I Tried the New LE Bluetooth Audio on the Sony WH-1000XM6 Headphones

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The new Sony WH-1000XM6 are the best premium headphones of 2025, and they keep getting better. One of my favorite features is its LE Audio Bluetooth compatibility, which is a newer Bluetooth type that uses less energy and supports better audio quality.

If you've tried to use LE Bluetooth in the past on your XM6 headphones, you might've noticed some features were missing, like head tracking, Find My Device, Gemini Live, and Audio Sharing with Fast Pair. Well, that's no longer the case: The latest update to the Sound Connect app allows you to take advantage of all of these features while using the LE Audio technology.

Left: LE Audio (LC3) Codec, Middle: Low Latency Bluetooth, Right: Pop up message for LE Adudio Credit: Daniel Oropeza

How to make sure you get the update

While I'm a fan of the headphones, I can't say I feel the same way about Sony's companion app. It's confusing and not user-friendly (and I've been using the app for years). The update was not easy to download, nor was it easy to know when it was done. But eventually, a message did pop up on my app asking me if I wanted the latest 3.0.0 update.

You can check if you already have it by clicking the three dots on the top right corner of the main menu and selecting "WH-1000XM6 Version." Once you download it, you will need to do a hard connection reset between your phone and headphones for the update to kick in. Select the forget device on the XM6 from your Bluetooth settings and connect it again. Once you do all of that, you should be ready.

How LE Audio performs with the new features

It's hard to say the LE Audio codec (LC3) sounds any better than it did before without a side-to-side comparison, but I can tell you that it sounds great. The audio is exactly what I would expect from arguably the best headphones of 2025.

The head tracking, which creates an all-around spatial sound quality, worked great as well. I took walks around my neighborhood and could hear conversations neighbors half a block away were having in their driveway.

When it comes to voice assistants and Gemini Live, your mileage may vary. From my experience, the mics on the WH-1000XM6 can be a bit sensitive, where long-winded answers from Gemini Live were cut off prematurely from noise around me. I did most of my testing while walking around my block and working from home (my wife also works from home, and we have a noisy dog). But this might be more about Gemini Live than the LE audio performance. Outside of those instances, the feature worked like I'd expect.

I can say I've noticed my sessions on the XM6 have lasted longer than before, which is one of the biggest advantages of using LE Audio. While the Low Latency feature is still in beta, it's already meeting the high standards of the XM6.

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