Is the Sony WF-1000XM6 worth the upgrade from the OnePlus Buds Pro 3?

Verdict

Clear upgrade

Going from the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 to the Sony WF-1000XM6 buys you 10.0 points of HearWiki score - a clear step up that reviewers agree on rather than a marketing refresh. The gains are concentrated in sound (8.0 to 9.0), noise cancelling (8.0 to 9.0) and calls (7.5 to 8.0). You do give up ground on value (8.0 to 7.0) and battery (8.5 to 8.0). On paper: battery life 10 h to 12 h and microphones 3 to 8. Worth checking: bluetooth goes 5.4 to 5.3 and battery incl. case goes 43 h to 24 h. One caution: this steps down a line tier (Buds Pro 3 to WF-1000XM6), and base models usually trade away tier features - check the codec and ANC rows above before trusting the score gap alone. That costs $169 more, or about $17 per point of score - reasonable value for the jump. If your current pair is worn out or the gains line up with how you listen, this one is worth the money.