New Delhi, Oct. 12 -- Kids, settle down while I tell you a story, about how one of the greatest rivalries in consumer electronics played out. For years, Bose used to be the gold standard for premium noise cancelling headphones-stemming largely from decades of doing the hard yards with pilots and aviation environments - and their QuietComfort series delivered little bubbles of silence on flights, in cafes and on daily commutes.

Over the past decade, a challenger emerged quietly from the shadows, first with the unassuming MDR-1000X in 2016 and then rather loudly with the WH-1000XM3 in 2018. With the XM3, Sony managed not only to match Bose's comfort and calm but also edged ahead with a decidedly better sound signature and feature set, and ...