Less than a year after the dazzling success of the WH-1000XM3 headphones, Sony wants to continue its momentum by giving it its little brothers the WF-1000XM3, headphones without any wires, but with noise reduction, promising “exceptional audio quality “.
It’s an event: for the very first time, headphones without any wire manage to offer very effective noise reduction, even managing to match that offered by the very best wired noise reduction headphones. But this is not the only quality of these Sony WF-1000XM3s, which also rank among the very best in their category in terms of comfort, autonomy and, last but not least, the quality of sound reproduction. After all this, we wouldn’t dare take offense at the mediocre performance of hands-free kit microphones – which doesn’t prevent Sony’s latest products from being quite simply the best in-ear headphones. true wireless available on the market.
Points forts
- The best noise reduction encountered on headphones, wired or not.
- Balanced and precise reproduction, clear highs, responsive lows.
- No distortion, respect for impeccable timbres.
- Build quality, understated design.
- Excellent comfort and support.
- Very stable Bluetooth connection.
- Excellent autonomy (6 h 30 min on a charge with noise reduction).
- Rich and customizable controls.
Weak points
- Dynamics slightly behind when noise reduction is activated in a very busy environment.
- Hands-free kit unusable in a noisy environment.
NB: The reported price drop is calculated by comparing the lowest price of the day with the average of the lowest prices charged by all merchants for the product last month, with security rules to exclude prices from shops whose the VAT policy is not clear (known as “grey” shops, typically in the case of imports from China).
An alternative
The FreeBuds 4i are certainly not free from defects – in addition to their disappointing noise reduction, we especially think of their controls which are too scanty. But that does not prevent them from boldly teasing many supposedly more prestigious models, thanks in particular to extremely solid comfort and sound performance. A great success.