- Sony’s new headphones are easier to repair than before
- The battery is one component that’s more straightforward to replace
- It should mean fewer of these devices become e-waste
The Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones launched a couple of weeks ago, and have already attracted plenty of praise – see our Sony WH-1000XM6 review, for example. Now we have another reason for investing in a pair: they’re easier to repair than previous models.
According to the experts at iFixit, “Sony appears to have made a deliberate effort to design the WH-1000XM6 with repair in mind”, and there have been tweaks to how these headphones have been put together that show that.
Crucially, iFixit says, the battery inside the headphones is now fixed in place with two screws – rather than being stuck in with the double-sided adhesive that was used for the Sony WH-1000XM5, which launched back in 2022.
The modular driver mid-plate is straightforward to replace as well, iFixit says – there’s no glue to deal with, and the component can be got at without the risk of damaging other parts of the interior of the headphones.
Readily accessible components
iFixit also reports that the USB-C port, the audio jack, and the button board are “readily accessible”, making repairs easier. The idea is that if one part of the Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones fails, you don’t have to completely replace them.
It’s not all good news on the repairability front though: iFixit says there’s not much improvement as far as the headband goes, so if there’s a problem with this part of the device then you may well have to get a new pair.
Of course when we say the Sony WH-1000XM6 are easier to repair, you do still need a certain amount of technical know-how and some specialist tools for the job. However, the job now is more straightforward, whether you do it yourself or take it into a repair shop.
There’s plenty of advice over on iFixit about how you might go about repairing the Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones and a whole host of other gadgets, but if you’re weighing up the pros of buying them, you can add repairability to the list.
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