So, now that I have the most talked-about earphones on the planet(right now) in my hands, what has changed? So let’s just get the positive out of the way. The first and biggest thing is Gemini. Having complete access to this by voice is a feature that only Apple fanboys are used to. Android owners have always had to fall to 2nd place, even when we had devices that claimed google connection, they never worked, and if they did, it was not consistent. So to finally have the ability to just speak the command again, and it worked like it was originally designed, is a great surprise. They could have stopped there, and they would have considered something I would consider keeping, if for no other reason. You have complete Gemini access just as you do with your phone. But they didn’t stop there. It literally reads your text messages to you as soon as they come in. It doesn’t just simply give you a chime for you to check or for you to hit a button. It literally reads them out to you, just like Apple products do on iPhones. This is something I have missed ever since switching from IOS to Android, and now I have it all on my Samsung Android phone, of all places. So these two combined alone would ensure that I keep the product.
So, what’s next? The sound! It was the next good thing about the product. I do appreciate what they tried to do. They have nice soundstaging and vocals. The sound and imaging really do seem worked on here. You can tell audiophile really made this a focus this time out. But, warning, just as I predicted, it won’t defeat The Technics az100’s, Devialet Gemini 3’s, Noble Rex 5, Bowers and Wilkins, or the Bang and Olufsen’s of the world. The sound, even though nice, isn’t something that resets the sound meter this time out. This is my biggest disappointment, and yet I’m still able to appreciate the sound that it does have. It doesn’t sound bad … it’s more about the fact that Sony had time and charged more money …so they should have gotten things equal to even the AZ100, which is less than this. Now, again…I’m not saying that there aren’t people who aren’t going to be happy with the sound. But trust and believe there are those who have the others who aren’t going to be wowed by the sound, like others who have no access to the higher-end sounding earphones. And that’s what you’re going to see the majority of the fanboys come from. Those who didn’t buy or couldn’t buy the others justifying and fighting over the idea that they believe the Sonys are the best in the world in sound, when they aren’t even close. But ultimately, the bottom line is that they sound nice as long as you allow your ears to adapt to them and don’t compare them to others. The mids and vocals are the sweet spots, but the bass, timbre, and tonality are where things lag, just a little. They are nice, but you can tell you could at times wish you had more in one or more areas, even though it checks the boxes in codec, and features to assist in sound, like the DSEE.
The tips and size are also something to be concerned about. If you hated the foam tips from the XM5, you are going to hate the foam tips of the XM6 because they are the exact same, but this time they are attached to an overall bigger case, despite the advertising of 14% thinner claim. Unfortanately that claim, while true, doesn’t make the earphones overall smaller; they are bigger. So there are some misdirections going on there. For me, the big thing they added with this size is better venting. The previous XM5 just didn’t have proper venting or any venting at all. This always caused me to have headaches and pressure in my ears when I would use the Xm5’s. Not the case with the Xm6’s. So again, a positive finding that would allow me to use it more. But that size and those tips, I can see a lot of people walking away from these with horrible and or unfulfilled sound results because of the difficulty of getting the proper seal. It even took me a bit of time to get one myself. And if you attempt to change the tips, you will most likely lose the ability to do the ANC the way it was designed.
The case is also bigger, as most pictures have shown you. So instead of getting a smaller footprint …you are getting a bigger footprint. So just be ready for this. Is it bad? No, but it’s not smaller. Now, I did have a concern over the battery life that I can’t yet confirm. When I pulled them out of the box…they were not fully charged, and yet there was plenty of power in the case to do so, but they just didn’t charge them fully. Now, when I opened up the case and closed it …it started to charge them. But this, of course, reminded me of the problems I had with the Bowers and Wilkins pi8’s, which to this day are the worst battery problems I have ever had out of any bluetooth product, next to the old Sennheisers from about 5 years ago. If there is battery life in the case, the buds should charge up even if they drain over time. This product is brand new and just released, so it’s not like it’s been sitting on the shelf for months and months. Now, sometimes devices could ship in a default state for shipping that prevents them from charging back up the buds if they drain, but once the case is opened up and resumes its normal charging cycles from that point out. I’m hoping this is the case.
Now, to the mighty ANC and Hear Thru. I can safely say that it’s “one of” the best on both accounts. This is another shock to me, especially the hear-thru modes. I really love how good the sound quality stays while allowing a great amount of sound in still, just under Apple products. Sony did a masterful job of maintaining the sonic frequency regardless of the hear-thru or ANC activation. In other words, your sound doesn’t drastically change because you don’t use these modes, nor do they when you do. This shows really good research and time put into this. And the ANC works very well. So I can see the benefits of talking to the remasters of music they got feedback from in this product. While what they did doesn’t set a new bar, you have to be at least pleased with getting the results that you do have out of them, as long as you keep it in perspective and don’t jump overboard on praise and assume nothing else can beat it. It’s a very well put-together earphone, even if it doesn’t beat others in one particular category or another. They aren’t the best in sound, but they are really nice and very pleasing. They aren’t the greatest in ANC, but they are really nice and very pleasing. They aren’t the best in hear-thru, but they are really nice and very pleasing. They aren’t the best looking earphone, but they are really nice and very pleasing.
Sure, I would love the ability to completely change my buttons for my playback. Or have the Bass boost levels to control that they used to have but have removed. And sure, I would love to have 11 hours of battery life, not just the same 8-9 they had last generation. But for the most part, Sony delivered, I will admit(so far), so long as there aren’t any surprises waiting around the corner like it was with the Bower and Wilkins discharge cycling. Their apps work flawlessly, and I have not experienced any crashes, drops, or stutters on the earphones. And again, I can’t stress enough how things remind me of what I had to give up when I was with Apple. I finally have proper voice controls, a power A.I. at my command, and text messages that read out to me without me having to push a button or say a command. This alone, even before the sound and ANC, and hearing through, already made this a must-have for me. But trust me when I tell you, it will not be for everyone. Sony’s foam tips and bigger size will be a major challenge for a great many people. And for people who already have top-tier sounding earphones, adding Sony might be redundant because Sony, while really nice and very good, isn’t the best in sound nor the best in ANC or Hear-thru. But being “ONE of” the best might just be all you need, especially if you are like me, who already have a $2000 IEM for the ultimate sound, that no bluetooth earphone will ever live up to. Now, I only need a portable device when I’m on the go or when I don’t want to risk my wires, that can handle my needs for sound portably, give me good ANC, good hear-thru, and connect to voice controls and reading my messages on the go without my required actions. This is where this XM6 answers the call for me( giving me back what I lost when I left Apple). But I can’t guarantee this will be what you need. Because if I’m honest, the real reason for me has nothing to do with being the best in Sound or ANC. It’s really because it reminds me of Apple with the voice controls and text reading, AND it is “good” -“very nice” in the other categories. If these weren’t there…these would be shipped back tomorrow.
Tech-N-Things 