As Sony seems to finally be ceasing production of its WH1000-XM3 over-ears, I welcome you to the birth of an icon.
Look, 2018 is a lifetime ago in the true wireless headphone space. And we should’ve seen this coming after Sony released a pair of newer, shinier headphones in the intervening years – after all, the XM3’s subsequent, excellent Sony WH-1000XM4 and Sony WH-1000XM5 hardly slipped relatively unnoticed under the radar.
But despite two new siblings within its own flagship family and countless releases from rival brands in the nigh-on six years since they launched – including some of the best over-ear headphones on the market – we still recommend the XM3 headphones. And we have been nudging buyers toward them for more than five years.
Now, it looks as if Sony is finally closing the book on the excellent WH-100XM3. Why am I so certain? I tried to buy a set earlier (hoping to nab a Memorial Day deal but, well, after Memorial Day) and was surprised to see that Amazon had sold out. In fact, at the time of writing, every online retailer I have a standby cart with has a red “out of stock” sign beside the cans, in all colorways. And I refuse to let this winning product simply slip away!
I truly believe we’re witnessing the ascension of a ubiquitous office staple to the great big gig in the sky – and the birth of a modern classic.
