Sony’s Best-in-Class ANC Headphones May Have a Major Design Flaw

Sony’s WH-1000XM6 headphones might sound great, but that’s only if they don’t break before you put them on your head. While it’s too early to say whether Sony’s latest world-class headphones have a widespread issue, the first reports of broken hinges are starting to roll in, and they feel ominously reminiscent of similar problems with the WH-1000XM5.

See Sony WH-1000XM6 at Best Buy

In a Reddit thread that’s actually pulled from a Red Note post (sorry for the convolution; that’s just the way life is sometimes), one user shows how their Sony XM6 have seemingly snapped at the hinge that holds the headband and earcup/internal speaker components together. Having looked at these pics myself and knowing how much these headphones cost ($450), all I can say is… ouch.

As I mentioned, it’s obviously too early to tell if this is an issue that XM6 owners should be worried about, but it does feel relevant considering widespread reports of the XM5 hinge, which you need only take a short gander at Reddit to contextualize. I’m also curious how exactly this pair of XM6s broke—specifically how much force was applied. Did they get sat on, or did they just explode after being gently picked up? I used Google Translate on the Red Note post, and the original poster of this hinge failure claims they “usually use [the headphones] carefully,” but again, it’s kind of hard to know for sure what transpired.

One thing is for sure, though, and that’s if there’s a problem, someone at Sony is going to be mighty disappointed. As noted by SoundGuys, the XM6 actually come with a redesigned hinge that’s meant to prevent this whole problem from happening. Specifically, there’s a redesigned folding mechanism that features a metal hinge inside the plastic housing that is (theoretically, at least) more durable. It’s worth noting that in a poll conducted by SoundGuys, 25% of users reported having a broken hinge. That’s a lot of angry customers and potentially a lot more first-time AirPods Max owners. Say what you will about Apple’s very expensive AirPods Max, but they do have a premium metal build and great sound.

For now, we’ll just have to see if any more reports of broken hinges start to roll in and hope that Sony’s redesign actually solved the problem. If this is actually a widespread issue, Sony XM6 owners may want to be extra cautious with their headphones until Sony either addresses the issue or puts out some kind of recall, though I don’t think it’ll get that far.

See Sony WH-1000XM6 at Best Buy