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Successor to Sony's Flagship WH-1000XM3 Wireless Headphones Spotted in FCC Filing

Pismo said:
These headphones are fantastic. I wore these on an 11 hour flight from Boston to Honolulu and the noise cancellation and battery life were excellent. Plus, the audio quality was excellent when listening to music or podcasts. The only things that I did not care for were the touch controls on the side and the microphone. I found changing the volume or skipping tracks cumbersome and always used my phone instead to change volume or skip tracks. If I got a phone call wearing them around the house, the person on the other end told me they could barely hear me.

I bought my wife AirPod Pro's for Christmas so I'm waiting to try those on a flight to see how the noise cancellation is. She's flying to Florida next month for a conference so I'll ask her how they perform. The carrying case for the Sony's isn't too bad to pack in a carry-on but I'd prefer the AirPods Pro's for their compactness. The Sonys would win for battery life though.
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Do you notice any hiss on the right side when enabling noise cancellation on the XM3’s? I just returned a pair as as soon as I had NC enabled there was a really distracting hiss and only from the right ear cup.

Not sure if it a fault or just the way the NC works on the Sony.

I know there is a very feint hiss on NC headphones, but as soon as you start with music or a podcast it is fine.

But the hiss was very distracting in audiobooks or quiet sections in songs.

I don’t have this issue with the AirPods Pro or QC 35s.

As well as annoying it almost affected my balance as it was only in one ear.

Very odd.

Returned them to try and figure out if it the Sony thing or just a faulty set
 
Pismo said:
There is a slight hiss which is the noise cancellation but mine are about the same on both sides. When I wear them, I usually don't use them just to block out noise like the jet engines and not play anything. On my long flight, I was pretty much listening to music, podcasts, or watching movies the entire time. Once something is playing, I do not hear any hissing. I've never had an issue with them. You will definitely want to Sony app on your device so you can manage the headphones and get firmware updates. Mine are on the latest version and they perform beyond my expectations. My bother-in-law has a pair of QC-35's and the Sony's sound so much better.
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Thanks, sounds like it was an issue with the pair I had. I went on a dog walk and listening to an audiobook I could hear the hiss with road noise.

If I listen to QC35s or AirPods pro with no audio I can just about hear hiss, but the Sonys was loud and only hissing on the right. The left cup was as I would expect and comparable to the QC35s.

Sounds like it was a fault then.

I did update the firmware and it made no difference, still the hiss.

Interestingly with the app as soon as I moved it 1 away from full noise cancelling the hiss went. It was only there when on full noise cancelling.... I wanted them for noise cancelling.
 
I tried the XM3’s. Sound and NC were great, but I could not stand the way the cheap, scratchy foam on the inside pressed against my ears. My QC25s have deep enough ear cups that that’s not a problem for them.

The pleather on the ear cups and headband also felt really cheap and thin (again, contrast that with the replaceable ear cups and fabric headband on the Bose).

Give me the Sony sound and NC, with the build of the QC25, and I’ll buy them yesterday...
 
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Not owning the XM3s but having almost bought them, I got caught up reading threads on many forums about the poor quality mics when used on a call. The Bose 700s get wonderful reviews for this.

I'm in no hurry to buy so can wait for the XM4s to come out. I'm also waiting for good reviews of the newer Sonys - the H910N. They've been out in Japan and Europe for a while but it seems that until they hit the US no-one bothers to review them!
 
coachingguy said:
I'm always surprised when people hammer on the build quality of the 1000xm3's... Mine have survived multiple drops, being tossed around in a gym bag or backpack as well as the fact that I've got a huge melon... LOL
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It’s because of the quantity of cheap feeling plastics used and pleather ear pads. It gives the perception of being poorly made - and frankly they are compared to the competition in the similar price bracket such as B&O’s H9, Bowers & Wilkins’ PX/PX7, Dali’s iO-6, Sennheiser’s M3 and even the Bose 700.
 
Pismo said:
I bought my wife AirPod Pro's for Christmas so I'm waiting to try those on a flight to see how the noise cancellation is.
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It's quite good. Example: I can stand directly in front of the dishwasher on the noisiest part of it's cycle and can't hear it at all when using the noise cancellation. It's not like that with every type of sound, but it does really well with droning noises similar to what you might want to block out on a flight.
 
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I loved these headphones ... pure quality and the best noise cancellation and transparency int he business! (Audiophile reviews & awards in a year to prove it)

Gave mine away to my son who’s into music production and remixing and when I originally offered he resisted saying his audiotechnica was the best until they broke and I gave him the WH-1000XM3’s. His reaction “good lord dad these are awesome”

after a month with the AirPod Pros I regret selling my WF-1000XM3’s: at least my Apple Watch S4 and Strong! Workout app could use the mic’s to record notes in my workouts. AirPod pros don’t send any voice at all. I’ll update today to see yet not other voice app works either; very frustrating.

I cannot wait for the update for both these models next year.
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EchoplexSE said:
Really???!?! That’s awesome, will have to check this out. I’ll always stretch my arms up over my head and pause the music or whatever other touch control and it is something I loath
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with physical controls you’d be doing the same thing lol. Unless you’re being sarcastic what you describe sounds silly. Use the Watch or phone itself to adjust controls.
 
DinkThifferent said:
Seriously, who came up with the 'name' "WH-1000XM3"? Oh, I really enjoy my "WH-1000XM3"? said no one ever.
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It might not be pretty, but the nomenclature makes sense:

WH = product group (wireless headset),
1000X = model name
M2/3 = abbreviation for ‘mark 2/3’ because those are the second and third generation of the original 1000X’ - if you look at the promotional videos, you’ll find that the M2/3 is always in a smaller font than the rest of the product name.

Fun fact: This logic doesn’t work for the TWS model, the WF-1000XM3 (WF = wireless freedom), which are actually the very first second generation of that model. Sony likely realised that the majority of people where referring to the later generations of the WH-1000X headset as ‘XM2’ and ‘XM3’ and wanted to position the second generation of the WF-1000X on par with the name of the WH-1000X.

Edit: Corrected the not-so-fun fact about the WFs.
 
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adrianlondon said:
Not owning the XM3s but having almost bought them, I got caught up reading threads on many forums about the poor quality mics when used on a call. The Bose 700s get wonderful reviews for this.

I'm in no hurry to buy so can wait for the XM4s to come out. I'm also waiting for good reviews of the newer Sonys - the H910N. They've been out in Japan and Europe for a while but it seems that until they hit the US no-one bothers to review them!
Click to expand...

Do you intend to use Skype or VoIP client on a desktop? If so read up on the Bose 700’s there are a lot of problems with that.

My issues with the 700’s were first pair bought at the airport completely died 10 mins into flight... would not charge or power on.

The software pairing to iPhone was horrible and buggy as hell.... I would have thought that would be fixed now though as this was in August.

Then the second pair I had would go all metallic during long voice calls, as I spend most of the day on conference calls I needed it to be good.

Took them back and got a refund.... waited a bit and then got the XM3’s that I have returned due to a hiss in the right cup.

I have never had problems with headphones before, but if I am paying top dollar for flagship items, I expect them to work well!

My 2016 QC35’s are still going strong, so will stick with them for a bit longer
 
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EchoplexSE said:
Really???!?! That’s awesome, will have to check this out. I’ll always stretch my arms up over my head and pause the music or whatever other touch control and it is something I loath
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I’m sure it was a massively requested feature. I sent it as feedback a few times.
 
I bought a XM3 recently and ended up returning it because I could not seamlessly connect from one device to another. For the high price point, one should not have to experience this kind of issue. I bought a Phillips a few years ago during Black Friday for $50 and was able to my devices with no issue.
 
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Not sure if I should pick the Bose 700 over the QC35?

I hear so many conflicting reports about each one. It’s so hard to decide.

I’m guessing the 700 won’t be replaced by a newer model anytime soon?
 
SgtPepper12 said:
I updated the firmware and I can't confirm this. Where exactly am I supposed to be able to disable that feature?
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Here you go.
EDD376F0-7702-4C03-BFFF-CE86479D42F9.jpeg
 
s54 said:
Not sure if I should pick the Bose 700 over the QC35?

I hear so many conflicting reports about each one. It’s so hard to decide.

I’m guessing the 700 won’t be replaced by a newer model anytime soon?
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The 700 every time. Whilst the overall sound quality is only marginally better it’s equipped with BT5, USB-C charging, is much better built with more premium materials and has better mics for calling.
Highly subjective but the design is also much more up to date than the QC35 which look like something out of the ‘90s ;)
 
rom3o said:
It might not be pretty, but the nomenclature makes sense:

WH = product group (wireless headset),
1000X = model name
M2/3 = abbreviation for ‘mark 2/3’ because those are the second and third generation of the original 1000X’ - if you look at the promotional videos, you’ll find that the M2/3 is always in a smaller font than the rest of the product name.

Fun fact: This logic doesn’t work for the TWS model, the WF-1000XM3 (WF = wireless freedom), which are actually the very first generation of that model. Sony likely realised that the majority of people where referring to the later generations of the 1000X headset as ‘XM2’ and ‘XM3’ and wanted to position the new product on par with the well known headset.
Click to expand...

I know that product codes are usefull in identifying it and are used everywhere but for marketing purposes i would have gone for a name, not a code. I mean, nobody says “I want for Christmas a CUH-1001A”, everybody says “I want for Christmas a Playstation 4”.

So if Sony can come up with a name for its very successful game console, they should also come up with a name for their successful headphones.
 
I had these for a while. The frequency balance was terrible. I absolutely hated that bloated bass that overwhelmed everything. I found them totally unlistenable unless the bass was reduced using the (very good) eq in their app. The Eq unfortunately doesn’t work if you use the cable, and wont work with anything but the iOS devices, so no Mac, no AppleTv.
However, the noise reduction was STUNNING, there is no other way to describe it. I never heard anything that matches it.

In the end i sold them and bought the Bose Qc35 Ii . Much better balanced sound right of the box. Average noise reduction. Useless app.
If the Sony’s didn’t have that horrible bloated bass , they would be an amazing package.
 
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