SAVE $150: As of Feb. 12, the base model Apple M5 MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM and 512GB of storage is on sale for $1,449 instead of $1,599. That's just shy of 10% off.

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Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD)

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Apple's M5 chip arrived in all its glory towards the end of 2025 and we're still reeling over its speed and performance. Where it really shines is the MacBook Pro, which Mashable's tech editor says "doesn't just surpass the competition; it actually laps the competition." Even at full price, we think it's worth it for the right user, but on sale, it's an even better value.

As of Feb. 12, you can upgrade to the base model 2025 Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) for just $1,449 instead of $1,599. That's $150 or just shy of 10% in savings.

Yes, the M5 MacBook Pro is a whole lot like its predecessor (that's the case with most upgrades in recent years). It features the same 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display, 24-hour battery life, 12MP Center Stage camera, and six-speaker sound system. Its only major upgrade is, of course, the super-charged M5 chip, which absolutely dazzles in performance. In its Geekbench GPU test, it scored a 17,470 compared to the M4's 15,199 and the Surface Laptop 7's 14,548. As Mashable's laptop specialist noted, "The only models in our database that outperform it are the 16-inch M4 Pro MacBook Pro and a few gaming laptops."

If you're a more casual laptop user looking to save money, we'd personally recommend the M4 MacBook Air, but for power users looking for the best laptop Apple has to offer, there's no denying the M5 MacBook Pro is it.

One of the many, many highlights of 2018's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was hearing Nicolas Cage go full grizzled detective mode as Spider-Man Noir.

Cage's scene-stealing Spider-Man variant showed up in black and white, with the wind following him wherever he went. As he revealed in his backstory, he's a private eye with a passion for egg creams and punching Nazis. What more do you need to be obsessed?

While audiences tragically didn't get to hear Cage in 2023's Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, as Spider-Noir only showed up at the end in a non-speaking role, we do get to reunite with the character before Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse comes out. Cage takes on a new version of the role in Prime Video's live-action series Spider-Noir. From the looks of the trailer, Cage, Spider-Man, and film noir remain a match made in heaven.

Just like in Into the Spider-Verse, Spider-Noir sees Cage playing Ben Reilly, a down-on-his-luck private investigator in 1930s New York City. After a personal tragedy strikes, he's forced to reckon with his past, all while serving as New York's only superhero.

That sounds heavy, but the Spider-Noir trailer itself is nonstop fun. Cage swings across the New York skyline in a trench coat and fedora, snaps and claps while fighting goons in a bar, then delivers the single best reading of the word "plastered" I have heard in my life.

The trailer is also full of sumptuous black and white cinematography, but you can also view it in color below. The series will be presented in both formats.

In addition to Cage, Spider-Noir also stars Lamorne Morris, Li Jun Li, Karen Rodriguez, Abraham Popoola, Jack Huston, and Brendan Gleeson.

Spider-Noir premieres May 27 on Prime Video.

UPDATE: Feb. 12, 2026, 11:37 a.m. EST An earlier version of this article said that Cage would be reprising his role from "Into the Spider-Verse." Cage's role in "Spider-Noir" is different from that of the film.

Earbuds and headphones aren't getting any cheaper, folks.

Audio brands keep proving it: over the past year, Bose, Sony, and Bowers & Wilkins matched or beat record-high list prices with their flagship launches.

The Sony WF-1000XM6 are the latest addition to that list, launching Feb. 12 at $329.99. Yes, they're really expensive — just $20 cheaper than the Bose QuietComfort headphones. And while my budget-buy-loving heart is loathe to admit it, they're also unfortunately really excellent earbuds.

Upfront, I want to make it clear — Sony didn't exactly reinvent the wheel here. In fact, the brand pretty much took a page out of its own playbook. Like their XM6 headphones counterparts, the upgrades on these earbuds come down to some design changes and small boosts to noise cancellation and sound quality. Sprinkle in a few quality of life updates and, well, you've got the XM6 earbuds. By improving on an already-great product, Sony has created a standout pair of earbuds — if you can shell out.

Before we get into the specifics of what exactly makes them so great, I do want to note that I was only granted access to the companion app one day before they launched, so I didn't get to test all the features on these buds as extensively as I usually do. I'll be testing the earbuds further and updating my thoughts ASAP. So, without further ado, allow me to introduce the new XM6 earbuds.

Sony WF-1000XM6: Price and specs

The XM6 are Sony's new flagship wireless earbuds.
Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable

The Sony WF-1000XM6 are $329.99, the highest-ever launch price for a pair of Sony earbuds.

For comparison, the Sony WF-1000XM5 launched in 2023 at a price of $299, but jumped late last year to $329.99. While expensive, the XM5s have almost always been marked down to about $250 (or lower).

I doubt the XM6 earbuds will get the same generous discount off the bat, making them some of the most expensive flagship earbuds. Bose and Technics aren't too far behind, with the second-gen QuietComfort Ultra and EAH-AZ1000 earbuds retailing for $299 and $299.99, respectively. Apple's AirPods Pro 3 are the surprising affordable option at $249.

• Processor: QN3e

• Equalizer: 10-band custom equalizer with app

• Battery life: 8 hours per charge, 24 hours with case

• Microphones: 8 mics

• IP rating: IPX4

• Charging: USB-C and Qi wireless charging

• Bluetooth codecs: SBC/AAC/LDAC/LC3

• Colors: Platinum silver and black

In the box, in addition to the earbuds and case, you'll get a USB-A to USB-C charging cable and four sizes of earbud tips, ranging from XS to L. The earbuds also have redesigned drivers for improved bass, high-frequency, and clarity.

The Sony sound difference

These earbuds are equally great for listening to on the go as they are for sitting at your desk all day.
Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable

I've tested the XM5 earbuds, the XM5 headphones, and the XM6 headphones — each of them was a standout in audio performance, but so far the WF-1000XM6 are the most impressive of the bunch.

Having tested my fair share of premium earbuds, I know that most new earbuds sound really good these days, and that the gap between earbuds and over-ear headphones is shrinking. Still, I couldn't believe the depth of sound produced by the XM6 earbuds, the richness of quality across genres, and how immersive it all felt. And that was my listening experience out of the box.

Once I toggled on settings to prioritize audio quality and set the equalizer to my liking, I found myself legitimately distracted by how good the music sounded. Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" feels like a good benchmark of how dynamic these earbuds can sound — shrieking guitar rifts put the highs of these earbuds to good use, yet they just as adeptly handle perfectly compressed and isolated vocals. Somehow, they handled the operatic background vocals and soft piano at the end of the song just as well.

The sound will not disappoint you.
Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable

Daft Punk's live performance of "One More Time/Aerodynamic" proved how big these earbuds could make music sound. The iconic guitar riffs could've sounded crunchy, or the bass blown out; instead, both elements came through clearly, with an excellent blend. The result? I felt like I was as close as I could be to being in the middle of a crowd of screaming fans, without actually being there.

I also tested these earbuds as the 2026 Winter Olympics aired, and as a figure skating fan, I don't know that there's a pair of earbuds better suited for hours of listening to the music of iconic programs from the past and present. These earbuds helped me appreciate the swelling strings in Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op.43: Variation 18" and the hits of the orchestra in Stravinsky's "The Firebird," both of which came through with equal precision and clarity.

All this to say, I'm confident the XM6 earbuds can handle whatever genre you throw at them, and they're certainly the best-sounding earbuds I've ever tested. My editor, Timothy Beck Werth, also agreed that the sound on these buds is "really darn good," but he maintained that the clarity of the Technics EAH-AZ1000 earbuds is better on balance. Still, I'm sure even picky audiophiles won't be disappointed with the XM6s.

The best noise cancellation you can find in earbuds

Four microphones in each earbud help provide the best noise cancellation possible.
Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable

In their press materials, Sony claimed that the active noise cancellation on these wireless earbuds is 25 percent better than the XM5 earbuds. In my experience, Sony headphones and earbuds have great ANC, but not necessarily the best of the best. With these earbuds, though, it's clear Sony is making some changes.

While I've considered the Bose QuietComfort Ultra earbuds the best of the best for ANC, the Sony XM6 earbuds provide a real challenge to Bose's supremacy. Like the Bose buds, Sony's come packed with eight microphones (four in each bud) for adaptive noise cancellation, and it shows.

The ANC worked well in all the typical scenarios — on walks, working in crowded areas, and in my home office while my family goes about their day. Whenever I took the earbuds out or toggled off the ANC, I was pleasantly surprised by how much sound I wasn't hearing from the world around me. Still, it wasn't until I worked on a café patio about 100 feet away from a train track that I realized just how good the ANC on these earbuds was. Forget the sound of the other customers or music from the café — I could barely hear the arrival of a literal Amtrak. Of course, some sound came through — I could still hear the crossing bell and the muffled rumble of the train — but it was significantly less than I expected to hear, even with the best noise-cancelling earbuds.

The redesigned charging case may be a bit awkward in your pocket.
Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable

Compared to the Bose buds, the noise cancellation of the XM6s felt less noticeable. As much as I love the QC Ultras, I have noticed some hissing with the ANC activated, especially when I wasn't playing music. Though it's not totally absent on the XM6s, I have to listen for it. When playing music, the XM6s create a perfect cocoon of silence, just for me and my music. My only real critique? I wish the ANC was manually adjustable at this price point, but for how well it works without any adjustability, I'm not really complaining.

The transparency mode also worked well enough, not over-amplifying or peaking the sounds of the environment. They still fell prey to that hissing sound you find on most transparency modes, but that's not necessarily a Sony-specific issue.

While I'm not finished testing their sound, I can back these buds as the best new noise-cancelling option out there.

The redesign was the right choice

The XM6 earbuds have a longer, more oval-shaped design.
Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable

Sony deviated from the design of the previous generation, making the charging case taller, with more defined edges. The earbuds themselves also got a narrower, more oval shape compared to the circle design of the XM5 earbuds.

Despite the earbuds themselves having roughly the same profile, they stuck out less from my ear than the XM5s. Sony went with a slimmer shape to better fit the inner ear. While I had no real issues with the XM5 buds, I do feel like I get an even closer fit with the XM6s, which helps both in improving sound quality and noise cancellation.

The redesigned earbuds and charging case.
Credit: Bethany Allard / Mashable

The charging case is slightly bigger, but I didn't find that it took up that much more room in my bag (you may notice the difference in your pockets, however). If anything, I think the bigger flaw of the new design is the learning curve of the touch controls. While the smaller surface area of the earbuds allows for a sleeker look and better fit, I struggled to find the right spot to activate the touch controls, unlike with the XM5s. Once I figured it out, I had minimal difficultly (though sometimes the double-tap to switch songs didn't always register). Yes, this feels nitpicky, but these earbuds are $330, so I find the nitpicking justified.

On the comfort front, I could wear these earbuds for hours on end easily. On some occasions, I felt minor soreness for maybe a minute when I took them out, but it was very manageable, and they still felt comfortable than most other earbuds (full disclosure: I find over-ear headphones more comfortable). Bose still takes the comfort cake here, with the QC Ultras' stability band providing a really nice seal, without sacrificing wearability, but Sony is certainly a close second.

Sony XM5 vs. XM6 earbuds

A battle of the buds.
Credit: Bethany Allard / Mashable

I'll have a more in-depth comparison of these two earbuds coming soon, so I'll keep this brief. Here's a basic rundown of their major differences and similarities:

• Sound and ANC: The XM6s are not leaps and bounds better, but they're noticeably better on both fronts. More sound is blocked out, and audio is richer, fuller, and warmer.

• Wear and design: The aesthetics between the two is up to user preference, but the XM6 earbuds definitely fit better in my ears. I notice myself adjusting the XM5 earbuds frequently to get a tighter seal, whereas the XM6s stay in place once I put them in.

• Companion app experience: Again, I haven't spent much time with the app on the XM6s, but from a quick look, it's largely the same.

• Battery life: You get the same battery life on both buds — eight hours per charge and 24 hours with the case. Not the best we've seen on flagship ANC earbuds, and not the worst.

Are the Sony WF-1000XM6 worth it?

While I wouldn't say you need to upgrade from the WF-1000XM5 model, if you're in the market for a brand-new pair of premium wireless earbuds, I'm struggling to think of a better all-around performer than the WF-1000XM6 earbuds.

The keyword here, of course, is premium — these earbuds don't come cheap, and there are plenty of budget options you could choose instead and still get a really solid experience. For Apple users, the $250 price point of the latest AirPods Pro 3 feels a lot more reasonable.

However, if the priority is to experience the best possible noise cancellation and stellar audio quality, well, I don't hesitate to recommend these earbuds.

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Credit: Sony

Sony WF-1000XM6

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