Sony has released its 10th anniversary edition of the legendary 1000X headphone lineup, called the 1000X The Collexion, carrying the model number WH-1000XX and priced at $650. Since their debut ten years ago, each successive model in the 1000X line claimed the top spot on best headphones lists upon arrival. The 10th anniversary edition carries the lineup’s most luxurious design yet, with Sony completely ditching the plastic in favour of an entirely leather and metal construction, but testing reveals that the 1000XX is far from perfect and may not even be the best choice in Sony’s own lineup right now, depending on listening priorities.
On the design side, Sony slimmed down the ear cup profile for a less bulky look, increased the inner volume of the ear cups, widened the headband, and increased the headband padding by 40 percent, with a reduced clamping force that makes the headphones more comfortable during long listening sessions. Despite weighing 67 grams more than the WH-1000XM6, the extra mass never becomes a burden to wear. Inside, Sony developed new unidirectional carbon drivers intended to boost high-frequency detail and widen the soundstage, and optimised the circuitry for a better signal-to-noise ratio. The 1000XX also introduces DSEE Ultimate for the first time, an artificial intelligence-powered upscaling technology that builds on the previous DSEE Extreme by restoring more of the detail and texture typically lost to audio compression. Two new spatial audio upmixing modes, Music and Game, are accessible via a dedicated button on the left ear cup alongside Sony’s established suite of features including Adaptive Sound Control and Speak-to-Chat.
Where the 1000XX disappoints is in sound quality relative to its price. The new drivers produce an over-reliance on booming bass that causes midrange details to get lost in more intense genres such as metal, rock, and synth-heavy electronic music, a problem that DSEE Ultimate upscaling helps but does not fully resolve. The Music spatial audio preset makes the sound overly tinny with vocals pushed too far forward, an imbalance that undermines what should be one of the headline features of the anniversary edition. Active noise cancellation performance is also notably weaker than the WH-1000XM6, despite the 1000XX sharing the same QN3 processor, 12-microphone array, and noise-cancelling optimizer as last year’s model. Sony acknowledges this openly, explaining that it prioritised comfort in the ear pad design over maximising active noise cancellation effectiveness, meaning moderately loud constant noises such as fans and white noise machines are more audible than they would be on the WH-1000XM6.
Battery life is another area where the anniversary model steps backward, rated at up to 24 hours with active noise cancellation enabled compared to the WH-1000XM6’s 30 hours under the same conditions. The quick charge feature is also less efficient on the 1000XX, requiring two minutes longer to deliver half the playback time that the same feature provides on the older model. The ear cups also only rotate flat and do not fold toward the headband as the WH-1000XM6 does, making storage slightly less convenient. At $650, nearly $200 more than the standard 1000X flagship, the 1000XX delivers a genuinely more premium aesthetic and improved comfort, but for the first time in the history of the 1000X line, Sony has produced an anniversary edition that falls short of the model it was built to celebrate.
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