Sony WH-1000XM2 vs Beats Studio3 Wireless

Which Headphones Are Better?

Products

Sony WH-1000XM2 Wireless
Beats Studio3 Wireless

Tested using Methodology v1.5

Updated Jun 14, 2023 03:36 PM

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Tested using Methodology v1.5

Updated Jan 12, 2024 09:55 PM

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Our Verdict

Sony WH-1000XM2 Wireless

Beats Studio3 Wireless

The Sony WH-1000XM2 Wireless are a better wireless over-ear than the Beats Studio3 Wireless. The Sony have a better noise cancellation performance, making them more suitable for commuting and travel than the Beats. They have a slightly more polished design that looks and feels more high-end than the Beats. The Beats have a more stylish-looking build quality that some will prefer over that of the Sony. They also have a faster charge time, a longer wireless range, and slightly better latency performance, especially on iOS devices. The Beats are also a bit more lightweight, comfortable, and stable for the gym.

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Variants

  • WH-1000XM2 (Black)
  • WH-1000XM2 (White)
  • Studio3 Wireless (A-COLD-WALL* Cement)
  • Studio3 Wireless (Blue)
  • Studio3 Wireless (Defiant Black)
  • Beats Studio3 (Matte Black)
  • Studio3 Wireless (Midnight Black)
  • Studio3 Wireless (Red)
  • Studio3 Wireless (Shadow Grey)
  • Studio3 Wireless (White)

Check Price

White
WH-1000XM2
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
White
Studio3 Wireless
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
Black
WH-1000XM2
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
A-COLD-WALL* Cement
Studio3 Wireless
Amazon.com
 
Blue
Studio3 Wireless
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
 
Defiant Black
Studio3 Wireless
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
 
Matte Black
Beats Studio3
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
 
Midnight Black
Studio3 Wireless
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
 
Red
Studio3 Wireless
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
 
Shadow Grey
Studio3 Wireless
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com

Main Differences for
Neutral Sound

Threshold 

0.10

Neutral Sound 

7.4
6.8

Imaging 
 

8.7
5.1

Treble Accuracy 
 

8.4
6.9

Full Comparison

Design

Style  

Design Picture 2  

Type  

Over-ear
Over-ear

Enclosure  

Closed-Back
Closed-Back

Wireless  

Yes
Yes

Transducer  

Dynamic
Dynamic
Show Text 

Comfort 
 

7.5
8.0

Comfort Picture  

Weight  

0.61 lbs
0.58 lbs

Clamping Force 
 

0.9 lbs
1.1 lbs
Show Text 

Controls 
 

7.2
7.3

Controls Picture  

OS Compatibility 
 

Not OS specific
Not OS specific

Ease Of Use  

Okay
Good

Feedback  

Okay
Good

Call/Music Control  

Yes
Yes

Volume Control  

Yes
Yes

Microphone Control  

No
No

Channel Mixing 
 

No
No

Noise Cancelling Control  

On/Off
On/Off

Talk-Through 
 

On/Off
No

Additional Controls  

No
No
Show Text 

Breathability 
 

6.4
6.4

Breathability After Picture  

Avg.Temp.Difference  

6 °C
5.9 °C
Show Text 

Portability 
 

6.1
6.1

Portability Picture  

 

4.9" (12.4 cm)
4.6" (11.7 cm)

 

6.0" (15.2 cm)
6.5" (16.5 cm)

 

3.3" (8.4 cm)
3.0" (7.6 cm)

Volume  

96.00 in³ (1,573.15 cm³)
90.00 in³ (1,474.83 cm³)

Transmitter Required  

No
No
Show Text 

Case 
 

8.0
8.0

Case Picture  

Type  

Hard case
Hard case

 

7.1" (18.0 cm)
4.8" (12.2 cm)

 

8.1" (20.6 cm)
6.7" (17.0 cm)

 

2.4" (6.1 cm)
3.2" (8.1 cm)

Volume  

136.00 in³ (2,228.63 cm³)
103.00 in³ (1,687.86 cm³)
Show Text 

Build Quality 
 

8.0
7.5

Build Quality Picture  

Show Text 

Stability 
 

7.0
7.5

Stability Picture  

Show Text 

Headshots 1  

Angled Picture  

Side Picture  

Headshots 2  

Front Picture  

Rear Picture  

Top  

Top Picture  

In The Box  

In The Box Picture  

Show Text 
Sound

Sound Profile 
 

Frequency Response  

See details
See details

Bass Amount 
 

1.85 dB
-0.42 dB

Treble Amount 
 

-2.22 dB
-3.39 dB
Show Text 

Frequency Response Consistency 
 

8.0
6.3

Consistency L  

See details
See details

Consistency R  

See details
See details

Avg. Std. Deviation 
 

0.4 dB
0.83 dB
Show Text 

Raw Frequency Response 
 

Raw FR L  

See details
See details

Raw FR R  

See details
See details

Bass Accuracy 
 

8.0
8.1

Bass  

See details
See details

Std. Err. 
 

2.8 dB
2.68 dB

Low-Frequency Extension 
 

10.15 Hz
25.57 Hz

Low-Bass 
 

1.94 dB
-1.65 dB

Mid-Bass 
 

2.49 dB
2.61 dB

High-Bass 
 

4.21 dB
3.62 dB
Show Text 

Mid Accuracy 
 

7.8
7.8

Mid  

See details
See details

Std. Err. 
 

2.94 dB
2.99 dB

Low-Mid 
 

1.32 dB
4.42 dB

Mid-Mid 
 

-2.89 dB
-0.78 dB

High-Mid 
 

1.58 dB
-1.06 dB
Show Text 

Treble Accuracy 
 

8.4
6.9

Treble  

See details
See details

Std. Err. 
 

2.38 dB
4.53 dB

Low-Treble 
 

1.38 dB
-2.9 dB

Mid-Treble 
 

-0.31 dB
-3.16 dB

High-Treble 
 

-12.79 dB
-5.79 dB
Show Text 

Peaks/Dips 
 

7.0
7.6

Peaks/Dips Graph  

See details
See details

Peaks 
 

1.97 dB
1.42 dB

Dips 
 

1.56 dB
1.41 dB
Show Text 

Imaging 
 

8.7
5.1

Group Delay  

See details
See details

Phase Response Mismatch  

See details
See details

Weighted Group Delay 
 

0.15
0.53

Weighted Phase Mismatch 
 

3.94
57.7

Weighted Amplitude Mismatch 
 

0.79
0.22

Weighted Frequency Mismatch 
 

1.79
5.6
Show Text 

Passive Soundstage 
 

3.9
3.9

PRTF  

See details
See details

PRTF Accuracy (Std. Dev.) 
 

5.03 dB
2.1 dB

PRTF Size (Avg.) 
 

10 dB
0.93 dB

PRTF Distance 
 

9.17 dB
11.08 dB

Openness 
 

0.7
2.8

Acoustic Space Excitation 
 

3.4
2.0
Show Text 

Virtual Soundstage 
 

6.4
0.0

Virtual Soundstage  

Head Modeling 
 

On/Off
No

Speaker Modeling 
 

On/Off
No

Room Ambience 
 

Presets
No

Head Tracking 
 

No
No

Virtual Surround 
 

360 Reality Audio
No
Show Text 

Weighted Harmonic Distortion 
 

7.3
7.3

Weighted Harmonic Distortion  

See details
See details

WHD @ 90 
 

0.337
0.426

WHD @ 100 
 

0.246
0.177
Show Text 

Test Settings 
 

Firmware 
 

Unknown
Unknown

Power 
 

On
On

Connection 
 

Unknown
Unknown

Codec 
 

aptX, 16-bit, 48kHz
SBC, 16-bit, 48kHz

EQ 
 

Off
No EQ

ANC 
 

On
On

Tip/Pad 
 

Default
Default

Microphone 
 

Integrated
Integrated
Show Text 
Isolation

Noise Isolation 
 

9.1
7.2

Noise Isolation  

See details
See details

Isolation Audio 
 

Overall Attenuation 
 

-28.14 dB
-21.66 dB

Noise Cancelling  

Yes
Yes

Bass 
 

-18.8 dB
-8.03 dB

Mid 
 

-26.11 dB
-22.18 dB

Treble 
 

-40.11 dB
-36.18 dB
Show Text 

Leakage 
 

7.0
8.2

Leakage  

See details
See details

Leakage Audio 
 

Overall Leakage @ 1ft 
 

39.63 dB
32.18 dB
Show Text 
Microphone

Microphone Style 
 

Integrated 
 

Yes
Yes

In-Line 
 

No
Yes

Boom 
 

No
No

Detachable Boom 
 

No
No

Mic  

Yes
Yes
Show Text 

Recording Quality 
 

6.3
6.5

Microphone Frequency Response  

See details
See details

Recorded Speech 
 

LFE 
 

273 Hz
281 Hz

FR Std. Dev. 
 

4.35 dB
2.69 dB

HFE 
 

3,272.31 Hz
3,466.89 Hz

Weighted THD 
 

13.969
31.636

Gain 
 

43.08 dB
37.78 dB
Show Text 

Noise Handling 
 

6.3
5.1

SpNR  

See details
See details

SpNR 
 

6.61 dB
10.16 dB

Noise Gate 
 

No
No

Speech + Pink Noise Handling 
 

6.5
5.5

Speech + Pink Noise Audio Sample  

Speech + Subway Noise Handling 
 

6.0
4.5

Speech + Subway Noise Audio Sample  

Show Text 
Active Features

Battery 
 

8.4
7.6

Battery Type 
 

Rechargable
Rechargable

Continuous Battery Life 
 

28 hrs
23 hrs

Additional Charges 
 

0.0
0.0

Total Battery Life 
 

28 hrs
23 hrs

Charge Time 
 

3.6 hrs
2 hrs

Power-Saving Feature 
 

Auto-Off Timer
No

Audio While Charging 
 

No
Yes

Passive Playback 
 

Yes
No

Charging Port  

micro-USB
micro-USB
Show Text 

App Support 
 

8.5
5.0

App Picture  

App Name  

Sony| Headphones Connect
Beats

iOS  

Yes
Yes

Android  

Yes
Yes

macOS  

No
No

Windows  

No
No

Equalizer 
 

Graphic + Presets
No

ANC Control 
 

On/Off
On/Off

Mic Control  

No
No

Room Effects 
 

Yes
No

Playback Control 
 

Yes
No

Button Mapping  

Yes
No

Surround Support 
 

Yes
No
Show Text 
Connectivity

Bluetooth 
 

7.4
7.3

Bluetooth Version 
 

4.1
4.2 + W1 chip

Multi-Device Pairing 
 

No
No

NFC Pairing 
 

Yes
No

Line Of Sight Range 
 

172.00 ft (52.43 m)
297.00 ft (90.53 m)

PC Latency (SBC) 
 

304 ms
176 ms

PC Latency (aptX) 
 

230 ms
N/A

PC Latency (aptX HD) 
 

299 ms
N/A

PC Latency (aptX-LL) 
 

N/A
N/A

iOS Latency 
 

13 ms
22 ms

Android Latency 
 

70 ms
73 ms
Show Text 

Non-Bluetooth Wireless 
 

0.0
0.0

Non-BT Line Of Sight Range 
 

N/A
N/A

Non-BT Latency 
 

N/A
N/A
Show Text 

Wired 
 

9.5
9.5

Cable Picture  

Analog Audio 
 

Yes
Yes

USB Audio 
 

No
No

Detachable  

Yes
Yes

Length  

5.00 ft (1.52 m)
4.30 ft (1.31 m)

Connection 
 

1/8" TRS
1/8" TRRS

Analog/USB Audio Latency 
 

0 ms
0 ms
Show Text 

PC Compatibility 
 

Analog 
 

Audio Only
Audio + Microphone

Wired USB 
 

No
No

Non-BT Wireless 
 

No
No
Show Text 

PlayStation Compatibility 
 

PS4 Analog 
 

Audio Only
Audio + Microphone

PS4 Wired USB 
 

No
No

PS4 Non-BT Wireless 
 

No
No

PS5 Analog 
 

Audio Only
Audio + Microphone

PS5 Wired USB 
 

No
No

PS5 Non-BT Wireless 
 

No
No
Show Text 

Xbox Compatibility 
 

Xbox One Analog 
 

Audio Only
Audio Only

Xbox One Wired USB 
 

No
No

Xbox One Non-BT Wireless 
 

No
No

Xbox Series X|S Analog 
 

Audio Only
Audio Only

Xbox Series X|S Wired USB 
 

No
No

Xbox Series X|S Non-BT Wireless 
 

No
No
Show Text 

Base/Dock 
 

0.0
0.0

Type 
 

No Base/Dock
No Base/Dock

USB Input 
 

No
No

Line In 
 

No
No

Line Out 
 

No
No

Optical Input 
 

No
No

RCA Input 
 

No
No

Dock Charging 
 

No
No

Power Supply 
 

No Base/Dock
No Base/Dock
Show Text 

Check Price

White
WH-1000XM2
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
White
Studio3 Wireless
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
Black
WH-1000XM2
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
A-COLD-WALL* Cement
Studio3 Wireless
Amazon.com
 
Blue
Studio3 Wireless
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
 
Defiant Black
Studio3 Wireless
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
 
Matte Black
Beats Studio3
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
 
Midnight Black
Studio3 Wireless
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
 
Red
Studio3 Wireless
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
 
Shadow Grey
Studio3 Wireless
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com

Sony WH-1000XM2 Wireless

Beats Studio3 Wireless

Comments

  1. Comparison

Sony WH-1000XM2 Wireless vs Beats Studio3 Wireless: Main Discussion

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