- Light and comfortable
- Fantastic noise cancellation
- Audiophile-grade sound quality
- High-quality microphone for calls
- Long battery life
- Touch controls
CONS
- Nothing
VERDICT
The Sony MDR1000X are likely the best noise canceling headphones currently available. During our testing, we have found the noise canceling to be just as effective as the Bose QuietComfort 35 and sometimes even better. Besides their ability to cancel out background noise, the MDR1000X can also bring music to life and even the tiniest details to your attention.
Today we are taking a closer at the Sony MDR1000X, which are probably the most feature-packed noise canceling Bluetooth headphones to date.
Design and Build
The design of the MDR1000X is low-profile and has a classy feel to it thanks to the faux leather that covers both earcups. You can get the headphones either in black or grey beige, with the grey beige version usually being cheaper because most people go for the black version. Regardless of which color you go with, the headphones are always made entirely from plastic, but this doesn’t negatively affect their durability in any way.
Sony expects a large percentage of the buyers of the MDR1000X to be business professionals who often travel by plane and want a comfortable solution how to minimize the engine noise so they can focus on work or relax. To make the MDR1000X easier to carry, Sony made the headphones fully foldable, making it easy to neatly store them inside the included hard-shell carrying case.
The large rechargeable battery that powers the headphones provides up to 20 hours of continuous, wireless music playback. Thanks to the integrated microphone and Bluetooth profile connectivity, you can accept a call with just a single tap on the right earcup, and you can also tap on the right earcup again to hang up. Besides answering and handling calls, you can also use the touch controls for track control and volume adjustment.
Sound Quality
Let’s start with the noise canceling feature. Like virtually all other noise canceling headphones on the market, the Sony MDR1000X are better at handling lower frequencies and constant noise, such as the noise made by passing cars or airplane engines, than they are at handling higher frequencies and sudden sounds. When testing the headphones on busy city streets, we found the noise cancellation to be extremely effective, and we liked the total absence of background hiss, which is sometimes present when listening with lesser noise canceling headphones at lower volumes.
The Sony MDR1000X are extremely entertaining headphones to listen with. They combine precision with dynamism, and their special representation of instruments is unbelievable for closed-back headphones. Like many other headphones from Sony, the MDR1000X are great for bass-heavy music, but they also work with other genres, such as jazz, rock, or classical music.
What’s in the Box?
The Sony MDR1000X ship with an excellent hard-shell carrying case and a USB cable for charging.
