Sony WH-1000XM3 no longer fit for purpose

[andrew_ashby]

Dear Sony 'customer care'

I am writing this new posting, very well aware that there are already a significant number of users on this forum (myself included) that have raised tens of pages of discussion on a problem that you are cleary refusing to address. A solution has been found by users that is proven to work, yet you have so far refused to recognise it.  In addition now over 220 people have signed a petition via Facebook identifying the scale of the problem you have caused with the introduction of V4.1.1 firmware that is not fit for purpose. Please read my FB posting from yesterday below....

I'm back on a train again today and this is awful - £329 invested in 'best in class' noise cancelling headphones and now after the 4.1.1 firmware downgrade, I get to listen to everyone else's phone conversations again - what on earth have you done Sony?

This is unacceptable - there are well over 200 people already signed up to publicly complain about this degradation on this [FB] group alone. You may not 'recognise' FB but this is your customer base. How you treat us when you render your own products no longer fit for purpose, is where your credibilty lays bare to scrutiny.

It is now time for you to acknowledge what you've done and respond......[already] your 5* reviews are being superceded by  MUCH less favourable updates and people may be less enthusiastic to invest in your next release of n/c products.... Just a thought. I for one will be returning these to my supplier in exchange for Bose QC35iis if there is no response from Sony in the very near future.

Perhaps all those affected may choose to pass this message on to whoever they think best.

[IamNic]

Hello @andrew_ashby,

the same discussion is going on on reddit, yet from the current state of the discussion it seems like the firmware did not change anything about the headphones (before you say anything - someone even created a "downgrade" to revert the headphones back to the previous firmware and many people who performed this downgrade struggled to tell a difference between the 4.1.1 update and the previous version).

While my investigation is still going on, it seems that the feeling that the headphones act differently after performing the update may have to do with the "default" settings applied after performing the update. Tinkering around with the Headphones Connect App - at least for me - resolved the issue with the "NC" seeming weaker after the update. For me the headphones were set to "adaptive NC" which I never used before and immediately deactivated after the firmware update, yet it being switched on applied the default settings to the strength of NC in "walking" mode and that at least for me was the reason it seemed weaker directly after performing the update.

While I still can't say if that is the case for everyone, I personally start to believe that Sonys statement about the 4.1.1 update not changing anything about the way the NC works seems to be true.

I hope my findings are of any help.

- Nic

[andrew_ashby]

Thanks for your thoughts, but as you might imagine, having been struggling with this issue for so long, I've tinkered with every possible app setting! 

[Skylark001]

Nic, thanks for suggesting that the adaptive option should be switched off.  I have found that if it IS switched off, external sound is almost entirely eliminated.

[IamNic]

Hello @Skylark001,

thank you for getting back to me, confirming that deactivating the adaptive sound control worked.

- Nic