Sony WH-1000XM3 Muting in the Cold

[bugzy3188]

Is there a way to turn off gesture control on the 1000XM3s? It barely works in optimal conditions and when standing outisde in cold weather they will consistently register swipes (even though nothing has touched the headphones), either turning volume up/down or skipping tracks and after about 1 minute they will mute as if I am holding my hand over the right ear. Any suggestions?

[i.alder]

https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/articles/00206130

dated 20 December 2018

can anyone try this?

thanks

[gabby131]

---

@i.alder wrote:

Just seen a reply from sony.

Their advice is when you move from a warm to cold environment, turn the headphones off and on again.

This resets parameters inside the headphones.

can you try this?

I havent bought a set of xm3's yet. I would like to know if this works before buying.

I'll post the web URL when I find it again.

Thanks.

---

This is what I've been doing when the headphones randomly activates the touch to cancel NC and it works, though controls wont work until temps goes higher. Since I reached Sony and confirmed with them (product management team) that the touch interface on the touch controls registers through thermal signals (like capacitive touch screen and some fingerprint scanners on phones), I understood why controls won't work.  Just like on my phone, on cold weather or if my fingers are cold/wet, the fingerprint won't register any touch and screen won't respond properly.

To Sum up:

- Go out in the cold with headphones turned on

- if touch controls go wonky; switch headphpones off and then turn ON again;

- headphones function normally for the rest of my walk 'til i get to my destination

However, the so random activation of gestures is the one I'm concerned, if Sony could implement the disabling of touch controls like the OP posted would be great.

[Dvoradikal]

Returned my defective pair for a refund and went to buy a new pair from a store, physically instead of having it delivered. This pair work absolutely fine, no issues whatsoever, so I'm guessing it might be a batch issue?

For the record, and for those in the UK, first pair came from Currys PC World, second from Richer Sounds. Richer Sounds guy said he'd sold >500 pairs and never had one return for this issue. Go figure. If you can get a refund and buy them again from a good audio store, that's what I recommend.

[Cochlea]

If you do end up having any minor issue could you provide an update?  I replaced with Sony support and the second pair perform better but still have the issue on occasion. I'm trying to decide if it is worth continuing to replace until I get a better pair so if yours really have zero issue all the time even in bad weather, I would probably keep trying.  How cold has it been over there?  I'm in the New York City area and it has gotten to about 25-30F on occasion, sometimes windy and wet but even at below 40F the touch panel will stop responding and become fritzy when the tempeture changes rapidly.

Hope yours continue to work well.

[gabby131]

---

@Dvoradikal wrote:

Returned my defective pair for a refund and went to buy a new pair from a store, physically instead of having it delivered. This pair work absolutely fine, no issues whatsoever, so I'm guessing it might be a batch issue?

For the record, and for those in the UK, first pair came from Currys PC World, second from Richer Sounds. Richer Sounds guy said he'd sold >500 pairs and never had one return for this issue. Go figure. If you can get a refund and buy them again from a good audio store, that's what I recommend.

---

That is great news!  Can you provide the firmware version on your unit?  Taking my chances here as in my location, only unopened headphones can be returned (hygiene concerns).  Pretty much, I could deal with the issues on mine as the fix does not require extreme effort (just reboot).

Thank you for sharing!

[Dvoradikal]

Can you provide the firmware version on your unit?  

2.0.0, same as the old pair. I also went for a black pair instead of silver, though that should make zero difference whatsoever. I'm fairly sure that warehoused models, like the ones you'd get from Currys Online, are more likely to be susceptable to the issue than ones bought from a store, especially a small store that'll have a heated stockroom. 

In all fairness Currys were very good about getting me a refund, so I can't really complain about their service. 

[Dvoradikal]

How cold has it been over there?  I'm in the New York City area and it has gotten to about 25-30F on occasion, sometimes windy and wet but even at below 40F

It's been between low 30s to low 40s, but mine were stopping and breaking from anywhere below mid 40s (10C) and lower. This pair have had an hour long walk today at 32 with wind chill to 28 and have been absolutely fine, if maybe slightly slow to respond (guessing it needs more of a solid touch at a lower temp for resistance/temperature reasons), but absolutely nothing out of the ordinary given their 0-40C working range.

So, not absolutely freezing, but enough to give these headphones a workout. Midwinter NYC might give them more of a test, though.

[xiao1984]

Canada here, this problem started to appear 2 monthes ago ,  I thougth it was hardware problem, till i saw this . this is very frustrating , SONY need to fix this ASAP, I even gave up the QC 35 for this ~! zzzzz

[ski3r-]

Is this a bad joke? I was planning to buy these today but found this thread, living in sweden this is huge deal breaker.       Sonys response? 

Here's the official statement from the Sony's service. The technical specifications clearly states its operational temperature is 0 to 40dg Celsius. They told me there's a certain threshold I have to count in which means I can't expect to be working even at +5dg Celsius.

Good luck with that attitude Sony, you just missed a new customer.

[z-modem]

Same problem; living in Toronto and I can't go for a walk outside without these things constantly flipping out, skipping tracks, turning off randomly etc. I would be happy if there was just a firmware upgrade adding an option disable touch controls as I don't really find them all that useful anyways.