Sony WH-1000XM6

Can Sony's new flagship wireless headphones set a new standard?

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₹49,990

Design, features, sound quality, noise cancelling, call quality. You name it, Sony has revisited it for the WH-1000XM6 to try to keep one step ahead of the competition.

Although the XM6 obviously share DNA with their Award-winning predecessors, Sony has pretty much gone back to the drawing board, with multiple changes made to the design based on its own perceptions and customer feedback.

Hinges make a return on XM6. The previous XM5 generation was quite rigid in its construction and couldn't be folded away, unlike the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones. The stainless-steel hinges at the end of each sliding arm are made using an advanced metal injection method and mean the XM6 can be folded up into a ball - this makes them slightly easier to carry around or chuck into a bag. However, the new case still requires you to store them flat, which is a shame.

The sliders are still noiseless and stepless, and together with the angle of the earcups, we manage to get a good, comfortable fit during testing. The new cans fit more snugly than the XM5, as the clamping force has been increased to improve isolation for the user and help the ANC work better. We found the force to be nicely judged with a slightly firmer feeling from the bottom section of the earcups, but they don't put our ears under any undue strain, even those among our test team who wear glasses.

Touch controls are on the surface of the right earcup; tapping, sliding and holding are the order of the day here.

Inside each earcup is a newly developed 30mm 'soft edge' dome driver which Sony claims, when combined with the QN3 processor, not only ups audio quality, but also ANC performance. It's the same size as the XM5's driver and is made from the same carbon fibre composite material, which is used for its lightness and rigidity.