Many people consider the new Sony WH-1000XM3 to be the very best wireless noise-canceling ever made...to date. If you're the proud owner of a pair of Sony WH-1000XM2's then you're probably wondering if it's worth spending the money on the upgrade & palming your old cans off to a relative as a Christmas present. Well between you & I...I currently have both, so I'm going to tell you the answer.

DESIGN

The styling of the Sony 1000XM3 has changed a little bit. At a glance, the first thing you will notice is the embossed Sony logo is now slightly embellished with a rose gold. Also, Sony has highlighted the external mics with the same gold finish.

The size of the earpieces has slightly shrunk giving them a slightly slimmer profile. On the insides of the earpieces, they have kept the plush padding as before but this time giving you more room for you more room inside the earcups for your ears. Unless you are fortunate enough to have massive ears, your ears should fit entirely inside them. Bigger ears mean you can hear more right?

The headband has been improved too. The Sony WH1000XM3 now have more padding than before & Sony have decided you lose the silver band that used to run across the top.

The onboard buttons have been adjusted also. There are still only two buttons but this time they are raised, more clearly marked and easier to find. NOW the 1000XM3 have USB-C which means faster charging (more on this later).

The texture on the earpieces has also changed. On the Sony WH-1000XM2 we saw a leather style finish. Which I thought was quite nice as it prevented the headphones from becoming fingerprint magnets, however, I heard it did affect the touch controls a little.

I also heard that the hinges on the 1000X mark 3 have been reinforced due to rumors of them cracking on earlier models... I really didn't want to put them through a stress test to find out...I'm sure someone will sooner or later.

USABILITY

So I mentioned the buttons have improved making switching between noise canceling modes easier than ever. The touch controls have also improved due to the change of texture on the earcups. The same functionality applies. Swipe up & down for volume, left & right to skip tracks, double tap to pause/play and hold for your AI assistant.

Also, the hand over the earcup to disengage ANC and amplify you surroundings is still present.

So... one of the biggest complaints that I hear from the WhatGear audience is that the mics for voice calls were not very good on the 1000XM2. I've tested both and I think Sony has made some improvements in this area. I'll have to test this various different environments to really see just how much they have improved.

As the app improves so does the functionality. The same features will roll out to the Sony 1000XM2's at the same time as the Sony 1000XM3's. However, the 1000XM3's now has a barometer that measures the atmospheric pressure. This is visible within the app, and it will let you know what it's doing... so that new.

NFC Is still present. While you still only can only connect to one device at a time, NFC makes it really quick and easy to connect devices with a simple tap on the back of the earcup. It’s so much easier than navigating to your bluetooth settings and connecting that way.

Overall the usability of the new Sony WH 1000X has improved!

QUALITY

So the most notable improvement when it comes to sound quality is the serious amount of bass the new 1000XM3 can deliver. I was quite honestly blown away the first time I threw on the new Eminem album in the FLAC audio format with my Xperia XZ2.

Like the 1000XM2 the new Sony headphones support Sony's proprietary LDAC Hi-Res audio streaming. Currently supporting 24Bit/96Khz playback over Bluetooth...I heard Qualcomm AptX are about to catch up but that's another story.

The Sound quality is just amazing! It was awesome before on the mark 2's but there have been some notable improvements right across the board when it comes to sound quality. The amount of noise that can be cancelled is now even better than before. The mark 3 now being able to block out more sounds around the normal vocal range mean babies crying on a long haul flight...less of a problem.

I walked down a very busy street in London with full noise cancelling on… I could not hear a damn thing!

AWESOME FEATURES

So the first awesome feature is the addition of the barometer. Now this headphones will know what the atmospheric pressure is around you and adjust the sound accordingly. You will be hard pushed to find a better pair of air travel headphones than these right now... sorry Bose QC.

The touch controls on the side of the earcup eliminate the need for loads of buttons. There is nothing worse than having to take off the headphones to find little fiddly buttons, especially in low light conditions. Simple swipe gestures solve that problem. The same feaure exists on the mark 2 but the sensitivity has improved on the mark 3's as I mentioned earlier.

The overall look and feel of the headphones are spot on. When wearing them they feel light, comfortable. They feel durable when you're not wearing them & compact down into a really nice small protective hard case when not in use.

The addition of the upgrade to USB C is a huge improvement. Now just 10mins charge will give you 5Hrs playback. This is just so awesome. For example, if you mainly use the Sony WH-1000XM3 to commute to and from work, throw them on charge for 10mins before you leave the house and you are pretty much set for the entire day...WOW.

Should you upgrade...

well it depends on how much you can sell your old Sony WH1000XM2's or your current headphones for...good price? Then do it!... is it just me or does it feel like that rose gold kind of looks bronze...maybe Sony have got a silver & gold version lined up?

SONY WH-1000XM3 6 MONTHS LATER REVIEW