Sony WF-1000XM3 Truly Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones with Mic, up to 32H battery life, stable Bluetooth connection, wearing detection with Alexa built-in - Silver

Note: Unlike many of the top rated reviews here, I didn't write this in return for a free product. I bought my own out of my own money. I bought these Sony buds to replace my Amazon Echo buds that I returned. They were annoyingly buggy and appeared as though they were not quite ready for market. On the other hand, they were £50 cheaper than these Sony buds. I can only compare these Sony buds to the Echo’s as I have not tried other wireless noise cancelling buds. Setup: Echo Buds win. The Sony’s were more of a faff to setup and configure the touch buttons how I like them, especially in terms of setting up Alexa. When you setup Alexa on the Sony’s (via the Alexa app), it over-writes the touch control for noise reduction, so I had to go back into the headphone setup and shift Alexa to the Right bud and re-establish noise cancellation controls on the Left bud again. Voice assistance: Echo Buds win. You only have to say “Alexa” to use her on the Echo buds, on the Sony’s you must physically press the touch control to speak to your assistant. Should also add that the touch controls on the Echo are easier to touch, I often fail to touch the right part on the Sony. Comfort: Sony wins. I have not weighed them, but the Sony’s feel lighter and less of a “plug” in your ears. It feels more open and there is less ear pressure. They are more “breathable” even though I have the correct sized rubbers to form a seal. There is far less fatigue with the Sony’s and after a two hour walk, I was happy to keep them in longer and listen to more music at home. Sound Quality: Sony wins. I do not know which buds are technically the best (to an audiophile) but I prefer the Sony sound. Going back to the previous point, it sounds more “open” like there is a wider sound stage. Like wearing open-back versus-closed back over the ear headphones. I prefer the more open sound on the Sony as I have always felt open headphones separate the various instruments and deliver more detail to each one. I said I would only listen to the Echo’s whilst on the go and would use proper over ear headphones at home. The Sony’s are good enough that I would use them at home too. Call Quality: Sony wins. I have been calling a friend during my lockdown walks and having spoken to them last week on the Amazon Echo Buds and this week on the Sony’s, they said the Sony was clearer. Noise Cancellation/Reduction: Echo Buds win. Not even close. The Echo Buds are far more effective at noise reduction. So much so that I switched them on passthrough when walking down narrow lanes because you literally cannot hear a car a metre behind you. The Sony buds are far less effective such that you have no trouble hearing a car approaching with Noise Cancellation on. Not so much that you cannot hear a podcast above the noise mind you, but traffic and wind noise were noticeably louder on the Sony’s. Overall Winner: This is tough one. The Amazon Echo Buds are £50 cheaper and that is not to be sniffed at. Because the Echo buds are buggy, I returned them so as it stands, I would give Sony the win. If the bugs are fixed on the Echo’s, it is a tougher decision and comes down to their superior noise reduction and a £50 saving, versus better sound quality, comfort and reduced fatigue with the Sony. I can live with the reduced noise reduction so for me the Sony’s are clear winners…at a price. EDIT: I've discovered that using the ambient sound or noise cancelling mode actually makes wind noise a lot worse. Ambient sound mode basically acts like a hearing aid so you would expect it to amplify wind noise. Surprisingly though, the noise cancelling mode has a huge issue as you would expect it to cancel out wind noise but somehow it manages to make it massively worse. In strong winds I use the 3rd option (tapping left ear) that turns off all sound processing so that they function like regular ear buds.

Before I say about mu experience with these, I should say that I have tried loads of these wireless earbuds. I love my music and love quality audio quality. If a purchase a set of headphones and then spend the first few days constantly fiddling with the EQ trying to get it to sound right, that's not a good sign. (as was the case with the Cambridge Audio earbuds). I have the Sony WH-100MX3 which are Sony's flagship over ear headphones and sound cancelling. These are truly amazing. I also have the previous version to these Sony wireless earbuds. These sound amazing too for in ear buds but the battery life is poor at around 2.5 hours. So when I saw these i was excited about the enhanced battery life. I can only say good things about these. They sound very good and the new sound cancelling engine (borrowed from the over ear version) is very good. When I first was trying them it was late at night. I has a shower whist waiting for them to charge and had the noisy bathroom fan on. I tried the earbuds for an hour or so before going to bed. I went into the bathroom with the music on pause. For a moment or 2, I was preparing to be disappointed as I could a slight hiss in the background. Buggar, I thought. I could not hear the his before of the sound of the music. After a bit of fiddling with volume etc I decide to go to bed a take the earbuds out. OMG......I had totally forgotten the fan was still running I could not hear it all until I took the earbuds out. The slight hiss was in fact the fan!!! SOLD! Battery life is great, hands free calling is OK, better since a recent firmware upgrade. Google, assistant etc works well if you want that kind of thing. I have seen no syncing issue whilst watching you tube, movies etc and the connect between the earbuds is very stable Not cheap but well worth it. Hope this was helpful I paid for these with my own money

Sony WF-1000XM3: Pros: - Superb sound quality - Excellent active noise cancellation - Great battery life - Looks very plush and feels solid - Nice accompanying app providing more customisable options - Large range of spare earbuds Cons: - Big and heavy in the ear - doesn't help to create a perfect seal - Patchy BT connection in crowded areas - Huge case - won't work in the pockets as it has hard edges. Also, the case lid can easily be scratched - Not waterproof/sweat resistant - For my ears, extended use would end up being uncomfortable - probably due to the weight and size of each earphone - Does not work well with Macbooks and Windows 10 - very clunky connections when it decides to connect - A lot of wind noise The above made me try out and then buy Apple's AirPod Pros: Pros: - Lightweight and great form factor - Best-in-class and seamless compatibility with Apple products - Incredible active noise cancellation for devices this size - yes, I'd say better than Sony - Sweatproof - Small, easy to carry around case Cons: - Sound quality not as good as Sony, however if like me its mainly about video, not so much music - it won't make much difference - Lower battery life - but again, no issues for me and will cover you for most flights - No app, however I'm not missing it to be honest Given the price difference is negligible, I would recommend the Apple AirPod Pros against this product. A perfect fit in the ear makes a huge difference. Due to the Sony's size and weight, I found the AirPods ANC to be superior. This may not be the case for everyone, could be down to size/shape of ear etc