Review on SONY WH-1000XM3 Wireless Noise Canceling Stereo Headset: International Version with Seller Warranty (Black) by Christopher Clearfield

Overall this is a quality product from Sony, a worthy competitor to the Bose QC. Unfortunately, for reasons I will describe below, I decided to return the product, but the quality of the device and key performance factors were not an issue. The positives first: Noise cancellation: This is best in class, absolutely wonderful. I tried going from the Bose QC 35 II to this one and the difference in noise cancellation is absolutely noticeable and almost supernatural. It seems to be much better at filtering out quieter sounds. While the booming rumble is quieter on the QC35, it's all but gone on this Sony. Sound Reproduction/Sound Quality: Again, this is a great pair of cans. Adequate bass, excellent highs and mids. For the non-audiophile, these are probably some of the best sounding headphones you'll own. Compared to the Bose QC35 II, it's not a huge difference in my usual scenarios (unfortunately I haven't always been able to get the most out of Sony's onboard DAC capabilities, which clearly wins by miles), but if you're listening with noise-cancelling enabled, the does Excellent background noise reduction makes the sound even clearer. Now for my cons: Device control (compared to my trusty Bose): - Holding the power button takes 2 full seconds to turn the system on or off. There's this nifty little feature where you can cover the right ear cup with your hand and it disables noise cancellation and lowers the audio playback volume so you can hear the world around you. This works well enough, but it usually looks a bit odd and isn't typically what I would use. I tend to either be in context when I'm listening without being interrupted, or I need to turn it off immediately for a long time. The awkward pressing of the power button is tiring, but since holding your ear doesn't stop playback, long enough interaction requires a pause, which isn't a good thing either. - Double tap the earcup to play/pause. The problems with this are very simple. I would say that this "gesture" only worked for me the first time I tried it about 66% of the time. If you are too low or too high it will not be recognized, if you are slow or too fast it will not be recognized, if you are too light or too heavy it will not be recognized. Patting on your head over and over again looks stupid and sounds uncomfortable. Too unreliable for such an important function. Volume and playback controls are fully touch sensitive. Swipe up and down on your ear to adjust the volume. If you need a semblance of precision, you need to use one quick motion at a time to move a "tick" up or down. If you're too slow, they'll register as multiple swipes, which can result in rapid, unwanted low or high volumes. Skip forward/backward means to scroll forward and backward. The same volume problems generally apply here. two aspects of all this touch control that I despise1. Wipe alignment is static and precise. This means that if you lay down and try to jump forward, you'll have to swipe from the surface you're on to the ceiling, or you'll accidentally adjust the volume and vice versa. Even if you are set to lie on your side, you basically cannot interact with the controls if your right ear is covered.2. The precision required to get the right part of the earbud to the right part of the finger at the right speed/tap is a totally useless and unnecessary abstraction from simple buttons. If your gesture doesn't work, there is no feedback to understand what you did wrong. - "Multiple" device syncing: This may not be such a big deal to other users, but these headphones do NOT support synchronous device pairing/playback. This means you have to manually disconnect from your phone, for example, and then manually reconnect to your laptop or other device. You don't need to re-sync Bluetooth, but you should go into the menu and play around. My Bose QC 35s connect to my phone and PC at the same time and switch between them based on audio playback priority. I can listen to YouTube on my laptop and when I get a call the audio automatically switches to my phone. Such behavior does not exist from Sony. This feature is a big plus for me. - Wind noise reduction: Although the actual level of noise reduction is better, high-speed wind handling is terrible. Unfortunately, this quickly affects my frequent commute to work, since I commute by open ferry almost every morning. Long Term Comfort: I suspect this will improve with time, but in many cases a session longer than 45 minutes felt a bit painful. , and loosening the headgear caused slippage, which more than lessened the discomfort. Overall, this is clearly a quality product and does its job very well, but it's not enough for my workflow and use cases.