Sony WH-1000XM6 FCC Teardown
My WH-1000XM6 specification deep dive has been posted, so now let us look at the inside, and see what has changed. The FCC photos reveal a lot of details, and while we lack a 52Audio teardown, iFixit have uploaded their own teardown on YouTube, with a lot of details. Do make sure to check it out. Okay buckle in, this will be a long post. Update: 52Audio has posted their teardown.
Starting with the earpads, the FCC filing does not have any photos of the back, but thanks to MrWalkman, we have a photo. Five clips secure the pads, and 2 pins are used to position them correctly.
Hopefully Sony will make the pads more readily available, like on their website or various retailers (doubtful), otherwise, we will have to wait for replacement pads from China. Whether they will be of good quality is debatable.
With the earpads removed, we can see the drivers, and the wear detection sensor on the left side surrounding the driver. The design here is similar to the WH-1000XM5, but there are some differences like no foam covering the driver, and what I would call, simpler surfacing on the plastic. I wonder if a 40mm driver would have fit. Sony went back to a folding hinge, perhaps they should have gone back to a 40mm driver as well, considering this is a flagship model. Thoughts?
Here is the WH-1000XM5 for comparison (ignore the arrows).
And with the foam inserts removed, the surface of the WH-1000XM5 plastic seems more complex, with a lot more lines, angles, and random spaces. Also a lot more room for dirt and grime.
The WH-1000XM5 pads will not fit on the WH-1000XM6, as the pins and tabs are different.
The driver assembly is held on with 5 small screws on both sides. This provides very quick and simple access for repair and replacement of parts. Whether owners will be able to readily purchase parts in their region remains to be seen.
With both right and left driver assemblies removed, we can see inside the earcups.
The WH-1000XM6 adopts a different construction to the WH-1000XM5. One no longer needs to remove the earcup side to access the PCB. Sony has instead used a design similar to its lower end models like the WH-CH720N or WH-CH520, where after removing the driver, there is access to all the components. This is a good change as it makes repair much easier and simpler. The hinge mechanism has also been significantly changed. The design is more compact and appears to use actual metal in its construction. The XM5 hinge took up a good portion of the interior of the earcup and looked to be made all from plastic. More on the hinge later.
Another change is Sony switching the driver connection from soldered to a dedicated connector. With this change, all connections are now using a connector which can be easily disconnected. As no connections require desoldering, repairs will be much simpler and faster.
Starting with the right side, we have the battery compartment, the SUB board, and the USB board. The top of the earcup is the new hinge, which I will look at next in more detail.
