{"id":235210,"date":"2026-04-24T13:25:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T17:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/hey-android-people-sonys-wireless-airpods-alternative-are-cheaper-than-ever\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T14:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T18:20:12","slug":"hey-android-people-sonys-wireless-airpods-alternative-are-cheaper-than-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/hey-android-people-sonys-wireless-airpods-alternative-are-cheaper-than-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"Hey Android People, Sony’s Wireless AirPods Alternative Are Cheaper Than Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hey Android People, Sony’s Wireless AirPods Alternative Are Cheaper Than Ever<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/via\/sony-wf-1000xm6-earbuds-deal-april-2026\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-04-24 13:25:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.vice.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Your AirPods could be holding you back if you listen to them through your Android phone. Apple earbuds work so seamlessly and cleanly with Apple devices. But when you mix them with an Android device, they lose some of their luster. That magical ease in pairing between AirPods and Apple devices is lost on Android phones, even though they will still work together.<\/p>\n

But if you\u2019re on an Android, you could pick up a boost in sound quality if you jump ship entirely and grab a pair of Sony WF-1000XM6 wireless, active noise cancellation (ANC) earbuds for $298, down from $330.<\/p>\n

better audio quality<\/h2>\n

Apple likes to restrict its AirPods, like its iPhones, to the AAC codec audio format. AAC tops out at a 250 kbps bitrate, a measure of how much data that\u2019s transmitting and, at least in theory, correlated to audio quality. The WF-1000XM6 let you select LDAC, Sony\u2019s wireless codec audio format that allows for bitrates of up to 990 kbps.<\/p>\n

If you pair AirPods with your Android phone, you\u2019ll get AAC and no higher quality. If you pair the Sony WF-1000XM6 with an iPhone, you\u2019ll also get AAC and no higher quality. The value here is for Android users who want the higher audio quality than AirPods will afford them.<\/p>\n

Just make sure that you\u2019re using the right tier of music subscription service. Free tiers don\u2019t let you stream in high enough quality for LDAC\u2019s highest bitrate of 990 kbps to make a difference. Bluetooth, in its most popular guises, forces a lossy connection, and these earbuds wouldn\u2019t be able to play lossless audio even if you pay for a music streaming subscription that allows for the lossless audio format.<\/p>\n

Contest Alert: <\/strong>VICE Playlist Project<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re making music, VICE just launched the Playlist Project, a global song contest built around real life moments. Instead of genres, you\u2019ll submit songs to a specific category that fits your track. Entries are open now, with cash prizes and VICE social & editorial features on the…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hey Android People, Sony’s Wireless AirPods Alternative Are Cheaper Than Ever https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/via\/sony-wf-1000xm6-earbuds-deal-april-2026\/ Publish Date: 2026-04-24…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":235211,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/Sony-WF-1000MX6-2.jpg?w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[102],"class_list":["post-235210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-android","tag-sony"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235210"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235210"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":235212,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235210\/revisions\/235212"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}