Review: Sony's Fantastic 1000X M3 Noise-Canceling Wireless Headphones

Sony is currently selling the third generation of its WH-1000X series of noise-canceling wireless headphones. With a $349.99 MSRP that represents a $50 bump from the previous generation, the Sony 1000X M3 headphones feature a new design that brings multiple improvements (including upgraded comfort, longer battery life and USB-C charging), along with a new custom processor that’s claimed to deliver dramatically better noise cancelation.

They aren’t quite perfect, but they come pretty darn close.

A Dedicated Chip for Noise Cancellation

The 1000X M3 headphones are equipped with Sony’s new QN1, HD noise-canceling processor. This chip is reported to provide four times the performance of the previous version and it shows. Noise cancelation was nothing short of spectacular with these headphones. 

Forbes contributor Mark Sparrow posted a review when these headphones were first released, but after Sony sent me a pair and I spent a month with them, I decided to focus on their noise-cancelling performance.

To give them a really good test, I brought them with me for a visit to Splash Works, the water park that’s part of Canada’s Wonderland near Toronto. We rented a cabana for the day that was situated just a few feet from the edge of the popular White Water Bay wave pool. Immediately behind the cabana, cars on a roller coaster roared past every five minutes. Sitting on a lounger at the cabana, I measured the background noise from the hundreds of people in the wave pool at 85db. When the coaster car zoomed past full of screaming passengers, it would suddenly hit 96db. Annoying and constant background noise punctuated by occasional very loud sound: perfect conditions for testing the noise cancelation performance of these headphones.

Turning on the noise canceling — with no music playing — resulted in near absolute silence. No crowd noise, not the slightest hint that an active roller coaster was in operation just steps away. You can choose to over-ride the battery saving feature that turns the headphones off if music (or a voice call) is inactive for a specified duration (five minutes is the default). This means that if you just want get some peace and quiet to nap during a trip or while sitting in the shade just steps from a noisy crowd, you could leave the headphones on with the noise cancelation active. 

The headphones come with an almost bewildering number of noise cancelation options including app-based ambient sound tweaking, personal optimization based on factors including how the headphones are worn, and even atmospheric pressure optimization — which is designed for flyers (I didn’t have the opportunity to try this out). There are physical buttons on the left ear cup to turn noise cancelation on and off, and to cycle through ambient sound options. Cover the right ear cup with one hand and the headphones immediately pause all noise cancelation and music. Move your hand away and everything resumes. This clever feature is great for easily engaging in conversation without having to remove the headphones.

 Sony 1000X M3 headphones Key Specs:

• Closed, dynamic headphones 
• 1.57-inch dome type Neodymium drivers with with Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP) diaphragms and CCAW voice coils
• Frequency response 4Hz - 40,000 Hz
• Sony QN1 HD noise-canceling processor
• Noise cancelation includes personal optimization, atmospheric pressure optimization and ambient sound mode 
• Bluetooth 4.2 with SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, LDAC support
• DSEE HX audio upscaling
• Touch controls on ear cup surface
• USB-C charging, 3-hour charge time for 38-hour battery life (30-hours with noise cancelation)
• Includes hard carry case, 3.94-foot headphone cable with gold-plated stereo mini plugs, in-flight plug adapter, USB-C cable
• Weighs 8.99 oz
• Available in black or silver, MSRP $349.99

Audio Performance

Of course most people don’t buy headphones just to block out noise. They wear them to listen to music. Sony’s 1000X M3 headphones impress on that front as well. 

Music playback is expansive and warm, with crisp treble and very muscular bass. If the default sound isn’t exactly to your liking, the Sony Headphone app provides extensive customization options. There’s an equalizer with a number of presets and the ability to save several personal tunings. The headphones incorporate Sony’s DSEE HX audio — upscaling that the company claims will boost lossy MP3 and AAC files to near high resolution sound quality. I was able to detect some AAC tracks that sounded subtly more energetic with DSEE HX active, but I suspect my age (and resulting hearing decline) means I’m not getting the most out of it. You can turn the feature on and off in the app.

Sony also includes virtualization technology that lets you manually select the spatial positioning of audio (although I’m not entirely sure why you would choose to have all the audio coming from your rear left, for example). The more practical use of that tech is found in the Surround modes that process the music to make it sound more like you’d hear in a concert hall or an arena.

Once you make a change to audio settings like the EQ, the adjustments are retained by the headphones even if you close the app.

Comfort, Controls and Battery Life

This is the area where my very few and very minor quibbles with these headphones come into play. 

No concerns at all with the comfort. Sony made some design changes over the 1000X M2s by tweaking the headband shape, adding more padding, and shaving the weight down. I found them extremely comfortable to wear. In the heat of a 90-degree day by the pool, the ear cups did become a little sweaty, but that wasn’t an issue in normal indoor use. 

The ear cups pivot and swivel in order to fit perfectly — and to allow the headphones to fold up for easy storage in the included zippered hard case — but it makes them seem almost loose. That’s a minor detail that may not bother you at all (and there is no sign that they are not built to high standards), but I thought that looseness made the headphones feel cheaper.

As mentioned, there are button controls on the left ear cup. Through the app, the Ambient Sound button can be re-mapped to invoke Google Assistant or Alexa. The surface of the right ear cup is touch-enabled for music controls. While it worked great for the gesture of covering the ear cup to pause operation for conversation, I found touch control could be hit or miss. To be fair, I always find headphone touch controls to be a little flaky — if you take the time to practice the location and swipes needed for various functions, it can work well enough, but if you use it sporadically the feature can be a little frustrating.

Battery life was excellent, and an improvement over last year’s model. Sony claims up to 30 hours of battery life with noise-cancelation activated, and up to 38 hours if you’re just listening to music or taking voice calls. That number is based on using moderate volume, but I found it was accurate. Charging from empty takes about three hours, and with the 1000X M3s, Sony has moved to USB-C. This makes inserting the charge cable a lot easier and enables fast-charging (five hours of playback in 10 minutes using an optional 1.5A charger).  

Recommendation

These headphones are comfortable and deliver excellent audio performance, with all the latest high tech tricks, special effects and customization. They pack up (relatively) compactly for carrying and offer extended battery life. And their noise cancelation is the best I’ve ever experienced in a set of headphones. If you travel frequently or need to block out outside noise — whether you’re listening to music or not — Sony’s 1000X M3 noise-canceling wireless headphones are exceptional.

Disclosure: Sony provided headphones for evaluation but had no input into this review.