Sony WH-1000XM3 Noise Cancelling Wireless Headphones with Mic, 30 Hours Battery Life, Quick Charge, Gesture Control, Ambient Sound Mode, with Alexa Built-in – Black

I first tried out the cheaper WH-CH700N because I was very reluctant on getting headphones with touch controls but after getting disappointed by the sound quality I decided to take the plunge with these anyway.First impressions, active noise cancellation is on a *whole* different level. As soon as I put them on it was like I was whisked away to another world and thought, "Wow, where'd all the noise go!" That "HD Noise Cancelling" isn't just sales talk. With the CH700N I could still hear the clicking of the mouse and the fans of my PC when I was actively gaming but as soon as I put these on, I couldn't hear anything apart from the muffled clicks of my mechanical keyboard. So you can as other reviews have mentioned, leave these on with nothing playing to use as ear plugs (very expensive ones!).Noise cancelling can be controlled via a physical button which also cycles between letting outside noise in or not. It can be quite annoying cycling through the three modes - noise cancelling, ambience and disable noise cancelling. Ambience mode uses the mics capture surrounding sound but obviously it's not going to sound very natural - try sniffing while you have it on. Then you can also completely disable noise cancelling too of course but the headphones don't remember your preference on the next boot up and reverts back to ANC mode.Audio quality sounds cleaner with some bass too, perhaps a bit on the heavy side so that even the vocals sound like they're booming when they shouldn't be. You'll probably want to do some tweaking with the EQ. Downside with this is of course you'll have to do with it every audio player you use these headphones with unless there's some pass thru app that let's you do it. You'll mostly be using the same music player app anyway I guess. On the other hand, the bass sounds just right for orchestral pieces without any EQ adjustments.Another point to note is with noise cancelling disabled the audio quality sounds notably degraded and rough so, it's best to keep NC on. With the CH700N, sound quality didn't change only the volume did. Bluetooth notifications are also louder than the CH700N so even with the volume down on your music it sounds like you have the volume up when hearing them.Touch controls aren't as bad as I thought they'd be. The promotional images make it look as if you need to swipe from specific areas but you don't. You simply swipe in certain directions and it will register. Cupping your whole hand over the side temporarily activates the ambience sound mics. It works but still can't beat taking off your headphones completely of course. It's a gimmicky feature since you can take your headphones off as fast you can activate this feature (and show your full attention).You can swipe up/down multiple times to control the volume or hold your finger down at the end of the swipe to let it continuously adjust. Unfortunately the latter changes the volume too quickly to make it of any use so swiping multiple times is the way to go for now unless there's a firmware update to improve that.Another problem is it's quite easy to bump up the volume by accident when you take the headphones off. Touch controls usually don't work well in cold weather when finger tips are cold and can also lose sensitivity over time but I guess I'll see.Fit wise, they actually feel tighter than the CH700N because I can feel the sides of my head a bit sore after an hour of listening whereas the other headphones took longer to feel the strain. The "n" arc is a fair bit narrower due to the shorter head band and it's probably so they can fit inside the fabric hard case it comes in. While the case itself looks nice, the compact size also means if you ever extend the headphones, you have to slide them back into place before they can fit back into the case every time. This might not be so good for durability on the headphones in the long term as you keep extending and shrinking the bands.The case also houses a 3.5mm cable and a flight plug converter. The USB 3.0 to USB-C cable is ridiculously short at just over 10cm long (excluding the connector ends)... They must expect you to have a laptop to charge from or have your own extender cable.Build quality feels solid and no worries about the headphones being a fingerprint magnet thanks to the matte finish instead of a glossy one.Battery life is impressive. I didn't have to recharge even once just out-the-box after watching a few movies whereas with my old Turtle Beach PX5 wireless, they barely lasted 1 movie on 2x AA batteries. On a full charge I managed to get the full 30 hours with ANC on, the same was what it claims on paper. You can get more if you don't use ANC apparently. Not many manufacturers manage to honour what they claim Song has in this case.So bottom line, extremely impressive noise cancelling headphones that really just leaves you with your music. On the other hand sound quality could be better balanced out of the box. It just needs less emphasis on the bass for enjoying vocal music. And as with all high end, wireless headphones remember to check if your device's bluetooth supports high end audio codecs (such as aptX or LDAC in this case) for the best audio experience.GREAT- Very impressive active noise cancelling - like being whisked to another world!- Noise cancelling is on even without music playing, could use as ear plug.- 30 hours of battery life with ANC on just at it claims on paper.- Can be used wired.- Light weight.NOT SO GREAT- Sound is quite bass heavy for vocal music. Will probably need an EQ to tweak it.- Cycling through the modes when you want noise cancelling off.- Headband arc is quite short so clamp can feel uncomfortable after a short while.- Ambience sound pass thru is more of a gimmick.- Ridiculously short USB to USB-C cable.- Odd auto power off right after connecting to bluetooth.

I've been using the Sony 1000xm3's for 4 full days now. In the house, walking, in the car, on the bus and in a busy office. I thought now would be a good time to review them and share my impressions. I'll try to cover several things that I would normally look for when testing my stuff and hopefully this will answer any questions people have about these amazing cans!I've been using the 1000x for about 2 years at this point as my main drivers. So I'll point out any differences I've found moving from those onto the mark 3's.Comfort/Ergonomics:Padding on the headband and on the ear cups is extremely soft and hugs my head nicely, but without applying too much pressure. The leather is synthetic, but gives a quality feel. If you've had a paid of Sony headphones before you'll be familiar with the materials they use. The weight has been reduced since the 1000x, and I have to say I'm shocked at how much 20 grams make a difference! Thumbs up here.They have simplified the controls by reducing the button count, bringing it down to two buttons from three. This works better than before. Instead of having a button for power and 2 for noise cancelling modes, there's one for power and the other allows you to cycle through the NC modes. There is a downside to this however if you intend on using the google assistant feature, as the NC button will become the assistant button.The 3.5mm headphone jack and cable that comes in the box is a nice length, and when plugged into the headphones there is a good amount of grip holding onto it to ensure it's not popping out while you move around. But I was a little disappointed with the over all feel of the cable, it's thinner and more flimsy than the line that came in the 1000x.Sony's choice to change the materials on the cups was a good one. It's smooth and more responsive than the leather textured one from the previous generations, it also doesn't make as much of a rubbing sound within the headphone as you swipe.Sound Quality/Signature:I've tested these in a few different configurations to see how they perform.First way you can use them is passively with the headphones powered down. The player you are using will send the signal and also power the headphones directly. I feel like what you get from listening like this is a sound that is quite balanced and flat, however this is really going to depend on the device you're playing with.Next, power up the headphones and you'll notice right away that the signature of the sound changes as the headphones own amplifier kicks in. What you get here is more base response and a much crisper treble. It's a satisfying sound signature and it's how I prefer to listen.Bluetooth is likely how most people will likely listen I feel, and the sound doesn't disappoint. In terms of signature, the Bluetooth connection matches what you have in wired+powered mode.The sound is very nice and I've got no complaints here. Generally headphones will change ever so slightly over time as you break them in, but normally it's for the better so I'll assume that to be the case here also.Phone call quality is good and is improved over the previous versions, however it's not perfect. If you're in a noisy environment, they tend to pick up everything. There needs to be a little more focus on the voice.Connectivity:As I mentioned before, when using the wire the cable is held in place tight so there is no accidental popping out.Bluetooth performance has been perfect. I use LDAC in quality preferred mode which is effectively the most likely to suffer from drop outs due to the amount of data being transferred on that mode, but I've not had any issues at all.The headphones can remember several devices in the connection history so that you don't need to pair each time you connect a different device. You are not able to connect to multiple devices at the same time unless the devices are using a different bluetooth profile. An example would be having it connected to your Walkman for media playback, and also connected to your phone for calls, this is fine. Connecting to a Walkman and a Tablet for media playback at the same time would not work.The app that Sony provide for controlling the headphones features offers some awesome customisation of the settings, including the noise cancelling configuration, button configuration for assistant, equaliser setting and others.Google assistant works well enough, but I feel this is something that isn't very well suited to headphones - at least the way I'd use it, better just using my phone. I guess this will be user preference.Noise Cancelling/Ambient Features:As most people no doubt already know if they have been looking at these headphones for any longer than 10 minutes, noise cancellation is there reason for being. I have to say they do not disappoint! How Sony improved on the already amazing 1000x and 1000xm2 is something I'm sure other manufacturers would love to figure out, and keep in mind that the xm2 was already considered best in class!When walking there is no thud sound which you can often get from noise cancelling headphones, the sound of traffic and people is almost completely blocked out. The loud roar of the bus engine is also blocked amazingly while commuting. The volume of people talking in the office is also reduced with amazing results. Often with noise cancelling headphones with ANC enabled it can actually negatively effect the quality of the sound you're getting through from your music. I'm glad to say that the music comes through clean as can be with ANC enabled here.The ambient modes are something really special about this line of headphones, and they make your day much easier if you are spending a lot of time with a paid of these on. Quick attention mode works great as always, letting you hear what you need to and then getting you back into the music without having to take them off.I was slightly disappointed in the ambient sound voice mode on the xm3s. When this mode is enabled, the cans try and let the voice of someone through, but without letting too much of the back ground noise in. In the 1000x this was balanced perfectly and I could have a conversation with someone easily. On the xm3's however the balance is leaning more towards trying to keep back ground noise out, which means they don't pick up the voices as well as the 1000x in my opinion.There is also a wind noise reduction mode which is something I had no idea about as it hasn't been mentioned by any one else that I was looking at. I was blown away by how effective the wind reduction was, and the trade off was minimal!In the end if someone was to ask me if I'd recommend picking these up, I'd tell them that once they have a pair of these they will find it very difficult to go back to another headphone!These are going to be with me a lot over the next few years and I'm very happy with them.