Sony MDR-1000X pushes BOSE off the altar to create the most powerful Bluetooth noise reduction

When it comes to noise-canceling headphones, many people will definitely think of BOSE from the United States first. However, just when BOSE QC35 was regarded as an unsurpassed benchmark for wireless noise-canceling headphones, Sony from across the ocean could no longer sit still.

As a major headphone manufacturer with a long history, Sony actually has a complete line of commercial active noise-cancelling headphone products many years ago. Now, the latest MDR-1000X can be seen as a concentrated embodiment of Sony's black technology in the consumer field, trying to regain its voice in today's wireless noise-cancelling headphone market.

Sony design style, comfortable to wear, complete accessories

In terms of product packaging, the MDR-1000X is not much different from Sony's other headphone products. As always, all the eye-catching black technology logos are marked below the product rendering on the front of the packaging, including Hi-Res and LDAC. In addition to showing Sony's profound technological heritage, it also makes people want to "buy, buy, buy" at first glance.

As a pair of headphones priced at nearly three thousand, the Sony MDR-1000X still continues Sony's consistent design style. Similar in appearance to the h.ear series, the headphone body is made of a mix of three materials: metal, leather, and plastic. The top of the headband is made of stainless steel, and the nameplates on both sides of the side headband are MDR-1000X on one side and wireless on the other.

Sony MDR-1000X has a very high wearing comfort, thanks to the light weight of the product itself and the high-quality leather material that comes into contact with the human body. The wide earmuffs fit the user's ear contour very well, and the physical structure effectively isolates the interference of external sounds.

The overall shape of the Sony MDR-1000X advocates simplicity. The SONY logo engraved on the metal unit hook gives people a sense of ceremony. The left side of the headset is equipped with the iconic NFC contact of Sony's wireless audio products. The Micro-USB charging port and the 3.5mm headphone input jack are arranged on the left and right sides of the bottom respectively. The buttons are concentrated under the left earphone, with three physical buttons for power, noise reduction, and scene mode.

The storage box design is a plus for Sony MDR-1000X. The workmanship and texture are satisfactory, especially the way the headphones can be well fixed inside the storage box, instead of "stuffing" the headphones into the box as is common on other products.

In terms of accessories, in addition to the standard 0.5-meter charging cable and 1.5-meter headphone cable, the Sony MDR-1000X also comes with a plug converter for use on airplanes. Think about it, the high-end users that Sony is targeting should be the VIPs of major airlines.

Excellent sound quality and user experience, the best companion for smartphones

Like many Sony headphones we have experienced before, the Sony MDR-1000X uses touch-based controls to control music playback. By touching the outer shell of the right earmuff, you can double-click to pause and play, and slide up and down to adjust the volume and track, etc. When connected to an Apple iOS device, you can also long press to call out Siri. When your palm covers the entire touch sensor, the headphones will receive all ambient sounds and automatically lower the music volume. So when you see someone talking to you while covering the headphones, you may be facing a rich friend who wears headphones worth less than three thousand yuan.

Talking about the sound quality, which is the most concerned aspect of headphone products, the focus and selling point of Sony MDR-1000X is undoubtedly the noise reduction performance. It uses DNC digital noise reduction technology with internal and external dual microphones, combined with a special noise reduction algorithm chip, to take into account both the noise reduction performance and sound quality of the headphones.

In terms of specific technical means, Sony MDR-1000X collects the singer's digital music signal and every detail of noise through two microphone sensors embedded in the outside and inside of the headphones. Then, the DNC digital noise reduction software engine combines with dual noise sensors to form a high-precision reverse sound wave to offset the noise. Finally, by using a digital equalizer, it can achieve higher quality and higher resolution sound than previous models.

What's more worth mentioning is that the MDR-1000X also supports a variety of noise reduction scenarios. The sound pickup hole on the top of the unit will collect external noise for noise reduction calculations. The sound control engine analyzes the input sound and reduces other sounds while picking up the human voice. In specific usage scenarios, you can hear the sounds in the environment while listening to music, reducing the chance of missing important reminders, such as waiting for boarding notifications at the airport.

Of course, Sony's advantage in entering the wireless noise-cancelling headphone market is not only in the noise-cancelling technology. After establishing the Hi-Res standard, Sony has also enabled its wireless products to achieve Hi-Res Audio-level sound experience. In addition, Sony's exclusive development of the LDAC Bluetooth transmission standard, which is capable of lossless audio streaming, combined with the Qualcomm Apt-X standard, which is currently the mainstream in the Bluetooth wireless audio field, has made its headphones such as the MDR-1000X the best-sounding Bluetooth noise-cancelling headphones currently available.

At the same time, Sony MDR-1000X officially claims that its 20-hour wireless music battery life is also not to be ignored. When used with products that support the LDAC standard, such as Sony's front-end player or Xperia Z series smartphones, the product's sound quality advantage will be further amplified. Undoubtedly, for established audio manufacturers like Sony, it is not difficult to manufacture and adjust a pair of headphones with satisfactory sound quality. The popularity of wireless audio equipment and noise reduction technology in high-end products has given audio manufacturers a direction to explore the entire product line.

It can be said that the new Sony MDR-1000X not only meets the sound quality requirements of Sony fans, but also fully conforms to the trend of the times and user needs. When Apple iPhone 7 boldly cancelled the 3.5mm headphone jack last year, products such as AirPods became the focus of industry attention, and MDR-1000X helped Sony set new technical standards and product benchmarks for the wireless development of audio at a higher level.

In general, as a manifestation of Sony's accumulated strength, the appearance of MDR-1000X broke BOSE's record of being the king of Bluetooth noise reduction for many years, and also squeezed BOSE's signature artifact QC35, which is of the same price, off the altar. With the product of many years of technological accumulation, MDR-1000X not only brought competition and pressure to other manufacturers, but also pointed out the future development trend of Bluetooth noise reduction products. More importantly, it handed in a surprising answer to Sony fans who have been waiting for many years, and also made consumers full of expectations for Dafa's future products.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.