The Sony XM6 are an accomplished set of cans, but they’re not replacing my Sonos Ace anytime soon

Sony recently launched one of its most-anticipated products of 2025 in the WH-1000XM6 headphones. The company’s previous efforts, namely the XM4 and XM5, have proven incredibly successful, so it’s unsurprising that Sony felt the need to continue the lineage.

Those previous models have actually proven to be so popular that both will remain on sale alongside their newly upgraded sibling.

I’ve been using the XM6 for about a week now to find out if they could dethrone my trusted Sonos Ace as my go-to over-ear cans. But, as you would have already guessed from the headline of this piece, they’ve fallen a bit short in that challenge for the top.

It’s got nothing to do with sound quality or noise cancellation, although I’ll touch on those features further down. Instead, it has everything to do with how they fit.

I’ve ...