SONY WF-1000XM3
Available in a choice of black and silver, the Sony WF- 1000XM3 is designed in a minimalist style. These stand out because they were one of the first true wireless earbuds to implement streaming direct to both earbuds instead of a master- slave connection.
They have a six- hour battery life with active noise- cancelling activated. This might be on the low end, but there’s a quick charge feature for 90 minutes of listening time in 10 minutes of charging. The case also provides three additional charges instead of the more common two, so you do get a 24- hour total listen time with these.
The WF- 1000XM3’ s dedicated app is one of the most full- featured here. You can enable Adaptive Sound Control, which adjusts how much background noise to let in depending on what situation you’re in, or choose which controls go to which earbud. There’s Quick Attention, which turns down playback volume as long as you have a finger to the earbud, and it automatically pauses playback when they detect they’re out of your ear.
The WF- 1000XM3 easily stood out as one of the few sets that really provided full- bodied sound, with good performance through most of the audio spectrum. Evanescence’s Bring Me to Life exhibited good dynamics, going from focusing on just Amy Lee’s vocals in the intro to bringing in the entire band and later the orchestra seamlessly as the piece comes to life.
If I Ain’t Got You by Alicia Keys let the WF- 1000XM3 show off its midrange, and this is where it particularly excels. Keys vocals are rendered with good warmth, and her piano rings out crisply with proper reverberation so you really feel like you’re right there with her.
You can really feel the energy of fast moving tracks like She Owns the Night by Far East Movement too. The synth layer here is nicely resolved, and the earbuds do a good job of immersing you in sound, so we wouldn’t be surprised if you started head- bopping along to the track.