




Sony makes some of most popular headphones you can buy, but its naming convention is extremely confusing. Here's what you need to know.
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Sony is one of the biggest names in headphones today. It make some of the most well-reviewed and most popular headphones you can buy. In recent years, Sony has also emerged as the chief rival to Bose when it comes to noise-canceling headphones. Its current WH-1000xM5 and WF-1000xM4 are some of the best noise-canceling wireless headphones and earbuds, respectively, that you can buy.
The problem with Sony's line is that there are a lot of different models to choose from and their naming conventions don't make it easy. We're here to break it down so you can decide which Sony headphones are right for you.
Sony has an incredibly important history when it comes to audio. It revolutionized the world when it released the Walkman, the first portable music player, in 1979 — and it released its first pair of headphones, the MDR-3, along with it. Fast forward 15-odd years to 1995 when Sony released its first noise-canceling headphones, the MDR-NC10. Then in 2008 it released its first pair of digital noise-canceling headphones, in the MDR-NC500D, and then 2016 it released its first pair of wireless noise-canceling headphones, in the MDR-1000X.
(Interested in learning more about the history of Sony headphones? Click here.)