The line that became the default choice for long-haul flights finally gets a tenth-anniversary upgrade that prioritizes restraint over electronic gimmicks. For 1000X THE COLLEXION, Sony brought in Grammy-winning mastering engineers to shape the tuning, aiming for exact artist intention rather than imposing an artificial house sound. A new carbon composite dome driver delivers on that brief, tightening instrument-to-vocal separation and widening the soundstage past any previous 1000X model. It’s also the first set to run DSEE Ultimate, using Edge-AI upscaling to restore lost detail to compressed streaming tracks in real time.
The design language moves away from generic plastic toward proper craft. The headband features individually hand-finished metal accents in a matte sandblasted texture with hand-polished gloss contrast. For the earcups, a soft, stretchable vegan leather that spent 2 years in development conforms to your head without adding pressure.
The technical backbone holds up its end, borrowing the 12-microphone Adaptive NC Optimizer from the WH-1000XM6 to handle ambient cabin drone. You get up to 24 hours of battery life with ANC running, and the whole package lands in clean Platinum or Black colorways. It’s the kind of considered hardware that earns its keep before you even clear TSA.
