Sony Pushes Its Latest ANC Headphones to a Record Low, the WH-1000XM6 Is Now Priced Below the XM5’s Original Cost

Techies and audiophiles are both notoriously fickle crowds, and they love a good debate about the best this or the best that. But they’re overwhelmingly on the same page when it comes to over-ear noise-cancelling headphone: Sony’s WH-1000XM6 are hands-down the very best you can find on the consumer market. That’s very relevant right now, because these otherworldly cans are back down to their holiday pricing at Amazon, with a limited-time deal dropping them to just $398.

When the WH-1000XM6 headphones dropped last May, our compadres at Gizmodo called them “damn near perfect,” and they were far from alone in that opinion. Sony had set an extremely steep bar for itself when they announced a successor model to the wildly popular WH-1000XM5 headphones, but they cleared that bar with plenty of room to spare by taking all of the WH-1000XM5’s best features and upgrading them even further.

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No Faults Found

When Sony went back to the drawing board, their opening move was to give the WH-1000XM6 an improved foldable design to make them even better travel companions. The headband was widened for greater comfort, a 10-band EQ was added to the Sony Sound Connect app for a deeper level of customization, and the battery life was boosted to an almost unheard of 30 hours even while the best-in-class active noise cancellation is engaged.

But the real draw to the Sony WH-1000XM6 wireless headphones is, of course, that noise cancellation. To quote the opening words of every KISS concert: “You wanted the best, you got the best.” Sony’s new QN3 processor is joined by 12 upgraded microphones and AI Noise Optimization to create the absolute best Active Noise Cancellation of any set of wireless headphones anywhere. That title was probably held previously by — you guessed it — Sony’s WH-1000XM5. But those had “only” 8 microphones, and its QN1 processor gets absolutely blown out of the water by the QN3, which is fully 7x faster and therefore far more effective in eliminating external sounds.

You’re In Control

Toggling between ANC and Ambient Sound, which allows in enough outside noise for you to be aware of your surroundings, is a simple one-button action in the upgraded interface of the WH-1000XM6. Between the buttons built into the cans and the exceptionally robust set of controls that reside in the Sound Connect app, there are more modes and adjustments available to you than you’ll ever use, but better too many than too few.

The word on the street is that Sony won’t be releasing a WH-1000XM7 wireless headphone in 2026, meaning you can feel free to grab the WH-1000XM6 for just $398 during this limited-time Amazon deal with full confidence that you’re getting the absolute best noise-cancelling over-ear wireless headphones on the market.

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