Review on Review: Sony WH1000XM3 Noise Cancelling Headphones – Black (2018 Version) by Lisa Ellis

I currently own about 30 headphones of different brands and types. I have tried many Bluetooth headphones, I have Bose QC35 II and Bowers and Wilkins PX. I bought both Sony WH-1000x MKI and MKII but returned them after weighing the cons and cost. My main complaints were comfort and sound (active noise cancellation has always been good). My go-to wearable headphones were the Bose QC 35 II. I especially liked them for their comfort and ANC. The sound of the Bose is best described as adequate but overall lifeless. Always looking for something better, I read a few "First Look" articles on the Sony WH-MX1000M3 and decided to pull the plug the first day they became available from Revain. When I got the Sony I was happy to see that the body was similar to the Bose QC 35, slightly larger but shaped enough to fit comfortably in my backpack. As soon as I took off the headphones and put them on my head, I knew they would be as comfortable as Bose. Good job Sony. After charging them for a few hours, I plugged them into my phone and went to my headphone test playlist on Spotify. My main criticism of the previous Sony's sound was that they had a very small soundstage (defined as the perceived distance between your ears and the music) and lack of clarity (defined as the clarity and separation of different instruments in a piece of music). The M3 sounded better than the previous Sony model and better than the Bose, but the highs sounded rather dull and bass-heavy. It was disappointing. But Sony has a phone app that lets you use the equalizer, so I download the app. Disappointment. The application did not recognize MK3. Patience. I suspect Sony hasn't updated the app yet. So I wait a day and see the Sony app has been updated automatically on my phone. I open it and cheers! Now it recognizes MK3. Now I can play with EQ: -1 at 400Hz. +1 for 1K. +2 at 2.5K. +3 for 6K. +4 at 16K and Clean Bass stays at 0. Turn on the music and talk now! I'm not saying they sound anywhere near as good as most of my wired headphones, but for everyday use on the go with noise canceling, they're just great. They blow off the bose. Bowers and Wilkins PX, which weigh about three times the Sony, have decent BT sound with ANC off, but the sound changes significantly and not for the better when applying any of the three ANC modes. The PX are fine for an hour without listening to ANC while sitting at home, but after that my ears and the top of my head hurt. Sony's noise-cancellation is a generation ahead of Bose. Here I said it. Most reviewers consider Bose to be the best ANC you can get. Well, Sony just showed Bose that they're the new big boys around. I did a few A/B comparisons with both headphones and found that not only does the Sony cancel out constant noise like jet engines or the air conditioner intake in my apartment, it virtually eliminates all other noise, including TV audio. Voices and even other people, as my wife can attest to as she had to stand in front of me and wave her arms to get my attention because I couldn't hear her speak (so if you want to block your wife's conversation... lol!). And that without fumbling with the settings in the app. Other reviewers here have not had the same experience, stating that there is no downvote. To be honest I wasn't expecting it to cut out the voices but I have to say Sony comes as close as anything I've heard. So, if you want super comfortable headphones with the best sound and active noise cancellation you've come to expect from wireless Bluetooth in 2018, get these. They won't sound as good as wired closed or open-back headphones, but "you can't always get what you want", "nothing is perfect" and "everyone is different". In addition to the Sony WH-1000XM3, I have used the following during this review period: Bose QC 35 IIBowers & Wilkins PXBang and Olufsen H6 (wired) Sennheiser HD650 (wired) AKG 7KXX (wired) SpotifyFlac files on phone and desktop UPDATE 2018 -09-21 : I had an issue with phone calls where people on the other end could hear their voices echoing. I tested the headphones with 3 different phones and the issue occurred on all 3. So I replaced them with Revain. I'm happy to report that the new couple has no problem. After some tests with phone calls, Sony still needs to work on the call quality at the other end of the line (the call to Sony itself sounds fine). In this regard, the Bose QC 35 is better. I think the call quality really has to do with the audio processing implemented by Sony, not the hardware. Hopefully this will be improved in future firmware updates. Another small downside that Bose handles better is support for multiple BT sources. But it's a bit annoying and I only use Sony for my phone anyway, so I don't keep switching sources. A small prize for the best ANC and music sound.