Sony WH-1000XM6 Headphones with Bluetooth - Black

TL;DR: Not worth the price! ANC = best in class, but not worth the huge-earcup (with no ear space) tradeoff. The sound is worse than $ headphones. Max I'd be willing to pay for these is $ on a good day and only because they are GREAT for calls, and are lightweight (though bulky).

Too long part:

I picked these over the Bose QC II, because in spite of those being known as "uncomfortable), these were more comfortable/better fit for me on a side-by-side comparison. There is almost no room within the earcup, so these will touch/press on your ears from the inside, if your ears are not "flush and small". As a woman, they fit me fine. That lack of space also translates into the music not being able to "breathe" before it reaches your ears. SOUNDSTAGE SEPARATION IS 0/10. I promise I'm not exaggerating when I say these sound like cheap $ on-ear headphones, except they go for $!

The best thing these do is ANC. With that said, for the price, these are absolutely not worth it. The only reason I didn't send them back is because I went abroad right on the day I received them (and missed the return window when I got back). For reference, I bought the Baseus XH1 as a gift for a friend, and I got to compare them side by side. The non-Sony $ headphones BLEW THESE OUT OF THE WATER in terms of sound! These were much better with ANC, but neither will block out human speaking voices. Both performed amazing for low frequencies (I think that's just standard now, so both will work to block out airplane rumble).

Setting these up out of the box was a bad experience too. The bluetooth is frustrating. The app is bloated with features that read great on paper, but don't work well in practice. Example: The feature that lowers music volume when it detects you're talking... if you like to sing along or hum, that feature is silly. In order to change any settings you have to use the clunky app that sometimes doesn't want to connect to the headphones.

I've had these for 3.5 months, and the hinges are starting squeak in a "stressed plastic" way. Also, the texture feels nice, but unfortunately attracts natural skin oil more than any other texture I've ever felt on any equipment. I'm close to a germaphobe, with keeping my hands clean, and my headphones looked like they'd been used for a year 2 days into using them because they had oil all over them.

One of the worst things about these:

YOU CAN'T USE THEM WHILE LYING DOWN!!! It's literally in the manual. If you use them while lying down, the ANC might not work properly. In my experience, calls don't work well.

CALLS (almost redeeming feature): These are the best headphones I've had for taking calls in noisy environments (the street). With that said, there are still 2 issues with calls: 1) I can't hear my voice through the headphones during calls. There is a feature to enable hearing your voice during calls, but in my opinion it should have a volume fader. Even with it enabled, it's not enough to keep me from having to speak loudly to hear myself. The only way it works is if I enable Ambient Mode (thus letting more sound in).

2) CALLS DO NOT WORK IF YOU'RE LYING DOWN: This is such a stupid issue. As soon as I lie down with these to talk to a friend, they say I sound muffled, or they can't understand what I'm saying. The manual says it's something about the sensors...

Bluetooth: My 3-year old $ 1more Comfobuds connect to my phone and laptop quicker than these. On my Macbook Pro, I have to manually connect these EVERY.TIME. Multi-point connection is good though.

WORKING OUT/walking in misty conditions? Stay away. No IPX rating. Also this material is clearly not made for sweat.

Real issues I've had with these so far:

- At the airport, the right ear started making a crackling sound during ANC while listening to music. I turned off the music, turned them on/off, checked sensors (all clear), checked that app was updated (yes), and it persisted. Then next time I used them, it didn't happen again.

- It's happened a few times that when I'm watching Netflix on my Macbook Pro, or when listening to music via my iphone, the headphones will just turn off on their own (you had ONE job...).

Overall, this could be a great product, but Sony needs to look at the competition and realize that the times where you can overcharge people for something that doesn't work well is soon coming to an end. Don't do it, unless you have a $ burning a hole in your pocket, and you already have workout headphones. These are less functional than $ earbuds.