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We asked, you told us: The Sony WH-1000XM6's microphone isn't amazing
May 29, 2025
Two weeks ago, we released our review of the Sony WH-1000XM6. Though most of the test results were excellent, some of our readers noted that the microphone performance wasn’t what they were expecting. After skimming the comments sections, Reddit, and our own poll results, we’ve condensed what the masses had to say about the latest Sony flagship’s microphone performance.
How good is the Sony WH-1000XM6’s mic? You told us
The headline here is that most people rate the microphone quality of the Sony WH-1000XM6 positively. We ran polls alongside our microphone samples in articles such as this one for just under two weeks. Over 1,284 respondents were asked to rate the sound quality of the mic samples presented to them, alongside an anchor sample (of what poor quality would sound like), and a top competitor: the Apple AirPods Max.
On a scale of 1-5, the Mean Opinion Score (MOS) returned by our readers is 3.6. Not amazing, but not bad either. Few respondents were negative about the recording quality overall—only 100 rated the clips “bad,” and 56 rated them “awful.” A majority of respondents rated the samples positively: 512 reported they found the quality to be “good,” and 167 rated the samples as “perfect.” A sizable 449 of our readers rated the headphones’ samples as merely “okay,” which means we have some interesting issues to unpack.
First, in Likert-scale calculations, the MOS can be a little misleading, as it’s not a perfect way to contextualize survey data. If we were to use the median value, the score would be 4, or “good.” This reflects the opinion of about 53% of our readers who rated the microphone samples positively: 4/5 or above. Most people will be just fine with the Sony WH-1000XM6’s mic quality over a call or video conference.
Second, while opinions posted on Reddit were notably negative, most people seem to be quite fine with the microphone quality for a headset. This should serve as decent context for anyone looking for a work headset, as these results are positive enough where I’d be more than fine with recommending the Sony WH-1000XM6 for work applications.
Common feedback
Some among our readers that noted that the Sony WH-1000XM6’s microphone wasn’t what they were expecting after hearing that of the Sony WH-1000XM5. While it’s entirely possible that release firmware/app integration had something to do with it, it’s also possible that the AI noise reduction algorithm is aggressive to the point of slightly degrading sound quality. This is one of things that could improve with subsequent firmware updates.
Others noted that while the mic samples didn’t sound “bad,” the audio quality just wasn’t what they were expecting. This is potentially due to how phones handle codec selection, and devices like iPhones — and other devices that do not support LE audio — could be impacted. Finally, remember that your client or network could be throttling bandwidth or even applying its own noise reduction on top of your headphones’ attempts.
Finally, if you have brute-forced LDAC playback in developer settings, it’s unlikely your phone will automatically switch to LC3 even if it’s supported. Switching back to allowing the app more control here should improve things a bit.