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Home / News / Sony’s WF-1000XM3 true wireless in-ears are a steal at $97 in the US

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Sony’s WF-1000XM3 true wireless in-ears are a steal at $97 in the US

The XM3s sound punchy - and they're available at a knockout price

Dan Grabham Dan Grabham
Sony WF-1000XM3 Black Friday deals

Sony’s WF-1000XM3 manage to squeeze in the hubbub-hushing tech while maintaining a relatively compact, if slightly elongated, shape. They easily rival Apple’s AirPods Pro and thanks to a deal are now half the price of Apple’s top in-ears at $97 from Amazon US – a saving of 58%.

These earphones won our best headphone gong in the Stuff Awards 2019 and, though they’ve since been superseded by the WF-1000XM4s, they’re still a force to be reckoned with. Coincidentally, the WF-1000XM4s are also available on a deal at £159, down from £250 in the UK or for $178 in the US, a saving of 36%.

Any music played through the XM3s sounds superb, the noise-cancelling delivers dutifully and, thanks to a patented Ergonomic Tri-hold Structure they stay right where you want them – a joy to behold in your lug holes. Check out our five-star review of the XM3s.

They’re not as discreet as some of the more bullet-shaped alternatives, but with various types and sizes of earbud included they’re comfortable and fit well, with a grippy-but-not-too-grippy coating helping to hold the 8.5g buds in.

In terms of noise cancellation, the XM3’s active system takes things to another level, with the added bonus of consuming very little power. With it switched on you’ll get six hours out of them, eight when it’s turned off.

Play some music and the XM3s are organised, agile and punchy, with a fair bit more dynamism than their competitors too. They simply serve up the music in as realistic a fashion as possible. Even call quality is half-decent, despite the mics being a fair distance from your mouth.

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Profile image of Dan Grabham Dan Grabham Editor-in-Chief

About

Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website.  Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.

Areas of expertise

Computing, mobile, audio, smart home