Sony WH-1000XM6 Specifications
Complete verified specifications for the Sony Sony WH-1000XM6, including our measured figures rather than manufacturer claims.
Last revised
Full specifications for the Sony Sony WH-1000XM6, as measured and verified during our review rather than copied from a press release. Where our figure differs from the manufacturer's, ours is the one listed.
At a glance
- Manufacturer
- Sony
- Released
- 2025
- Category
- Audio
- Price at review
- £399
- Our score
- 5 / 5
Full specifications
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Over-ear, closed |
| Drivers | 30mm carbon fibre |
| Codecs | SBC, AAC, LDAC |
| Battery | 31h with ANC |
| Weight | 250g |
| Extras | Multipoint, folding hinge |
How we verified these figures
Nothing on this page is copied from a press release. Each unit spends two weeks of daily listening, including commutes, calls and at least one flight. A blind A/B panel of four listeners, level-matched to within 0.5dB, using the same eleven-track reference playlist across every pair.
| What we measure | How |
|---|---|
| Battery life | Continuous playback at a metered 75dB with noise cancelling on, run to cut-off. |
| Noise cancelling | Attenuation measured against a recorded cabin-noise loop, reported by frequency band rather than as one number. |
| Call quality | Recordings made on a busy street and in a quiet room, judged by the same panel blind. |
| Comfort | Clamping force measured, then a three-hour wear session logged for hot spots. |
| Latency | Audio-to-video offset measured on a fixed test clip over each supported codec. |
We deliberately do not publish frequency-response graphs presented without listening notes — they describe a tone, not an experience. Fit dominates both isolation and bass response. Our panel has four head shapes; yours is not one of them.
How it compares in the category
A specification only means something next to the alternatives. These are the audio we have measured under the same conditions.
| Model | Released | Price | Our score | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nothing Ear (3) | 2025 | £129 | 4 / 5 | Buyers who want most of the flagship experience for a third of the price |
| AirPods Pro 3 | 2025 | £229 | 4 / 5 | IPhone owners, and nobody else |
| Beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X | 2023 | £259 | 4 / 5 | Anyone monitoring or editing audio rather than commuting |
| Sennheiser Momentum 4 | 2024 | £299 | 4 / 5 | Listeners who value neutrality and hate charging things |
| Bose QuietComfort Ultra | 2024 | £379 | 4 / 5 | People who wear headphones for four hours or more at a stretch |
| Sony WH-1000XM6 (this page) | 2025 | £399 | 5 / 5 | Frequent flyers and commuters |
What the spec sheet leaves out
- Sustained performance — the type figure above is a capability, not a promise about what happens after twenty minutes
- How it behaves when warm, which is where most of the difference between similarly specified audio actually lives
- Software support length, which decides how long this stays usable and appears on no specification sheet we have seen
- The thing we actually noticed most: aircraft cabin noise essentially disappears
What the numbers mean in use
Specifications describe capability, not experience. In practice the detail that mattered most was this: aircraft cabin noise essentially disappears. That is the sort of thing a table cannot capture.
Strengths on paper and in practice
- The strongest noise cancellation on low-frequency rumble
- A genuinely useful ten-band EQ
- Excellent multipoint switching
Known limitations
- Expensive
- Touch controls misfire in rain
- No lossless over Bluetooth
Who this suits
This hardware is a good fit for frequent flyers and commuters.
Behind this page
This reference page is written from the same testing notes as the reviews it supports, and it is revised whenever the hardware or the software underneath it changes. Where a figure appears here it has been measured rather than quoted from a specification sheet.
If something on this page no longer matches what you are seeing, it is out of date rather than disputed — tell us and it gets checked again.
Related reading
The reviews this page supports go into the measurements behind these figures, and the knowledge base collects every reference page we keep.
Elsewhere in specifications: Sony ZV-E10 II Specifications, Steam Deck OLED Specifications and Surface Pro 11 Specifications.