Sony WH-1000XM3 Noise Cancelling Wireless Headphones with Mic, 30 Hours Battery Life, Quick Charge, Gesture Control, Ambient Sound Mode, with Alexa Built-in – Black

I've had my pair for a couple of days now and so I feel pretty confident in assessing the quality of them.I'm just going to get this bit out the way first. Google assistant only kind of works how they say it does. It says that Google assistant can be used via the NC and ambient sound button, which it totally can. But you cannot use that button for switching between NC and ambient sound and still use Google assistant. You have to choose (in the app) which you want. This was disappointing but not a bit issue as when I tried out Google assistant it sucked. I couldn't really tell whether it had picked up what I said and for some strange reason the ambient sound mics are turned on and you can hear your own voice which is a little annoying. Also if you were to use this on a busy road it probably won't hear what you say because of the ambient sound mics being on.My experience with the sound quality is a little different to most people. My reference point for sound quality comes from my HyperCloud XII's and they have truly amazing sound quality, better than almost any other headphones. So when I first put the Sony's on they sounded only slightly better than my other headphones. This isn't bad at all because it really shows just how good the Sony's are because they have slightly smaller drivers and so don't push as much physical air but some how still sound better than my other headphones. So yes they sound absolutely amazing. They sound just as good with NC on, which a lot of NC headphones don't. I can't compare them to Bose's offering as I haven't owned them but I have owned Sennheiser PX 550's and the Sony's sound leagues better than the 550's. Truth be told it's not even close with how much better the Sony's sound.The NC is probably what you're most interested in. The NC on these is, in my best guess, pure witchcraft. They do a fab job of keeping out the world around you and letting you focus on what you need to. I took these out which I drove to get some shopping and they were dangerously quiet. I couldn't hear my engine, the AC, my door close or anything - just pure silence. In busy households or shops they will block out peoples voices really well. They won't completely block voices out but they are quiet enough to the point that once you have music going you won't hear any voices or background noise.The ability to cup your hand over the right earcup to turn on ambient sound if you quickly need to talk to someone now handy. Not much really say about it other than that.They are seriously comfortable to wear. I experienced a little bit of pinching at the top of the head but it was so slightly you forget about it after 10 minutes. This is just a by-product of a thin headband. The pressure isn't distributed as much as say gaming headphones with a much wider band. It's nothing to worry about though. I didn't experience any discomfort from the clamping force on my jaw. My ears get a little warm but only ever so slightly. Not an issue for me.Pairing is super easy on a phone as you just tap the left earcup and boom, they're connected. But, they don't play well when connected to two devices at once. To clarify, you can connect to two devices but audio will only play out the first device connected. To switch from having sound come from your phone to your laptop or PC you have to physically go into settings and click disconnect on your phone. This doesn't mean you have to set it up again on your phone, just means they are no longer connected to you phone. This is annoying as I do this most nights in bed.If you plan to use these with a PS4 then you are Sh*t out of luck my friend. It appears that Sony (on the PS4 end) decided at some point in 2016 to stop supporting Bluetooth headphones on the PS4. So you can't connect these via Bluetooth to a PS4. Sucks but if you already having gaming headphones then it's no biggie.The battery is really good. 30 hours with NC is no joke. Will last a 20+ plane ride.Having USB-C is a god send. It means I can charge my: phone, laptop, earphones and headphones all with one cable.Overall all these are absolutely worth your £330. I paid £289. This price went back to normal within a few hours which makes me think it might have been a mistake on Amazon's end. But still, if I had paid £330 I would still be very happy with them.

Simply incredible. The sound quality on these is exceptional - I tested it out on some of my favourite songs and it was so good I had the hairs on my neck stand up!I mainly bought these for long haul flights. I've done 12hrs to Mauritius with these (13hr battery life so figured it was a great test) and a 9hr Chicago - both 'sleeper service' night flights on the way home.I almost bought the Bose option but didn't like the design of the newer model and felt the QCs seemed a bit dated compared to this. I tried them out in a shop before ordering on Amazon and these were the solid winners at that time.Set UpThe packaging is great and the quality of the headphones are the best I've seen and hands down are built better than the Bose ones.A little frustrating to set up to begin with - you have to download 2 apps that will work with the headphones and then set them up using this. Took about 10mins or so but it had a lot of options for level of noise cancellation etc etc.QualityThe headphones are crisp, clear - great on the bass and all round gives exceptional sound for movies and musicComfortGreat padding around the ears, little sore after a few hours of wearing them around the top of my head where the headband bit goes. Perhaps I need to loosen the headband one more notch on each side but it was the same on both long haul sets of flights - after a few hrs it was nice to take them off a bit.Noise CancellingExceptional. Sat on a Boeing 777-200ER running GE90 engines and sat in the centre of the aircraft at the window looking at the engines is noisy. For the second flight I was in a Boeing 787-9 Dtreamliner (known to be a lot quieter than older aircraft so figured it was a great comparison).After takeoff I put my Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones on and left them on for at least 3-4hrs or so. When I took them off I didn't realise how loud the aircraft actually was! It was so quiet and nicely insulated from the noise wearing the headphones that when I took them off it sounded and felt like I was hanging out the window! I had the same experience on the 787 too. The noise cancelling is exceptionally good and easily class-beating.QuirksOne thing that I still don't get is every now and again when using the headphones for at least an hour I get a ding noise from the headphones - and it'll randomly turn passive hearing on or off itself. Bit random and when it happens - a little frustrating.FeaturesIt has sensors in the sides allowing you to brush the sides up, down, sideways etc to change things like volume, song, passive mode etc.Passive mode is particularly good - it activates microphones on the headphones that allow you to have a conversation with people - for example, the cabin crew - whilst leaving the headphones on. I tried it and it works really really well but the one thing I kept thinking was "I know this has passive chat but this cabin crew girl doesn't" so took them off out of fear for coming across as rude!BatterySays it'll last for about 13hrs and it sure does! Amazing battery life

I would give this a 4.5 stars instead of a 5. While everyone has already covered all the incredible features of these headphones (noise cancelling, sound quality, comfort, battery and all that), there were a few minor things that aren't dealbreakers but would be useful to know when you buy them.1. Sound quality - sound is incredible but if you're coming from a standard pair of in-the-box headphones, you may find these a bit bass-y and low volume. I have found that creating a customer Equaliser setting to be the most helpful in opening up the mid-ranges a little bit more while preserving the good bass tones.2. Noise cancelling - best way to do this is through the app as I find the buttons to be very frustrating as it takes atleast 3-5 seconds to cycle through each NC mode3. I would recommend folding the headphones the way they're meant to for the box but just switching up which ear cup is folded as I wouldn't want wear and tear on just the left one.4. If you have long hair and want to tap the touch controls on the right ear cup - you will have to brush your hair aside as it won't register a touch through your hair.5. Connection is a bit slower and less intuitive that I'm used to (I have apple products and a pair of AirPods so everything is slow in comparison to that) I have learned that switching devices means you will have to disconnect from one and reconnect with another. Minor issue but still had to learn the hard way.Overall - these will last me YEARS and are already worth the money. I commute on the Tube everyday and the sounds are deafening. These were incredible and still let me hear the announcements!