We gave the Sony WF-1000X earphones five stars in our review two years ago and the latest addition to the 1000X family don’t look like they’ll disappoint. The Sony WF-1000XM3 true wireless in-ear headphones are super sleek and packed with some really nice features.
One of the standout features of the WF-1000XM3 earphones is its noise cancellation technology. The Dual Noise Sensor Technology and HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN1e team up to catch any ambient noise and cancel it out.
The Dual Noise Sensor Technology works by detecting the sound around you with two microphones on the surface of the earphones – one feed-forward and the other feed-back. The HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN1e chip then steps in to create an inverted sound wave, offsetting the background noise caught by the sensor and improving noise cancellation while using up less overall power.
The quality of the sound you hear also gets a nice boost. The Digital Sound Enhancement Engine HX aims to revamp compressed digital music files, upping the the sound quality to bring your music closer to the quality of High-Res audio.
Related: Sony WF-1000X review
The noise cancelling processor also helps the WF-1000XM3 last longer too. It’s low power consumption allows for playback up to 24 hours with the noise cancellation engaged.
One of our biggest complaints about the WF-1000X was the chunky charging case. It doesn’t look much smaller this time around but the two-toned colour does make it look sleeker. The case can be used to charge your buds on the go, a quick charge generating 90 minutes of battery life in just 10 minutes.
Small and light, the buds have been designed using an ‘ergonomic tri-hold’ structure and are made of high-friction rubber so they shouldn’t even budge when you’re running for the bus. As far as fit goes, there are seven options with lots of ways to customise them.
Related: Best True Wireless Earbuds
Not only are the earphones physically stable, but the Bluetooth connection is too. The newly developed Bluetooth chip allows the left and right earbuds to connect simultaneously rather than the usual left-to-right relay transmission on some other efforts.
The touch controls are fully customisable and if you remove your earbud for a second your music will pause automatically and resume once you it’s put back in. There’s also Quick Attention mode, which works by turning the music down and temporarily letting in ambient sound so you can listen to a train announcement or answer a question with the touch of a button.
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The earbuds can also be controlled by voice with Google Assistant or on your smartphone with the Sony Headphones Connect app.
The WF-1000XM3 earphones will be available from mid-August for £220/€250. For more info and where to buy them, visit Sony’s website.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
