Sony’s new flagship earbuds are a triumph of form over function

Unboxing Sony’s new WF-1000XM6 earbuds hits with a jolt of emotion. It brings back a precise memory: Hong Kong, summer 2019. On Nathan Road—one of the most extraordinary commercial streets in the world, lined with restaurants, flagship stores, and malls hidden inside unassuming towers—there was a striking advertisement. It showed Sony’s new wireless earbuds, which in Europe would only launch in September at IFA Berlin. I fell in love with them instantly, in a way that would probably be impossible today.

AirPods had been launched “only” three years earlier and, despite their rapid spread, wireless earbuds still felt like something new. Sony’s first high-end models, the 2017 WF-1000X, took a path opposite to Apple’s: no stems, an elongated, austere case, miles away from Cupertino’s reassuring white. With the WF-1000XM3—the ones on that Hong Kong poster—Sony pushed even further: black and gold, curved lines interrupted by sudden segmentation, an aesthetic that felt lifted from a mid-’90s cyberpunk Japan. These were bold, almost aggressive objects. And yes, uncomfortable too: large, heavy, with an oversized case. But they sounded in a way no other “earbud” of that size could match. Competitors offered perfect tools; with Sony, listening felt strangely, almost physically present.

Then something changed. Sony realized those products weren’t aligned enough with the market—too much character, too little compromise. In subsequent models—the series updates every two years—the company worked by subtraction: cases became slimmer, earbuds smaller, lighter, more “correct.” More invisible. That’s the dominant trajectory of the entire category. Today, earbuds are meant to disappear: into the ear, into the pocket, into the experience. They must be ergonomic, adaptive, seamlessly integrated. They must work, not be noticed. It’s also the narrative pushed in Sony’s press release, which emphasizes ergonomics, adaptability, and comfort as core design elements. But looking at the WF-1000XM6, what emerges is almost the opposite: an object that reclaims space, that makes itself felt.

The new WF-1000XM6 do exactly that. Not in a nostalgic way, nor in an explicit one—but in practice, yes. Sony goes back to doing what it does best: imposing its own aesthetic, distinct from the increasingly indistinguishable models produced by Chinese and American companies. Among the few recent attempts at differentiation, one might cite the young brand Nothing—but the direction here is different: not transparency, but presence. The result is an object that does not try to disappear.

The case is oversized, not particularly pocket-friendly, and larger than necessary. The earbuds themselves are noticeably bulkier, to the point of occasionally causing fit issues. And yet, it’s hard to call them a mistake. They are simply too present for that. You almost feel like wearing them slung across your body, like a small bag. This is not a return to the past. The shapes no longer carry the retro-futuristic tension of the XM3. They are softer, rounder, even reassuring—there’s also a Sand Pink version—but still intentional. They don’t try to blend in. They don’t want to disappear. And this is where the project becomes interesting. Because it arrives at a moment when wireless earbuds have become a saturated, almost boring object. A must-have that has lost any symbolic charge—so much so that going back to wired headphones is now perceived as a stylistic choice.

Sony, instead, seems to reject this invisibility. Where the market works to reduce, simplify, and neutralize, here we see a return to adding: volume, presence, identity. The result is a paradox: a product that, on paper, promises maximum ergonomics and adaptability, but in practice behaves like an object to be seen, to be felt, to be negotiated with the body. In a landscape where design tends to disappear, Sony brings it back exactly where it shouldn’t be: into the ears.

All images: Sony WF-1000XM6. Courtesy Sony