Look, I know there are tons of opinions out there about what is great, and there are tons of stories about what isn’t great or why something is better. Pretty much it all comes back to one thing: subjective experiences. Sure, we all have them, and some of them are more consistent than others. Some show a pattern, and when they show up, we are faced with the impossible task of deciding to continue down a path that has cracks or realizing that there might be a path that has no cracks that has been tried and tested.
The Sony XM6s have proven yet again to be the absolute pinnacle of all earphones and headphones in the world today for my life. If you have been around this site and my YouTube channel, then you know I have them all. I have every brand and every earphone released in the last four years that has been considered great or even praised, and all I have is the same story played out across the years.
Sony sets the standard and others come out and try to beat that standard. Just when you think it is possible, something happens to prove yet again why Sony is who they are in Bluetooth audio and why everyone else is who they are. If it is not random failures like those seen above from Sennheiser, it is battery failures from Bowers and Wilkins, connection issues with Bang and Olufsen, or touch control failures from Noble Audio. I could keep going, but the story is always the same. The year starts with Sony setting the bar, and the year ends with all others failing to live up to it, leaving me to return to the “Once and Future King” of Bluetooth Audio, the Sony XM lineup.
Sony does the most and remains the most consistent in dependable operations. Every single time I put my trust in others, they fail me, and this last failure from Sennheiser kind of hurt the most. Sure, I’m covered by the manufacturer, but once random things fail without reason like this, I no longer trust the product; I can’t. I really found the Sennheiser MTW5 to be my favorite sounding and fitting combo, but now I must return the earphone of the year winners for my site once again. Every generation I return to them because others can never deliver or remain dependable.
