I have used active noise canceling (ANC) headphones for many years and I have come to expect - and look for - the subtle differences between them. I have worked with ANC phones from Bose, Sennheiser, Monster, Noontec and quite a few more. All of them have their strengths and weaknesses. This is my first experience with Sony ANC phones, and I anticipated good ANC functionality and a solid sound profile. At the price point ($300 as I write this) they need to be excellent to be worth any kind of consideration. These were a huge shock to me: the ANC is nearly on par with Bose and the sound profile is solid, giving better results than I imagined.
I will address the ANC function first, then the sound profile, and afterward I will discuss design and features. I apologize ahead of time for being long-winded, but I’d rather give too much feedback than not enough.
The ANC function is, in a single word, outstanding. Bose is the standard by which I compare others and very, very few headphones get anywhere near the same level of noise cancellation as my Bose sets (QC-15 and QC-20i, by the way). Those that get close usually have the same weird pressure sensation for which Bose is known. My primary test is a loud fan that I use for generating white noise when I want to drown out everything around me at night. I turned the fan on high speed, plugged the Sony’s buds into my ears and turned them on. I put them in ANC mode and the fan all but disappeared. All that remained of the noise was a faint, higher-frequency hiss (distinct from the ANC hiss which I will explain later). Of all the phones I have used, this set and the Bose are the only ones to wipe out that much noise. I also went into the bathroom and turned on the ventilation fan to test, and these phones again wiped out a large majority of the fan noise. For this fan, the Bose sets have a very slight edge but you have to be looking for it to notice.
The main difference between the Bose sets and these is the utter lack of that weird pressure sensation with these. If you don’t like that sensation but you want very high ANC, these are simply excellent. Like a lot of ANC phones, these generate a faint hiss that you really won’t notice unless you’re not feeding any sound at all to them and you’re listening for it.
The sound profile is also quite solid. Usually with ANC phones, because of the cancellation of certain bandwidths the phones compensate by twiddling the sound profile to fill in what was dropped, and usually this means overcompensation in the bass range (if you use Dre Beats, you know exactly what I mean). Heavy bass gives me headaches so I avoid headphones where the bass has been given too much boost. With these, Sony did not overdrive the bass at all but it’s still very solid and full - love it. The midrange is very warm and rich and music has the right depth. The highs are very bright and clear but not piercing. Overall, I am very pleased with the sound profile - not audiophile quality but closer than most.
In terms of design, these are a wireless earbud product with a neck harness. So, these are neither on-ear or over-ear phones. The harness and slack but adjustable wiring to the actual earbuds ensures that they can be set up so they won’t tug or pull when you’re working out, running or otherwise doing physical activity. Being wireless, there’s no cord to tangle up either. And, one size really does fit all which is a problem with some regular phones. The neck assembly has a leatherette padding that is soft and will not chafe.
The Bluetooth functionality works great. I paired these to my phone and they paired and connected in less than 5 seconds which is really all I could ask. After a full power-off, I turned them back on and they immediately connected to my phone again. I have no complaints there.
One of the really interesting features of these is the ability to turn off the ANC and use them without any cancellation, but they have another unusual mode that I have only seen in one other pair of phones - they have an “ambient sound” mode that you can turn on that dampens the feed in the buds and slightly increases the surrounding noise without turning off the ANC. Assuming the volume is not turned up too loud, this allows for carrying on a conversation without turning off the feed. I will say, though, that listening to my own voice coming through in this mode is disconcerting.
I do not know yet how long the battery in these lasts. So far I have not run them all the way down.
Included in the box are the phones themselves, a conversion cable so that they can be used with an audio jack (handy when Bluetooth is not an option), a cable for charging, an in-flight audio adapter, several silicone tips fo the buds so you can get the size right, and a protective carry bag.
The carry bag is the only complaint I have with the whole package - it offers little protection from drops and crushes. If you only are concerned about keeping everything together and keeping the set very clean, the bag is acceptable, but if you need better protection that consider getting a third-party hard case or use the original packaging box.
Sony got these right and even at the price tag these are easy to recommend. They’re comfortable (more comfortable than I expected for ear buds), they have excellent sound and the ANC function is outstanding. I prefer these to my Bose phones and will be using these instead.
I compared these to the Bose Quietcontrol 30 headphones.
I'll start out by mentioning that these headphones are far superior to the bose when it comes to functionality.
CONTROLS: Sony is superior.
Sony: These headphones have all of the controls embedded into the base of the unit itself. All of the controls, power, volume, noise cancelling, play/pause are easily available and easy to find on the base just by running your fingers along the base until you find the control you want. The fact that they are on the base makes it easy to reach up and adjust everything and you know right where those controls are and you have a solid object to hold on to.
Bose: All the controls are on one of the headphone wires leaving them dangling. When you wish to skip, play/pause, adjust volume or noise control you are left fumbling around with a dangling wire control. This is really annoying! You can't just reach up and press a button, you have to grab the wire controls, feel around for the volume or noise control, then awkwardly adjust as desired.
NOISE CANCELLING and EAR BUD COMFORT: Bose is superior
Sony: The noise cancelling on these headphones is pretty solid but the way the headphone sits in your ear requires you to adjust it several times to get them to seat in your ear just right to provide optimal noise control. I believe Sony’s noise cancelling is very close to quality of the Bose but the earbud design fails. I had to really press these into my ear to drown out ambient sound. Because I had to press them in tight to make a seal and avoid sound bleeding in, they were uncomfortable after a while. Moving around a lot will loosen them from your ear and I found myself constantly adjusting the placement of them. The ambient sound mode pretty much drowned out the music and made the room sound like it was a giant tin can. Ambient sound worked better with the noise cancelling turned off entirely.
Bose: You really can’t get a better design for the earpiece. The silicon ear piece is designed to pretty much just lock into place and it stays put. The intuitive shape/design of the earbud places it in an ideal position that doesn’t move around and provides optimal sound control by creating a seal that doesn’t allow much noise to bleed in. Noise cancelling by Bose is pretty much the standard every company should aspire to reach. I believe 50-60% of the noise cancelling superiority is simply the shape and comfort of the earbud itself. There is no ambient setting on the Bose, there is a separate volume adjustment specifically for the noise cancelling.
SOUND: Sony is superior.
Plain and simple: wireless + earbuds = tin can sound.
Sony: Sony wins this category for only one reason. The companion app on the phone has an equalizer which allows you to adjust levels to your specific tastes. The app has some interesting presets that sound nice but you can customize your own.
Bose: You only get your standard ear bud sound.
COMPANION APP: Sony is superior
Sony: The companion app has amazing options. You have a ton of controls and interesting settings and the equalizer tops the list. I won’t go into the details of the app since you can download it for free and see for yourself.
Bose: You can control the noise cancelling and well, that’s about it really. Very lame.
Verdict: If you want good functionality buy these and you won’t be disappointed. I do recommend them. If I could take the comfort of the Bose and attach those earbuds to the Sony I’d use the Sony product over Bose.
I must first state that I am a full-on, completely spoiled audiophile. That being said, like most people today, I spend more time listening to music on my phone than anywhere else. That is where these beautiful headphones come in. You see, most of the files on my Galaxy S9 Plus are hi - res, so I wanted to take advantage of them, but not carry around a portable DAC and a phone, or another device entirely in addition to my phone. With the addition of LDAC to Android 8, all I needed to find was the right Sony headphones. The WI-1000X, simply put, are perfect for me. They are musical, plenty loud enough, and bring a sense of soundstage and imaging that are sorely lacking in bluetooth headphones. Admittedly, I did change the ear tips to triple flanges, for a tighter fit, but other than that, the stock headphone is wonderful. I use them everyday. They are not cheap, but worth the price in the long run.
This product is a strong competitor to Bose QC30, same MRPrice but a one dynamic - one balanced armature hybrid units. The noise cancelling effort at least not less than QC30, but in silent night environment, you can hear the ground noise annoying for sleep, same problem for QC30 and other in-ear NC headphones because their drivers are far more closer to ear than over-ear NCs.
First for the shortcoming when it debut in Sept 16 2017, this headphone can only pairing to one bluetooth device at one time for now. I own QC30 for a half year, QC30 supports multi-point Bluetooth pairing. Suppose a situation you are streaming music from your MP3 Player, and your phone is also paired with the headphone standby, when a call coming the call can automatically patch through the headphone. Now WI-1000x can only pairing to one device, if you want to switch to another audio source, you need to disconnect first then choose another. I don't know why a manufacturer producing both MP3 Player and cellphone could miss multi-pairing feature, and I'm looking forward to a firmware update.
For opponent weaknesses, QC30 couldn't connect to airline infotainment system, so Sony add airplane adapter wire plug; Rubbery material of QC30 is easy to stain by makeup and sweat, so WI1000x is made by hard plastics and artificial leather; QC30 only have standard bluetooth codec (SBC) with poor signal transmission strength, so WI-1000X supported all bluetooth audio transmission formats like LDAC and aptX HD to avoid audio skipping.
Four SS, S M L normal silicone tips and three S M L comply tips included, wearing comfort and stability thought can't surpass Bose's ergonomic silicone tips, but still acceptable for a person with small ears, the big unit can stay comfortably in the concha. Total weight is heavier than other neckband headphones that you can feel the press on your neck. The protect pouch in the box is a soft clothing pouch, a hardside case would be better for travel protection.
With mobile app Sony Headphone Connect, the app using accelerometer and other sensors to automatically switch NC profiles and optimize by detecting atmospheric pressure. You can adjust levels of noise cancellation in different profiles manually.
Outstanding earphones, these are so clear. Yes the noise canceling are not what the video says it is and they are not as noise canceling as the Sony over the ear ones are and they can’t be. It is logistally impossible to be but they are pretty da** close! I can’t where over the ear headphones because I get bad headaches. I have tried many Sony, and Bose high quality ones and I can not wear any of them all day. I can get 2 hours in with the Bose and about 1 1/2 hours with the Sony before I get a very bad headache. These headphones work for me and last a good 10 hours. Well worth the money!
Feature Product
- Digital Noise Cancelling with Atmospheric Pressure Optimizing - perfect for flying
- Sony | Headphones Connect" APP for Android /iOS to use Smart Listening technology to control your ambient sound settings.
- Smart listening by smart auto-settings automatically adjusts ambient sound to your activity. Ambient Sound mode to hear essential sound without taking your headphones off.
- Optimized for the Google Assistant with an update. Ask it questions. Tell it do things. It's your own personal Google, always ready to help.
- High-quality audio with DSEE HX, S-Master HX, LDAC and aptX HD. Frequency response : 3-40000 Hz
- Battery life up to 10 hours (with wireless noise cancelling)
- Hands free calling with vibration notification
- In the box: Carrying Pouch, Plug Adaptor for In-flight Use, Connection Cable, USB Cable
- Connectivity technology : Bluetooth
Description
Compatible iPhone/iPod models : You can use the unit with only the following models. Update your iPhone or iPod to the latest software before use. • iPhone 7 Plus • iPhone 7 • iPhone SE • iPhone 6s Plus • iPhone 6s • iPhone 6 Plus • iPhone 6 • iPhone 5s • iPhone 5c • iPhone 5 • iPod touch (6th generation) Maximum communication range:Line of sight approx. 10 meter (30 feet) . Communication system: BLUETOOTH version 4.1
Sony was able to combine quality, battery life, and comfort in this model.
PROs
I absolutely love neckbands style as it allows me to use one or both earbuds and not worry about loosing one.
In ear plugs make headphones portable and "office-friendly".
Battery life is great and allows me to use the headphones for few days without recharging.
LDAC support may not be important to you, but if you care about quality and have a phone that supports it, go for it! It was one of the features I was looking for in the headphones.
Noise cancelling was a nice addition which turned out to be something I've been missing my whole life. Made my commute so much more pleasant.
CONs
Coming from a line of LG headphones, I do miss retractable wire management. It was just so convenient to pull the earbud and the wire to disappear nicely and not wiggle around. It is possible to hide the wire with this model, it is just not as convenient.
Tips:
I noticed with many in-ear headphones, the earbud (the rubber or w.e. piece) plays an important role in sound quality. Some come with cheap ones, but Sony supplies a variety of different sizes and materials to try. So pick the one that works for you!
These headphones are the most complete I have ever owned. I wanted wireless headphones that were small enough fit in a narrow pocket in my backpack, so the gigantic over-ear ones were out. I needed something with excellent battery life that would also work in wired mode, so most earbuds were out. I needed excellent sound quality and noise canceling, but most top brands are quite expensive. Lastly, I wanted something that would vibrate for phone notifications.
I was upgrading from the WI-C400, the lowest model in this line, and I expected to have to compromise on one or two of my requirements, but these headphones tick every single one of the boxes. They are solidly built compared to most neckbands. They work perfectly in wired mode, have decent battery life, and charge quickly. I listen mostly to metal and hard rock, and the sound quality is excellent, especially once you configure it to your liking using the companion app. I take public transport to work, and these block out almost all the engine noise inside the bus. I got them when they were discounted for Cyber Monday, but after using them for a week, I would pay even the full price.
After living with them for around a month, I can say that they are quite well built; they took some splashes one time I was caught in the rain without an umbrella, and they suffered no functional or cosmetic damage. I wish the battery life was longer, but this is a minor niggle; I rarely exhaust the battery even over 2 days. The only annoyance is that there are no dedicated forward and backward buttons, and the volume buttons do not perform these functions when long pressed. You have to tap the play button twice to forward and thrice to go back. I sometimes find this difficult to do when my hands are frozen and/or wrapped in gloves.
I own and regularly use a pair of Bose QC15 headphones and I love them. They aren’t going to beat some of the newer designs for pure audio performance, but they have traveled over 100,000 miles with me in the air and have helped me keep my sanity over the drone of jet engines and nearby fussing children. The QC25 and QC35s are better in most respects, (better NC, more texture to the audio), and the Sony WH-1000XM3s are better sonically and with NC but not as comfortable on the head (IMHO), but none of them are what I would call “discrete.” They sit on top of your head screaming to the world, “I DON’T WANT TO HEAR YOU!”
So I set about hunting for a pair of more discrete, in-ear NC headphones that would get me as close as possible to the right balance of NC performance, audio quality, and extended-wear comfort. As you can imagine, it’s not a particularly crowded field. I fact, I only found 3 or 4 that even attempted to add NC to the in-ear form factor. Bose, of course, had the QC 20 and 30 series, but the funky shaping of the buds and the silicone “wedge” never quite fit my odd-shaped ears.
Then I stumbled upon a, “What have I got to lose?” purchase. I found a pair of “Like New” condition Sony WI1000x in-ear NC headphones on Amazon for a shocking $124.00. These are usually sold on sale at $249, so with Amazon Prime it was a no-brained risk. As advertised, they arrived in a plain box but with the carry bag and accessories intact. They were indeed “Like New” with no visible signs of wear or damage.
Before I put them on, however, I did one thing that made my entire experience that much better. I use Misodiko foam tips on all my in-ear headphones. Some people swear by Comply, but I find the Comply foam to be too stiff for my ears.
On first use, I updated the firmware, downloaded the Android App, and explored. Now I can tell your that “most” of the Android App “tweaks” are just silly. Who is going to wear NC headphones and care in the least whether the sound feels like it’s coming from behind you? Silly. Air pressure adjustments might help those who travel by jet, but I found it more annoying than useful. And at first I found the “Ambient” NC adjustment more gimmicky than truly useful. (I’ll get back to this in a moment.). As for audio quality, they are “not horrible,” but about what you’d expect from a headphone that’s about NC first and audio second. The audio quality in it’s raw, un-tweaked form is reasonably full, mildly warm, and strong in the highs, but lacking somewhat in low-end punch. It’s not annoying, but it’s also not memorable. And the Android App tweaks can only do so much to adjust the performance curve. The changes are incremental, not ground-breaking. Oh yes, they can be worn with a USB cable tether if the power runs out. It works, but it also doesn’t charge while it works, so it’s strictly for emergency use only.
Nevertheless, with the Misodiko foam tips the isolation improved dramatically. The performance of these headphones with the stock silicone tips vs the Misodiko is night and day. With the silicone tips they are only marginally better than wearing a pair of noise isolating Bluetooth earbuds. In fact, I would go so far as to say if you plan to just use them included silicone buds, don’t bother buying the WI1000x for the NC feature. In stock form the noise isolation is so poor as to be little more than a pair of glorified LG Tone Pros.
Add the foam tips, though, and you are within striking distance of Bose QC15s. Not the higher line models like the QC25 or 35s, but the first gen QC15s. The foam tips provide a significant bump in isolation and permit the Sony NC to block the usual assortment of fan noise, engine noise, and other irritants that you typically buy NC Headphones to block.
But last night... Last night I ran these through the *ultimate* test of NC prowess. I wore them to a 117db rock concert at the Giant Center in Hershey PA. Christian artist Toby Mac was the featured performer after *4* opening acts. (Yes, it was a LONG night!). If you’ve never heard Toby Mac, think Justin Timberlake with more moral grounding. ;) And the concert was as loud as you would expect. From the concourse I registered 115db A band peaks on my calibrated SPL app. If you don’t know what that means, trust me, it’s LOUD.
At first, I didn’t use the 1000x. Instead, I used my go-to “concert” hearing protection, a pair of generic, silicone tip noise isolating ear plugs that drop overall levels about 12db but do so while injecting a non-stop buzziness in the lows and minds. They’re useable, but not ideal.
I decided before leaving the house, however, to bring my 1000x headphones. Just before Toby Mac came on, I knew the sound levels would jump so I fired up the 1000xs, put the earplugs back into their case, and inserted the 1000x in-ears with the Misodiko foam tips. As the concert progressed I played with a variety of settings until I found the sweet spot. I tried the “Ambient” mode, tweaking settings to focus on vocals and adjusting the slider from 1 to 15 to see just how much clipping I would experience as the NC engine tried to make sense out of the 120db C-band bass frequencies vs the vocals. in the end, I just set the NC to full and experienced the BEST hearing protection experience I have EVER had at a rock concert. I heard every vocal with crystal clarity. I experienced a subjective 20db-ish overall drop in the audio level to the point where I felt the pounding bass in every pore but it never overwhelmed the overall balance I heard in my ears. As an audio engineer who has protected his hearing for the past 38 years, it was the most enjoyable concert experience I’ve had in the past decade. I actually *enjoyed* the concert and didn’t worry about my hearing being damaged by the overpowering pressure levels in the room.
Was it perfect? No. It was *not* like listening to a “loud stereo” in my head. Some frequencies were completely lost. The music felt more dead than alive in my ears. Losing so much base meant that I was saturated with mids and highs most of the night.
But if you want a “decent” set of NC in-ear headphones, (with the caveat of lower noise isolation than true, over-the-ear cans), good day-to-day audio reproduction, flexibility of a variety of settings to tune the experience to your taste, and the by-product of solid hearing protection for those rare occasions when you hit an ear-splitting rock concert, the WI-1000x makes a solid choice.
Final recommendations/observations:
1) Get foam tips. It doesn’t matter whether you swear by Comply or Misodiko, either is better than the stock silicone tips.
2) Battery life is strong, but not up to over-the-ear standards. 9 hours is about right.
3) Durability will be an issue. Unlike the LG Tone Pros with the retracting buds, the Sony “tuck-the-cable” feature is kludgy and results in the buds dangling sideways against your lapels when the cables are stuffed into the headset frame. Weird.
4) Comfort is so-so. if you don’t wear a collar, you’ll feel that stiff, unforgiving frame hanging against your neck. Again, the LG Tone Pros that I used to use were more comfortable to wear for extended periods, but they lack NC so I am resigned to the trade-off.
5) Aftermarket tips can fall off easily, so stock up if you go with foam tips.
Ive tried so many different headphones. These are great in the gym. They're not perfect, but they are absolutely the best in-ear wireless noise cancelling headphones out there. I bought these to cancel out the gym noise, and while they don't drown out every grunt and weight clank, they do get me in my own little world.
I've also use these to jogging, and so far no issues. I haven't noticed an issue with bouncing, but I'm sure people with a faster Pace might experience that. now I know these aren't recommended for the gym as they're probably not sweat proof, but I'd rather buy these and Destroy them with sweat then destroy my ears cuz I'm keeping my non noise cancelling headphones up at max volume trying to cancel out the noise around me.
If they figured out a way to remove the bounce, make the battery like 20+ hours, make the earbuds stay, and fix the buttons as they're not the most convenient, but I definitely get these five stars.
I am using the headphones for a month now, in total they are great but pricey.
Let's start with the good:
Very good looking, very good sound, cool app, multiple features, ANC is awesome, comes with multiple in ear silicone plugs (6 pairs of 2 different materials) , arrived with plane audio plugin (which other vendors don't give), Google home/ Alexa support
Long battery life. Can adjust using Sony mobile app if you prefer better sound or connectivity. Over the air version upgrade.
You can't feel the headphones weight
The bad:
About bulky vs other over the neck headphones.
Still the headphones plugs are not perfect fit
Sound break appt when I choose sound over connectivity and stability (different BT driver) maybe it is my phone and not the headphones so I decided using the older BT driver..
The over the neck material seems very gentle, the headphones connection to the over the neck part is not durable. There is a dedicated place for the earplugs lines to avoid any accidental issue.
In the box provided soft case, which is an issue with these gentle set, the vendor can probably provide hard case with this high price..
I hope to update again in few months.
The bottom line: ANC is great, sound ok to great, many features but high price
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