Sony WH-1000XM3 Review: The New King Of Noise-Cancelling Headphones

3rd Time's The Charm

When you think of the top of the line noise-canceling headphones, you normally think of the Bose QuietComfort 35 or 35 IIs. Any other time, that would be the choice that I would guide most consumers towards. Best around the late August/early September at IFA 2018, Sony announced the 3rd-gen 1000XM headphones.

We’ve handled Bose, Plantronics, and a few other headphones before this one. I honestly didn’t know what to expect as these are our 1st pair of 1000XM headphones we’ve reviewed. We wanted to wait and see as to not follow the hype + raves of other reviews. I am happy to say that these definitely live up to the hype. Keep reading as we break down why as well as the good + bad stuff about them.

So for starters, the 1000XM3s sport a standard look for headphones in this age. You got rotating cups to rest on your shoulders as well as fold to travel w/ ease within its carrying case. You have the usual padding on the inner lining of the earcups + headband and touch controls on the right cup. All while weighing in lighter than they appear to be.

The most divisive feature on these will more than likely be the touch controls over on the right earcup. They work fine and as advertised but I can see how some may desire a bit more accuracy in the controls or just physical buttons.

I’m not sure how the previous models held up, but these are super comfortable. Good for 10-12 hours at a time wearing glasses w/ zero fatigue at all. You can chalk this up to the extra padding on the headband & cups compared to the previous models.

Superb, high-quality sound output w/ the noise-canceling abilities to match.

Sony armed these cans w/ 40mm drivers w/ a built-in amp as well as the new HD Noise-Cancelling QN1 processor. The combination makes for an amazing overall sound. Not a balanced output like Bose but offers a bit more punch to it but not overdone. But just right – at least for my ears per se. Sony’s real secret weapon is support for the LDAC sound profile which gives you 3x the data when streaming and gives you high-resolution audio aka better sound quality than other Bluetooth headphones. In regards to the noise-canceling side, the QN1 chipset offers abilities that match or even surpasses Bose NC features. Definitely, a feat not easily done.

Might be one of the best battery life on a pair of Bluetooth headphones.

This easily has the best battery life on any headphones we’ve tested thus far. Sony quotes a 30-hour battery life w/ the ANC on and it lives up to it. Now that I’m working more 10-12 hour days at work, I have to charge this about once a week. Other headphones would be close to 2 times a week. With ANC off, you can get up to 38 hours on a single charge. So along w/ that long battery life, you got USB-C port on these things. As this brings us closer to a USB-C world, you get the benefits of quick charging that gets you 5 hours of juice in a 10-minute charge. Note that it does take around 3 hours to fully charge being dead, though.

The Sony 1000XM3s is one of the 1st headphones to check all of the boxes of what we want.

While this was supposed to be the final review for 2018, time constraints around the holidays wouldn’t allow for it to happen effectively. Whatever the case, we spent a few weeks w/ them and these are the new de facto choice for the best noise-canceling cans. Great for the train, bus, or planes while offering a full sound, touch controls.USB-C, and the long 30-hour battery life. The positives ridiculously outweigh the minuscule negatives on these cans. So unless Bose plans on revamping the look/features of their QuietComfort flagship cans anytime soon, the Sony 1000XM3s are the new kings.