Introduction

Sony’s 1000X The Collexion are a different kettle of fish from its mainstream WH-1000X series, but it wants to have an impact that’s just as big with its intended audience.

These aren’t your everyday, work-horse type of headphones. The 1000X The Collexion (or WH-1000XX) have a narrower focus, one that emphasises style, craft, comfort and sound quality.

The WH-1000XM6 are among the best wireless headphones, and you might think that the 1000X The Collexion are basically the XM7s in disguise, but they’re not. What they are is similar to, but also different from, the WH-1000X models that came before them.

Design

• Carry ‘bag’
• Super comfort
• Two finishes

Over the last ten years, Sony crafted a distinctive look for its WH-1000X series, and the WH-1000XX doesn’t deviate much from it. They’re still recognisably distinctive; sleek and premium-looking as expected from a pair of headphones pushing past £500 / $600. If you felt the WH-1000XM6 lacked a wow factor, this pair stands out more from the crowd.

They don’t collapse inwards as the WH-1000XM6 do, but that’s not how Sony wants you to make use of these headphones.

These aren’t headphones that you stuff in your bag between commutes. They’re headphones to take care of, so the carry case is shaped and acts as a bag. There’s a handle to carry them in a way that’s more practical than the AirPods Max 2 cradle, with a magnetic latch to keep the case secure. It’s such a simple change that it’s almost genius. Why haven’t more headphone brands implemented this?

It’s clear Sony’s mood board when designing these headphones had people wearing trenchcoats, Barrel trousers and Ferragamo shoes. Touch, feel, and a more experiential experience are what Sony’s designers have put their effort into.

These headphones are both minimalist and eye-catching – designed to blend in with what you’re wearing rather than stand out. The choice of platinum silver (no, not white) and black serves to emphasise that monochromatic approach to styling – though Sony missed a trick by not including a brown/tanned version that would have fit into the upmarket fashion look.

Unlike the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 or Focal Bathys, the WH-1000XX haven’t opted for real leather (vegans celebrate!). Instead, the headphones make use of two materials across the design: aluminium and faux leather.

Matte sandblasted faux leather covers everything that you touch or your head comes into contact with. Some might not like the feel or texture, but I quite like the tactile feel it gives to the touch controls compared to the frictionless swipes of the WH-1000XM6. These headphones still incorporate taps and swipes, and in most cases, if the first tap or swipe didn’t succeed, the second attempt hit the mark.

I haven’t marked the surface of the headphones yet, but the earpads do have a few smudges I haven’t yet been able to remove. If you want to change out the earpads, they’re easily detachable.

Aluminium makes up the lovely-looking linkages that connect the headband to the earcups. The stepless slider is silent, but it’s the quality of the metal – according to Sony, each one is individually finished by a human – that’ll leave you purring about these headphones’ elegance.

The clamping force doesn’t feel too tight. Initially, while I felt pressure around my ears and cheeks, it slowly receded after a few minutes. The headphones can slip and slide, but I haven’t found the fit to be loose.

The earpads make for a cushy point of contact with the head, and these are easily the most comfortable wireless over-ears Sony has made; more so than the WH-1000XM6, which can bunch around my ears and make their presence quite literally felt.

That’s not the case with the WH-1000XX, which go on like a cosy pair of slippers, despite weighing 70g more. The profile of the headphones’ earcups is slimmer, so they jut out less, which has some effects I’ll get to later.

The noise isolation is perhaps not as strong as the WH-1000XM6, but The Collexion handles wind noise well enough. Wind whips cleanly past and doesn’t affect the mics, though walking into a headwind, the air gets into the aluminium linkages and produces a whistling sound.

There’s an extra physical button high up on the left earcup that covers Sony’s 360 Upmix modes, and they’re easy enough to locate thanks to the difference between the faux leather and metal feel of the controls.

The Collexion has a 3.5mm jack with a wired cable included in the carry bag. There’s no USB-C cable for charging, but more disappointing is that the WH-1000XX doesn’t support wired USB-C audio. Given all its main rivals do, I find this something of a letdown.

Features

• Sound Connect app
• 360 Upmix modes
• Auracast and Bluetooth LE Audio support

Writing the features for a pair of Sony headphones is, for me, intimidating because Sony packs in so much. Most of what was in the WH-1000XM6 carries over into the 1000X The Collexion, but the main takeaway here is that I can’t recall another headphone at this price point with this list of features. Sony’s in a field of its own when it comes to customising performance the way you want it.

Bluetooth is v6.0, Bluetooth multipoint ensures connection to two devices simultaneously, and you can stream in SBC, AAC, and LDAC, which offers higher quality audio.

The headphones also carry Bluetooth LE Audio (LC3), which uses less energy when enabled. Plus there’s Google Fast Pair for quick connection to Android devices while Microsoft’s Swift Pair does the same for Windows. Auto Switch support works with the LinkBuds and the 1000XM5 headphones and upwards. Auracast is supposedly supported, though the list of specs I was sent didn’t mention it.

The wireless performance has been strong – stronger than I feel it was with the WH-1000XM6 in its LDAC mode. There are still stutters and places where interference can interrupt. So while it hasn’t been completely faultless like efforts from Sennheiser and Focal, it’s come through major areas like Victoria and Oxford Circus mostly unscathed.

The smart features are all back. Speak-to-Chat pauses music when you’re speaking, and it latches onto actual speech rather than coughing, sneezing or my attempts to grumble beneath my breath. There’s Quick Attention mode, where you put your hand over the earcup to hear what’s around, plus Adaptive Sound Control, which I don’t make much use of but allows for automation of ANC in turning it on or off through geolocation.

If you prefer not talking to actual people and want to talk to digital assistants instead, the 1000X The Collexion supports Google’s Gemini. It also works with Apple’s Siri, and if there’s any other voice assistant you’d prefer, you can change the settings and have the headphones access your smartphone’s native assistant.

There’s also Sony’s own voice control, where you can raise the volume or turn the noise cancellation, etc., when enabled. If you don’t want to talk at all, the WH-1000XX supports gesture controls – you can avoid a call by shaking your head.

Sony is still chasing immersive audio, and the WH-1000XX gets features that weren’t available on prior WH-1000X headphones. There are three ‘upmix’ modes of Sony’s immersive 360 Reality Audio sound in 360 Cinema Upmix (already present on the WH-1000XM6), which is joined by the 360 Music Upmix and 360 Game Upmix.

These three ‘Upmix’ modes are supplemented by Standard (the default mode) and Background Music, where you can push music away and make it sound as if it’s happening in the distance. Sound quality is degraded, but if you’re the type of person who likes to listen to music while working but also finds it distracting when you need to concentrate, this mode can help (it’s certainly helped me).

These headphones will accept a Dolby Atmos signal (like any other pair), and there’s head-tracking support on Android.

These are the first pair of Sony headphones to implement its DSEE Ultimate, using Edge-AI to upscale compressed streams in real-time, and in doing so it claims to restore detail and dynamic range. To be frank though, if you’ve bought these headphones, you should be listening in higher quality than a piddling 320kbps stream.

Equaliser settings offer an array of presets to choose from, along with Find Your Equaliser, which plays audio to find the balance you’re after. For more in-depth control, there’s a 10-band EQ.

More smarts are available in Quick Access settings which includes Spotify Tap, Amazon Music Play Now, YouTube Music Quick Access and Endel Quick Access.

I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the revamped Sound Connect app. While all the categories are listed in a way that makes it simple and easy to find what you’re after, there are so many features, so many nested tabs and menus – the way it’s presented is not the most visually appealing.

At least with the main page you can add shortcuts, and I suspect most people won’t deviate from the first screen once everything is set up to their tastes.

Battery Life

• Up to 24 hours battery life
• Fast charging
• Replaceable batteries (with a caveat)

There is a change in battery life, down from 30 hours to 24. A quick comparison to similarly priced rivals puts the WH-1000XX ahead of the AirPods Max 2, around the same as the Dali IO-8 and less than the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2.

Sony’s reasoning for the reduced battery is that as the earcups are slimmer in profile, there’s less room for the same capacity. The batteries are replaceable, though Sony recommends that you send them in for service rather than take a screwdriver to the headphones.

Actual battery life? I’ve found the headphones can last plenty long despite the reduced specs. A two-hour drain with a Spotify stream in lossless (in LDAC with ANC on) and the headphones only went down by 3%. Arguably the longer they go on for, the bigger the drops, but they’re easily last across long flights.

Battery care can extend the headphones’ lifespan by stopping them from reaching full charge, just like with the ULT speakers and other Sony headphones.

There is fast-charging but perhaps because of the smaller batteries, it’s not as emphatic as the WH-1000XM6’s three minutes equals three more hours. The WH-1000XX offers 90 minutes from a five-minute charge. Not quite Speedy Gonzalez.

Noise-Cancellation

• Adaptive ANC
• Ambient Sound mode
• Excellent call quality

So, how about the noise cancellation? Is it better than the WH-1000XM6, or worse?

It’s not as good. But still pretty good.

Measured against the WH-1000XM6 and it’s a noticeable drop, with noise isolation and overall suppression not as strong. The 1000X The Collexion is closer to the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones Gen 2 (though not quite as silent).

Compared against contemporaries, they’re better than the Focal Bathys, Bathys MG, and Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2. It deals with low frequencies more confidently during a pink noise test, and it clears away sounds from in front and to the sides more consistently. Perhaps the closest is the Dali IO-8, but the Sony is again more consistent.

While The Collexion aren’t super silent, on a plane, they make engine and cabin noise more manageable. On a busy train, it provides a semblance of calm, and on a bus, it makes the trip more bearable.

The WH-1000XX’s Ambient Sound mode is good – there’s maybe a little bit noise to deal with, but it sounds clear enough that I can hear someone rustling a crisp packet across the train carriage. Unlike some efforts, it doesn’t amplify sound to grab attention; it just filters through the outside world in a calm manner.

Call quality is arguably top tier. The mics latched onto my voice and relayed it to the other person clearly, who didn’t pick up any background or wind noise. You can be confident taking calls outside.

In the Sound Connect app you can also turn the microphone on or off during calls and meetings. It’s interesting they have the type of ‘work’ functionality I’d have expected from the Jabra Evolve3 85. It suggests Sony sees business people taking a shine to these headphones too.

Sound Quality

• Better treble response than WH-1000XM6
• Less bass
• More detail and insight into tracks

Here we get to the crux of the 1000X The Collexion’s performance – the sound.

Is it better than the WH-1000XM6? Yes. Is it a huge upgrade over the WH-1000XM6? Not really. Is it a different approach from those headphones? Yes, and that’s the key takeaway. They’re similar but different.

There’s a new 30mm driver that features a soft edge and a new high-rigidity dome that Sony says delivers clearer separation between instruments and voice, more high-frequency detail and a wider soundstage. The 1000X The Collexion delivers on that front.

Compared to the WH-1000XM6, the bass has been tempered down, which itself had been toned down from the WH-1000XM5. There’s less energy funnelled to the lows, certainly not as much richness either listening to tracks on the two, with a bass performance that’s a little smaller and tasteful on the WH-1000XX.

It’s a similar tuning to the WH-1000XM6, with similarities that at times make the gap between the headphones feel almost nonexistent. But listen for longer, the WH-1000XX begins to stretch ahead like a long-distance runner in the final lap.

The 1000X The Collexion sounds wider, and there’s more detail retrieved across the width of the soundstage (instruments at the edges sound more defined) and across the frequency range. It’s not a huge difference, but it’s enough, and where Sony’s tech has a big advantage over other brands is the reduction of hiss and background noises in tracks.

Vocals are clearer and better separated from the instruments. Compared to the Dali IO-8, the Sony better protects the pocket for vocals – it feels like they’re slightly lost with the Dali on busy tracks, whereas the WH-1000XX preserves them better.

There’s a little more insight into vocals, a clearer and crisper tone that helps them stand out more. Compared to previous Sony over-ears, there’s a little nuance and refinement on display. When tracks get busy and there’s banging percussion beats and clashing cymbals, the Sony sifts through it with more acuity than the Dali does.

The highs are shaped a little better than before; clearer, more detailed, if around the same level of brightness. The highs aren’t fatiguing, and the high-frequency peaks strike a better tone on the WH-1000XX. The headphones form a clearer picture of a track in my head, but that’s not to say that the WH-1000XM6 are a slouch either.

They’re not the most energetic but that seems by design. The headphones go for a calmer and less excitable energy than the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2. The Bowers offers a bolder sound and retrieves more detail from music – plus it punches like a hammer with low frequencies.

The 360 Upmix modes are a mixed bag. If the intent of the 360 Music Upmix is to make it sound as if music isn’t coming from inside your head, then I don’t think it succeeds. If it’s meant to sound like a live music performance, it doesn’t carry the energy or feel of that either.

The 360 Cinema Upmix is better. With an iPad Pro, it brings dialogue and backgrounds upfront, whereas without it, in the headphones Standard mode, it focuses on dialogue above all else. If it’s meant to push sounds further from your head, it’s not doing that, but I do prefer Cinema Upmix to Music Upmix.

Should you buy it?