How to Spot Fake Sony WH-1000XM6 Headphones

Opening the case up we can see the headset inside, covered by a plastic bag, with the USB-C and 3.5mm cables beside the headset. The 3.5mm cable leads are silver coloured, rather than gold, and the USB-C cable has smaller ends and a thinner diameter cable.

Removing the plastic bag, we can see the folded fake, which sits neatly inside the case. Taking out the headset we can unfold it and lay it flat on the table. The earcups can rotate 180°.

Now turning to the headset. At first glance the fake seems to look like the real deal, but there are enough differences which can help spot if you are looking at a fake or genuine headset.

The first difference is the lack of holes for the ANC microphones on the sides of the earcups. This is even visible in the marketplace listing as well. There is a hole at the top of the earcup near the hinge, but there is no mesh covering the hole.

All of the controls on the fake are on the left earcup. The power button design looks very close to the real model. To the left of the power button is the 3.5mm port, then the indicator LED and finally the USB-C port. The real model has the USB-C port on the right earcup. Even though on the wrong side, the USB-C port on the fake attempts to copy the design of the real model. The port is placed up a bit too high in the indent.

Here is a photo of the real model, showing the controls and USB-C port.

To the right of the power buttons are 3 controls. volume down, NC button, and volume up. If you want to know if the NC button does anything, the short answer, kind of, more on that later on. The volume buttons do control the volume in Windows and Android.

The fake WH-1000XM6 is also missing the tactile dot on the left earcup.