Sony WH-1000XM6 vs Bose QC Ultra UK: which to buy

At £400 a pair, the Sony WH-1000XM6 vs Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) decision is not really about money. Sony lists the WH-1000XM6 at £400, and Bose lists the QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) at £399.95, so a UK buyer is choosing between two flagships that cost within five pence of each other. That makes this a straight contest of noise cancelling, comfort, sound and features, and we are happy to call a winner.

Two £400 flagships, one decision

Price normally does the heavy lifting in a headphone comparison. Here it does nothing. The Sony sits at £400 on the Sony UK store and at Currys, and Amazon UK has dipped it to around £349 in sales; the Bose holds firm at £399.95 on bose.co.uk and at John Lewis, where the two-year guarantee is worth factoring in. So forget the sticker and look at what each maker actually prioritised. Sony built the WH-1000XM6 around portability and codec support; Bose built the QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) around comfort, spatial audio and a new wired trick. We have used both extensively against the same UK playlists and commutes, and in our checks the gap is real but narrow. If £400 is more than you want to spend, our guide to the best wireless earbuds under £150 in the UK covers cheaper routes to good noise cancelling. If you want the short version, scroll to the verdict. If you want to know why, the categories below decide it.

Design, weight and the folding question

Sony brought back the folding hinge it dropped on the XM5, so the WH-1000XM6 collapses into a smaller, harder case that swallows less of a backpack. It weighs 254g and the build leans light and plasticky in a way that flatters long sessions but feels less special in the hand. Bose goes the other way: polished mirror metal yokes, a more substantial frame, and a fold-flat (rather than fold-in) case that is wider but slimmer. Neither creaks. Sony offers Black, Platinum Silver and Midnight Blue in the UK; Bose spreads wider with Black, White Smoke, Midnight Violet, Driftwood Sand and Desert Gold, which matters more than it should when you are spending £400 on something you wear on your head daily.

Winner: Sony WH-1000XM6. The returning fold and the smaller case win it for anyone who travels, even though Bose has the more premium materials. If your headphones live on a desk, this section is a draw.

Comfort over a long working day

This is the category Bose has owned for a decade, and the QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) does not give it up. The ear cushions are deeper and softer, the clamping force is gentler, and over a six-hour day the Bose simply disappears in a way the Sony does not quite manage. The Sony is the more compact pair at 254g, but more of its weight sits on the crown of your head, and the firmer pads warm up sooner. People who wear glasses, in particular, told us the Bose sealed better without pressing the arms into the side of the head. If you are buying headphones to keep on from 9 to 5, comfort is not a tie-breaker, it is the whole game.

Winner: Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen). Softer pads, lower clamp and a better seal for glasses wearers. It is the more comfortable pair, full stop.

Noise cancelling on a real UK commute

Bose has long set the bar here, and the new model holds a slim lead on the steady, low-frequency drone you get on a Northern line carriage or a Pendolino. The QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) shaves the rumble fractionally more completely and its CustomTune calibration re-measures the seal every time you put them on. Sony has closed the gap dramatically with the QN3 processor, which it says is seven times faster than the QN1 in the previous generation, and the WH-1000XM6 actually edges ahead on sudden, sharp noises like a slammed door or office chatter, where its twelve microphones react quicker. For voices and transient sound, Sony; for the constant rumble of public transport, Bose.

Winner: Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen), narrowly. It is still the king of constant low-frequency noise, but the WH-1000XM6 is now close enough that most people would not pick the Bose in a blind test on the bus.

Sound quality and the codec your phone speaks

Out of the box the Bose is warmer and more immersive, helped by its spatial Immersive Audio mode that widens a stereo mix into something that sounds like a small room. The Sony is more neutral and detailed, with a 30mm carbon-fibre composite driver, DSEE Extreme upscaling and a ten-band equaliser that rewards tinkering. The deciding technical point for UK Android owners is the codec. Sony supports LDAC, so a Pixel, Galaxy or Xiaomi phone can stream at up to 990kbps; Bose tops out at aptX Adaptive over Snapdragon Sound. On an iPhone, both fall back to AAC and the difference shrinks. So the better-sounding pair depends on what is in your pocket, which is exactly the kind of thing a spec sheet hides.

Winner: a tie that your phone breaks. Sony WH-1000XM6 for Android owners who want LDAC detail; Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) for anyone who loves the immersive, room-filling presentation straight out of the box.

Battery, USB-C lossless and the features that swing it

On endurance the two are level at up to 30 hours with noise cancelling on, though Bose drops to about 23 hours once Immersive Audio is running, and Sony stretches to roughly 40 with cancelling off. The standout new feature is on the Bose: the USB-C port now carries wired lossless audio, so you can plug into a laptop or a hi-res player and skip Bluetooth compression entirely. Sony keeps a 3.5mm analogue jack for wired listening and adds LE Audio support for the future. Both do reliable multipoint to two devices, both have strong call quality, and both run mature companion apps. If you want most of this for far less, the Anker Soundcore Space 2 undercuts both heavily, though it cannot match this pair on either noise cancelling or sound. The Bose app leans on Immersive presets; Sony’s gives you the deeper equaliser and adaptive sound based on where you are.

Winner: Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen). Wired USB-C lossless is the single most useful new feature on either pair this year, and it is the kind of thing you keep using once you have it.

Where to buy each pair in the UK

Both are sold everywhere a UK buyer would look, so shop on price and aftercare rather than availability. For the Sony, check the Sony UK store, Currys and Amazon UK, where sale pricing tends to land first. For the Bose, bose.co.uk and John Lewis are the safest routes, and John Lewis adds a two-year guarantee at no extra cost. A few quick checks before you commit:

• Confirm the colour you want is in stock for next-day delivery, not on back-order, before you pay.
• On Android, check your phone supports LDAC if you are leaning Sony, or aptX Adaptive if you are leaning Bose.
• Buy from John Lewis if the longer guarantee matters to you; price-match the Sony at Currys if it is cheaper elsewhere.
• If you want wired lossless from a laptop, that is a Bose-only feature here, so do not expect it from the Sony.
• Keep the receipt and use the 14-day distance-selling return window to test the fit at home.

Our verdict

For most UK buyers, our pick is the Sony WH-1000XM6. At the same £400 it folds smaller, weighs less, matches Bose on battery, beats it on sudden noises and gives Android owners LDAC, which is the detail that decides close calls. We would buy it for commuters, frequent flyers and anyone on a Pixel, Galaxy or Xiaomi phone. The Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) is the right call if comfort over a long day is your priority, if you want the most complete cabin-rumble cancelling on a train, or if wired USB-C lossless into a laptop genuinely fits how you listen. We would wait or reconsider only if Sony’s sale price climbs back to full RRP while Bose is discounted, because at that point the comfort and the lossless port tip a line-ball decision to Bose. Either way you are getting one of the two best noise-cancelling headphones on sale in Britain.

Sony WH-1000XM6 vs Bose: frequently asked questions

Which is better for noise cancelling, Sony or Bose?

Bose has the slimmer lead on constant low-frequency noise such as train and plane rumble, thanks to its CustomTune calibration. The Sony WH-1000XM6 is now extremely close and actually reacts faster to sudden noises like voices and doors. For most commutes the difference is small enough that comfort and codec support should decide your choice instead.

Do both work with an iPhone?

Yes. Both pair with an iPhone over Bluetooth and use the AAC codec, where they sound very similar. Sony’s LDAC advantage only applies on Android phones that support it, so iPhone owners can pick on comfort, noise cancelling and features rather than codec. Both also offer multipoint, so you can stay connected to a phone and a laptop at once.

Is the Bose USB-C lossless feature worth it?

If you listen from a laptop or a hi-res music player, yes. The Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) can take CD-quality audio over its USB-C port, bypassing Bluetooth compression entirely. The Sony WH-1000XM6 keeps a 3.5mm analogue jack instead. For pure Bluetooth listeners the feature matters less, but it is the clearest single reason to pick the Bose.

Which has better battery life?

They are level at up to 30 hours with noise cancelling on. The Sony WH-1000XM6 stretches to around 40 hours with cancelling switched off, while the Bose drops to about 23 hours if you keep Immersive Audio running. Both support fast charging, so a short top-up returns several hours of playback before you head out.

Should I wait for a newer model?

No. Both are current flagships launched within the last year, and neither has a confirmed UK successor. The only reason to wait is price: the Sony in particular tends to dip in seasonal sales at Amazon UK and Currys, so if you are not in a hurry, setting a price alert can save you £40 to £50.

Related reading on MTW

• Our full Sony WH-1000XM6 review
• Best wireless earbuds UK 2026
• How the AirPods Max 2 compares