It might feel like headphones are becoming harder to choose. That's partially because there are more options than ever before, so your range of selection is just much larger than it used to be.

Terrific sound quality

Noise-canceling isn't quite amazing

Sony just released a more affordable set of noise-canceling headphones called the WH-XB900N . The new wireless headphones sell for $250 and are an update to the company's popular MDR-XB950BT Extra Bass headphones .

Terrific sound quality

Noise-canceling isn't quite amazing

Terrific sound quality

Noise-canceling isn't quite amazing

The Sony WH-XB900N Extra Bass is a solid noise-canceling headphone, but it doesn't quite hit the same heights as its industry-leading step-up sibling.

The Sony WH-XB900N Extra Bass has a similar design to the WH-1000XM3 and shares many of its features but costs $100 less; It's a comfortable headphone, has USB-C charging, good battery life and effective noise-canceling.

Too much bass for some people; Lacks the premium feel of the still-awesome WH-1000XM3.

If you're a connoisseur of noise-canceling headphones, you probably know all about Sony's WH-1000XM3. It's the "Bose killer": a $350 noise-canceling headphone that earned a CNET Editors' Choice in 2018. However, not everybody wants to pay that much for a headphone. And that's where the new Sony WH-XB900N comes in. An upgrade over the older and cheaper MDR-XB950N1, it has a similar design to the WH-1000XM3 but doesn't have quite the premium feel of that model. Also, for better -- or worse, depending on your audio tastes -- it's heavy on the bass, as its Extra Bass name implies.

The Sony WH-XB900N Extra Bass is a solid noise-canceling headphone, but it doesn't quite hit the same heights as its industry-leading step-up sibling.

The Sony WH-XB900N Extra Bass has a similar design to the WH-1000XM3 and shares many of its features but costs $100 less. It's a comfortable headphone, has USB-C charging, good battery life and effective noise-canceling. It works well as a headset for making calls, and the sound quality is quite good as long as you don't mind a preponderance of bass.

Too much bass for some people. Lacks the premium feel of the still-awesome WH-1000XM3.

The WH-XB900N are a decent pair of wireless headphones, with an impressive feature set and great battery life. But they are significantly less appealing than Sony's premium model, and are also outflanked by other competitors at or around their price point. Yes.

Clean; simple looks; Great battery life; Stacked feature set

Muddy; bass-heavy sound signature; Noise-canceling is sub-par

If you're a connoisseur of noise-canceling headphones, you probably know all about Sony's WH-1000XM3 . It's the " Bose killer": a $350 noise-canceling headphone that earned a CNET Editors' Choice in 2018. However, not everybody wants to pay that much for a headphone.

The Sony WH-XB900N Extra Bass has a similar design to the WH-1000XM3 and shares many of its features but costs $100 less; It's a comfortable headphone, has USB-C charging, good battery life and effective noise-canceling.

Too much bass for some people; Lacks the premium feel of the still-awesome WH-1000XM3

Like the WH-1000XM3 headphones, but with way, way more bass.

Good build quality; Great active noise cancelling and isolation; Touchpad works perfectly and ambient mode is useful; Good Bluetooth codec support and no A/V lag

Way too much bass; Earpads can get hot during long listening sessions; To get the most out of the features; you need to revert down to SBC

The Sony WH-XB900N are fairly versatile headphones for a variety of uses and are built to be a more affordable option to the Sony WH-10...