It wasn’t long ago at all that visuals of Sony’s WF-1000XM6 leaked online. In the intervening time, Sony confirmed that a full reveal would take place on 12 February. It would be awfully inconvenient if someone spoiled the Japanese company’s fun and detailed everything ahead of time.
That’s called (bad) foreshadowing, by the way. Someone absolutely has spoiled Sony’s surprise, detailing the upcoming XM6 earbuds with fantastic precision. Well, fantastic for us. Sony’s PR department, not so much.
Meet the WF-1000XM6
Previously, we saw the changes to Sony’s earbuds’ outer design; now it’s time to peer inside. Not literally, because that would involve a hammer, but all of the details are out there. The upcoming WF-1000XM6s are getting a new QN3e processor, eight adaptive microphones, and a new adaptive NC optimiser. Three different ambient modes are confirmed for the ‘buds, but we could have guessed that. It’s hardly novel.
A new driver occupies space inside each earbud. Weirdly, this one hasn’t been entirely revealed, so there’s something to look forward to later this week. There’s also an upgraded DAC and amplifier inside, which should further tweak sonic performance from Sony’s already excellent premium line.
The eight mics help with some features, with wind noise reduction for calls chief among them. Beamforming and bone conduction functions are also baked in, and we’re looking forward to a more detailed explanation of those from the Japanese giant. Sony is adding 360 Reality Audio to the WF-1000XM6, assisted by head tracking. Bluetooth’s LE Audio and Auracast are present, and there’s some sort of AI along for the ride. Like you weren’t expecting it.
Battery life for the new in-ears is expected to be eight hours on a charge (a total of 24 hours, if you include the case’s top-ups), and they’ll be rated IPX4.
Even with all these details, there’s little that’s actually surprising here. Sony’s WF-1000XM6 in-ears were always going to feature the best tech the company could stuff inside them. Next, we just need to find out how much these will cost when they appear in South Africa.
