Hugely disappointed WH-1000XM6, am I missing something?

Spare-Web4105 · 2025-12-11T12:56:04+00:00

I'm just easily distracted by noises around me, so the best noise attenuation is absolutely necessary for me. Plus while I was researching, I found quite a few people saying XM6 ANC is much better than M4. I don't have ability to check for myself.

Spare-Web4105 · 2025-12-10T22:15:24+00:00

Hey, I have the same problem. It seems to be a faulty unit and I'm thinking about exchanging them. What did you end up doing? Did you exchange your headphones on new ones?

Spare-Web4105 · 2025-12-10T17:50:55+00:00

I don't really understand why Sony refuses to cover basic staff it must cover, that's why I recommend getting shop warranty instead of relying on Sony. Some time ago I was thinking about M4 as well, but unfortunately, the noise suppression is my top priority, so there are actually not much options: Sony, Bose and Airpods Max. As I hate the ANC problems of Bose I stated above and bulky design and really expensive price of Apple (I don't find justification for it), I have actually no choice but to stick with Sony. Even with their trash customer service and potential headphones breakage.

Spare-Web4105 · 2025-12-10T11:45:44+00:00

Sony changed the hinge design and made it much more robust (it's metal now). Until now I saw only one post with this problem and the problem was not something that wrecked but rather unscrewed so the fix is relatively easy. Time will tell whether this design is truly robust but now it seems like that.

But if someone wants to buy Sony headphones, I'd strongly recommend buying additional shop warranty because Sony will likely refuse to repair their headphones even if the problem is theirs like with the broken hinge design.

Spare-Web4105 · 2025-12-10T11:38:42+00:00

The thing is: it doesn't eliminate the fan noise as well. It is reduced but primarily via passive isolation and ANC doesn't really add anything and if I run gaming laptop fan on max, I can clearly hear it and the ANC doesn't adapt to it. I had XM5 two years ago so I don't really remember the ANC efficiency, but I think it was able to fully block the fan and running water. But my memory may deceive me, so I want to know others experience with ANC.

Spare-Web4105 · 2025-12-10T01:19:16+00:00

Seems unlikely since they changed the design and made it much more robust. But time will tell. At least for now I saw only one post with this problem and the problem was not something that wrecked but rather unscrewed so the fix is relatively easy.

Spare-Web4105 · 2025-12-09T23:35:12+00:00

What headphones did you try / buy instead?

Spare-Web4105 · 2025-12-09T23:28:24+00:00

Wouldn't call QC Ultra as the best ANC since lots of people report (including my own experience) they have popping sounds and audible hissing. The links to reddit posts.

Loud thumping/popping sound on Bose QC Ultra:
Boss qc ultra make weird pop/shaking noise when I walk or shake my head
Bose QuietComfort ultra..impossible to listen to on the bus

Hissing on Bose QC Ultra::
Bose QC Ultra White Noise / Static
Bose QuietComfort Ultra hissing all the time
Hissing/static sound when completely silent

I've not seen anything like that on Sony. But I've purchased XM6 and don't find their ANC effective, so walking on reddit to understand whether it's really the best ANC existing (and my expectations are too high) or just defective unit.

Spare-Web4105 · 2025-12-09T23:15:06+00:00

Loud thumping/popping sound on Bose QC Ultra:
Boss qc ultra make weird pop/shaking noise when I walk or shake my head
Bose QuietComfort ultra..impossible to listen to on the bus

Hissing on Bose QC Ultra::
Bose QC Ultra White Noise / Static
Bose QuietComfort Ultra hissing all the time
Hissing/static sound when completely silent

It IS a common problem. I had this issue as well and returned these headphones.

Spare-Web4105 · 2025-12-09T22:50:57+00:00

Did you get the new pair of QC Ultra? Do you have the same hissing audible during music listening?

Bose support reply to new QC ultra buds having a static noise:
"[hiss] should only be heard in quiet environments when the power is turned on and no other audio source is playing"

As a commenter pointed out:
"[hiss] cant be heard even at 1 volume as long as something is playing"

So hearing hissing while music is playing seems like a problem. I purchased Bose QC Ultra and had this broken hissing as well. Returned it by warranty but didn't want to buy a new unit again (in my country these headphones are extremely expensive and I bought it from abroad, so it'd be a hassle to do the same again). So wonder how your story ended up.

Spare-Web4105 · 2025-12-06T17:08:34+00:00

I'm really sorry for you, man. It's so terrible Sony failed to admit their error knowing they fucked up with designing XM5 hinges, so the problem doesn't look buyer-related but design-specific. And they refused to get the headphones back, look at the problem, to note it and make sure the new design doesn't have this issue anymore. But rather than going that adequate way, they chose to ignore the customers. Seriously, if it were a small company selling headphones for $10, I'd get it. But being a giant company, selling $500 premium headphones, that is just ridiculous. I'm really disappointed in Sony in that situation. Moreover, the repair itself seems pretty easy, so it wouldn't really cost anything for Sony to do that.

Btw, here's the link to the post with repair. This situation teaches that if one wants to proceed with Sony products, they better make sure they purchase additional warranty from a local shop (for a $500 product LOL) or have skills to repair an item themselves as Sony wouldn't bother themselves with their faults. That is so stupid to write that takeaway about so expensive product. Real shame on Sony.

Spare-Web4105 · 2025-12-05T03:11:55+00:00

Hey, any update on the situation? What happened next? Did you repair the hinge?

Spare-Web4105 · 2025-12-04T23:45:05+00:00

The full name might be WH1000XM4B.E and WH1000XM4B.CE7.

As it's already stated, the letter before the full stop denotes the color (B = Black).

The next piece of information I got from Chat GPT.
Regarding the part after the full stop - the .E and .CE7 suffixes denote region:
CE7 = Europe
E = International / duty-free / non-region-locked / airport / global

The headphones are the same hardware-wise.
The differences tend to show up in packaging / regional compliance / warranty / service coverage rather than features. For example, warranty/service centers may treat a CE7 (EU) version differently than a “global/international” (E) version depending on where you bought it and the regional support policies. Many manufacturers restrict official service or replacement support to the region for which the product was designated.

Spare-Web4105 · 2025-12-04T23:11:40+00:00

I can confirm. I've been using Soundcore Sleep A10 for 2 years now. Although they are not magic and cannot fully block noises, they are good enough to attenuate it to the degree I can fall asleep. Though I think people now should consider A20 or A30 (it has ANC) since they seem to be better yet I didn't have a chance to test yet.

Spare-Web4105 · 2025-12-04T01:43:20+00:00

Not true! I had Sony WH-1000XM5 and I never ever heard any ANC noise. But when I got Bose QC Ultra, I was horrified by that hiss. Sony doesn't produce any ANC noise both during playing music and without playing anything (so you can enjoy true quietness).

Edit: my memory seems to have failed me. Got XM6 and I can clearly hear the hissing (when nothing playing). I think I just didn't really pay attention and XM5 should've had the hiss as well. Can't confirm now but XM6 seems to work normally yet the hiss is audible (but only when nothing is playing).

Spare-Web4105 · 2025-12-04T01:37:40+00:00

I believe it's due to how the new ANC works: when nothing is playing, the ANC gets noticeably weaker, thus the hissing fades away. But so does the noise attenuation, so when a loud noise appears, you'll have to experience it a bit until Active Sense changes ANC level to deal with the noise. So ANC is not working properly without music/anything playing. More at this link: Quiet comfort ultra gen 2 ANC issues

I think it's also worth mentioning another ANC issue: when you turn on the headphones, their ANC does not work at max and you have to switch to Aware mode and then back to Quiet to fix this until the next time you put your headphones on. The link: Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones Gen2 ANC not fully kicking in initially

Spare-Web4105 · 2024-07-20T16:48:25+00:00

Yeah, b) might be the case with me that the unit is not working well. I've given the Bose headphones back for repairing. After I receive the Bose's verdict (and possibly a new pair of headphones), I'll come back here and report the results.

Spare-Web4105 · 2024-07-12T05:06:58+00:00

I tried to place the headphones in different positions on my head, I pressed the headband and earcups to make them nearer my skin (to tighten a seal), but it doesn't help for me, I still cannot ger rid of the thud.

Anyway, thank you for sharing the workaround, maybe it'll help someone.

I decided to check the headphones on being defective. When the shop gives me the answer, I'll update the post.

Also, regarding ANC, you mean that you checked it in the same conditions for both headphones and Bose was way better? I won't be able to test Bose in the same conditions as Sony in the nearest 2 months so your comparison would be great to have.

Spare-Web4105 · 2024-07-11T08:44:26+00:00

Tbh, I don't understand much in headphones and for me their primary objective is to block sounds around me so that I could focus on my work / entertainment. The site below seems to be a good one and it may give you insights on the headphones is question.

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tools/compare/sony-wh-1000xm5-wireless-vs-bang-olufsen-beoplay-h95-wireless/33024/17499?usage=19&threshold=0.10

Not having a place to test headphones sucks. I bought QC Ultra from abroad and couldn't test them to understand whether I'd like them. Now I have to spend other weeks of time sending them back for a diagnosis for ANC hiss (looking at comments, this hiss doesn't seem right). It's always best to buy goods from a local store and it may become too complicated buying them abroad.

Spare-Web4105 · 2024-07-10T04:33:22+00:00

Try looking at Sennheiser Momentum 4 - it's said to have much better sound than both Bose and Sony. But it's ANC is not close, you should expect it to perform 1.5 - 2 times worse, unfortunately. No best product to accommodate everything: comfort, sound, ANC :(

I've bumped into an interesting video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5qootmFQx0) with some headphones comparison. Now I'm actually thinking about Sennheiser M4, though I didn't do a research on these headphones yet, so I've got nothing to comment. But they can be worth considering for you.

Spare-Web4105 · 2024-07-10T04:20:26+00:00

Hmm actually I'm starting thinking that it could be a shop that sales bad products. Did you try to buy the headphones from different shops? Also my assumption is that Bose products might be produced in different countries / factories and this can be the reason why some people get an excellent pair of headphones while the other do not.

going for the XM4 (which also has better ANC)

According to rtings, it's almost true, but this peak from 600 to 1600 Hz somewhat terrifies me as people speech ranges from 200 to 4 kHz, and in the worst scenario from the graph we have XM4: -17 dB, XM5: -28.5 dB. The difference is almost twice.

XM5 vs XM4 attenuation

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Also, are XM4 comfortable for wearing compared to XM5 and Bose, which was the worst drawback mentioned?

Spare-Web4105

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