6 and the city

The latest evolution of Sony's world-conquering noise-cancellers has brought subtle upgrades in a bid to stay ahead of the pack. Is this the new gold standard?

- By Khumail Thakur

Plonk these on your head and you'll be shocked at the level of performance Sony has squeezed from their new 30mm driver.

It's the same size as before, but it's paired with a new QN3 processor that is responsible for ANC and also the sound quality. Sony says the QN3 has a 'look-ahead noise shaper', which advances the digital-to-analogue conversion and improves timing and rhythm. Call me impressed because the darn thing works, and the improvement over the QN1 is immediately noticeable.

The Sony's place the backup singers and the percussion instruments in The River of Dreams with precision, clarity and detail, and does that without colouring Billy Joel's falsetto and spiritual candour. Everything just comes together here with immaculate cohesion and timing that it's easy to get lost in the melody and tap along to the rhythm. You can hear every breath in detail from the singers as the song reaches its final minute and breaks into a choir.

These do lean towards being a bit mid-forward in my opinion. These emphasise the vocals a wee bit too much for my liking, and compared to my Apple AirPods Max, it's apparent. But it doesn't lose any of the finesse or the emotions in Conor Mason's voice in Impossible by Nothing But Thieves. Everything sounds energetic and fun.

1 Foldin' slumbers

Wear the thing next to the Sony XM5 and you'll need Sherlock's wits to find the difference. The Sony WH-1000XM6 have slightly softer edges on the cups and a wider headband, which offers overall better comfort.

2 Love is the snug

I wore them for a measly one-and-a-half-hour flight to Goa, and the headphones were not fatiguing. They have plenty of swivel and rotation of the hinges, and don't make any creaking or unpleasant sounds, even if you sleep with them.