Sony has announced a small but significant update to its noise cancellation headphone lineup at CES 2019. The Sony WH-1000XM3, which were announced at IFA 2018 and got a stellar 4.5/ 5 in our review, the WH-1000XM2, and the in-ear WI-1000X, will all get Amazon Alexa support in the coming weeks.
The Sony WH-1000XM3 are the direct successor to the WH-1000XM2. The on-ear wireless headphones feature 40mm drivers, 30-hours of battery life, highly customisable noise cancellation modes, and support for high-resolution audio codecs such as aptX HD and LDAC. The Sony WI-1000X on the other hand are around-the-neck style wireless headphones with 10 hours of battery life, active noise cancellation, and 9mm dynamic drivers.
The three headphones already support Google Assistant, with Alexa support arriving as a firmware update in the first quarter of 2019. Users will be able to install the update via Sony’s Headphones Connect App which is available for both Android and iOS. Users will only be able to use one assistant at a time.
The Sony WH-1000MX3 retail for Rs. 29,990 in India, and the older WH-1000XM2 can be found online for around Rs. 28,000. The in-ear WI-1000X are priced at Rs. 21,990 and can be found for around Rs. 20,000 on e-commerce sites.
In addition to the above announcement, Sony has updated its Extra Bass range of speakers at CES 2019 with the SRS-XB12, SRS-XB22, and SRS-XB33, which succeed last year’s XB10, XB20, and XB30 respectively. The company also announced a bunch of new 8K and 4K televisions with Android TV built-in and Apple AirPlay support.
