Sony Wireless WF-1000XM3 earbuds

This morning, I grab my AirPods 2 for a workout and — disaster — only one earbud is charged, the other is dead. This is the second time this has happened with this version. The same thing had happened to me several times with the first generation too.

Does this only happen to me? This kind of thing infuriates me. With wired technology, it couldn’t happen — but I never expected it from a brand like Apple.

Anyway, really disappointed, so I’m going to get the case or the earbud replaced by Apple support, and then I’m done with these AirPods.

So, off to Darty to pick up the latest Sony Wireless WF-1000XM3 . I hadn’t planned on buying them since the lack of a volume button was an important factor for me, but here we are…

So what can I say about these earbuds?

The sound is killer

Let’s start with what blew me away: right from the first listen, the sound is perfect! Far beyond anything I’ve heard from wireless earbuds before — I love it, genuinely. You can manage the equalizer in the app, I cranked up the bass to see what would happen and it really delivers. Hard to fault these earbuds on sound — Sony delivers.

I can barely hear anything 😝

The app lets you manage noise cancellation — it can even adjust the strength of the reduction automatically. Personally, I didn’t notice much difference between the various modes.

It’s nice to have, but it’s nowhere near the performance you get from over-ear headphones with noise cancellation.

I noticed that when noise cancellation is set to automatic, there are a few audio dropouts, whereas when it’s disabled, the dropouts disappear.

Which brings me to connection stability: with active noise cancellation set to automatic, it feels less stable than when it’s enabled but managed manually (via the dedicated button).

Ergonomics on point 🧔

I was worried about not being able to control volume directly from the earbuds without dedicated buttons, but just like with the AirPods , you can manage volume through Siri. By holding down the right earbud (touch surface), the assistant launches and you just ask it to set the volume to a certain percentage.

You can assign functions to both buttons — I left the defaults, which means playback control (pause, play, skip) on the right and noise cancellation level on the left.

The chunky case

Another good surprise: the case charges via USB-C! Hooray! Even the latest iPhone 11 still can’t manage that — which says a lot about Sony’s game.

The case is very nice looking, though I think it’ll show wear quickly. It’s well finished and holds the earbuds in place with a solid magnet.

On the downside, there’s no charge indicator. I don’t understand why Sony didn’t think to put 4 LEDs on the case to show its charge level, like Bose did for their earbuds…

Personally I find it too bulky compared to the AirPods — it’s twice the size.

Tip

A quick tip for pairing your Sony Wireless WF-1000XM3 when they’re already paired to another device: just hold down the touch surface on each earbud simultaneously. Simple enough, but not very intuitive.

“This is the End” by the Doors (best listened to with these earbuds)

What else is there to say? The takeaway is that these Sony Wireless WF-1000XM3 are top-notch in terms of build quality. The sound quality is insane. They come with 7 pairs of ear tips so they’ll fit everyone.

I love them and I’m ready to overlook the minor flaws: the case is too big and lacks a charge indicator, and they only support one Bluetooth connection at a time. The hands-free kit is nothing special, and with in-ears you get that underwater feeling when you talk 🐠.

For anyone who loves great sound, these earbuds are companions worth taking everywhere!