Sony WH-1000XM6 vs Bose QuietComfort Ultra
Updated June 2026
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Quick Winner: Sony WH-1000XM6
A near-tie on quiet — the Sony edges it on features, battery, and price, while the Bose is the more comfortable all-day fit.
Score comparison
Specifications
Sony WH-1000XM6
- Driver
- 30mm carbon-fibre dome
- Noise cancelling
- HD NC Processor QN3, 12-mic array, adaptive — class-leading
- Battery
- 30 hrs (ANC on) / 40 hrs (off)
- Quick charge
- 3 min → 3 hrs
- Codecs
- LDAC, AAC, SBC, LC3 (no aptX)
- Bluetooth
- 5.3; multipoint (2 devices)
- Weight / fold
- 254 g; folds flat (returned on XM6)
- App
- Headphones Connect; parametric EQ, DSEE, Speak-to-Chat
- Warranty
- 1-year limited (no IP / water resistance)
Bose QuietComfort Ultra
- Noise cancelling
- CustomSense adaptive (High/Med/Low/Aware), ActiveSense — co-best
- Immersive Audio
- Spatial with head tracking + Cinema Mode (cuts battery to ~23 hrs)
- Battery
- ~30 hrs (ANC on); ~23 hrs with Immersive
- Quick charge
- 15 min → 3 hrs
- Codecs
- SBC, AAC, aptX Adaptive (aptX Lossless on Snapdragon); USB-C 24/48; no LDAC
- Bluetooth
- 5.4; multipoint
- Weight / EQ
- 250 g; 3-band EQ in Bose Music app
- Warranty
- 1-year + optional BoseCare; 90-day trial
The verdict
This is the noise-cancelling matchup people search, and on raw quiet it’s effectively a tie — reviewers can’t reliably separate the two. The Sony WH-1000XM6 takes the overall edge on everything around it: a deeper feature set (LDAC hi-res, a parametric EQ versus Bose’s 3-band), longer battery (~37 vs ~27 hours tested), a flat fold, and usually a lower price. The Bose QuietComfort Ultra’s case is comfort and spatial sound — it’s the lighter-feeling, more forgiving all-day fit, and its Immersive Audio with Cinema Mode is a real bonus for movies. Both have asterisks: the Sony’s hinge-durability reports, and Bose’s 2026 firmware update that removed popular features. Choose the Sony for features, battery, and value; choose the Bose if all-day comfort and spatial audio matter more than codecs and battery.