Sony WH-1000XX The COLLEXION review: Exceptional, but the XM6 is probably a better choice

10 years is a long time for anything. But it’s an especially long time for a product line to maintain its place at the top of a category.

Few brands achieve it. But Sony’s WH-1000 Series has, from the XM1 all the way to last year’s XM6, which is easily one of the best pairs of wireless noise-cancelling headphones you can buy right now.

So to celebrate, Sony launched the 1000X The COLLEXION (AKA WH-1000XX), a special edition model that adds a layer of luxury to the exceptional XM6, as well as a few extra functions.

However, being a luxury pair of headphones, it also means there’s a new price tag, and it’s huge. At $999 RRP, the 1000X isn’t an impulse purchase. It’s a decision to lean into that luxury nature of The COLLEXION.

And that means that honestly, for most people, the XM6 will be a better choice.

But if money is no object, and you want the best pair of headphones available, are the 1000X any better? Yeah, I think they are, but not by enough.

What makes the Sony WH-1000XX stand out?

The WH-1000 XM6 is a premium pair of headphones. The design is functional and comfortable, but it’s not in the same league as the AirPods Max, for example.

The 1000X The COLLEXION is a luxury pair of headphones. They look and feel phenomenal. While the overall design echoes the XM6, the choice of materials and the minor adjustments made to the functionality of the headphones are really on display with the 1000X.

One of those adjustments is the addition of another button on the left ear cup, which lets you cycle through the different listening modes of the headphones, which focus on Sony’s Spatial Audio mixing functionality.

There’s also the sound quality. Sony has worked with Grammy-winning mastering engineers to help tune the headphones’ final sound quality.

The 1000X also features Sony’s DSEE Ultimate, the brand’s AI-powered audio upscaling technology that’s designed to return the details into streamed music that compression takes out.

And for the more audio-forward among you, the WH-1000XX supports LDAC, Sony’s proprietary high-res audio Bluetooth streaming codec.

Sony WH-1000X specs

Design and build quality

Oh, man, these headphones are luxurious.

Straight off the bat, The COLLEXION feels much more luxurious than the XM6. That luxury comes in two main ways. The first is the headband, which has a matte sandblasted texture, and is much more elegant than the XM6’s frame.

Of course, using metal in the band adds to the weight of the headphones, so Sony has made the headband a bit thicker to better balance the weight on your head. You don’t necessarily feel the extra weight when you wear the headphones, but the specs definitely show that it’s there.

The second big luxury upgrade is the faux leather finish on the padding and the outside of the ear cups. Apparently it took Sony two years to develop the material, and I can tell you it feels comfortable and luxurious on the skin.

I don’t know how well it will hold up with sweat and rubbing over a long period of time, though. It didn’t show any visible signs of degradation over the month or so I tested, but often the fabric on cushioning takes years to wear away. I expect it will be fine for a few years, at least.

Sony has made the ear cups on The COLLEXION a bit larger, so these headphones fully encompass your ears. It ultimately reduces the fatigue of wearing the headphones for an extended period of time – your ears don’t end up sweating as much after extended listening sessions.

On that note, the clamping pressure is really well-balanced. The headphones feel really secure, but unlike the AirPods Max, it doesn’t feel like your brain will be squeezed out through your eyeballs after wearing these for a few hours.

Even better, if you wear glasses, the cushioning of the ear cups adapts around your glasses, so you can still wear them without getting dents from the headphones pushing the frame into your skull.

From a controls' perspective, the left ear cup has the main power button, a button for controlling the ANC and a new secondary button that cycles through Sony’s spatial listening modes. There’s also a 3.5 mm headphone jack for wired listening, and you get a cable in the box if you like listening to music old-school.

The right ear cup, meanwhile, has a touchpad that lets you adjust volume, skip tracks, start, and stop music and receive or end phone calls. It’s nicely receptive, and easy to control.

Audio performance

Sony’s WH-1000 series has a decade of exceptional sound, and it would be crazy if the pair of headphones released to celebrate that milestone was any different.

Straight off the bat, the signature sound of the headphones for music playback is fantastic. It’s really well-balanced, capable of showcasing the full spectrum of sounds in a really balanced way.

I listened to a lot of music over the past month or so of testing these headphones, but I think the track I enjoyed most was Florence and the Machine’s The Old Religion. Starting with the simple piano but quickly building with drums, guitar and orchestra, and Florence Welch’s mind-blowing vocals just fill every corner of your ears through these headphones.

There’s no distortion. Every instrument and layer of the song can be picked out if you listen hard enough, with no range drowning out the others.

Other tracks are equally impressive, whether deeply produced in a studio or live recordings. I can’t tell you how many versions of the Dave Matthews Band cover of All Along the Watchtower I’ve listened to, but listening to the opening track of the band’s latest Live Trax recordinggave a real sense of being in the crowd.

Part of the sound quality comes from the bespoke driver unit, but it’s also thanks to the tuning of the headphones. Sony’s collaboration with Grammy winning mastering engineers certainly hasn’t hurt the performance here.

One of the most considerable changes over the XM6 is the addition of a second button on the left ear cup, which cycles through spatial listening modes. By default, there’s a Music and Cinema mode, but you can also add a Game mode in the Sony SoundConnect app.

It’s important to note that this is Sony’s algorithm umpiring the music signal into a virtual surround situation. It doesn’t play back music (or TV/movies) mixed into spatial directly.

It’s not bad – there is a discernible difference between the 360 music mode and the standard listening, and I did find myself leaving it on the spatial setting more often than not.

But the effect is not as good as listening to music mixed in spatial through a pair of AirPods. It’s the same with movies – there’s a dedicated spatial mode for watching cinema, and it adds a huge amount of depth to the soundtrack compared to standard mode.

But listening to an Atmos mix directly in a compatible set of headphones is still more immersive. It’s not a reason to avoid these headphones, but it’s not as enticing as having compatibility for the existing standards built in.

Audio quality for calls is exceptional. Combined with noise cancellation, you can hear someone on the other end of the line almost as if they were in the room with you.

For noise-cancelling, the 1000X uses the same microphone array and speakers as the XM6. That’s 12 microphones and an adaptive NC optimiser to ensure the outside world stays outside.

Given the XM6 was already the best noise cancellation I’ve experienced, so it goes without saying that The COLLEXION here delivers the same performance.

Switch on noise cancellation and you drown out the outside world.

Perhaps the best example I can give was using these headphones on a flight back from Singapore. Thanks to the comfortable design and incredible noise cancellation, I slept remarkably well on the overnight return journey, not even stirring for the breakfast cart as it passed me by.

Battery life and connectivity

Sony claims up to 24 hours of battery life with ANC switched on, and that feels about right. I got to Singapore and back again, plus a few solid hours of work while there, and it was only when I got home I got the low battery warning.

24 hours isn’t best in class for noise-cancelling headphones, but it’s not bad at all.

The COLLEXION supports Bluetooth 6.0, with a 10m effective range, and connects to two devices simultaneously.

The Sony SoundConnect app controls all the headphones settings (beyond what you can manage with the on-device buttons), including customising the EQ for the standard listening mode.

And while it’s not something I found myself using a lot, a long press of the touchpad also lets you activate your phone’s voice assistant.

Verdict

There’s no getting around it that the Sony 1000X The COLLEXION is arguably a better pair of headphones than the brand’s already excellent WH-1000 XM6.

Given the XM6 is probably the best pair of headphones I’ve tested, that makes these the new benchmark, right?

But the catch is in the price tag. At $999.95 RRP, The COLLEXION is significantly pricier than the XM6’s $699.95 RRP.

That’s roughly a 40% price increase between models.

The question is whether the performance improvements are worth that price increase.

For most people, I don’t think it makes sense. The XM6 is an exceptional pair of headphones that look great and sound fantastic. The 1000X The COLLEXION are an exceptional pair of headphones that look more luxurious and sound slightly better, but I don’t think the benefit equates to an extra $300.

Don’t get me wrong – if you aren’t watching your pennies in this economy, then these are the headphones to pick. But for most people, the XM6 will give you an experience that is 90% as good for a fraction of the price.

Buy the Sony 1000X THE COLLEXION if:

• You want Sony's absolute best without compromise and price isn't the deciding factor.
• You listen for hours at a stretch and want the comfort upgrade: larger ear cups, balanced clamping and faux leather that doesn't bite into your ears.
• You appreciate craftsmanship, and the XM6's functional-but-plain design has always felt like a compromise.

Don't buy the Sony 1000X THE COLLEXION if:

• You’re watching your budget. The WH-1000 XM6 delivers roughly 90% of this experience for $300 less.
• You're invested in Apple's ecosystem, where native Spatial Audio on AirPods will beat Sony's 360 Upmix outright.
• You're upgrading from the XM6 expecting a meaningful ANC improvement. There isn't one, the noise cancellation platform is identical.

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Nick Broughall

Nick Broughall is an award-winning technology journalist with 20+ years experience, previously Editor at Finder, Gizmodo and TechRadar. He founded BTTR Reviews and regularly contributes to News.com.au's Checkout section.