Sony WH1000XM3 Noise Cancelling Headphones, Wireless Bluetooth Over the Ear Headset – Black (2018 Version)

5.0 out of 5 stars

By Deep Spaceus - Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2018

Bose has been decisively dethroned (Update)

I currently own about 30 headphones of various brands and types. I have tried many Bluetooth headphones and own the Bose QC35 II and Bowers and Wilkins PX. I bought both the Sony WH-1000x MKI & MKII but returned them after weighing the shortcomings vs the cost, my main complaints being comfort and sound (the ANC was always good). My portable-everyday-beat-them-up headphones were the Bose QC 35 II. I liked them primarily for the comfort and ANC. The sound on the Bose can best be described as adequate but generally lifeless. Always in search of something better I read a couple of “First Look” articles about the Sony WH-MX1000M3 and decided to pull the plug on the first day that they were available on Amazon. When I received the Sony’s I was pleased to see that the case was similar to the Bose QC 35, a little bigger but shaped well enough to fit comfortably in my backpack. When I removed the headphones and put them on my head I realized immediately that these would be as comfortable as the Bose. Good job Sony. After charging for a couple of hours I paired them to my phone and went to my headphone test playlist on Spotify. My main complaint with the previous Sony model's sound was that they had very little soundstage (defined as perceived distance between your ears and the music) and little definition (defined as the clarity and separation of the various instruments in a piece of music). The M3 sounded better than the previous Sony’s and better than the Bose, but the highs appeared to be quite subdued and overwhelmed by the bass. This was disappointing. But, Sony has a phone app that allows for EQ so I go download the app. Frustration. The app did not recognize the MK3. Patience. I figure that Sony has not updated the app yet. So I wait a day and see that the Sony app has automatically updated on my phone. I open and hurray! It is recognizing the MK3 now. Now I can play with EQ: -1 on 400 Hz. +1 on 1K. +2 on 2.5K. +3 on 6K. +4 on 16K and “Clear Bass” remains at 0. Play music and now were talking! I’m not going to say that these sound nearly as good as most of my wired headphones, but for everyday-on-the-go-beat-them-up-with-ANC these are exciting. They blow the Bose away. The Bowers and Wilkins PX which weigh about three times more than the Sony’s have decent BT sound when the ANC is off but the sound changes considerably and not for the better when you apply one of three ANC modes. They PX is OK for about an hour of no ANC listening while sitting at home, but after that my ears and the top of my head hurt. The noise cancellation of the Sony is a generation ahead of Bose. There, I said it. Most reviewers crown the Bose as the best ANC you can get. Well, Sony has just showed Bose that they are the new big boy on the block. I did some A/B comparisons with both headphones and realized that the Sony not only cancels steady noise like jet engines or the sound of the air conditioning intake in my condo, but it does a great job of virtually eliminating all other sounds, including television voices and even other people, as my wife can attest to when she had to stand in front of me and wave her hands to get my attention because I could not hear her talking (so, if you want to block out your wife’s talking… LOL!). And this is without even messing with the settings in the app. Others reviewer here have not had the same experience, stating that it does not cancel voices. I frankly did not expect it to cancel voices, but I must say that the Sony comes as close as anything I have ever not heard. So, if you want very comfortable headphones with the best sound and Active Noise Cancelling that you can expect with wireless Bluetooth in 2018 get these. They will not sound as good as wired closed back or open back headphones, but “you can’t always get what you want”, “nothing is perfect”, and “everybody is different”. In addition to the Sony WH-1000XM3 during this review period I used: Bose QC 35 II Bowers & Wilkins PX Bang and Olufsen H6 (wired) Sennheiser HD650 (wired) AKG 7KXX (wired) Spotify Flac files on phone and desktop computer UPDATE 2018-09-21: I did experience an issue with phone calls where people at the other end were hearing an echo of their voice. I tested the headphones with three different phones and the problem occurred with all three. So I replaced them through Amazon. I am glad to say that the new pair does not have the issue. After some tests with phone calls I will say that Sony still needs to do some work on the call quality at the other end of the call (the call sounds fine in the Sony itself). In this regard, the Bose QC 35 is better. I think the call quality is really with the sound processing that Sony has implemented and not the hardware. Hopefully this will be improved in future firmware upgrades. Another minor con that the Bose handles better is the support for multiple BT sources. But this is a minor annoyance and I only use the Sony's for my phone anyway, so I am not constantly switching sources. Small price to pay for better ANC and musical sound.

5.0 out of 5 stars

By Justin - Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2018

Excellent noise canceling and sound quality, along with a very good mobile application.

The noise canceling on these is noticeably improved over the previous generation. The sound quality is excellent, and if you use the Headphones app you can change the base and other EQ settings. The base is good and strong, especially when you turn it up. When you enable noise canceling and run the optimizer, it is phenomenal! Voices are not completely canceled, but in most cases they will be muffled and hard to understand. Play music on top of noise canceling, and you won’t really hear anything at all. I attempted to use these in the dining room which was very loud, and I would say about 90% of the sound was canceled out without playing any music. I’m not sure how these will handle in the car, but I suspect they should be fine. Wind noise might be the only issue, which isn’t that big of a deal. They are extremely comfortable as well. Maybe not quite as good as the QC 35 headphones, but very close. They are a clear step up from last year‘s noise canceling headphones! Update. The headband is covered in leather and has more Patty. I have not heard of any cracking issues, and the headband feels slightly stronger to me. Also, the swivel pointst feel stronger as well.

1.0 out of 5 stars

By Larry Doyle - Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2018

Almost worthless when used with a laptop

When using WH-1000XM3 headphones connected by bluetooth on my 2018 Macbook Pro, the ambient sound stays on even in the noise cancelling mode, to the point where it is actually worse than no noise cancellation at all. I connected the headphones to the app on my phone and lowered the ambient sound settings, and it worked, but only on the phone. When I re-connected to the Macbook I got the same issue. When I connect to the Macbook via the headphone jack, I do not have this problem. But I don't want to be tethered to the headphone cord. I did all the trouble shooting stuff in the manual and online, and tried to contact Sony support. I was unable to do this via chat or email because Sony does not recognize this model number. When I called they had me go through all the trouble shooting I had already done and then said I need to download drivers from Apple. There are no such drivers. The Macbook is entirely up-to-date on all its software and firmware. Also, the ambient sound is being detected by the headphones themselves. I can block it by cupping my hands over the ear cups, but it's hard to type that way. UPDATE: After three months trying to get an answer, I'm told that the headphones are not supposed to work with laptops or desktops. Huh. That's funny. When I read their ad copy on this page, it didn't say WILL NOT WORK WITH DESKTOP OR LAPTOP COMPUTERS (It's still not there.) Also, you'd think the design would be a little more sleek if they were intended to only be used by people with phones. I can't imagine anyone running or biking with these on. This is pathetic and unacceptable. I want to return these but more than 30 days passed beforeI found out that this was not a bug and not a feature. If this was an Apple product, there would be several class action lawsuits and stories all over the internet. (also, what that rep said about bluetooth was utter b.s. It doesn't work that way.) UPDATE UPDATE: I read on the Sony site that the company was replacing these headphones with ones that worked if you called support and gave them the serial number. So like a fool I called support. After several minutes, the person on the line came back and tried to lead me through rudimentary troubleshooting (which I've been doing since November [see above]) and then he went away and came back and said there must be something wrong with my laptop, and then when I pointed out that people have had this same problem on different laptops and desktops, he said, and I kid you not, that the headphones are NOT GUARANTEED TO WORK WITH THIRD PARTY PRODUCTS, and when I pointed out that wireless headphones are pretty useless if you can't connect them to a third party product, he said that Sony has NO RECORD OF EVER SEEING THIS PROBLEM. This particular support person also had the very annoying verbal tic of beginning each of his sentences with "actually," followed by something that wasn't true. This product should not be for sale. May 12, 2019 Update: Got tired of waiting for a fix. Bought new headphones. Cheated out of $350.