shortcomings vs the cost, my main complaints being comfort and sound (the ANC was always good). My portable-everyday-beat-them-up headphones were the Bose QC 35 II. I liked them primarily for the comfort and ANC. The sound on the Bose can best be described as adequate but generally lifeless. Always in search of something better I read a couple of “First Look” articles about the Sony WH-MX1000M3 and decided to pull the plug on the first day that they were available on Amazon. When I received the Sony’s I was pleased to see that the case was similar to the Bose QC 35, a little bigger but shaped well enough to fit comfortably in my backpack. When I removed the headphones and put them on my head I realized immediately that these would be as comfortable as the Bose. Good job Sony.

After charging for a couple of hours I paired them to my phone and went to my headphone test playlist on Spotify. My main complaint with the previous Sony model's sound was that they had very little soundstage (defined as perceived distance between your ears and the music) and little definition (defined as the clarity and separation of the various instruments in a piece of music). The M3 sounded better than the previous Sony’s and better than the Bose, but the highs appeared to be quite subdued and overwhelmed by the bass. This was disappointing.
But, Sony has a phone app that allows for EQ so I go download the app. Frustration. The app did not recognize the MK3. Patience. I figure that Sony has not updated the app yet. So I wait a day and see that the Sony app has automatically updated on my phone. I open and hurray! It is recognizing the MK3 now. Now I can play with EQ: -1 on 400 Hz. +1 on 1K. +2 on 2.5K. +3 on 6K. +4 on 16K and “Clear Bass” remains at 0. Play music and now were talking! I’m not going to say that these sound nearly as good as most of my wired headphones, but for everyday-on-the-go-beat-them-up-with-ANC these are exciting. They blow the Bose away. The Bowers and Wilkins PX which weigh about three times more than the Sony’s have decent BT sound when the ANC is off but the sound changes considerably and not for the better when you apply one of three ANC modes. They PX is OK for about an hour of no ANC listening while sitting at home, but after that my ears and the top of my head hurt.

The noise cancellation of the Sony is a generation ahead of Bose. There, I said it. Most reviewers crown the Bose as the best ANC you can get. Well, Sony has just showed Bose that they are the new big boy on the block. I did some A/B comparisons with both headphones and realized that the Sony not only cancels steady noise like jet engines or the sound of the air conditioning intake in my condo, but it does a great job of virtually eliminating all other sounds, including television voices and even other people, as my wife can attest to when she had to stand in front of me and wave her hands to get my attention because I could not hear her talking (so, if you want to block out your wife’s talking… LOL!). And this is without even messing with the settings in the app. Others reviewer here have not had the same experience, stating that it does not cancel voices. I frankly did not expect it to cancel voices, but I must say that the Sony comes as close as anything I have ever not heard.

So, if you want very comfortable headphones with the best sound and Active Noise Cancelling that you can expect with wireless Bluetooth in 2018 get these. They will not sound as good as wired closed back or open back headphones, but “you can’t always get what you want”, “nothing is perfect”, and “everybody is different”.

In addition to the Sony WH-1000XM3 during this review period I used:
Bose QC 35 II
Bowers & Wilkins PX
Bang and Olufsen H6 (wired)
Sennheiser HD650 (wired)
AKG 7KXX (wired)
Spotify
Flac files on phone and desktop computer

UPDATE 2018-09-21: I did experience an issue with phone calls where people at the other end were hearing an echo of their voice. I tested the headphones with three different phones and the problem occurred with all three. So I replaced them through Amazon. I am glad to say that the new pair does not have the issue. After some tests with phone calls I will say that Sony still needs to do some work on the call quality at the other end of the call (the call sounds fine in the Sony itself). In this regard, the Bose QC 35 is better. I think the call quality is really with the sound processing that Sony has implemented and not the hardware. Hopefully this will be improved in future firmware upgrades. Another minor con that the Bose handles better is the support for multiple BT sources. But this is a minor annoyance and I only use the Sony's for my phone anyway, so I am not constantly switching sources. Small price to pay for better ANC and musical sound.

stand having most headphones on for a long time as my ears tend to get sore - no issues 3 hours in with this pair), and have a sound quality that blows the Bose or any other noise cancelling headphones I've tried out of the water. Being able to cup the right headphone to pause the noise cancelling to listen to people talking to you without taking off the headphone is a pretty cool feature.

Aesthetically, I prefer how the Bose looks, but then again I purchased this for the audio and noise-cancelling properties, not how it looks. The touch controls on the right earpiece took a bit to get used to, but quickly became second nature.

Being able to charge via USB-C is a plus as someone who has a Galaxy S8 and a Nintendo Switch, as I can use the same cable. It also lets you charge the headphones via Quick Charge. While I can't speak to it's longevity, the headphones seem to be high quality, and I don't notice any discernible issue with the headband - something that I understand the previous models suffered from.

Overall, I am extremely impressed by the WH1000XM3, and it will easily become my every day carry headphones.

and therefore are currently basic Bluetooth headphones with noise cancelling....that you can’t adjust. Fortunately, the default NC profile is good, and they do sound good. Also, they are lighter than the XM2s, but the headband feels more solidly built. I think they also sound better (clarity, dynamics, bass) than the XM2 and QC35. Comfort is very good, not quite as good as Bose QC35, but pretty close.

Update: about 12hrs after posting this, Sony has released the updated software to the iOS App Store. Works great with the software. Allows for tweaking and calibration of NC, eq, etc. sweet.

hen you turn it up. When you enable noise canceling and run the optimizer, it is phenomenal! Voices are not completely canceled, but in most cases they will be muffled and hard to understand. Play music on top of noise canceling, and you won’t really hear anything at all. I attempted to use these in the dining room which was very loud, and I would say about 90% of the sound was canceled out without playing any music. I’m not sure how these will handle in the car, but I suspect they should be fine. Wind noise might be the only issue, which isn’t that big of a deal. They are extremely comfortable as well. Maybe not quite as good as the QC 35 headphones, but very close. They are a clear step up from last year‘s noise canceling headphones!
Update.
The headband is covered in leather and has more Patty. I have not heard of any cracking issues, and the headband feels slightly stronger to me. Also, the swivel pointst feel stronger as well.

is an understatement so let's get on with a bit of a review....

Sound
There been lots of reviews online about these it's no secret that the noise cancellation feature is superb on these it's also no secret that the sound is also superb and I found it to be accurate and pleasing to the ear no matter if I've been listening to rock music, classical music come or reggae. Another thing that I'm really happy about is that I can plug these into the TV through the 3. 5 mm cord with an extender and there is no sound delay listening to the TV but I have not yet tried Bluetooth connecting it with the other sound mode yet.

Hand touch features
The hand touch features on the ear outside of the ear pads is nothing less than brilliant and I prefer the motion touch ability to increase or lower the volume change tracks Etc by simply using my hand motion as opposed to a hard Hardware button. Took me about 5 minutes to get used to it but it was pretty intuitive and pretty easy to pick up.

They don't have to rest on the top of your head:

one thing that you won't see in any of the reviews except this one probably is that every pair of headphones I tried on at Best Buy and other places the top of the headphones almost always rested on my head. This was one department where Bose was a leader for me because I was able to increase the size of the headphones and have the headphones stay on my ears and stay on my head without the top actually resting on the top of my head and these Sony headphones have managed to achieve that and I give him credit for it. Having a pair of headphones partially supported with its weight on your head is not good for comfort factor so the fact that these can be expanded still stay on your ear and not be resting on top of your head for me is a big deal and adds to the overall comfort factor. my older Bose on ear headphones or more compact but that's to be expected compared to an over-the-ear Headphone set and although these are bulkier they are still quite portable.

The carrying case
The case that came with it is beautiful it's a hard shell case with a textured finish an open net on the back where you can sleep in a charger or anything else that'll fit and also has storage for your headphones inside along with two more what I call vertical pockets for your charger cord or other peripherals.

Headphone color choice:
I was tossed up on whether to get the black or silver headphones and I'm pleased to say the black ones were the right choice black tennis shoe look smaller aesthetically speaking and the copper colored accents really at A Classy Touch to the design in my opinion. Speaking of designs these are as far as I can tell 100% if not close to 100% plastic but they feel very sturdy and the joints on the swivel for the ear pads are smooth in operation and don't feel like they're going to break very easily unless you find a way to sit on them one day :-)

I'm not going to go into more detail than that because you can find millions of reviews online for these headphones and they will be going into much more detail than I am but I did want to point out a few things that you won't find in other reviews.

These headphones are pricey there's no doubt about it but if she's got the bucks for it don't even blink an eye and order them they're superb

urchase decision. I use the Sony pretty religiously so no nitpicking here.

1. Sound quality: The Wh1000xm3 sound better than the wh1000xm2 for obvious reason but not blow out the water better. You hear more separation in your music. Also if you ever use the surround modes (dont hate me for this mx2 owners) but there is a very faint but slightly annoying static that occurs when you use the surround modes. Especially on arena mode. The wh1000xm3 erased this totally and that static is no longer there. This may be a big reason of Sony adding the QN1 chip as the wh1000xm2 may have tried to process the music and noise cancelling but since there was no medium, both went throughthe same channels which causes static that you hear. It made my listening experience far more enjoyable.

2. Noise cancelling: Noise cancelling is not noise proof. It does block out more sound than its predecessor however with noise cancelling I felt that the m2 cancelled more sound. Although with noise cancelling on, the m3 do a much better job. I no longer had to put music up to 50 percent to block out sound from very moist environments. Just 20-25 does the trick. Although by itself it already cancels noise out exceptionally better.
Now to clarify the reason the reason why noise cancelling headphones have a hard time cancelling voices. It's really because your voice is not a constant sound wave. It constantly oscillates and to produce counter sound waves to that requires a lot. Despite this, these are the best noise cancelling headphones on the market right now. Now are they 4x better in noise cancelling? I would say 40%better but not 4x which seems like a stretch. But getting rid of the static may have been something.

Build quality: To cut down on costs since you already have the QN1 chip and for a smoother design. Sony added the plastic over the brush aluminum. Also to appeal to their female market as well, they tried to make headphones that appealedto both genders. If you notice, not many girls really wanted to try the wh1000xm2. I did a test of and I got a positive response for men about wearing the wh1000xm2 about 82% while only 18%of females really wanted to try the wh1000xm2. However for the xm3 with the same even 100 amount. I got a higher positive response from females about 42% to 56% men. Plus the lighter xm3 adds to longer hours of listening. The wh1000xm3 is still built well, although you had a leather cup to create a better noise cancelling seal. The wh1000xm3 does not need that so it can afford a sleek appearance. Plus it cuts down on the weight. There is added padding at the top of the wh1000xm3 so when you bump your head, you are protected from most of the shock whereas with the m2 they get scratched at the top fairly easily.

USB: USB-C instead of micro is a vast improvement. Do keep in mind your charger is also a prominent factor on how well it stays. I recommend using anker products for their cables and wall charger. The Sony cable is pretty short. The audio cable us really not THAT bad and it seems most people are overreacting about this and I'm not sure why.

Case: the case is definitely sturdier and has more room inside. Although I do miss the snap on and snap off case of the m2.

What I pointed out where key points as most other things can be looked up on the Sony page and reading the features of the headphones. Although please note neither have multipoint connecting abilities. Although this never bothered as my phone my main source so that's never bothered me.

But is it worth the upgrade? If it really isnt in your budget, I would sell your XM2 first then get the XM3. If the xm2 has been working well for you then you are fine. Save yourself another $350. If it is in your budget just measure against other items you could get, if this is it, go for it. I can say you will not be disappointed.

ly as advertised. The comfort is outstanding, I wear glasses and this pair of headphones accommodates them perfectly. I had four very long flights and Sony's adaptive noise cancelling system works like a dream, with music or movies playing, all background noise, including the plane turbines, disappeared. The build quality is high. These are a premium set of headphones and worth every penny.

ter and it is. They said they would be more comfortable, and due to larger ear cups (and the lighter weight), they are. They said they would look better, and the narrower profile does make them look better. They did all of this without sacrificing the quality of the construction (I sleep with these on, rolling right over onto my pillow at night).

For me, the much-improved sound quality of music is the most dramatic improvement and the most unexpected, although all the improvements add up to make these vastly improved over the XM2's.

al improvement over something awesome! Slight improve on sound quality, BIG improvement on noise cancelling and a great job redesigning everything! They look a lot nicer (even though this is personal opinion) on my head. I would also note that they are very comfortable.