Enjoy Your Music In Silence

Sony WH-1000XM3 Wireless Noise-Canceling Headphones

WH1000XM3's waiting to get on the plane.

Like most of you I spent a lot of time reading the reviews and comparisons between the 2 heavyweights in noise cancelling. There are plenty of fan boys in both camps and after reading through about a thousand reviews I was only getting more frustrated with the lack of a definitive answer. I will say that when I first started researching it I didn't even consider that there was an alternative to Bose. If you travel you pretty much see one brand out there...but that is changing. Sony is giving Bose a run for their money with these.

So what persuaded me to ultimately choose the WH-1000XM3 over the Quiet Comfort 35 II? I ordered them both and did my own testing to see which I preferred.

To test the sound quality I paired each of the headphones to different phones and streamed the same songs from Spotify at the same volume level. I listened to a lot of different genres and flipped between the headphones.

1. Sound - Out of the box the Bose QC 35 II sounds a bit like you are underwater. It just isn't very clear and there is more bass than I like. I know a lot of folks think that massive amounts of bass are required for a good set of cans (Beats owners I am talking to you). The Sony right out of the box in a way sounds similar. I wouldn't say one of them just dominates the other...until you flip the equalizer on Sony's app to bright. When you first make the switch especially if you are not used to clarity it is going to take you some time for your ears to adjust. It isn't harsh or straining at all but it feels different. The sound quality is excellent, I would rank them as one of the best sounding headphones I have ever owned. I read a few comments from folks and it sounds like Bose didn't want to offer up an equalizer as it can compromise the noise cancelling ability.

2. Comfort - The Bose Quiet Comfort 35 II headphones win here. They have a little deeper ear cup so your ears don't touch the inside (at least mine didn't) and the pads are like little fluffy clouds resting delicately on your head. That isn't to say that the WH-1000XM3 isn't comfortable, just that the Bose feel better on your head. Both headphones trap quite a bit of heat but part of that is just the nature of noise cancelling headphones. If they breath well they would also be letting in the outside noise. I wore both of them for at least 10 hours during my testing and neither left me wanting to take them off. One thing to note, while these are not meant to be worn while being active I did find that leaning forward to tie a shoe or pick up another matchbox car can send your $300+ purchase flying. I have a small head so maybe that is part of it. Just a word of caution if you listen to heavy metal and can't resist head banging or if you plan to use these while you Jazzercise.

2. Noise cancelling - For me this was a little harder to test. I felt like they both do a good job. Once you layer in music you really can't hear much ambient noise. If I had to pick a winner here it would be Bose though as they seem to block out a little more, but it is close. When my kids are running around being crazy I can still hear them with music at a reasonable volume but it does help a lot. One thing you will notice especially on the plane is you can watch movies or listen to music or an audiobook at a much lower volume than regular headphones. This is a big plus to noise cancelling headphones in my opinion.

3. Battery life - Both the Bose and Sony headphones have impressive battery life. The Bose will last 20 hours with noise cancelling on but the WH-1000XM3 goes beyond that with a 30 hour battery life. The WH-1000XM3 headphones also use USB-C which helps with charging speed and makes it so you can get 5 hours of play time with just 5 minutes of charging. With 30 hours of playtime on the Sony cans and a button that you can press to monitor what percentage you are at you don't have to be fearful of walking away from an electrical outlet.

3. Controls - Sony also has what they call a Quick Attention which allows you to hold your hand up to the headphones to allow you to hear a flight attendant or someone trying to talk to you (disrupt your musical bliss), which is a nice feature. At first I will admit I felt a little stupid but it works well.

The touch control cheat sheet in the case.

Perhaps the most useful of the features is the ability to use gestures to control your listening experience. You can simply swipe up for more volume or down for less. Or you can swipe forward to go to the next track or back to return to the previous. A double tap will also play and pause the music. Nice for bathroom breaks during a movie on your phone. It is really handy to not have to look for a button and quick to use as well.

They do also come with a wire and airplane attachment so you can use them wired instead of bluetooth if needed.

Summary

In all if you are looking for really excellent sounding headphones and noise cancelling ones at that the Sony WH-1000XM3 are the headphones for you. Bose did release a new version of their answer to the Sony's with the Bose 700s but we will see how they compare down the road. My guess is that regardless of how they sound, it won't be a reason to throw your WH-1000XM3 in the back of the closet.

PRODUCT

WH-1000XM3

PRICE

Around $350 USD

FEATURES

Excellent Sound Quality

Noise Cancelling

30 Hour Battery Life

Very Comfortable

Alexa Voice Assistant

Touch Controls

Bluetooth

WEIGHT

9 oz.