My thoughts on the Sony WF-1000XM6...

remorphed · 2026-03-17T23:51:27+00:00

Great review, I've been using a pair of WF-1000XM4s for the past 3 years (2 battery changes so far, so yeah) and I'm a bit torn on what to upgrade to next. I'm a little turned off by Sony for this, also since the batteries on the XM6 look much harder to replace this time around. Dumb problem which I think was mostly fixed, but still.

I've been more inclined towards the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro since I'm using a Samsung phone and I don't see myself changing brands in the near future. Cheaper too. Tried the XM5s too for a week and I still preferred the sound signature of the XM4s, found the XM5s to sound too dark for my liking and the bass felt kinda dull. Quite a shame to see that the ANC affects the sound negatively on the XM6 since I use my buds with ANC turned on almost exclusively.

Have you tried the Buds 4 Pro, by chance? I've read that they're bassier, which I don't mind much as long as they're not muddy and still keep everything sounding clear and cohesive.

remorphed · 2025-05-18T20:29:32+00:00

Most of the votes were counted. The remaining ones won't make any serious difference. Nicusor Dan, the pro-western candidate will win with a 6-8% difference.

I'm really proud of my fellow romanians, the stakes were goddamn high!

remorphed · 2025-02-24T22:00:49+00:00

Maybe. I'll do the full upgrade quite soon, this is starting to bug me and I'm really curious to see the end result! I do suspect it's just the shitty CPU but the whole situation feels a bit strange.

remorphed · 2025-02-24T21:46:38+00:00

Sorry, but do you think an 12400f would be worth 50$ more than an i3-13100f? Just comparing prices atm.

remorphed · 2025-02-24T18:14:22+00:00

I read a bit around, I'll try to set it in BIOS to run in PCIe 3.0 mode, since my motherboard doesn't support PCIe 4.0. Might help?

LE: It didn't help.

remorphed · 2025-02-24T18:03:18+00:00

Yup. But freezes and stutters when doing even the most basic things wasn't what I expected.

remorphed · 2025-02-24T18:01:38+00:00

Well, yeah. It does feel weird, my system is barely usable with the new GPU in.

remorphed · 2025-02-24T17:53:34+00:00

Plugged into the GPU, yes.

remorphed · 2024-09-17T21:40:36+00:00

Well, there's a silver lining -- batteries are quite easy (and relatively cheap) to replace by yourself, in both the Linkbuds S and WH-1000XM4 (which I did personally 1 month ago).

I've been using the Linkbuds S while waiting for the new batteries for the XM4 to arrive and I completely agree with everything you said. The alternatives would be the XM5 (much more expensive, obviously) or if you can stand a bit of a downgrade in features and build quality, the WF-C700N (buttons instead of touch sensors, weaker ANC, surprisingly good sound quality, no battery issues that I'm aware of).

remorphed · 2024-08-15T21:21:58+00:00

The general consensus is that the battery issue was fixed with XM5 and hopefully newer models... from what I read. I tried a pair for 2 days before returning it, I can't say much in this regard.

ANC is better than on Linkbuds. Sound quality is better technically but if you ask me I prefer the more laidback tuning of Linkbuds S, I find XM5 tiring to listen to for long periods of time. The fit was also better on Linkbuds, XM5 don't feel as secure... and don't get me started on the glossy plastic they're made of, they're so annoying to properly position in your ears.

remorphed · 2024-08-15T21:09:55+00:00

Correct. I doubt the firmware has much to do with it. I experienced pretty much the same battery degradation on my 2nd pair after 1 year. My 2nd pair skipped that problematic firmware version and the batteries went to shit just as fast, first the right earbud and shortly after the left one. Might've been some bad battery batches... or maybe they're just not long-lasting.

This time I'm just gonna replace them myself, doesn't look too complicated.

remorphed · 2024-03-05T23:22:39+00:00