AI Earbuds Hands-On: Sony's New Noise-Cancelling Headphones, AI Meeting Summaries Put to the Test

Bottom line: If you spend a lot of time in meetings or listening to foreign-language content, the XM6’s AI features are real productivity. If you only listen to music, the previous-gen XM5 is the better deal.

Test Scenario 1: Meeting Minutes (Most Impressive)

I wore the headphones through a 45-minute mixed Chinese-English conference call. When it ended, the app auto-generated the minutes: agenda, conclusions, and action items were clearly categorized, key figures were mostly accurate, and only one currency unit was wrong. Previously, I’d spend half an hour manually cleaning up audio-transcription output — now it’s one tap.

Test Scenario 2: AI Real-Time Translation

Listening to an English tech podcast with translation enabled, the delay was about 2 seconds and subtitle-style translation accuracy hovered around 90%. Content heavy on jargon occasionally stumbles, but everyday material is completely followable. Translating conversations with shop staff while traveling is handy too.

Test Scenario 3: Noise Cancelling

Tested during morning rush hour on the subway: with noise cancelling on, announcements and wheel noise basically disappeared. The gain over the XM5 is modest, but AI call noise reduction is a clear leap — calling from a windy street, the other person said they couldn’t hear the wind anymore.

Worth It?

• ✅ Frequent meetings or foreign-language listening: yes — the AI features pay for themselves
• ✅ Heavy commuters: yes — top-tier noise cancelling
• ❌ Music only: get the XM5 (save ¥500, nearly identical sound)
• ❌ Budget-sensitive: domestic AI earbuds in the ¥500–1000 range do the job

Final Score: 4.6 / 5

Points deducted for the price and for AI features that depend on the app. But it’s the first time I felt headphones are more than just a music player.