Beyond the silence, there are a few practical realities that won me over during a recent 15-hour haul from LAX to Taipei City. First off, the battery life is astonishing. Usually, by hour ten of a transpacific flight, I’m frantically checking my percentages — but the WH-1000XM6s boast a 30-hour battery life on a full charge, so I didn’t even think about a charging cable until I was headed back home a few weeks later.
They’re also designed to take up less space. One of my biggest gripes with high-end headphones like Apple’s AirPods Max and the Philips Fidelio X2HR is the bulk. Unlike the previous iteration of these Sony headphones, the XM6 actually folds down properly, fitting into a much sleeker case that doesn’t eat up half my “personal item” bag.
The adaptive noise canceling is a lifesaver when the flight attendants come around. The moment you lift an earcup, the tech realizes you’re interacting with the world and pauses your movie so that you can interact with the world without fussing with buttons.
I also love being able to stay connected to multiple devices simultaneously. It makes that awkward transition from watching a film on my iPad to answering a quick text on my phone feel seamless — no more digging through my bag to manually reset my Bluetooth mid-flight.