Apple Airpods vs Sony WH-1000XM2

These come in at only 4 grams per earpiece. The absence of a connecting cable further minimizes the weight.

There is no band or cable connecting the earpieces. You won't have to deal with the noise caused by a cable rubbing against your clothes or body.

These headphones do produce some low-end, but the bass does not come with a lot of power and oomph. The highs and mids are good though. They are not too forward and present a nice level of clarity. Most genres of music will sound good with these, though bass heavy tracks like dance, hip-hop, EDM and the like may sound lacking.

Thanks to the proprietary connectivity chip used, the Airpods sync to Apple devices without a hitch. This is a noticeable advantage over many third-party wireless headphones where you might need to go through a lot of steps just to get them synced properly.

The signal cuts-off only on very few occasions. Generally, you should have a stable wireless listening experience. Also, there is no noticeable lag between what is happening on screen and when you get to hear the sound from these headphones when watching videos.

Voices sound clear and full so conversations will not be an issue.

The bass has good punch and control which works really well with most genres of music. The mids are slightly forward at just the right levels, which ensures that vocals can be clearly heard. The highs are emphasized and sound great with a lot of clarity and detail, especially on the upper registers.

Swiping or tapping on the right ear cup's surface can pause or play track, go to the next track or go back to the previous one and can control volume levels as well. Also, the right ear cup has more of a textured surface compared to the old MDR1000x model's smooth, leather-like surface. This makes gesture control much more accurate on the WH-1000XM2.

If you need to talk while using these, all you need to do is to cover the right ear cup with the palm of your hand. This activates Quick Attention mode which cuts off the music and amplifies voice for easy conversation. To get back to listening to music, all you need to do is to remove the palm from the ear cup.

Aside from just turning noise cancelling on or off, users can set it to Ambient Sound which offers 2 further options.Normal Mode allows some outside noise through, while Voice Mode allows voice frequencies through the noise cancelling.

The WH1000XM2 comes with a companion mobile app that allows you to easily tweak the various settings of the headphones including EQ and noise cancelling levels. The app can also take advantage of the accelerometers in your smartphone as you move, adjusting noise cancelling and audio settings on the fly to give you the optimal listening experience.

These have great noise isolating properties and can block out a good amount of sound even with the noise cancelling off. The ear cups are closed back, while the ear pads go over the ear and seal well, awhich effectively minimizes sound leakage to and from the headphones.

The ear cups can be folded into the headband. This reduces the headphones' size so that it can easily fit inside bags.

The WH-1000XM2's active noise cancelling is one of the best in the market today. With the mode activated, a significant amount of outside noise is blocked, allowing you to really enjoy your music with minimal distractions. The Bose QC 35 II slightly edges out the Sony in this aspect though.

There is a built in microphone which negates the need to remove the headphones to answer a call.

You can use these headphones wired using the detachable 3.5mm cable or you can go wireless with Bluetooth.

The internal battery can last up to 30 hours of listening to music in wireless mode with noise cancelling on. This number goes up to 40 hours in wired mode with noise cancelling activated.

This comes with a carrying case that is made from high quality materials. It should provide extra protection to the headphones against scratches and minor impacts, which are quite common when taking these while traveling.