I risk aging myself with this analogy, but it’s one of the best ones to describe what we’re going to talk about. The original Bugatti Veyron has a thousand horsepower, and has a top speed of 407 km/h. Then came the Super Sport variant, with 200 additional horses within, but only pushing the top speed up by 24 km/h. And the monetary cost for that 6% increase? Double the price. And this relationship between the Veyron and the Super Sport is a pretty good parallel to the Sony WH-1000XM6 and the 1000X The Collexion.
Of course, I’m not saying that the Sony WH-1000XM6 and the 1000X The Collexion are the very best headphones of today in the same way the Bugatti hypercars had the highest top speeds of their day. But the point is that, when the performance of something is high enough, it takes exponentially more, in terms of material and commercial costs, to push the envelope by just a tiny bit. Of course, that’s before we take all the other improvements not related to sound into account.
What Am I Looking At?
The Sony 1000X The Collexion is a difficult thing to classify. It’s not the XM7 if that’s what you’re wondering; it’s a couple of years too early for that. Instead, it’s this sort of celebratory special edition as part of the series’ 10th year anniversary. That being said, it doesn’t look like the company is looking to make it limited or particularly rare. So as long as you can handle its asking price, you can choose to pick it up from your preferred electronics chain whenever you feel like it.
Sony made a pretty big deal about this pair of headphones when they were first revealed. The brand said each earcup has a unidirectional carbon composite, high-rigidity dome for clearer separation between instrument and vocals, a more delicate high frequency and richer, wider soundstaging. The driver size remains 30mm, the audio processors are now the QN + V3 processors, enabling AI-powered DSEE Ultimate AI upscaling for low-res tracks.
Connectivity is handled by Bluetooth 6.0, which also handles LDAC codec for up to 40,000 Hz wireless frequency response, comparable to having a cable plugged in. On the other end, there’s LE Audio to really push its battery life. You can switch between either of these while connected to an Android phone from your Bluetooth settings. Just don’t leave it at default, as even using Bluetooth LE Audio provides an improvement in sound quality, noticeable or otherwise being a different matter. On an iPhone though, the default is unfortunately all you have.
Also worth mentioning is that The Collexion features a three-mode 360 Upmix, which is the fancy name for the spatial audio tech by Sony. Of the three, one of them is actually really good, which we’ll get to in a bit. Between the remaining two, one is passable and the other is the standard fare – not worth using or elaborating on. The ratio is not ideal, but massive props to Sony anyway for having one that’s not just usable, but good.
On the outside, the most obvious difference between the Sony 1000X The Collexion and your regular XM entries are the metal bits on the headphones. Of those, the most obvious is naturally the arms, but you also get them on the buttons and around the ports. Overall, it also looks very clean, with the branding on the metal arm rather than on the cup. There’s also a lot of faux leather, which adds to the premium feel, for a time anyway. Keep them for long enough, and these usually peel off in messy crumbs.
What’s Good About It?
It’s been awhile since I was this excited to talk about personal audio products, but the Sony 1000X The Collexion has done it in the most unorthodox way. First, because I mentioned the XM6 in the beginning, The Collexion has cleaner treble compared to the XM6 out of the box. But on the flip side, it has a much stronger bass as well. This can be easily fixed by choosing the Clear equaliser preset. That being said, that’s also the equaliser recommended to me by the Find Your Equaliser feature of the Sony Sound Connect app, so your mileage may vary.
But with that equaliser setting in mind, the Sony 1000X The Collexion is one of the most balanced wireless headphones out there. Considering what I’ve used for the subhead of this review, the sample tracks I’ve chosen to test The Collexion was 1/3 no Junjou na Kanjou, both the original by Siam Shade and the cover by Flow. Vocals retain the spotlight in both versions, without any of the instruments sounding like they’ve been sidelined to keep the vocals centre stage. And even when the cymbals come crashing, usually the “messiest” part of the track, layer and instrument separation remain crisp and clear, letting you still hear clearly the accompanying guitar during the chorus.
Then we get to the 360 Upmix, which is incompatible with your standard equaliser. This is a bit unfortunate, as the bass bias does tip the scales a bit too much on occasion when you use any of the three options. Well, I say three, but in reality, there’s only one option here, and that’s the Music 360 Upmix.
No word of exaggeration, it is one of the very best implementations of 360 audio, and by far. It narrows soundstaging somewhat, but you get so much more in return. The constant here is much better layer separation, with instruments sounding a lot more distinct than before. The algorithm working its magic also makes it so that there’s even extra depth and detail to your tracks, if you can believe it.
All that being said, it’s not perfect. With some tracks, all the extras coming together can be pretty overwhelming. And even if it’s not, you’ll usually need to lower the volume by a notch or two compared to the standard equaliser, or it gets quite uncomfortably loud. The algo may also add unnecessary resonance, to the point of sounding like reverb at times. Sadly, this also means that there’s no absolute best option here, and you’ll have to listen to every song twice to find out which works better for each.
What’s The Catch?
Beyond the RM2,799 asking price, there’s actually a lot of complaints to be had with the Sony 1000X The Collexion, albeit very minor in comparison. And we start with a quirk that’s shared across the modern Sony XM headphones, which is that it must be powered on to use it while wired the old fashioned way. Which can be a problem because the company has rated its battery life at 24 hours, compared to the 30 hours of the XM6. This gets noticeably lower when you use LDAC.
Another nitpick is that it cannot be collapsed. Sure, the case is much improved, now that it’s shaped in a way that can be carried like a handbag. But when you just want to fold it away temporarily, well, you just can’t. Then there’s the remaining two 360 Upmix modes, Cinema and Game. The former opens up the soundstaging, but layer separation takes a massive hit, especially vocals. The latter, on the other hand, is the classic 360 audio experience – everything sounds muffled. I’d recommend sticking to Music even when watching films or gaming.
In terms of comfort, the Sony 1000X The Collexion is a bit of a mixed bag. Initially, it’s very comfortable to have on. After about half an hour, you start to feel the pinch, which could have been avoided if the foam on the ear cups were thicker. There are also no adjustment steps on the headband, and while that adds to the premium feel, those who share that uncomfortable obsession with equilibrium will be annoyed that it’s not easy to have both ends extend equally. Making things worse is that if you do make adjustments with the headphones on, it can catch and trap your hair.
Should I Buy It?
To answer this question, we have to go back to the Bugatti Veyron analogy I started this review with. The Sony WH-1000XM series have been climbing steadily in price in the past couple of generations, and the 1000X The Collexion is a massive step on top of that. As the standard versions of the headphones creep further out of the high-end and into the premium category, The Collexion is well into that latter category.
Is The Collexion better than the WH-1000XM6? Sure. But is it 33% better? Arguable at best, even considering all the other non-sound elements. That being said, if you ever wanted a premium take on the Sony WH-1000XM series of headphones, this is it. And if that’s what you’re looking for, The Collexion is the pair of headphones for you.
Photography by Sam Wei Han
@lowyatnet We unbox the Sony 1000X The Collexion, a special pair of headphones celebrating a decade of the 1000XM series that started with the MDR-1000X from 2016. #Sony1000X #SonyMalaysia #1000XMSeries #Headphones #Unboxing
