Sony 1000X The Collexion review: incredible headphones that have one huge shock in store for you

If you’re a regular Stuff reader – or indeed a regular reader of headphone reviews anywhere – you’ll know that the Sony WH-1000XM6 are the best bang-for-buck headphones available currently. They’re not that expensive compared to some high-end rivals, the noise cancelling is unsurpassed and there’s a quality about them that has been hard to match for many rivals, not least in terms of the audio prowess.

Many others have sought to come in around the sub $400 mark as well and it’s probably down to Sony that price point has become normal.

The problem for Sony is that while it has dominated ‘mainstream premium’ headphones, other rivals have decided to charge a lot more for some models – Apple AirPods Max 2, Sonos Ace, Bowers and Wilkins PX8 S2 and more launched at the $450-500 mark or greater (though Sonos Ace are now quite a bit cheaper, seemingly due to poor sales).

So Sony has been producing top-rated headphones, yet rivals are also selling units at a greater price point – in some cases approaching double the selling price.

So what to do? Take a leaf out of Apple’s book, drive up the price and produce a more premium version of what you’ve already got. And that’s what you have here with the really weirdly-titled 1000X The Collexion.

These new cans mark a decade of Sony’s 1000X series headphones since the 2016 MDR-1000X. Hence the first part of the name – and the Roman numeral X inserted in Collexion. I’m really not sold on the name and it certainly doesn’t make sense alongside Sony’s other models. Maybe we’ll get more The Collexion products.

According to Sony’s website the model does have a more traditional Sony headphone model number in the form of WH-1000XX, though Sony didn’t communicate this with us prior to launch, a sign that it would prefer 1000X The Collexion to be the name people use.

Before we start this review properly, we should point out that there is a huge shock in store for would-be purchasers – their super-high price. They clock in at $650, £550 or €630. At the time of writing, that’s over $200 more than the previous WH-1000XM6 flagship (which, coincidentally, is now also available in a new sandstone colour). Do they do enough to replace the XM6 at the top of our tree?

Design and comfort

The fit and finish of these headphones is one of the key areas where Sony has improved on the XM5 and similar XM6 because they’re stunning. They’ve been thoughtfully refined, with a wider headband featuring an embossed, subtle Sony logo.  The whole of the outside of the headphones is covered in faux leather, making them nicely tactile. The metal supports on the side are particularly high in quality and slide nicely for resizing.

The buttons are also metal and are easy to feel for when you have the headphones on. This is key. Touch controls on the right earcup work well, but they do take a little bit of getting used to if you’re new to Sony cans.

Once again, these headphones don’t fold but I don’t see that as a problem and the case is fairly compact anyhow.

The WH-1000XX is available in platinum (grey) or black. It was pot luck to which colour I got and, as you can see, black was what Sony dished out to me. I did enjoy the platinum colour of the WH-1000XM5s when I reviewed those and that would just pip the black for me, especially with the metal parts being silver. That’s not to say I don’t think the black looks smart; it does.

The earcups are extremely comfortable and it was several hours before I found them at all fatiguing. The headband is barely noticeable and there’s next to no clamping effect from the headphones. Comfort then, is a huge win here. They are fairly light at 320g, though they weigh quite a bit more than the 254g XM6, probably down to the metal used in the headband.

The case is designed around a carry handle and it’s great – one of the very best cases I’ve ever used. I really love the case being its own ‘bag’ and it makes it easier to grab it from a rucksack even though I repeatedly tried to open it from the handle end…which is the wrong end. I do really like the magnetic closure that Sony is now using rather than a zip which can fail or get caught on stuff. Once again, rivals show that Apple’s flimsy AirPods Max case just doesn’t cut it.

There’s still a 3.5mm audio jack connector on the product when many rivals have USB-C only and while there’s a solitary cheap-looking 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable included, I don’t love the fact there is no USB-C cable in the pack.

A lack of USB-C cable is a complete skimp for such an expensive product, which puts the onus on the user to remember a cable. And these cables should have a quality finish to match the headphones, perhaps braided.

Specs and battery life

At the launch event I attended about these headphones, Sony talked up a couple of AI-related technologies as add-ons for the listening experience, powered by Sony’s Integrated Processor V3 – used for the first time in these headphones.

Firstly, they’re the first Sony headphones to feature DSEE Ultimate. This tech uses AI to upscale sub-quality compressed music.

These headphones also expand the previous 360 Reality Audio Upmix feature (a proprietary version of what many others call spatial audio) and there are now three modes on the dedicated button on the top of the left earcup. The three modes are Music, Cinema or Game. Music was particularly effective I felt, making the soundstage seem bigger for regular, everyday listening. But I do prefer it being turned off as it seems more natural.

One big disappointment is that the battery life has got worse, set at 24 hours rather than 30 hours with ANC on. Look, I get it – you’re unlikely to use them for that long between charges. But it feels like it would have been an easy win as an additional reason to make such an expensive purchase and considering Sony headphones are a very common sight on long haul flights it seems a very strange choice.

Apple clearly feels the same way about battery life with the AirPods Max 2 – that it’s not a big reason to buy as it kept the Max 2 at 20 hours. When you have a much cheaper rival such as the Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 SE offering 60 hours with ANC on… well I know what amount of longevity I’d prefer.

Sound quality and noise cancellation

The noise cancellation is very good, but Sony is clear that this system including the QN3 chip is carried over from the XM6 rather than being newly developed, while it says that it prioritised design and comfort over technical considerations. The bottom line is that the noise-cancelling isn’t quite as good as the XM6 as a result, despite the same 12 microphones and Sony’s Adaptive NC Optimizer also being used.

That is a shame but regardless it’s a superb feature, blocking out regular noise such as aircraft engines and train noise exceedingly well. There’s little doubt that Sony’s noise-cancelling remains absolutely superb and many would not notice the difference between the different versions of the Sony headphones.

What is more noteworthy is that the audio technology of the headphones has been upgraded from other 1000X models – there’s a new bespoke driver made from a carbon composite which Sony says delivers a “clearer separation between instruments and vocals, more delicate high-frequency detail and a richer, wider soundstage”. The sound quality of these headphones is exceptional and it is an upgrade from the XM6.

They do an incredible job of everything from classical to heavy rock to trance and that is quite some feat. The tuning was assisted by several Grammy winners and while such collabs are generally just rubber-stamping, whatever Sony has done here has worked. They offer truly exceptional sound performance.

One quirk is that they don’t support lossless audio, something that many rivals do if you cable them up over USB-C. For the vast majority of users this won’t be an issue of course, but it’s still an interesting choice.

Sound Connect app and pairing

Sony’s Sound Connect app won’t be something you use all the time, but it is effective with plenty of customisation options for the headphones, particularly in terms of user control, listening modes and features like pausing music when you take the headphones off. You can also backup your setttings and user data if you’re moving to a different device.

I found that the 1000X always found my iPhone when the headphones were switched on, something I can’t necessarily say of all high-end headphones around at the moment. This reliability really helps.

In the app you can choose to allow the 1000X to automatically switch between noise-cancelling modes depending on your environment, called Adaptive Sound Control. It’s not a new feature but I found it wasn’t that effective with these headphones and would switch when there were unrelated conversations going on between others, or when stepping onto a bus from the street. So I actually turned this off in favour of manual control.

Sony 1000X The Collexion verdict

These headphones were very difficult to review because of the relationship with the WH-1000XM6. If those headphones didn’t exist, they would be easier to consider.

In a way, the situation is similar to when we reviewed the Bowers & Wilkins PX7 S3 and the subsequent PX8 S2. Like the WH-1000XM6, the PX7s are also incredible headphones for sub-$400 money with the also superb PX8 providing marginal gains over the much cheaper model. With the PX8 being $800 there is a clear comparison here as the PX8s offer a step up in audio quality and it’s similar to that the 1000X The Collexion offers.

So while this new model offers a step up in comfort and audio quality, the super high price point has to count against 1000X The Collexion.

We don’t make a huge deal out of price points here at Stuff, but in the end there has to be a degree of logic to our judgement and while these are incredible headphones, that’s the key reason why the 1000X The Collexion doesn’t get an extra award on top of the five stars I have given them.

The WH-1000XM6 got our Editor’s Choice award and so still will sit above the 1000X The Collexion headphones in our rankings.

So what of the other issues? The difference between the WH-1000XX and WH-1000XM6 noise cancellation is small so I don’t see it as a major factor in the score and I feel it is outweighed by the more premium design choices. It is also still extremely good.

I do think that the decision to have shorter battery life is, however, absolutely crazy and alongside the price meant that these headphones were very close to getting four stars instead.

Clearly Sony is going for a more design-oriented audience here and so the prioritisation of the comfort and more premium materials makes some sense. But for most of us, the XM6 is still the more logical choice. Yet that could become a different conversation should the 1000X The Collexion get a $100 discount over Black Friday, for example.

Sony 1000X The Collexion tech specs