Sony WF-1000XM3 Truly Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones with Mic, up to 32H battery life, stable Bluetooth connection, wearing detection with Alexa built-in - Silver

Note: Unlike many of the top rated reviews here, I didn't write this in return for a free product. I bought my own out of my own money. I bought these Sony buds to replace my Amazon Echo buds that I returned. They were annoyingly buggy and appeared as though they were not quite ready for market. On the other hand, they were £50 cheaper than these Sony buds. I can only compare these Sony buds to the Echo’s as I have not tried other wireless noise cancelling buds. Setup: Echo Buds win. The Sony’s were more of a faff to setup and configure the touch buttons how I like them, especially in terms of setting up Alexa. When you setup Alexa on the Sony’s (via the Alexa app), it over-writes the touch control for noise reduction, so I had to go back into the headphone setup and shift Alexa to the Right bud and re-establish noise cancellation controls on the Left bud again. Voice assistance: Echo Buds win. You only have to say “Alexa” to use her on the Echo buds, on the Sony’s you must physically press the touch control to speak to your assistant. Should also add that the touch controls on the Echo are easier to touch, I often fail to touch the right part on the Sony. Comfort: Sony wins. I have not weighed them, but the Sony’s feel lighter and less of a “plug” in your ears. It feels more open and there is less ear pressure. They are more “breathable” even though I have the correct sized rubbers to form a seal. There is far less fatigue with the Sony’s and after a two hour walk, I was happy to keep them in longer and listen to more music at home. Sound Quality: Sony wins. I do not know which buds are technically the best (to an audiophile) but I prefer the Sony sound. Going back to the previous point, it sounds more “open” like there is a wider sound stage. Like wearing open-back versus-closed back over the ear headphones. I prefer the more open sound on the Sony as I have always felt open headphones separate the various instruments and deliver more detail to each one. I said I would only listen to the Echo’s whilst on the go and would use proper over ear headphones at home. The Sony’s are good enough that I would use them at home too. Call Quality: Sony wins. I have been calling a friend during my lockdown walks and having spoken to them last week on the Amazon Echo Buds and this week on the Sony’s, they said the Sony was clearer. Noise Cancellation/Reduction: Echo Buds win. Not even close. The Echo Buds are far more effective at noise reduction. So much so that I switched them on passthrough when walking down narrow lanes because you literally cannot hear a car a metre behind you. The Sony buds are far less effective such that you have no trouble hearing a car approaching with Noise Cancellation on. Not so much that you cannot hear a podcast above the noise mind you, but traffic and wind noise were noticeably louder on the Sony’s. Overall Winner: This is tough one. The Amazon Echo Buds are £50 cheaper and that is not to be sniffed at. Because the Echo buds are buggy, I returned them so as it stands, I would give Sony the win. If the bugs are fixed on the Echo’s, it is a tougher decision and comes down to their superior noise reduction and a £50 saving, versus better sound quality, comfort and reduced fatigue with the Sony. I can live with the reduced noise reduction so for me the Sony’s are clear winners…at a price. EDIT: I've discovered that using the ambient sound or noise cancelling mode actually makes wind noise a lot worse. Ambient sound mode basically acts like a hearing aid so you would expect it to amplify wind noise. Surprisingly though, the noise cancelling mode has a huge issue as you would expect it to cancel out wind noise but somehow it manages to make it massively worse. In strong winds I use the 3rd option (tapping left ear) that turns off all sound processing so that they function like regular ear buds.

Before I say about mu experience with these, I should say that I have tried loads of these wireless earbuds. I love my music and love quality audio quality. If a purchase a set of headphones and then spend the first few days constantly fiddling with the EQ trying to get it to sound right, that's not a good sign. (as was the case with the Cambridge Audio earbuds). I have the Sony WH-100MX3 which are Sony's flagship over ear headphones and sound cancelling. These are truly amazing. I also have the previous version to these Sony wireless earbuds. These sound amazing too for in ear buds but the battery life is poor at around 2.5 hours. So when I saw these i was excited about the enhanced battery life. I can only say good things about these. They sound very good and the new sound cancelling engine (borrowed from the over ear version) is very good. When I first was trying them it was late at night. I has a shower whist waiting for them to charge and had the noisy bathroom fan on. I tried the earbuds for an hour or so before going to bed. I went into the bathroom with the music on pause. For a moment or 2, I was preparing to be disappointed as I could a slight hiss in the background. Buggar, I thought. I could not hear the his before of the sound of the music. After a bit of fiddling with volume etc I decide to go to bed a take the earbuds out. OMG......I had totally forgotten the fan was still running I could not hear it all until I took the earbuds out. The slight hiss was in fact the fan!!! SOLD! Battery life is great, hands free calling is OK, better since a recent firmware upgrade. Google, assistant etc works well if you want that kind of thing. I have seen no syncing issue whilst watching you tube, movies etc and the connect between the earbuds is very stable Not cheap but well worth it. Hope this was helpful I paid for these with my own money

Sony WF-1000XM3: Pros: - Superb sound quality - Excellent active noise cancellation - Great battery life - Looks very plush and feels solid - Nice accompanying app providing more customisable options - Large range of spare earbuds Cons: - Big and heavy in the ear - doesn't help to create a perfect seal - Patchy BT connection in crowded areas - Huge case - won't work in the pockets as it has hard edges. Also, the case lid can easily be scratched - Not waterproof/sweat resistant - For my ears, extended use would end up being uncomfortable - probably due to the weight and size of each earphone - Does not work well with Macbooks and Windows 10 - very clunky connections when it decides to connect - A lot of wind noise The above made me try out and then buy Apple's AirPod Pros: Pros: - Lightweight and great form factor - Best-in-class and seamless compatibility with Apple products - Incredible active noise cancellation for devices this size - yes, I'd say better than Sony - Sweatproof - Small, easy to carry around case Cons: - Sound quality not as good as Sony, however if like me its mainly about video, not so much music - it won't make much difference - Lower battery life - but again, no issues for me and will cover you for most flights - No app, however I'm not missing it to be honest Given the price difference is negligible, I would recommend the Apple AirPod Pros against this product. A perfect fit in the ear makes a huge difference. Due to the Sony's size and weight, I found the AirPods ANC to be superior. This may not be the case for everyone, could be down to size/shape of ear etc

Noise cancellation isn't the best, they're earbuds... but it is the best I have heard for earbuds. When you turn it on through the Sony app you can clearly hear the sound change when noise cancellation kicks in. Love that. Sound quality is great and you have some good functionality in the app to control what you hear. These are pricey, but certainly the best earbuds I have ever owned. I am contemplating getting their Big Brother WH-1000xm3 over ear version, as I have heard these, and they are brilliant. You get 3 sizes of earbuds in foam and rubber style (7 pairs in total including the ones on the buds out of the box) so you'll be hard to not find a set of earbuds that don't fit. I prefer the rubber ones as they seem to provide the best noise cancellation and tighter fit. They are comfortable and after a while you don't even notice you are wearing them. The charging case comes with a now standard USB-C socket to charge up the case which is brilliant as I now only need to carry one type of USB charging cable, and actually I don't think I have charged the case since the first charge (after about 20 days) yet. The buds charge to a good usage time in only a few minutes. About an hour of usage in only 10 mins charge. I have worn them continuously for about 3 hours and they still have loads of charge. At least I would say for an additional 1 or 2 hours out of the charge case. But as mentioned, ten mins in the case, and you'll easily get an hour of listening. NEGATIVES... And there's not many! They have ZERO water resistance due to the small mics on them in order to provide ambient noise and noise cancellation, so therefore getting them wet (even just slightly) is probably not a good idea. Would not recommend wearing in rain if you don't have a hat or umbrella! Love them!

After having my first review rejected for no reason at all here we go again, but I smell something dishonest, because these earbuds are not 4.5 stars. Awful connectivity - one of the Earbuds doesn't connect for about 10 minutes, now doesn't work at all. Terrible shape - Tried all buds provided, none of them are good enough to keep these in your ears at a steady walk, not a chance if you run or jog. Batter charge - Only notifies you for 100%, 70% and 50%. All are inaccurate. The earbud that does work says "100 -70 - 50% all within about 10 minutes. Once it's said 50% you've got about 1-2 minutes before they turn off. Randomly disconnect sometimes when in use, or just turn off. The good: Sound is pretty nice... Noise cancelling is ok.

I'm quite the Sony fanatic - most of my electronics involve either Corsair or Sony. I decided to take a chance on these earphones after reading good and bad reviews of them. Plus, the newer models were recently released, so these were a little cheaper because of that. I'll talk it through: 1. The delivery was smooth as always from Amazon. I like the colour of mine and like the fact they charge using Type-C. 2. The battery is good (so far). I've not had to charge them in some time and I have found that they're still saying 'Fully Charged' when I am putting them in my ears. The case is a bit on the larger side, but i'm not offended by it. There's a red light on the case that indicates that it is charging. 3. I was testing these on my way to work, which I walk to every weekday. I found that the choice of earbuds matters a lot. I had the memory foam type on, and while they felt okay, I felt that they made me more aware of cars going by by nerfing the sound. After switching to the rubber mesh like ones, I felt like the sound really improved and I could isolate my head into the music. It changed my perspective of the earphones. On a negative note, I definitely don't like these when it is windy. I have used these around three times when it has been windy and you can hear the sharp whistling of the wind go into the earpieces and its really annoying. I did switch to my wired Betron pair on one journey because I couldn't be bothered with the whistling. 4. The touch controls are a little 'touch' and go. You can modify them so they can be for taking calls, volume control etc. I think it's more of a me problem than the earphones, but sometimes it just won't register my tap, or if I have double-tapped to skip a song, it will register one tap and pause it instead. I really like the feature that means when you take out an earphone, whatever you're listening to pauses. When you place the earphone back in, it continues. It has a sensor on the side that detects proximity to determine this. 5. They are a strange shape, but they're not uncomfortable. Just place them into your ear and see what's right for you. I think they've even made a video or a guide specifically telling you how you should put them in because they have had that many requests about it. 6. I have only used the microphone about four times. For taking calls, they are a good fit. You can hear them well, they can hear you well, and you can use the tap feature to pick up and end calls. I tried these in a Playstation Party via the app on my phone and my friends thought I was on the other side of the room from my microphone, and it was on full. Overall, I do think these are great. They produce amazing sound with the correct earbuds and have a lasting battery that means I don't have to micromanage them everytime I use them.

I bought this primarily for noise cancelling so I can work in peace and quite at the office and on the tube. My previous set was a Bose Quietcontrol 30 which after 18 month of everyday use finally gave in. I bought this as is features almost in every list of 'best noise cancelling earphones 2019 list' and most of the professionals gave it full marks in reviews. Although people here on Amazon did give it such high marks overall. The good: - Easy to setup and connect (experiences no connection issues) - Really good app - Good range( can leave my phone in house and walk out to the garden which I cannot do with my old Bose QC30's) - Experienced no lagging issues with Netflix or Amazon prime as other reviewer on Amazon have mentioned (using Samsung Galaxy S9) - Volume was loud enough - They sound really good and has ample Bass - Charge case is really cool The not so good - The fit, have to really insert them deep into ear before they feel as if they are secure and won't fall out. They are very light so you have to shake your heard really hard before they come loose and fall out. So for everyday use, I don't think they will just fall out. - the noise cancelling is nowhere near as good as that of my Bose QC30's These earbuds only seem to cancel out background noise and NOT voices. First time I tried them I was in bed with the TV on, and it sounded like the noise cancelling did not made much difference as I could still hear everything that was being said on TV - then I realized that the difference was that with the noise cancelling off I could hear the bath water running, and with it on, I could not. Then I took them to work...and here the noise cancelling really showed its weakness. I like to put my headphone in at work with NC on and play some music to work in 'silence' and not get distracted. Not so here with these, I could still hear all the conversations my colleagues were having and had to turn the music up really loud to drown that out. Then on the Tube back home, the NC did not manage to cancel out the screeches of the tube carriages on the tracks and I could still hear all the announcements being made. With the Bose QC30, I can cannot hear my colleagues even if they talk to me (they usually have to tap me on the shoulder to get my attention) on the Tube it cancels out most of the noise and definitely the announcements, I've been booted off a terminating tube a few times by station staff because I did not hear the 'terminating' announcement. Oh and crying babies on an airplane - no problem with Bose QC30's, but I think these will not be able to cancel that out. As I said when I started this review the primary purpose for me is noise cancelling, so I am sending these back and ordering another pair of Bose QC30's. I'll be honest the Bose QC30's are not perfect, even though the sound is good and the bass is really good, the microphone for making hand free calls is really bad so I do not make calls with them, and you do have to walk around with a 'noose' around your neck which why I decided to try something different, but sadly if this is the 'best NC earbuds on offer' then I'm happy to have another pair of Bose QC30's until the new Bose model(Earbuds 700)come out next year(assuming they have the same level of NC as the QC30)

Headphones that randomly turn off and disconnect, that are prone to horrible loud screeching sounds whenever they encounter an issue and that take upwards of 2 minutes to connect to a lot of devices. Sure, when they work the sound quality is great (Bass is punchy and treble never seems thin) and the noise cancelation is fine, but in the 8 or so months since I bought these I have never once not had a connection issue while using them. The voice of the headphones UI is is also incredibly loud and will sometimes randomly interupt activities too; While other headphones I've used will use a simple beep or chime to indicate turning on or having a low battery, these things will muffle your audio for 2 seconds, take 2 seconds to give you a chime, another 2 for a "battery on" or "low battery", and another 2 for a "connected" or "please recharge headset" sound, before waiting to unmuffle your audio again, meaning that, if like me you use these for voice call meetings and your headphones happen to randomly disconnect or the battery starts to run low, you can easily miss between 10 and 20 seconds of talking depending on how slow these things feel like being on that particular day. Had a better experience with the sub £50 skullcandy sesh evo which i had for a couple of years and no issue, where as these which were almost 3 times the price at launch have been bug riddled messes with horrible ui choices and a companion app that refuses to act like something made in the last decade.