Gear Review: Sony's WF-1000XM3 is truly the best wireless earbuds money can buy

Pack it up boys, they’ve done it.

The best wireless earbuds have been made by Sony, and they’re way ahead of the competition. At $349, the WF-1000XM3 costs quite a chunk of change, but it’s well worth the cash. If you’re in the market for a pair of truly wireless earphones, this should be the only one you look at. 

Oh, you’re still reading? Didn’t I already mention that it’s the finest piece of hardware you can thrust in your ear canals? Alright fine. A proper review, then. 

Let’s make it easier — what were the flaws I found in Sony’s new noise-cancelling earbuds? First off, that damn name. In typical Sony tradition, the company designates titles to their personal electronics with something more akin to a serial number than an actual name that people can quickly mention. 

What happened to Sony’s ingenuity in slapping catchy, iconic epithets like Walkman®? When I’m out hyping up these earbuds to folks (and this occurs often), I end up saying, “Yeah, you should totally check out the Sony WF… something something.”

For readability’s sake, I’ll just refer to them as “WF” from now on. 

Other things that could’ve made the WF truly perfect: actual volume control on these earbuds. You can do pretty much everything else on them through intuitive touch controls. Pause, play, skip or replay tracks, and adjust noise-cancelling levels — hell, even bring up Google Assistant. But volume tuning can only be done on the connected device, which in 2019 seems like a primitive process.

Another odd choice for its build (and the premium price) is that the WF offers zero water resistance. And that’s a slight concern even if you’re not planning to put them on during workouts. We’re all bound to sweat in this dank, humid climate and should the perspiration-inclined get too much moisture into the earbuds, we imagine they’d start running into functioning issues.

Aside from those hang-ups, Sony came up with the ultimate truly wireless earbuds that would fit everyone’s needs. And everyone’s ear canals and preferences too, considering that you get four pairs of silicone tips and three pairs of foam ones in various sizes. That being said, the devices themselves aren’t exactly inconspicuous — they’re chunky enough to stick out your ears, extending well beyond the tragus. But not enough to make it a tiresome, weighty wear over long periods. It feels the opposite, in fact, and I didn’t face any fatigue whatsoever.

Considerably bulky as it is, the WF needs to be so to store all that audio tech and battery. Sony claimed that the earbuds can last up to six hours on a single charge (with noise-cancelling turned on) and the palm-sized battery case offers three additional charges, which means up to 24 hours of total usage without having to juice them up. Of course, nobody actually has earbuds on for 24 hours at a time. If you’re simply using the WF during daily commutes, it’s highly likely that you only need to charge the case once a week.

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But it’s hard to keep them out of your ears because the buds sound so, so good. Everything that flows out of the WF sounds majestic, rich and in-depth — from the heart-wrenching vocal howls and soaring blackgaze riffs on State Faults’ Olive Tree to the jolly twangs and gentle instrumental sway on Big Thief’s Cattails. Audiophiles should get a kick out of fiddling with the equaliser in Sony’s mobile app as well. 

The best-in-class noise-cancelling feature helps, and it’s surprising how well the WF blocks out noise for a pair of wireless earbuds. A little too well, I feel — enough to make me feel wary about using them while walking near traffic. Fortunately, there’s adaptive sound control via Sony’s app, which will detect if one is stationary, walking, jogging or in a vehicle via active location tracking. 

You can fine-tune the amount of ambient sound allowed in while wearing the earbuds, so you can choose to completely block out the din while on a plane or tone down the noise-cancelling while crossing the road (which you really should with the WF). If you’re not using the Google Assistant feature, tapping the left bud on its touch panel will switch between noise-cancelling mode and ambient sound mode (or neither), so it’s effortless if you want to hear an announcement in the train before going back into sonic bliss.

I really appreciate the touch sensors on the buds, which are sensitive enough to respond to light taps — a way better alternative to pressing down on hard physical buttons that can often shove earbud tips into ears. 

What else is there to say about Sony’s stellar flagship earbuds? It’s a nearly perfect product that goes beyond all expectations of what truly wireless in-ears can do, a benchmark of what similar buds should stand up against. The price might be fairly daunting, but word on the web notes that Sony might be working on an affordable version of the WF-1000XM3.

That’s music to my ears. 

ilyas@asiaone.com