Specs
- Driver type : 6mm dynamic
- Frequency response : 20 – 20kHz
- Battery-life : 6 hours (noise cancellation ON) / 8 hours (noise cancellation OFF)
- Charging time : Approx. 1.5 hours
- Bluetooth version : 5.0
- Bluetooth format support : SBC, AAC
- Weight : 8.5g per earpiece
Design
In general, most true wireless earbuds tend to follow a somewhat similar design-pattern, but what makes the WF-1000XM3 different is that it somehow seems sleeker and less bulky than previous iterations. The main housing still sticks out from the ear, at least in my case anyways, but it does seem a little less obnoxious than previous models.Something which is a more prominent change, however, is that this new version relies entirely on the fit of the eartips to keep these earbuds securely in your ears. On the previous iterations there were these little integrated earhook thingys which would press up against the concha of your ear to help keep the earpiece in place. This means that the comfort on the newer model can be a bit ‘hit or miss’. This new design requires you to somewhat insert them deeper into your ear canal and that can lead to some discomfort during extended listening sessions, and I’ve also found that once your ears start to heat up and the earwax become softer, then that can cause the eartips to lose their grip and as a result start to fall out.
The included foam eartips tend to handle this better, but the downside to these is that I found the overall fit for myself to be better with the silicone tips. I think this is partly because the silicone tips have a longer profile than the foam ones, and this helps with getting a deeper the insertion into the ear-canal.
As for the rest of the design-queues, the WF-1000XM3 is available in two colour options, namely Black and Silver, although the Silver option almost seems more like ‘beige’ form the online pictures. For this particular version Sony has used the same ‘black and rose-gold’ colour scheme which is used on their full-size WH-1000XM3 headphones. It’s a tried and tested colour combination which looks modern and sophisticated. This same two-tone scheme is also carried over to the charging case which too looks a bit more sleek and modern than the case for the previous versions.
The lid is held in place by magnets and there is also an LED located in the gap between the lid and the main shell of the case which is used to indicate the current status, such as showing you a steady red colour when the earbuds are being charged by the case.
Opening up the lid also reveals that there is an NFC chip located near the aforementioned LED which allows for easy one-touch paring with other compatible smartphones or music players such as Sony’s own Walkman A55, for example.
Each earpiece is held in place by individual magnets, which help to keep them secure and to also ensure that they are positioned correctly in order to make proper contact with the charging pins.
The earbuds themselves can provide you with up to 8 hours of continuous music playback, but this will drop to 6 hours if using noise cancellation at the same time. The charging case can hold enough power to fully charge both WF-1000XM3 earbuds three times, so in total this give you a maximum music playback time of around 32 hours, and around 24 hours if using noise cancellation.
Another update to the specs is the inclusion of Bluetooth 5.0. For the most part, up until now some of the biggest and most reoccurring complaints about true wireless earbuds has had to do with the connection stability and reliability.
This is where Bluetooth 5.0 has proven to be a big step up because each earbud connects to the host device (smartphone), rather than one connecting to the host and the other connecting to the other earbud as is the case under Bluetooth 4.2.
Features
Oddly enough, Sony has not implemented any form of volume control. Instead, the touch gestures are reserved for only being able to cycle between the noise cancellation modes by tapping the left earpiece, as well as for playback control by tapping on the right earpiece. So, in order to adjust the volume you will need to do so on your smartphone (or whichever other device is connected to the WF-1000XM3).
The thing that I’m most disappointed by, however, has to do with the lack of support for better quality Bluetooth audio formats. There is still no AptX HD or even just regular AptX to be found here. But, what confuses me most is how this – a premium Sony product – is not compatible with Sony’s own LDAC format. Instead we are still just stuck with regular SBC and AAC. This is something which has remained the same since even the very first WF-1000X which was released around 2 years ago.
I understand that LDAC and the various versions of AptX are not used by any Apple products, but I would have thought that Sony would at least implement their own Bluetooth codec here.
LDAC has been shown numerous times to provide a genuinely better audio experience from a sound quality stand-point, and it’s a Sony-developed technology which has been around for a couple of years now. It really is such a shame since the lack of compatibility with this Bluetooth format is certainly holding the WF-1000XM3 back from really shining in the audio department.
The noise-cancellation, on the other hand, is the best I’ve heard, or rather not heard) from a true wireless product. I found the first WF-1000X particularly disappointing because of how, in noise cancellation mode, it actually introduced a very noticeable amount of hiss, a bit like using super sensitive in ear-monitors on a high-power amplifier. But, thankfully, with the WF-1000XM3 I really can’t say that I’m picking up on any hiss when using the noise-cancellation feature. The actual noise cancellation on the original WF-1000X was also just acceptable, but on the WF-1000XM3 it is considerably superior in performance.
We are also still getting the Ambient Sound Control feature which intentionally let’s in ambient sounds for better awareness of your surroundings, and you can control how much noise is being piped in via a setting within the app on your smartphone. Basically, this control adjusts the balance between letting ambient noises in and the noise cancellation.
Putting the slider all the way to the right allows all ambient noise to come in, whilst all the way to the left is full noise-cancellation. Whilst I rather like the ambient sound control, I can’t say that it sounds natural. It sounds amplified, and there’s a sort of ‘digital’ sound to it. Of course, it is artificial, but I have heard reports of this type of feature on competing products sounding more convincing.
Sound
Broadly speaking, the WF-1000XM3 are a really decent-sounding pair of earbuds taking into account that they are of a true wireless design. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that they are an alternative in terms of sound quality to a wired pair of in-ear monitors, but I think that would be expecting too much anyways.
The overall signature feels somewhat v-shaped, with a bit of added energy in the upper treble regions. This tends to make shimmers and sparkles rather prominent, but without becoming too “in your face”. That will depend on the track, however, as a decently recorded and mastered song will still sound fine, whereas lesser quality tracks I found do tend to cross over into the sibilance territory.
The bass frequencies can reach in pretty deep and there is some definite punch behind those bass notes, but I do find that they lack a bit of control.
As mentioned previously, you can apply a little EQ tweaking within the smartphone app, but that doesn’t give you fine enough control to really dial in your preferred signature if you find the standard signature to be a bit lacking.
I’ve heard considerably worse-sounding full-sized headphones, and so I think Sony ought to be commended for the sound quality they have managed to achieve from these true wireless earbuds.
I still can’t help but wonder just how much better of an overall sound experience we could have had if LDAC or at least AptX was supported, and I can only hope that the Sony engineers are smart enough to include those formats in the next iteration.
Value
So, at $230, is the WF-1000XM3 a good buy? Well, as far as noise-cancelling true wireless earbuds are concerned, these certainly are some of, if not the best performing ones I’ve gotten my hands on.
Despite the fact that they don’t support high quality Bluetooth audio codecs, the sound signature and quality is still very decent.
The thing to remember about essentially all true wireless earbud products is that their main focus is convenience, rather than outright sound quality. The WF-1000XM3 certainly does have the convenience factor nailed down as well as some very good noise cancellation performance too. Throw in the improved connection stability along with the improved battery life, and what we get is actually a pretty good value proposition for that $230 price-tag.
So, if you’re in the market for a set of true wireless earbuds, then the Sony WF-1000XM3 is starting to make a hell of a lot of sense for just $230. But, of course, my recommendation will always be for you to try out as many products as you can before making a purchasing commitment in order to find what suits you personally. But, if that isn’t an option for you, I feel comfortable enough to recommend the WF-1000XM3 as I think what Sony has on offer here are arguably the best overall true wireless earbuds money can buy right now.