I’ve been on the fence about whether I should pick theWH1000XM3, but after the XM4’s released prices have gone down, but they’re still pricey. But as you already know, I did pick them up.
This is the WH1000XM3, one of Sony’s best noise cancelling headphones. With the advent of the xm4’s it did lose the crown of being Sony’s flagship ANC headphones, but they are still a worthy contender.
Prices have dropped considerably with them hovering around 15K during Amazon’s sales.
To get them out of the box, we slide it out like so.
The headphones have the interestingly named “Headphones” app which is available on both iOS and android. This app is important as it allows you to control all the features on the headphone and also tune the audio to your liking.
Inside we have the case, containing the headphones. We will get to that in a bit.
360 reality audio, free trial, and we also have a map style manual for quick setup instructions and a reference guide.
Now for the headphones, the case provided is a hard case, which should provide sufficient protection, looks really nice with this rose gold zipper on the side.
The rear has this mesh which allows storing any accessories for easy access.
Opening up the case, we have the headphones within. The headphones can fold down allowing it to take less space.
The xm3’s can be used wired too, so included is this 3.5mm to 3.5 mm audio cable.
Aeroplane adapter, to use these headphones on aeroplanes. Not to be mistaken for a power adapter as indicated by this sticker here.
Now for the headphones, they fold out to their full size.
We have a NFC logo here, we can pair these headphones to NFC compatible devices with just a tap. These could be phones, tv’s and more.
I thought this was a USB port, but these are vents for the speakers for the air to flow.
The left earcup has the 3.5mm jack which allows a wired connection to, a power button and the smart assistant button.
The right earcup has a USB-c connector for charging.
We have WH-1000XM3 marked here, to let the world know you purchased the cheaper variant.
The Sony logo looks beautiful with the same coppery/ rose gold colour, same colour is present around the vents too.
The ear cups are really soft, once I wear them, I will know how comfortable they are to use for long hours.
The styling is not flashy, I would consider this styling more conservative.
The design is modern and there are some notable improvements compared to the xm2’s. It is made of hard plastic with soft touch padding for the ear cups and headband.
The headband can stretch wide enough to fit most heads, with adequate clamping force. The padding on top is very soft too. Weight is 0.6 pounds, around 270 grams.
The xm3’s can fold down to take up less space, and they are easy to drop into a bag, using the provided case will keep them safe too.
Placing them back into the case was a bit confusing in the beginning as we need to only fold the left earcup down when packing it in. Now it has become second nature for me.
Pairing the headphone is easy, turn them on and they are ready to pair.
Its best to install the headphones app and it takes you through the pairing process. Follow the instructions and it should be paired in no time.
We do get this popup on screen indicating that the xm3 is ready to pair.
Continue and set up all the custom options available, there’s tons of settings. Once done we can see the headphones listed in the app. At last we can start listening to some music.
The earcups use a soft touch material which feels good, padding is also comfortable. At the top of each ear cup are two wide microphones that collect data to help with noise cancellation.
We have two buttons on the left earcup, one is to turn the headphones on or off and the other is to change between noise cancelling and ambient mode which also acts as the smart assistant button. You can use any smart assistant installed on the phone such as google assistant, amazon Alexa or if you have a Samsung phone, even Bixby.
Noise cancellation is why you purchased this headphone, and it does a fantastic job of drowning out the outside noise. This is helpful to drown out noises like engine noise, office air conditioning systems and flights. We can set the amount of noise cancellation we would like via the app, and if you would like some of the ambient noise to seep through we can set exactly how much via this slider here. Noise cancellation also works if you’re not listening to any audio.
You can tap on the right cup to temporarily lower the audio to be able to hear the world outside. It does need you to cover the side completely to activate.
We have touch controls on the headphone which are activated by swiping on the surface of the right earcup. Swipe up and down to increase and lower the volume, forward and back to skip tracks. Double tap to pause and play. The controls are easy to use and does seem to ignore accidental swipes. You need to swipe it like you mean it.
We have options in the app to tune the audio to your liking, we have predefined settings which make changes to the curves changing the audio dynamics. These are tuned more for normal users with an emphasis on bass, the mids are slightly tweaked too. During low frequency sounds I did feel the headphones vibrate. You can also set your own custom EQ profiles on the app.
These are not targeted for audiophiles, but they don’t sound bad either. Not that the sound is bad, they are one of the best in this price range, but they’re not perfect.
You can also setup 360 reality audio and customize the sound for your ears, by taking photos of each ear and upload them to Sony which once analysed by their machine learning algorithm sets up the app for the best 3d space listening experience.
The XM3’s features Bluetooth 4.2, which is a bit old but supports more codecs such as LDAC, SBC and also aptX. aptX is missing on the newer XM4 and is important if you use an Android phone.
These headphones are not water resistant, it might have some basic protection, but Sony doesn’t mention any IP rating, so be careful near water. Using these for exercising could have sweat seep in which could damage them, so just recreational listening is suggested.
Battery life is claimed to be 30 hours on the Sony WH-1000XM3, but it lasted around 24 hours when volume is set to 75 percent with maximum ANC running. This is still a good result and should keep you happy during long trips. If you need them to run longer, you can turn off noise cancellation and lower the volume. USB-C charging is great, as you don’t have to carry a micro-USB cable anymore as all your devices support USB-c charging.
The internal microphone sounds like this (watch video). This is how you would sound using the WH1000xm3 during phone or video calls or even your live streams. How does it sound? I will come to know only when I start editing the video.
The frequency response sounds pretty accurate, with slight processing in the highs. It sounds good for phone or video calls, but it still does sound a bit muffled. As they’re not designed to be used as professional microphones, they do sound moderately good.
Using the headphones wired gives you the best audio quality as there’s no compression. You cannot use the mic when wired though as there is no integrated mic on the cable.
So should you pick up the wh1000xm3 or the xm4’s. Well that depends on the phone you use, if you use an Apple device the XM4 is a better choice, as it supports Bluetooth 5.0 and also multi device pairing. If you use an android phone the aptX codec allows for much better audio quality, the battery life is also better on the XM3 and has most of the features of the higher priced xm4’s, which costs almost 10k more. The audio on the XM3 is more tuned for casual listening, which would keep the average user happy. There are other headphones available in the same price range, but for Active Noise Cancellation the XM3’s are still the best. I’m not an audiophile, so these sound great to me. It did take me some time to tune it to how I like, but they sound great now.
