Sony WH-1000XM3 Headphones Walkthrough - Teardown and Repair - Left Hinge, Hanger, Swivel and Cover

A detailed repair video on how to tear down and repair your Sony WH-1000XM3 Headphones. This video specifically shows the repair of the left swivel cover, but you can follow along to repair any component on the left side of the headphones.

In the worst case scenario that your headphones are damaged beyond repair (R.I.P.) I'd highly recommend upgrading to the WH-1000XM4 model.
The price different between the XM4 and XM3s is much smaller than I'd expect and usually Amazon is running some sort of fantastic deal :)

Also, I'm including links to the soldering station and precision screwdriver set I used in this repair that I've had for YEARS and use to fix everything.
Check them out on Amazon here:
Thanks and best wishes!

[Sverance]

WH-1000xm4 Damaged swivel fix:
*No souldering required*

Its basically the same till the battery part, you cannot remove battery here, so instead I just took off the two screws on the daughterboard under the battery and lifted it up to pull out the hinge and disconnected the wire (which are a big plug in xm4s).

you can then follow the video again, depending on the part you are replacing you might have to watch other videos on how to open the xm4's covers. I didn't have to go past the 4:00 mark of this video and just replaced the plastic part that he removed at 7:00 by pushing out the metal thingy.

In my case the metal thing had broken out on its own, I dismantled the spare swivel I got from ebay and put the plastic thing onto the swivel and reassembled the headphones as shown in the video, again without any soldering so I am grateful for what sony did (but still disappointed in build quality)

Thanks you for reading, hope you manage to fix your headphones!

[lecomteahmed]

I broke the left hanger while sleeping exactly one year ago. after many attempts to repair it locally in Egypt, no one could even the local Sony provider cause I bought it from the US. Thanks to you I bought another hanger from eBay and did it myself. Thank you very much for this video

[sirjaye]

Thanks for a great video, fixed my XM3's last night and discovered an easier way to go about inserting the wire back through. If you take some sewing thread and wrap it around the loose wires before pulling the wire out, you don't need to fully open the cover where it snaps the two pieces of plastic and you can easily thread the sewing wire back through and pul the wire back into place. Worked a treat for me and it's great having a fully functional headset again!

Side note: I'm surprised Sony decided to go with the same design for the sliders with the XM4's, it's clearly a weak design as the snapping of thin plastic on the outer slider seems to be very common, despite Sony denying the issue in our numerous e-mail exchanges! Good luck to all that attempt this fix, it's not as daunting as it may seem! Thanks again.

[semsuddin]

Wow, can't believe this kind of quality costs that much. This is really shameful. Having to desolder contacts to be able to do some basic repair, wires stiching out everywhere, like it's some piece of equipment from the previous century. Really didn't expect this. Thank you for posting this.

[eraycn]

I appreciate you man, I just replaced my XM3's swivel following your guide, everything is working fine now, one note: you dont have to break the holders if you pull gently from different angles carefully several times!

[EvilVillainInc]

My pair has sat broken in a cupboard for 3 years. I have horribly noisy neigbours and I was at my wits end. I decided to look up a repair video becuase the economy is terrible and I can’t afford a new pair right now. Your tear down helped me solve my issue. The ribbon for the power button was slightly out of place and the button couldn’t be fully pressed. I dont know why I waited until now or why I had placed this repair in the too hard basket. It was easy. Anyway, just wanted to say cheers.

[mirajabdullah]

Huge thanks for this video! You saved me buying some new headphones! £399 for the XM5s are just not worth it from the XM3. Thanks again!

[qps]

Thank you for making these videos! It's kinda frightening to know the outward force on the earcups on a pair of $300 headphones is handled by the tiny thin piece of plastic on the piece that broke on the headphones you were repairing in the video.

[kastor]

Thank you so much for this video ! I just finished my repair, and with you video its was kind of easy !

[diegosevillano]

Thank you very much. Really helpful. I could repair them myself and they work perfectly. Let's see how much they last. Keep posting useful videos like this please!

[osmandi]

Thanks a lot! With your video I can repair my headphones.

[dezrep]

Thank you your video helped me so much with my WH-1000xm4. My left hanger swivel was broken and I ordered the part but ended up not having to replace it. There was no soldering as it was a ribbon cable. I just followed your instructions and basically only superglued the plastic part that connected the hanger to the slider and then put it back together.. no issues. I used a little gorilla glue and that was it.

[andy-san]

great tutorial!! I was able to fix mine. broke my right hanger which was more annoying because there are more pieces there. Thankfully I was able to soldier everything back in place somehow! The fix is not perfect since my headset cable bend (factory fault) and cause it to break and cant retract properly. This saved me so much money though!! Testing it I can hear everything, just gotta be careful not to break it again.

[mirajabdullah]

Thanks! I wish I could give more but here you go. :)

[samsical]

Thanks for the useful information, and making the internet a better place :)

[HatemBouabana]

Thanks for this amazing video. I could repair mine easily with your help. Thanks for making internet a better place <3

[nathasion]

Hi,
thanx for your great video, appreciate it.
I wondered if you had some video to repair XM3 not powering on anymore.
I tried to reset them, did not help
Thanks

[Akash.Chopra]

Great video! Wow, what a pain in the butt to replace one part. Why couldn't they have used a connector instead of individual soldering?

[orkunvemosi]

what an amazing tutorial! i had bought the parts already but the other side is starting to crack too. next time i will buy from your store

[skybladefps]

Great video! Exactly the part that broke on my headphones.