cancelation, quick charging, voice assistant control, quick attention mode, and the list goes on. The app is well worth downloading due to the amount of sound control available to you to tweak the sound and noise cancellation for your taste. Getting the earbuds to sit right in your ear may take some trial and error. The middle silicone tips come on them out of the box so I tried them and immediately knew they didn’t fit right. I went down to small and they fit better but even yet I went down to the extra small tips and they finally fit well. I usually use a medium size for other earbuds so this may be one too small but for now they are working well. Just like other brands of earbuds it takes an “insert, and twist” motion to get them locked into the correct position. Now to discuss the sound quality and noise cancellation… WOW! Out of the box and paired to the app the DSEE HX (Digital Sound Enhancement Engine) was set of off and the EQ needed a little work for my ears. I switched the DSEE HX on and changed the connection to prioritize sound quality. It sounded a little better but my final adjustment so far was to bump the “Clear Bass” up about 4-6 levels out of 10. The bass is now very punchy and you can actually feel it in your ears around 75% volume or higher. The overall sound quality is VERY good and this is in part due to the amazing noise cancellation. The noise cancellation can be adjusted manually in the app or set to a more adaptive setting in which it adjusts the sound using the microphones to whatever setting you may be in. I prefer to have the sound quality fixed and adjust the noise cancellation myself but it might be good for people who are more on the go in varying environments. Of course these earbuds also have the quick attention mode which allow you to communicate without taking the earbuds out by holding the left side touch sensor. This feature is VERY handy due to the relative complexity of getting them seated in your ear correctly. One feature I found myself missing was volume control from the earbuds themselves. This appears not to be a feature as of now but maybe they can add this as a software update in the future. After watching a few YouTube videos, I didn’t see any major lag but if you are picky I could see a fractional amount from time to time. Not enough to be annoying at all but if you stare at it then it might show up. Overall my impressions of these earbuds are just so good. Like I said these are by far the best sounding earbuds I have ever heard and paired with the top notch noise cancellation it allows you to ignore your surrounds and enjoy the music! Pros: - Noise Cancellation - BT 5.0 (Can use either L or R earbud to listen to music) - Sound Quality with adjustment via app - Charging Case - Color scheme (Black and Gold) - Overall features - Four sizes of ear tips plus foam tips Cons: - No volume adjustment from earbuds - Fitment in ear takes time to get right - No IP rating (Water/dust)

True Wireless Earbuds are slowly becoming the new norm and Sony really helped speed up that pace with the release of these new earbuds. I have tried several wireless earbuds out and these are by far the most interesting all around. DESIGN: - Although how true wireless earbuds work should be most important, I think that style and design is really the most important to people. They want something that is sleek and easy to use. Overall the Sony Earbuds nail it. The case easily fits in the palm of your hand but is still bigger than some other earbud cases. However, I don’t think any earbud cases look as nice as these ones - the matter black with bronze top really make it seem high end. The earbuds themselves just snap right into the case magnetically and that is a huge plus too. Of course the earbuds themselves are the most important aspect. They are a little larger than some earbuds but that’s to be expected - after all the noise cancelling and sound quality need that space to house it components - but they earbuds still manage to stay really slim against your ears and feel completely out of the way. I have to admit I didn’t love the look immediately but they grew on me really quickly and I’m a fan now. FEATURES: - Sony nailed almost all the features right on these things. You got USB-C charging which is a must with new products but there is no wireless charging which would be nice considering the price but it isn’t something that I use a ton anyways. The touch controls are a really nice feature for changing settings or songs, or if you hold your hand over the left touch controls it lets you listen into whatever is going on around you without disrupting your songs, and you can use the controls to activate your Google Assistant. I do wish the touch controls had the ability to change volume but that seems too be the norm with true wireless earbuds. My biggest gripe with the Earbuds as a whole is that the earbuds and case have three separate LED indicators to show what has power (the case, left bud, right bud) but they are only ever this red color. If it’s fully charged it doesn’t turn green or anything like that. So I just don’t like how there is never a good way to tell the case battery level and the earbuds only tell you power levels when they are connected to your device. It’s a minor thing to complain about but it bothers me. Finally, a nice Pro is that the Earbuds work independently from each other - as in some earbuds need the right to be on for the left to work. The Sony ones you can use one or the other with no issues and they sync up together perfectly. NOISE CANCELLING: - The biggest feature these Sony earbuds offer that most don’t are going to be the Noise cancelling. This activates automatically when you put them in your ears but can be turned off via touch buttons on the left earbud. Although the Noise cancelling isn’t on the level of full over the ear headphones, that’s to be expected - these earbuds really impressed me at how much noise cancelling they provide. It’s really unlike anything I have heard in a true wireless earbud and adds so much when you are talking a call or listening to something. SOUND: - The Sound is hands down the best sound I have ever had with True Wireless Earbuds. You can use the Sony Headphone app to mess around with settings but overall the Bass is deep and meaningful, and all the vocals come in crisp and clear. Just a really great way to listen to music or watch movies with. I can’t say enough how much I like this sound quality over other Earbuds I have used. Also these helps with calls because they take calls really well and the microphones on them work perfectly! RECOMMENDED USE: - I just want to point out that these Earbuds are not water/sweat proof like a lot of other True Wireless earbuds which is a disappointment for sure. That being said I wore these to the gym and did a lot of difference activities with them and I never ran into quality issues or them falling out of my ears. So although I think these can easily be used at the gym, I still think Sony intended these to be your everyday earbuds rather than workout ones. I think they are going to be great for people when they travel, work in an office, listen to music, take calls, or play video games/movies with. Overall they are probably the most versatile because of how well they work and how many situations they are great for. BOTTOM LINE: - If you are wanting a true wireless experience but don’t want to skimp on sound or premium feel - these Sony Earbuds are a homerun for you. They look great, sound great, and just feel great to use. Sure there might be better headphones fo different situations, but these will quickly become the headphones you grab to take with you more than anything else!

The Sony WF-1000XM3’s are the first pair of truly wireless earphones I have tried from Sony and I am very impressed with what they have done but let me start with what comes inside the box. Inside we have the two earphones, the charging case, a plethora of eartips (6 pairs, including comfortable foam ones that I prefer), a usb type C cable along with the usual paperwork. When it comes to the design of the XM3’s I have to first start with where they are housed, inside a neat battery case. The case has a somewhat matte black oval body with a flat golden/copper top/lid. These colors mirror the colors that are also found on the XM3’s and I find the combination appealing. The lid is magnetic in nature and allows the earphones to be safely seated with no shifting around while inside or while the case is held upside down. The case is bulky in size compared to competitors but it’s understandable since according to Sony the case is able to charge the case a full three times giving you 24+ hours of battery life. NFC pairing with android phones can be done through the lid and there is a charging notification light below the lid at the front of the case, while the usb port can be found on the bottom of the case. Sadly the case doesn’t have a means for you to check charge level. Opening the case you will see the earbuds nested securely into the case with indicator lights towards the left and right side of the case indicating the charging status of each individual earbud. Upon taking out the XM3’s you will notice they are light yet appear well designed. They are no wing-tips/shark fins and I had no problem with the XM3’s fitting and staying securely in my ears while they were in use. This was aided by not only the overall shape but also the material it was made out of that offered some grip. On the outside of each earbud exists two circular touch capacitive areas that allow you to interact with the earphones. By default the left touch control toggles between the ambient and noise cancellation mode while the right touch control handles music playback ie. one taps pauses/plays, two taps skips to the next track and three taps returns you to the previous track. Sadly there is no way to control volume from the earbuds themselves and your are left to using the device they are connected to. A feature that stands out here is the Quick Attention mode which is initiated by placing a finger on to the left touch control and holding. This instantly switches to ambient mode so that you can hear whats going around you and upon removing your finger your music resumes. I find this very useful, as it reduces or removes the need to take out the earphones everytime some is trying to speak to you. Another interesting feature that exist (through using the Sony Headphone App) is the ability to modify the controls of each earphone, allowing you to even set one of the touch controls to trigger Google Assistant/Siri. I’ve had a blast using this with the google assistant have having notification being read to me. I was quite impressed. When it comes to performance, I continued to be impressed. There is so much to say I don’t know where to begin. Lets start with when you take the buds out, They instantly come on and are ready to be paired. Upon putting them in your ears each earbud inpedently reports their own battery level..( wow). They each pair independently to the device and you don’t have to worry about connection issues between the earbuds( as in connection to your device is not based on the earbuds being linked to each other). You can also use one independently of the other with no problems. While they are both in use with music playing, taking out any will pause the music while returning to your ears promptly resumes your music. Before I get ahead of myself let address how they sound. I can’t talk about how they sound without talking about the Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) feature these earbuds have. The ANC feature is impressive with or without music playing. With no music on, there is a small amount of ambient sound coming through but as soon as the music is on the anc is in full effect without even a high volume. I even believe the ANC allows for me to listen to music at lower volumes and therefore cause my eardrums less strain while also extending its battery life based on my use. Walking along crowded busy streets and stepping into jam-packed stores the ANC performed much better than I thought it would and I am again further impressed. The effect is not as superb as headphones but this is a size/ form limitation and not a technology one. For music, these are pretty good, the bass pounds rather than thunders at the low end, the treble is crisp just like the highs and mids are mostly balanced. I listen to a variety of genres, alternative, rap, edm, dancehall etc, all came through quite well and I am sure they were enhanced through the Digital Sound Enhancement Engine HX (DSEE Hx) audio processing provided through the app. When it comes to phone calls, the XM3’s performed suitably, with audio coming through clearly from the other person on the call while according to them my voice carried clearly and cleanly until it got too noisy around me. Finally when it comes to battery life, after using them on and off for hours without allowing them to charge, I can report that they lasted for 7+ hours with ANC on for about half the time and volume set to around 50% or less. This rivals other “wired” bluetooth earphones that own, that I’m certain posses a larger battery so kudos to you Sony. In all honesty Sony has delivered a strong competitor to this market despite it missing a few things such as sweat/water resistance. Its ANC, comfort, sound and battery life are quite impressive and makes it stands tall in this category. I don’t see these being used as one’s main gym earbuds but more along the lines of a professional or casual setting, not that they can’t be used in any way you desire, but that’s just my take on them.

Let's start with the wow: The noise canceling is very good for a wireless, in-ear bud. It definitely rivals some of the best, padded, over-the-ear muffs. The first time I put them in was in the family room for a test with the TV running through our speaker system. The buds probably cut the TV noise by 60% or more. My wife was 5' away trying to talk to me and I kept asking "what? what?!?"...and all this just with the earbuds on and in my ear--I wasn't listening to music or anything! Turn the music on and I had no clue the TV was on and people were talking in the same room. One of the most convenient features of these buds is the option to cup your hand over your left bud to temporarily turn off the noise cancellation so you can hear the things happening around you. No need to take the bud out of your ear, just cover your ear for a second or two...then tap the bud to turn everything back on. Very convenient! We are a Google smart family, so having the Google Assistant built in is nice too. All you have to do is activate the device with your phone at setup then you can "OK Google" until your heart is content. Audio quality with these buds is good. There is a nice balance although a little mid-range heavy. With some tweaking it is possible to bring some bass and treble forward but doing nothing to the default settings still produces clear, pleasant sound. I listen to pretty much everything except showtunes, opera and country western. My go to artists for a new pair of headphones include Pearl Jam, Twenty-one Pilots, Metallica, REM and Dr. Dre. All sound good be default...but the modern rock and hip hop benefit the most from an EQ tweak. EQ and all other settings can be controlled by the Sony Headphone app. These buds are also "motion sensitive." If you take them out, music pauses. As mentioned previously, cup your ear and audio and noise canceling pauses without having to take the buds out. I am used to 10+ hours of play with over-the-ear headphones so I was disappointed when I saw these are rated at only 6 hrs with noise canceling (4 hours if used primarily for communication, up to 24 hours of life if you disable noise cancellation). It turns out, however, that this is actually better then the competition. Full charge time is 90 minutes with a quick charge option of 10 minutes for 1.5 hours of use. The stylish storage case is used to charge/store the ear buds. They utilize USB-C (a cable is included in the packaging). There is no wall plug, but there are several different sized rubber tips to select from to get the most comfortable fit. I wish the tips were "ribbed" to help ensure a snug fit. Nonetheless, buds feel well balanced and snug in the ear, unlike some others that feel like they are going to fall out after a couple minutes of wearing. Surprisingly, these are NOT water/sweatproof rated. I suspect that they will fall out if you get sweaty because there is no "hook" or "catch" system with these buds to help hold them to your ear...but again, they seem to be weighted well enough to stay put in a non-physical use environment. Overall, great noise cancelling, great motion and Google Assistant options. Very good audio quality with options to tweak to your preference. Decent battery life. Stylish. If you want a quality, in-ear noise canceling bud, these will likely make you happy!

These might just be the best headphones I have ever tried! I will start with the negatives just to get that out of the way. Cons: - I am not a huge fan of the Gold/black style, I would have preferred all black. The charger is a little large, not ideal for carrying in a pocket all day An IP rating would have been nice OK, now that that’s out of the way, I can praise these headphones. Unboxing: The unit has documentation, the charging case, the buds, a USB-C cable and 12 earbud tips. The earbud tips are pretty cool because you get two types, one set is a soft silicon and the other is a more grippy rubber feel. Each type has three different sizes. Setup: I used this with a Samsung S10. After charging which took a few hours, I took the ear buds out of the case and paired it with my phone with was fairly seamless. You can also pair using NFC on the case if wished for Android. You can download the associated app for additional control if wished. This will allow for some profiles to be set up on the phone. Use: These headphones are comfy! They are a little on the larger side but the majority of the unit is held outside of you ears so you should not see discomfort in your ear canal. I have only had two days to play with it but you can control the unit with touch controls on each ear bud. The left side controls noise cancelling / ambient sound. The right side contains call controls. My favorite feature is one you see on the Airpods, each unit will work independently of the other. So if you only want to wear the unit on your left ear, then leave the right one in the case or go with the right earbud! According to the site, each earbud gets it’s input individually as opposed to some wireless buds which will send it to the right one which then relays it to the left one for example. These both get their own stream at each time. The advantage of this is latency, you will see very little if any delay when watching videos. Audio quality is amazing! Not only is the noise cancelling feature outstanding, but they just sound good! They have that signature Sony megabasey (that a word?) feel to them and it was easy to pull out details in the music. I listen to a lot of emo, alt, country and EDM and each sounded wonderful. Battery life has been great so far and I have not had to recharge out of necessity, I just make sure to plug in the charger each night. The unit supports SBC and AAC so I do not for-see any HD audio here but it still sounds amazing. Go buy these earbuds, now!