3 headphones you should buy instead of the Sony 1000X The Collexion

Sony built the 1000X The Collexion to celebrate 10 years of its wireless headphones, and it looks the part: a mostly metal headband, leather-wrapped earcups, and a fancy carrying case with a built-in handle. At $649.99, it’s the most expensive pair Sony has ever put in this line. The trouble is that most of that money goes into materials and styling, not performance. We measured shorter battery life than the cheaper model it’s based on, it still won’t take a wired USB-C audio connection, and in our testing, it didn’t sound or cancel noise meaningfully better than Sony’s XM headphones that cost far less.

Sure, the Collexion has a lot of features going for it: Bluetooth 6, LDAC, and Auracast out of the box. But if you’re set on spending this kind of money on a pair of over-ears, here are three I’d buy instead — each cheaper, and each better at something you’ll notice every day.

Sony WH-1000XM6 ($449.99, often less)

If you like the Collexion but balk at the price, this is the easy swap — it’s the same family for $200 less. The WH-1000XM6 runs the same Sound Connect app, the same 10-band EQ, and nearly the same crowd-pleasing tuning. When we put the two side by side, the differences in clarity and bass were small enough that most people wouldn’t be able to tell them apart in a blind test; the XM6 even edges ahead on our MDAQS listener panel (4.8 to the Collexion’s 4.5) and pulls a touch more detail out of cymbals and strings.

Where it gets clearly ahead is the stuff you live with. The XM6 ran 37 hours in our standardized battery test versus the Collexion’s 24-hour rating, so you’ll be reaching for the charger far less often. It’s lighter (254g versus 320g), it folds up for travel, and its noise canceling is, if anything, a hair stronger. You give up the leather-and-steel build and the newer Bluetooth — the XM6 is on 5.3, and like the Collexion it only uses USB-C for charging, not listening — but you save at least $200, and it goes on sale regularly.

Sennheiser MOMENTUM 5 Wireless ($399.95)

This is the pair to buy if you want headphones that last — both on a charge and over the years. The Sennheiser MOMENTUM 5 lasts over 50 hours, so you’re looking at roughly double the Collexion’s endurance. Better still, the battery is user-replaceable: pop off an earpad, undo four screws, and you can drop in a fresh cell years down the line when the original wears out. At $399.95, it’s also the cheapest pick here.

It does the wired trick the Collexion won’t, too — you can listen over USB-C, not just charge. The noise canceling is a real step up for Sennheiser, landing just behind the very top tier, and the sound measured exceptionally clean (one of the lowest-distortion tunings we’ve recorded in wireless headphones). It does lean bass-forward out of the box, and the very top end is a little subdued, but both are easy to nudge in the app’s EQ. There’s no Auracast here, however, but that could change with a future firmware update.

Sonos Ace ($449)

The Sonos Ace is a bit of a wildcard pick because it’s best suited for certain people (like me) who watch a lot of movies. Its standout feature is Dolby Atmos with head tracking, plus a TV Audio Swap mode that pulls sound straight from a Sonos soundbar into the headphones — handy when you want to keep the room quiet without losing the surround effect. For at-home cinema in a small apartment, it’s a fun way to listen to content, and at $449 it’s $200 under the Collexion.

If the Collexion caught your eye for its premium look and feel, the Ace gets you most of the way there for less. It has a stainless steel frame, vegan leather earpads, and a soft matte finish that’s a close cousin to Sony’s.  Like the Sennheiser, it’ll also do wired USB-C audio, and its noise canceling sits right in the mix with the top flagships. The default sound does lean heavy on bass to the point of getting fatiguing, so you’ll want to pull the lows down in the app EQ— and that app only gives you basic bass and treble sliders, not the fine control Sony offers. But if movies and immersive audio are your thing, these are a great option.