Sony's new 1000XM6 headphones are a must-have thanks to these 5 changes

Sony has finally revealed its WH-1000XM6 headphones, some three years after the XM5 debuted, and has called the new hardware an act of revision, rather than revolution. That's definitely a fair label, but it shouldn't obscure the fact that quite a lot has changed between generations here.

If you're an XM5 owner thinking about upgrading, or a potential buyer who's held off in hopes of a new model, you're in luck – I've had the headphones in hand for a week, now. That's meant a whole heap of daily use to test them out, and a deep familiarity with what's new. To that end, I've broken out this list of the key changes that you need to know about between the XM5 and the XM6 – read on to find out more!

The fold is back

When the WH-1000XM5 came out a few years ago, they were widely lauded for their active noise-cancelling (ANC) and sound quality, and for the slick new design that they brought to the table. However, almost everyone who tested them brought up one big point of feedback – the headphones no longer folded.

After years of being able to stow the WH-1000 line of headphones nice and small, the XM5 could only flatten out a little before going in a chunky case. That was a pain, and Sony clearly noticed the reaction. Now, there's a brand new stainless steel hinge in the design that lets the headphones fold up tightly once more.

The included case doesn't take advantage of the full fold, instead going for a half-and-half situation, but it's still a massive boost if you want to put them in a bag or a particularly baggy pocket.

Even better ANC

When they arrived, the XM5s had pretty stellar ANC, but the march of time never slows and other have innovated impressively since then. To catch up (and in its own opinion, overtake) these, Sony has upped the number of microphones helping its ANC system work from eight to 12.

It's also upgraded the headphone's internal chip by a big margin, with seven times more power to call on as it algorithmically tunes out sounds that you won't want to hear. In actual use it's pretty superb, too, suppressing droning background noises by a huge margin and ensuring that cocooned effect without warping the sound of your music.

That is to say, the upgrade is noticeable, and that's impressive given the XM5's performance is still extremely creditable to this day.

A comfort boost

It's one of the smaller changes that Sony made to its design, and certainly isn't as obvious as the new hinges, but it also paid attention to the headband here. The XM5's headband looked great, incredibly sleek and symmetrical, but didn't have all that much cushioning or an easy way to tell which way forward it should be.

The XM6 fixes this by widening it out for more cushioning and also removing one of the seams on its outer layer. This means you'll soon learn that the only seam left should point backwards, making it easier to put the headphones on correctly without the need to squint at them.

Along very similar lines, the power button has been changed to a round and recessed one, instead of the old version, which was identical to the ANC button. Again, this will make finding the right button far easier without taking the headphones off. This sort of seemingly minor design change can make all the difference when you're a couple of years into owning and using some headphones.

Some subtle technical changes

Again, these two changes under the hood of the XM6 might not sound massive, and they're not headline-grabbing, but I think they're seriously impactful in regular use. Firstly, the headphones can, unlike any of their predecessors, be used while you charge them.

This means that you can fast-charge (three hours' use from three minutes of charging time) without having to interrupt your audio if you have a USB-C cable lying around. That goes some way toward making up for the lack of a battery life boost, in my opinion, given the headline figure has stayed at 30 hours on a charge.

Next, Sony has also added the ability to toggle a mute function on the headphones themselves, holding down the ANC button for a few seconds. Previous generations could only be muted on whatever device you were connected to, which also makes these more useful than ever as work headphones for video calls and more.

That new case

I mentioned it earlier, but it's worth shouting out the really quite lovely case that Sony has crafted for the XM6. Where the XM5 had a taller, flat case with a zip around the edge, more innovation is at play here.

At a preview event in Madrid last week, Sony's design team said that the old case was "hard to open" because of that zipper, so this time out, its case seals with a really neat magnetic clasp. This does indeed make it easier to open one-handed, and the headphones are similarly straightforward to remove from it.

It's still not as small a case as the headphones could fit into, thanks to their new folding options, but it's nonetheless noticeably more compact than the XM5 version, and that's the sort of change that you'll feel any time you pack a bag with the headphones included.