Forget AirPods Max, Sony's luxury new headphones are an exquisite alternative
'The Collexion' celebrates a decade of Sony's over-ear range in new form
Quick Summary
xxx
Can you believe it? It was 10 years ago that Sony launched the 1000X – and in the decade since, the brand has gone from strength to strength in delivering some of the best noise-cancelling over-ears available, most recently with the WH-1000XM6.
Now, however, Sony is taking this 10th birthday as an opportunity to widen the 1000X range, diversifying its output and target audience with the new, luxury 1000X 'The Collexion' model (and no, that's not a typo – the 'X' numeral is very much part of the name).
If, at first glance, you're getting an air of Apple AirPods Max 2 about the latest Sony's aesthetic, then you won't be the only one. Long-rumoured and repeatedly leaked ahead of this official reveal, The Collexion more realistically aims to fill a space between Apple's top-tier cans and the Bowers & Wilkins' Px8 S2.
At a pre-briefing for the headphones ahead of the official reveal, I was told that The Collexion represents "a collection of all of our [Sony's] knowledge and experience to create something really special," adding that it's "not the 'M7', as this [The Collexion] is a different focus entirely."
'Luxury' is the word that Sony really wants to resonate about these headphones. They're lightweight and made of quality materials. The outer frame is hand-polished, then sandblasted to provide the Sony logo a matte relief. Faux leather covers the earpads, cup housings and much of the headband – with no visible seams or screws.
The design isn't just an evolution of the 1000XM6 either: The Collexion features larger earcups, with a bespoke 30mm driver within each, made of a carbon-layered composite for the dome section of the diaphragm. This enhances the rigidity, said to deliver "natural yet delicate" high-frequency expression.
Despite these advances, the whole profile of the headphones is slimmer compared to the XM6. There's more room for your ears in the earcups, greater breathability, yet a more delicate profile. The design doesn't fold, though, so that's something to keep in mind.
The Collexion also builds upon Sony's active noise-cancelling (ANC) expertise by utilising the same base system as found in the XM6 – the Sony HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN3 – but adds a new integrated third-gen processor that enables 360-degree upmixes to audio.
The ANC is intentionally less 'strong' than you'll find on the XM6 – despite using 12 microphones total (eight externally, four internally) – with simple on/off or passthrough options available, but also optional auto-adjustment based on your actions in the Adaptive Sound Control settings.
In terms of quality, there's support for LDAC (Hi-Res Audio Wireless), while DSEE (Digital Sound Enhancement Engine) will upsample compressed audio to 96kHz/24-bit. So whatever the source, you can expect the utmost Sony 1000X quality.
With all this in mind, however, how much will the Sony 1000X The Collexion cost? With a £550 asking price (other regions are TBC) for the launch date later this month, you can pick a pair up in Black or Platinum (white, really). That puts Sony's latest close to Apple's top-tier cans – and will further shake up this increasingly growing luxury headphones market segment.
