Sony WH-1000XM6 Headband Ring Breakage

On reddit, there are reports that the  Sony WH-1000XM6 is also suffering from hinge breaks. This is false.

While there have been a couple of hinge breaks in the past (here, here), the major concern plaguing the WH-1000XM6, is the plastic ring at the ends of the headband snapping. With the ring broken, there is nothing holding the headband slider in place, resulting in the slider falling out of the headband.

As of this post, I have collected 15 posts from reddit documenting this particular headband ring failure. Whether there are more published breaks on reddit, I do not know. If anyone has a link to a break not in the list below, please leave a comment with the link, and I will add it to the list. If you have suffered a break, please leave your comments below.

The oldest post is from December 2025, and the latest is from August 2026. All of the saved posts are below, starting with the most recent break.

• https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyHeadphones/comments/1vigqyg/can_warranty_repair_this_issue/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyHeadphones/comments/1vgqe9l/anyway_to_fix_cracked_xm6_band/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyHeadphones/comments/1ve4qh6/another_one_bites_the_dust_sony_xm6_broken_arm/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyHeadphones/comments/1uax4gt/sony_wh1000xm6_broken_hinge/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyHeadphones/comments/1th4gid/broken_hinge_on_xm6/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyHeadphones/comments/1t0wp11/broken_part_wh1000xm6/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyHeadphones/comments/1swviln/xm6_cups_detached/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyHeadphones/comments/1sstt66/xm6_sliderheadband_joint_cracked_same_area/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyHeadphones/comments/1srsy5j/last_time_buying_anything_from_sony/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyHeadphones/comments/1sps03c/aww_shucks_1000xm6_cracked_again/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyHeadphones/comments/1shig5x/crack_on_wh1000xm6/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyHeadphones/comments/1sbfjfx/apparently_theres_kind_of_a_meme_about_broken/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyHeadphones/comments/1r0wcem/my_xm6_broke/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyHeadphones/comments/1qw1hhn/xm6_broken/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyHeadphones/comments/1pyex3i/its_your_turn/

This ring breaking is a real issue, but the level of breaks is no where near the severity of WH-1000XM5 hinge breaks on reddit. I am also working on a new WH-1000XM5 hinge post, so stay tuned for that.

The plastic ring on either side of the headband, should NOT be breaking/snapping on such an expensive model, under any circumstance. The fact that I would need to write such a statement is absurd, but here we are.

From user photos, it looks like the breaks often occur on the side of the ring, usually in line with the middle of headband on the side. I have checked various real life photos, but there is no seam line in this area, which could be source of these breaks. Could the quality of the plastic be to blame for the issue? Or is it a design issue?

Here are a few examples of the break. So far I am seeing more of the black colour, but that is probably because black is more popular. I have not encountered any Midnight Blue or Sand Pink breaks on reddit. Either Sony has fixed the issue or not enough people are buying these colours to experience a break.

Once the ring snaps, the slider has no pressure/force on it, and is able to detach from the headband. I am uncertain of how the ring is able to keep the slider in place, perhaps the slider is tapered, but I do not see any taper in the photos. To best understand the problem, a full teardown of the headband and slider would need to be performed, but I do not have that sort of money right now to drop to perform such a teardown. I will see if I can find an affordable replacement headband on Ebay. If I find one, I will order it to tear it apart.

Looking at the ring from the underside, it is not as thick as I thought it would be. Could the force from the slider, pushing on the edge be the source of the pressure and subsequent cracking of the plastic? Or is the design together with low quality plastic be the actual problem? No idea. I would think Sony performed various stress testing on the parts during development, or even during various production runs? Perhaps the level of breaks during testing was below a threshold, and acceptable to Sony.

If many more breaks start popping up on reddit, perhaps looking at the serial numbers, and region sold could be one way to determine if the issue is related to a specific production batch, region, or is spread more globally.

Printing a 3D replacement would be possible, but I do not see how one could add the new ring, without fully taking the headset apart. From the photos I have seen from teardowns, the connector at the headband cable does not look like it would fit through the metal hinge hole. The many small cables would need to be removed from the connector before, the entire cable could be pulled through the hinge. So this idea is not practical.

Perhaps printing the ring in 2 halves, and then some how connecting the 2 parts with screws or clips? But this seems like too much effort. In a recent ring break post, reddit user unepmloyed_boi posted a link to a 3D printable fix. Check the link here. This seems like a good solution for anyone wishing to print a fix.

The fact is, no user should have to pay for a broken/snapped ring on their WH-1000XM6. This repair should be covered under the warranty, as no way in hell is this from misuse, or everyday wear and tear. There is precedent with Sony’s other headsets breaking around the hinge or headband, WH-1000XM5, ULT Wear, WH-CH720N, and WH-CH520. If Sony would be willing to replace/repair headsets with broken/snapped parts, it would go a long way in improving the image of the company, especially after the WF-1000XM4 and LinkBuds S battery problems, and the WH-1000XM5 hinge breaks.

In my opinion, this ring piece should have been metal, which would have solved the break issue.

There was another post concerning the WH-1000XM6 on reddit shown in this post. In this case, the failure appears to have been internal where the headband and hinge attaches inside the earcup.

A failure like this should technically not be possible, considering the metal piece visible in the photo, is held in place by a metal bracket with screws. Below is a photo from iFixit’s WH-1000XM6 teardown video showing the metal bracket covering the metal piece from the hinge.

I did ask the original user whether any screws were rattling around inside the earcup, but they said no. From the photos on reddit, either the 2 central screws were either missing from the affected side, or they were poorly screwed in and fell out. From the photo below, we can see that the middle screws are rather short, and they could potentially loosen over time. The screws do have blue thread-lock on them, so this should keep the screws in place. Key word, should.

Unlike the longer black screws used to attach the plate to the earcup, the shorter screws do not any plastic pillars to screw into underneath. This is evident in the photo below. The red arrows point to 2 small plastic pillars which insert into 2 outer holes on the metal bracket on the hinge. So even if the central screws were missing, the hinge should technically stay in place thanks to these 2 plastic pillars. But with enough force and movement, the metal bracket on the hinge could pop out.

Here is a better view of how the hinge/headband metal bracket is attached to the earcup. The large C shaped metal bracket that goes over the hinge bracket, is technically what keeps the headband attached to the earcup.

I am not a headset designer/engineer, but if you ask me, adding 2 additional pillars underneath the hinge bracket, for the short screws to attach to, would have been a no-brainer, and adding a much more solid attachment point for the hinge. But what do I know.

If anyone has any more posts from reddit or other sources of ring breaks, please link them below in the comments. or contact me. Hopefully someone from Sony will see this post, and pass these details along to the engineering team.