Sony WF-1000XM3 Truly Wireless Earbuds: A Complete Review

There are not many good wireless headphones with active noise cancellation on the market, especially those made in the TWS form factor. Therefore, it is doubly interesting when there is such a model and the manufacturer who excelled in this segment. After the successful Sony WF-1000XM3 headphones, it’s time to get acquainted with their younger brother Sony WF-1000XM3 made in the in-channel form factor.

Here is a detailed guide for Best Sony Headphones For 2020

Options Sony WF-1000XM3

With headphones and a charging case, 6 pairs of ear pads are supplied: 3 pairs of silicone and 3 pairs made of foam. A short cable with Type-C is also included.

Design and Case of Sony WF-1000XM3 Truly Wireless

Sony WF-1000XM3 is a fully wireless headphone, so the charging case deserves special attention. It is quite large, completely plastic, and made in not the most practical materials. A gold version of the headphones was tested, it’s impossible to call it a brand, but there is also a black modification. And so it is soiled. The case cover also quickly loses its presentation. For a week of careful use, a net of scratches appeared on it, although the case was stored in an empty pocket.

The rest of the case turned out to be relatively light and bumpy. It opens without problems with one hand, and its lid is spring-loaded. Headphones are easy to get out of; there are recesses near the mount points, thanks to which they are easy to pick up. The case itself is made in a minimalistic design, and of all the variety on it, there is only a charging indicator and a USB Type-C port. In general, I like the look of the headphones and the case – expensive, stylish, and with Sony’s handwriting.

The convenience of Use

The Sony WF-1000XM3 form turned out to be successful. In my opinion, the headphones sit comfortably in your ears. When correctly selected, ear cushions do not fall out of your ears and do not cause discomfort after several hours of listening.

Another thing is that they protrude quite noticeably from the ears, which will become a noticeable nuance when wearing a hat. Unfortunately, the headphones are poorly suited for use during sports because they fall out with sudden movements, even with the right ear pads. Sony does not even position the WF-1000XM3 as a solution for sports, which is also indicated by the lack of moisture protection.

As befits not the cheapest headphones, and Sony WF-1000XM3 are such, there is a bit of magic. The headphones are equipped with proximity sensors and can turn off playback when you remove the headphones from your ears and continue when you insert them, which is very convenient.

If you do not need both headphones simultaneously, for example, during a conversation, you can use either left or right. Both will work the same way. This is possible because the headphones receive a signal independently from each other, not one headphone from the other.

Playback, conversation, and functionality are assigned to the modules’ touch keys, one on each. Unfortunately, there is no volume control. For this, you will have to reach for a smartphone in your pocket.

Sound Quality Sony WF-1000XM3

Very good. Clean high, no wheezing, hard, but elegant bass. Of course, we are not talking about any breadth of the scene, given the form factor, but the sound in the Sony WF-1000XM3 can be called one that suits a lot of people and a lot of what (I mean genres).

Headphones can not be called those in which you want to listen to individual notes or look for the atmosphere. No, these headphones are listening to music in vehicles, outdoors, and at home every day. The sound is as versatile as possible. But it seemed strange to me that Sony decided not to use the LDAC and AptX codecs and limited themselves to SBC and AAC.

You can also read: Sony MDR-1000X Wireless Headphones: A Complete Review

If we compare the sound with Apple AirPods Pro, the main competitor to Sony WF-1000XM3 in price and features, there is almost complete parity between them. Personally, it seemed to me that in AirPods Pro, a little more detailed are high, but this is not manifested in all the compositions, and the difference itself needs to be looked for specifically.

Connection

To connect to a smartphone, Bluetooth 5.0 is already used. There are no complaints about the quality of the connection between the headphones and the smartphone; the connection has always been stable, not a single disconnect at the wrong time. A normal connection was maintained even up to 15 meters in an office environment with many wireless devices. There is NFC for quick connection of Android smartphones; there are no additional amenities for iPhone owners.

Microphone Sony WF-1000XM3

The headphones’ voice quality is good, better than most wireless models, but you still can’t talk along the noisy road. The interlocutors complained about the poor speech intelligibility. But in a quiet room you can talk without problems.

Noise suppression

The WF-1000XM3 has two modes of operation with ambient noise – its suppression and amplification. Quick switching between modes can be assigned by pressing the touch button on the left earphone. The noise reduction power can be adjusted independently in the Sony Headphones application, or you can enable the function of automatically detecting ambient noise. The headphones will adjust to it on their own.

In practice, the headphones correctly distinguished a noisy road from a vehicle. Still, the noise reduction was a little lacking in strength, so I always turned on the maximum noise reduction level, which turned out to be enough for standard situations – metro, office, street. But this is definitely not a bug, but a feature, since a certain noise permeability is still needed so that you do not miss your stop or hear a car signal on the street.

Autonomy of Sony WF-1000XM3 Truly Wireless

Sony claims for WF-1000XM3 6 hours of battery life with noise reduction turned on, which is an excellent result and one of the maximum for headphones with this form factor. In practice, I never once got close to discharging modules because sometimes you still need to rest. A charging case is enough for 4 full recharging headphones and 24 hours in total. The case is fully charged in 1.5 hours. And 10 minutes of charging the modules themselves are enough to work for 90 minutes.

Conclusion: Should you buy Sony WF-1000XM3 Truly Wireless?