Sony opens preorders for noise-cancelling, fully wireless WF-1000XM3 earbuds

Sony on Friday launched preorders for the WF-1000XM3, a rare example of fully wireless earbuds equipped with active noise cancellation (ANC).

The buds use a new noise cancelling chip, the QN1e, said to be a more power-efficient version of the QN1 in Sony's popular WH-1000XM3 over-the-ear headphones. The company is also using a new Bluetooth 5 chip and "optimized antenna structure" to ensure maximum signal reliability. In fact both buds connect to the host device simultaneously, unlike many wireless rivals, in which one bud is just a satellite of the other.

Sony is promising 6 hours of on-bud battery life with ANC activated, and up to 24 hours of use with an included charging case. Switching off ANC extends overall life to 32 hours.

Mac and iPad Pro owners may appreciate the case's use of USB-C. With or without an Apple device, a 10-minute charge is said to provide up to 90 minutes of audio.

Another similarity with the WH-1000XM3 is the use of touch gestures for commands like controlling playback, triggering Siri, and toggling ANC. Removing a bud will automatically pause music, and a "Quick Attention" mode will let people briefly hear ambient sound.

Like AirPods, the Sony buds aren't officially sweat- or water-resistant.

The WF-1000XM3 costs $229.99, and will ship on August 5 in black and silver colors.

19 Comments

iqatedo 1811 comments · 21 Years

About 5 years ago

I remember active noise cancellation talked about in the 1970s as a possible means to quietening jack hammer compressor noise. How far the tech has come though with microelectronics. I recently purchased Sony's WH-1000XM3 wired headset and find the loss of outside audio cues almost overwhelming. The systems plays well with Macs and the iPhone too.

tht 5594 comments · 23 Years

I might give these a chance. I will wait for them to be shipping and to be in retail however.

Powerbeats Pro for exercise
Sony WF-1000XM3 for music
Airpods for casual listening

?

That’s like $700 in headphones though...

xbit 399 comments · 9 Years

Not Sony’s most aesthetically pleasing design ever but that’s a great feature list.

matrix077 868 comments · 9 Years

Sounds like a great earphone. One up AirPods possibly. The price is OK too even though I would love this set of features in a $199 price point.

A feature set like this in an AirPods and it will be an instant buy.

baka-dubbs 179 comments · 13 Years

iqatedo said:

I remember active noise cancellation talked about in the 1970s as a possible means to quietening jack hammer compressor noise. How far the tech has come though with microelectronics. I recently purchased Sony's WH-1000XM3 wired headset and find the loss of outside audio cues almost overwhelming. The systems plays well with Macs and the iPhone too.

I bought the XM3's prior to a flight earlier this year, I tend to stress out from all of the ambient noise(plane engines, people, crying kids, etc) and these things completely changed the flying process for me. Its definitely disconcerting at first, but now I would not step on a plane without them(or Bose Quite Comfort, which supposedly are very similar). Assuming I can toggle the noise cancelling on and off without having to go into the app and that they work half as well as the over ear version, these will be a day one purchase.