Sony WH-1000XM6 FCC Teardown

The top of the swivel looks like it screws into the main headband on the inner side of the metal piece There is a screw at the top just above the hinge. This piece does look to be inside the headband, as no screw is visible when looking at the hinge.

No screw is visible in this photo from AV-Watch. I think this screw could be in the same spot as the plastic piece that is at the end of the headband cushion. How one gets to this screw is a mystery. Perhaps this plastic piece comes off?

The back of this top metal piece can be seen in these 2 photos below.

Here is a better view of the underside of the hinge.

Sony could release a teardown video of the hinge on their YouTube channel, demonstrating the strength and build quality of the hinge to ease people’s minds, but not going to happen. So while we have no photos of any broken WH-1000XM6 hinges, there is always a chance that lower support piece could break, if the plastic suffers from the same issues as the WH-1000XM5 plastic.

Now back to the inside of the right earcup.

The battery compartment is held on with 2 screws near the top, removing these and unplugging the connection is all that is required to remove the battery.

Removing the XM6 battery is much simpler when compared to the XM5, which required the removal of the exterior earcup piece as well. The XM5 battery was also taped into place, but the iFixit video does not mention if the XM6 battery is taped in place as well. Unless they did, then I missed that. The battery compartment is made from 2 pieces, removing the top cover reveals the actual battery.

• WH-1000XM6 battery – 1050 mAh 3.8V (3.99 Wh)
• WH-1000XM5 battery – 1200 mAh 3.8V (4.56 Wh)

The drop from 1200 mAh to 1050 mAh is a decrease of 12.5%, which is substantial, yet the WH-1000XM6 offers the same battery life as the previous model. This is quite impressive. If Sony kept the 1200 mAh battery, SBC/AAC/LC3 battery life with NC on, would be up to 34 hours, and LDAC with NC on up to 29 hours. This is just my calculated estimate, so I could be wrong.

The battery connector appears to be identical on both models.

Sony will move to 2 battery suppliers for the new model. Springpower and VDL. Below is a screenshot from the Taiwanese certification.

• VDL – model 643741PF3
• Springpower – model 633741

The WH-1000XM5 battery model is 723741. From my understanding, the numbers represent the dimensions. So the WH-1000XM6 battery is around 41mm x 37mm, with a thickness of 6.3-6.4mm. While the WH-1000XM5 battery would fit in the battery compartment, the thickness might not permit the battery cover to close. If I had the money to burn, I would try and transfer over the XM5 battery to see if it would fit.