Sony WF-1000XM6 vs WF-1000XM5, new design but not worth upgrading

Earbuds from Sony are well-known for their top-tier Active Noise Cancellation, but never had the top-tier transparency and sound quality. I started liking Sony's TWS earbuds since their WF-1000XM5 buds. It's because the buds started looking not that bulky. The XM4's were pretty bulky to wear. The XM5's are still on the bigger side compared to other known big players but they're pretty cool to wear. Now with the new Sony WF-1000XM6 buds the buds' design look more refined but the case design is kinda worse. Check out my first article on the new XM6 buds where I shared my opinion on the design. However, in this article, I will also cover the design along with a detailed comparison between the new XM6 and the previous XM5 earbuds. You should know why XM6 buds are not worth upgrading.

I was expecting a design change for the buds, but not for the case. The Sony WF-1000XM5 had a great case-design, it was a pretty compact case. Sony made the case smaller and more pocketable from the WF-1000XM4 to the WF-1000XM5, but the WF-1000XM6 reverses that trend with a noticeably bulkier design, which is a step backward in my view. I was expecting an even more refined and smooth case, which will look more compact than the previous WF-1000XM5. The new case has pointy flat edges and looks quite a bit bigger, this is a backward direction in case-design and practicality.

So, I think this is totally a wrong approach in the case-design, but the buds' design is pretty cool. The new Sony WF-1000XM6 Earbuds look very different but better. Even though the new design may not look smaller but it is a more refined, smooth and a more compact design. The pill-shape kinda make them look small, cute and cooler than the previous WF-1000XM5 model. It's not a design that I love but I think it's a better design and a move forward in the earbuds' design. This new design is more comfortable and suitable for a wide range of ears. However, I have seen them sticking out a bit in case of a small head. On the contrary, they actually look quite pretty on people with big head and big ears.

So, the new case is supposed to be smaller, lighter and carry more capacity. But this time Sony just didn't do a good enough job for the case's design. The buds' design and the case's design doesn't match up, which make them look non-cohesive. Sometimes a non-cohesive design like different design language for buds and case can still work if the design is more thoughtful and better, but this time that didn't work in my opinion. The buds have a very smooth vs the case's edgy and point totally opposite design signature. By the way, even though I like the buds' new design, I kinda think that it's slightly beefy in the body but it actually looks small from the outside.

Sony earbuds are not known for great sound quality, but they always offer good sound quality. These Sony WF-1000XM6 Earbuds are Sony’s premium-grade in-ear buds. So, one can expect a premium sound from them. But unfortunately, the sound is just decent like their previous model. Neither the old XM5 nor this new XM6 buds have great details and soundstage. However, they have decent bass and clarity, which is good enough for most people. There is no major issue with the sound quality of these new Sony WF-1000XM6 buds. Let's take a look at their frequency response analysis for a better understanding.

Sony has developed a new version of their 8.4 mm driver that is in the XM5 buds. This new driver for the WF-1000XM6 is soft, lightweight and delivers better audio performance. If you take a look at their bass response, it is on the bass-heavy side. It is an okay response but not a great response. There is a roll-off that starts well-before 20 Hz, which is not an extended bass response. You should expect an extended bass response but not a boosted response from a high-end earbud. There is a boost in the upper-bass after 100 Hz, which can make the buds sound a little muddy. The Sony WF-1000XM6 buds have good bass performance that will satisfy most people. You may like this little bassy and powerful sound.

This is not a major issue, but I think the lower midrange is a bit recessed. The response shows a dip but it's not a wide dip, so you will get less details from the lower mids. This is those sort of things that don't let buds have a great soundstage. The midrange is just fine and the overall clarity is pretty good. It has a little boosted bass and treble, but slightly recessed mids. So you have kind of a v-shaped sound signature here with the WF-1000XM6, and that gives a mediocre soundstage. The sound isn't overly bass or treble heavy, the mids are also not that bad. It's just not a very tastefully defined sound.

For the previous WF-1000XM5 buds, it's a slightly different story. The transition from the upper-bass to the midrange is very boosted. This creates a muffled kinda sound for songs that have heavy upper bass and lower midrange. The XM5 buds have a less clean sound compared to the new XM6 buds. You lose some details in the mids and highs because of the slight muddy sound on the old XM5 buds. The highs seem to be lacking a bit and that makes the sound less clear and detailed. You are not gonna get an impressive soundstage from the Sony WF-1000XM5 buds. Also, the sound is not very open and airy, it is just a good sound but not great in any aspect based on my research.

I think that the new WF-1000XM6 buds are tuned better than the XM5 buds, but not that better to become something great or noteworthy. The upper-bass area is still a bit boosted but not as much as it was in the WF-1000XM5 buds. The high frequencies are also tuned a bit better, which is why these new WF-1000XM6 buds sound more open and airy with better clarity. The soundstage is also improved slightly but not enough to get impressed. Both the XM6 and XM5 buds should have had better sub-bass and more controlled mid and upper bass. The sub-bass should have been extended a bit more and the upper bass after 100 Hz should have been reduced by quite a bit. Both earbuds sound little compressed and closed off, the new XM6 sounds a little less compressed that gives it a better depth and space.

If you listen to the sound samples in this video, you can hear a huge difference between the original song and the recorded sample from the XM6 and XM5 buds. Some of that difference is gonna be caused by the quality of that recorder, but we can judge the sound tests to understand the difference between these 2 earbuds. I think the new WF-1000XM6 performs better in terms of sound quality compared to the old XM5 buds, but it is not a significant difference. So, if you think that these new buds have much better sound quality, and you wanna upgrade from the old XM5 buds, then you will be disappointed. However, the WF-1000XM6 is a good upgrade form the old old WF-1000XM4 buds.

I would be pretty happy to have that kinda sound in a $100 buds but these are not that cheap, they cost more than three times of that. The WF-1000XM6 has a retails price of $330 vs the XM5's $300 price tag. However, you can buy the old XM5 buds at around $250, which is way cheaper. I think the $30 price increase can be justified considering the whole picture, but in terms of just sound quality there isn't any significant improvement. Both have decent sound quality, the new XM6 is slightly better, but none is gonna satisfy an audio enthusiast. One more thing, these buds have app-support that lets you take advantage of a custom eq. So you can tune and change the sound by a bit to your liking.

These XM6 buds have 8 mics meaning 4 mics on each earbud vs total 6 mics on the old XM5 buds. The previous model already had great ANC and this new XM6 takes it to even further. This test shows how the WF-1000XM6 has a better transparency mode for loud and noisy environment. But I think the old XM5 kinda performed better in quiet environment. For quiet places, the new XM6 buds have a bit more clarity that makes the transparency mode perform less natural, but this becomes an advantage for loud places. Overall, I can say that the old XM5 buds already had top-tier Active Noise Cancellation and this new XM6 buds offer slight improvements for both ANC and transparency mode's performance.

Check out this video by Short Circuit that demonstrates the call quality. The mics have a top level performance but I still think that the AirPods Pro 3 may have a slight edge. However, between the WF-1000XM6 and WF-1000XM5, the new XM6 buds have better call quality in noisy environment. You will be able to hear voice with more clarity. With the new XM6 buds, it may sound a little sharp for quiet environment but that helps at loud places. I think Sony should improve this adaptive technology so that the mids and highs only get boosted for loud and noisy environment. I don't hear any significant improvements in terms of mic quality, but there are slight enhancements depending on environment.

Both the WF-1000XM6 and WF-1000XM5 have similar advertised playback time. The buds alone can provide 8 hours of playback with ANC turned on and the case provides additional 2 full charges. So, a total playback of 24 hours with the case. This is good playback time as the ANC is turned on and you can still get 8 hours at a moderate around 50% listening volume. But no improvements on the new WF-1000XM6 buds in terms of battery. You should expect more playback time as these new XM6 buds have a bigger case, but that's not the case here this time. Reviewers are saying that the XM6 buds last close to 9 hours at moderate volume with ANC. That is better than advertised, but if you are comparing new XM6 with old XM5's battery performance, the new XM6 will always win as the old XM5 probably already lost some of its battery capacity.

Both the XM6 and XM5 buds have support for high-end codecs. They support the high-end LDAC and generic SBC and AAC codecs. The new XM6 has an upgrade with the Bluetooth version 5.4 vs the previous XM5 had an older Bluetooth 5.3 version. This latency test shows that they both have some noticeable latency, which is not good for gaming. The new WF-1000XM6 doesn't have any improvements in terms of latency. However, the new WF-1000XM6 buds offer LE Audio and LC3 that the old XM5 doesn't offer. This new addition is supposed to enhance and fasten the connectivity experience.

Check out those articles from above, you can click on those linked images to read the articles. A while ago I published a review of the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G smartphone, check that out if you are into budget phones. In case you are interested in portable speakers, I compared 3 Boombox type speakers from 3 different brands such as Soundcore, Tribit and JBL. So don't forget to also check out that detailed comparison article about the JBL Boombox 3 vs Tribit Stormbox Blast vs Soundcore Boom 2 Plus.

I don't think there is a significant improvement on the sound quality over the XM5 buds. The new WF-1000XM6 buds do have improved call and transparency. The buds have a better smooth and cool design but the new case-design is worse for practicality. A more bulkier and less pocketable design for the brand new case. I would have called these new XM6 buds an upgrade if the case was just slightly more refined on top of the XM5's case as the old case was smaller than this new one. The new buds have very smooth curved shape, which is totally opposite of the new case's design. The case and buds don't match up in terms of this new design, they don't look like a cohesive design. The old WF-1000XM5 buds and case had a better matched cohesive design that made more sense.

The big case doesn't offer big battery, which is unexpected. You get total 24 hours combining the buds and the case. The buds offer around 8 hours and the case gives you additional 2 full charges, this is same for both XM6 and XM5 buds. The buds' 8-hours with ANC at a moderate volume is good but the new big case should have had one more full charge to justify the size. There are slight improvements in terms of sound quality, ANC, transparency and call quality. The old WF-1000XM5 buds were already good enough and these slight improvements don't make the new XM6 buds great. I need to clarify that both Sony XM6 and XM5 buds have great ANC, but they are just good everywhere else. You can buy these new WF-1000XM6 buds if you didn't have the previous XM5 model. I think they are not upgrade-worthy from XM5, but a good upgrade from XM4 buds.

Also, please check out the JBL Charge 6 vs Charge 5 story for highlights.
IF you're interested in mid-sized portable speakers, check my JBL Charge 6 vs Bose SoundLink Plus article. The JBL Charge 6 did better in the head-to-head comparison.