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- The Sony WH-1000XM6 received a five-star rating and our Best Buy award when Jon Bray tested them in May 2025.
- They typically retail for £399, but are currently available for £329, £50 cheaper than the £379 they’ve averaged over the past six months.
I’m not exaggerating when I say that this Sony WH-1000XM6 deal is a real contender for the best Amazon Spring Sale deal overall, and we’re only one day in.
The Sony WH-1000XM6 set “a new standard for headphones” according to our Head of Reviews, Jon Bray, and have had their RRP of £399 slashed to £329. RRPs only tell half the story, but this deal holds up when compared with the 180-day average price of £379.
That’s still a princely sum to pay for headphones, but these aren’t just any headphones we’re talking about; they’re the best of their breed. Below, I’ve outlined six reasons why they’re the premium over-ear headphones you should buy during the Amazon Spring Deal Days event.
Sony WH-1000XM6 deal: Sound quality is fantastic
First and foremost, the Sony WH-1000XM6 sound the absolute business. They support Sony’s LDAC Bluetooth codec, so there’s support for high-resolution audio if you’re using a compatible smartphone, but they sound fabulous even if you’re streaming over SBC or AAC.
Their 30mm carbon composite drivers have been tweaked from the Sony WH-1000XM5, and now have a stiffer dome and softer surround to reduce distortion and increase detail retrieval. Jon Bray found they did just that, providing “oodles of detail and clarity” alongside “richness in the mid tones” and a “deep yet detailed bassline”. He was particularly impressed by the low-end control demonstrated on Kraftwerk’s The Robots, but also noted that vocals and instruments were handled with aplomb on My One and Only Thrill by Melody Gardot.
On top of this baseline quality, you’ve got a couple of tools at your disposal to change the sonic properties of content. Sony’s 360 Reality Audio Upmix for Cinema transforms stereo content into virtual surround sound, while DSEE (Digital Sound Engine Extreme) – another of Sony’s proprietary technologies – upscales low-bitrate audio. While Jon Bray wasn’t overly fond of the former, these are welcome options to have in your arsenal.
Sony WH-1000XM6 deal: Highly effective noise cancellation
Speaking of proprietary technologies, Sony’s Adaptive Sound Control helps set the WH-1000XM6 apart from other headphones in the over-ear category. This can be used to automatically change the level of noise cancellation applied based on what you’re doing and where you are. It’s incredibly smart tech and works wonderfully well, cranking up attenuation to the maximum when you’re on a noisy tube, and dropping it back down when you start strolling down a pedestrianised area at the other end of your journey.
The WH-1000XM6’s ANC is not only smart, but it’s effective. According to Jon Bray, they reduced noise across the frequency spectrum in a range of environments, including in an aircraft cabin, a busy office, and on a hectic road. The transparency mode is a cut above most, too, piping in ambient sound naturally.
Sony WH-1000XM6 deal: Smart features and customisation options aplenty
Adaptive Sound Control isn’t the only smart functionality on the WH-1000XM6. Speak-to-Chat detects when you’re speaking and immediately pauses audio and disables ANC to enable you to have a conversation, while Quick Attention mode allows you to quickly lower the volume by holding your hand over the touch panel on the right earcup.
You’ve also got EQ customisation within the Sound Connect app, which this time around takes place on a ten-band rather than five-band graphic equaliser, giving you more scope for making adjustments. There are various EQ presets available, too, and a new “Wear to Play” option, which enables automatic music playback when the headphones are put on, and takes into account your daily routines.
Sony WH-1000XM6 deal: Build quality has been improved considerably
The major criticisms about the WH-1000XM6’s predecessors were that the sections joining the headband to the earcups were flimsy, and the earcups could not be folded in. Sony has addressed both of these issues, and the WH-1000XM6 are much better for it.
The tension in the joints between the headband and earcups is stiffer, and the hinges allow you to fold the cups inwards to stash the headphones in a coat pocket or rotate the cups so they lie flat against your collarbone when wearing the XM6 around your neck.
They may not be the most eye-catching premium headphones on the market, but the aesthetic is very tidy, and, as I’ll get onto shortly, all of the design tweaks made to this generation make the WH-1000XM6 a pleasure to wear.
Sony WH-1000XM6 deal: Comfort levels are top-notch
Although Jon Bray noted he found them a little warm at times, he said that they felt very light on his head, which is to be expected given that they weigh just 253g, and applied just the right clamping force to hold them in place without exerting any undue pressure.
As a glasses wearer, Jon also greatly appreciated the fact that the comfort of the WH-1000XM6 wasn’t affected in any way when he put his specs on.
Sony WH-1000XM6 deal: They’ve never been cheaper (and probably won’t be for a while)
Finally, and crucially for many, the Sony WH-1000XM6 have never been cheaper than they are right now. We saw them fall to £335 for a week or so after Christmas, and they’ve bounced around between £349 and £399 since then, but their Amazon Spring Sale price of £329 is a new all-time low.
I don’t expect them to be available for this kind of money again until Amazon Prime Day, the dates for which are yet to be announced, but are rumoured to be towards the end of June. That’s quite a way off, and the savings then aren’t likely to be hugely different to what’s on offer now.
So, my advice is, if you’ve been eyeing up the WH-1000XM6 for a while, pull the trigger before the Spring Deal Days event ends at 11.59pm on Monday, 16 March. You’ll get more than enough enjoyment out of them in the coming months to ensure you won’t regret holding off for a few more months for the sake of an additional £10 saving.
