Is the Sony WF-1000XM6 worth the upgrade from the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro?

Verdict

Clear upgrade

Going from the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro 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 noise cancelling (7.0 to 9.0), battery (6.0 to 8.0) and sound (8.0 to 9.0). You do give up ground on value (9.0 to 7.0). On paper: battery life 8 h to 12 h, codecs SBC, AAC, LDAC to SBC, AAC, LDAC, LC3 and bluetooth 5.2 to 5.3. Worth checking: battery incl. case goes 32 h to 24 h and driver size goes 10.6 mm to 8.4 mm. One caution: this steps down a line tier (Liberty 3 Pro 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 $183 more, or about $18 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.