Sony WH-1000XM6 FCC Teardown

Here is the SUB_A PCB. The quality is not that great, but it will do for now. I have labelled the various connections.

1. Ribbon cable connector for the touch pad
2. Battery connection
3. Feedback microphone array flex PCB connection
4. Feedforward/Voice microphone array flex PCB connection
5. USB board connection
6. Driver connection
7. Connection for cable bundle to left side

This is pretty much the same on the WH-1000XM5, but the components are arranged differently. Not sure why the battery connection on the XM6 has the additional plastic piece, but I am sure there is some good reason.

Flipping the board over, we just see components and chips, with no connections.

We cannot ID any chips with certainty, but I suspect the top right corner chip is an Atmel microcontroller. The bottom left angled chip is most likely a charging IC from MPS Core Source. This is based off what the XM5 has, which has very similar components.

Moving the the smaller USB port board.

1. SUB-A board connection
2. LED indicator
3. Resettable fuse

The WH-1000XM5 also has a resettable fuse, which can be seen below to the right of the USB port.

The connection to the SUB board on the XM5 USB board was potted in place with glue. There is no glue in the XM6.

Finally we have the touch pad underneath the battery compartment. The WH-1000XM5 used a flex PCB for its touch pad, but Sony went back to regular PCB on the XM6, like in the WH-1000XM4. Why this change, I have no idea. Maybe less false inputs?

Moving to the left side, we have the main PCB, and the 3.5mm jack board. The main PCB is held on with 3 screws, and the jack board with 1. Very easy to repair if anything needs replacing.

There does appear to be a lot of empty space inside the left side earcup, especially near the hinge. With the main PCB is removed, there is nothing underneath it except the PCB supports. See the iFixit video for the shot.

The main PCB shape has changed slightly when compared to the XM5, but we have no information if the size has changed. Sony claims they have “optimised components and circuitry to minimise interference, and shorten travel of the signal” on the new PCB, especially around the QN3. I am sure this is true, but I would not know even how to check this.

For those wondering where the QN3 is, it is the chip in the square chip in the middle on the left side (I have it labelled below). Unfortunately it is impossible to visually identify any chips through text, but the iFixit teardown does have a photo of the main PCB, so we can use that to ID some of the components.

I believe I have most of the chips identified, but not including any of the small chips.

1. Mediatek MT2833A – Sony V2
   • already confirmed by FCC manual
2. GD25LQ64EN – NOR Flash 64 Mbit
3. Sony QN3
4. LATTICE ice40ul1k (for LED indicator)
   • See details in corner of photo
5. Feedforward/Voice microphone array flex PCB connection
6. Feedback microphone array flex PCB connection
7. 3.5mm jack PCB connection
8. Driver connection
9. Right side cable connection