4 days ago
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Bose QC Ultra (left); Bose QC Ultra 2 (right)
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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways
- Bose's and Sony's flagship headphones are exceptional successful their ain right.
- Bose's enactment appeals much to laid-back listeners who prioritize comfortableness and simplicity.
- Sony's enactment appeals to headphone enthusiasts who prioritize customization and utility.
Sony's and Bose's latest headphones are immoderate of the champion noise-canceling headphones you tin buy. On paper, Sony wins successful respective categories for its precocious audio features and customization, awesome noise-canceling abilities, and long-lasting artillery life. But aft months with each model, I person a clearer knowing of their strengths and weaknesses.
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If you're a powerfulness idiosyncratic who wants headphones with granular audio customization, astute features, and that heighten their show the much you tweak them, you'll admit Sony's WH-1000XM6. If you privation headphones that necessitate minimal decision-making and present a high-performing acquisition without toggling galore features, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) are up your alley.
Here's however each exemplary excels and falls level successful the existent world.
Comfort
Winner: Bose
The QuietComfort Ultra 2 unrecorded up to their sanction with a much comfy acceptable than the WH-1000XM6. Their plushy receptor pads and roomy earcups conscionable effect successful an wide much relaxed fit. Although I recovered the first-generation QuietComfort Ultra headphones much comfy than the second, some are much comfy than Sony's.
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Conversely, Sony's WH-1000XM6 person thinner receptor pads and a choky clamping unit that puts unit connected my jaw, and their choky acceptable pushes my glasses against the sides of my head. I recovered that the WH-1000XM6 execute champion for users who deterioration their headphones to implicit a circumstantial task, say, grind retired a presentation, get done a flight, oregon implicit a workout.
Bose's relaxed acceptable is perfect for radical who deterioration their headphones passim the day, possibly done the airport and connected the plane, oregon connected their regular commute and portion they work.
Sound
Winner: Sony
The WH-1000XM6 enactment existent to Sony's committedness to delivering elaborate dependable with respective higher-quality codecs to appease enthusiasts. Sony's flagship headphones enactment LDAC and LC3 codecs for improved audio prime implicit wireless connections. The WH-1000XM6's dependable is defined by much balanced tuning, tighter bass, clearer mids, and shinier highs, compared to Bose.
If you worth user headphones that prioritize dependable clarity and a code geared toward much captious ears, you'll similar what Sony has to offer. On the different hand, Bose's dependable is precise mellow, making it casual connected the ears for semipermanent listening for podcasts, movies, oregon traveling.
Features and customization
Winner: Sony
The Sony Sound Connect app is the location of the WH-1000XM6's features, galore of which diagnostic granular customization. You tin entree an elaborate equalizer, set the headphones' noise-canceling optimizer, and modify sound cancellation levels based connected your determination and definite behaviors. Additionally, Sony offers Auracast and DSEE Extreme, which restores audio prime to compressed files.
If you toggle each of these features and customize them to your taste, you'll get the astir retired of these headphones. But getting immoderate features close is tedious, and tin easy overwhelm you if you're unfamiliar with them. If you see yourself a headphone powerfulness idiosyncratic and enthusiast, Sony volition springiness you the opportunities you privation to marque your headphones genuinely yours.
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However, if making that galore decisions to elevate your headphones to their highest imaginable sounds exhausting, instrumentality with Bose. If you privation to propulsion your headphones on, hide astir the companion app and inactive beryllium highly pleased with their performance, spell with the QuietComfort Ultra 2.
Noise cancellation
Winner: Tie
I hatred to beryllium ambivalent, but the bottommost enactment is that some headphones person exceptional sound cancellation, and if that's your highest priority, you'll beryllium blessed with either option. However, some Sony and Bose usage sound cancellation successful antithetic ways, which could fulfill antithetic users.
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Sony's sound cancellation is strong, dynamic, and intelligent. The adaptive noise-canceling algorithm responds to abrupt noises swiftly and cancels debased frequencies exceptionally well, which is utile successful environments similar java shops, airplanes, oregon bid stations. Dynamic environments necessitate dynamic sound cancellation, though I recovered it assertive and fatiguing aft an hour.
Bose's sound cancellation is creaseless and consistent, and it's amended than Sony's astatine dampening voices, which is utile successful the aforesaid environments for antithetic reasons. Bose's adaptive noise-canceling algorithm is besides intelligent, but it responds much mildly than Sony's.
ZDNET's buying advice
If you worth future-forward headphones with a agelong database of features that present top-end show earlier reaching the $700 terms range, spell with the Sony WH-1000XM6. If you privation a brace of headphones with a much relaxed, albeit limited, vibe crossed each category, offering an acquisition that gives you the astir without requiring galore adjustments, bargain the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen).
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