Prime Day Deals are popping, and even a modest sale on Sony’s WH-1000XM6 headphones (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is worth your attention, considering these are the best wireless headphones you can buy right now. With a sweet balance of style and features, fantastic sound, and total noise-crushing authority, the WH-1000XM6 are the real deal.
Looking for more super sales? Make sure and click on our Prime Day Live Blog post, and our large-and-in-charge roundup of the Absolute Best Prime Day Deals that features all our favorites across products.
Photograph: Ryan Waniata
For several years, Bose and Sony have been trading blows to emerge as the best noise-canceling headphones on the market. Until very recently, Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra (9/10, WIRED Recommends) reigned supreme, providing the best noise canceling I’d heard in 14+ years of professional audio reviewing.
It was a close battle, but after pitting the two headphone models head-to-head, I found Sony’s latest in the 1000X series edged out Bose’s pair with faster response thanks to lightning-quick processing. That alone made the biggest difference in attacking daily annoyances, including addressing sudden loud noises in both noise-canceling and transparency modes.
Both headphones are astonishingly quiet, virtually eliminating lower drone sounds, cutting higher frequency noises like key clicks, and even erasing piercing sounds like dogs barking with a bit of music. Simply turn on the ANC, and tune out the world.
Sony’s latest headphones have plenty more to offer, of course, with their fantastic sound quality headlining the litany of reasons to hit the buy button. The sound is brilliantly accessible, uncovering impressive nuance and clarity in instrumental textures, while keeping things smooth and refined throughout frequencies. Bass is bold yet poised, without the boominess that some earlier Sony models exhibit. It’s honestly a treat every time I listen to these cans, surpassing the still-excellent WH-1000XM5 (9/10, WIRED Recommends), also on sale for Prime Day.
They’re also loaded with features, including tons of settings options in the Sony app, and extras like the ability to hold your hand over the right earcup to temporarily swap noise canceling for transparency mode, perfect for ordering a drink on a long flight. Speaking of touch controls, Sony designed the best in the business, offering intuitive swipes for volume and song skips, and responsive taps for basic playback and calling.
Call quality is another sterling WH-1000XM6 feature, offering clarity on both sides of calls, even in bustling environments. Put it all together, and you’ve got the best noise-canceling headphones we’ve tested yet.
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