Why your music
keeps pausing

Speak-to-Chat: it pauses when you talk

If the music stops a moment after you start speaking and comes back a little after you stop, it's Speak-to-Chat. On the WH-1000XM4 and WH-1000XM5 it pauses or mutes the music; on the WH-1000XM6 and WH-1000XX it lowers the volume instead.

Fix: on the XM4 or XM5, hold two fingers on the touch panel until you hear the voice guidance. On any of the four, open Voice (⌘3) in Open Sound Connect and turn off Speak-to-Chat, or use the toggle in the menu bar. To keep it but make it react less, set Voice detection to Low. Full details, and why it can come back on: Speak-to-Chat.

The MDR-1000X, WH-1000XM2 and WH-1000XM3 don't have Speak-to-Chat, so on those, look further down.

Wearing detection: it pauses when the headphones move

The WH-1000XM4, XM5, XM6 and WH-1000XX have a sensor in the left ear cup that notices when you take them off. Music pauses, and plays again when you put them back on. If the headphones shift, or you lift the left ear cup to hear someone, they may think you've taken them off.

Fix: turn off Pause When Taken Off in Open Sound Connect, on the Wearing page under Wearing & Power, or in Quick Settings on My Device. Sony's phone app has the same setting. Wearing detection doesn't work while the cable is plugged in.

The same sensor turns the headphones off after 15 minutes of not being worn. See stop Sony headphones turning off.

The touch panel: it pauses when you touch the ear cup

The touch panel controls playback, so brushing it, or touching it while you adjust the headphones, can pause your music. On a Mac, that pause usually works like the play/pause key on the keyboard.

Fix: if you don't use the touch controls, turn off Touch Sensor Control Panel on the Wearing page or in Quick Settings on My Device. That disables all touch gestures until you turn it back on. More in Sony touch controls on a Mac.

A second device: it pauses when your phone does something

With multipoint, the headphones can be connected to your Mac and your phone at once. A call, a video or, on some models, simply starting playback on the phone can take the headphones over and interrupt the Mac.

Fix: pause or quit what's playing on the phone, or disconnect the phone. To use only the Mac, turn off Connect to 2 Devices Simultaneously on the Wearing page under Connectivity, if your headphones show it. On the WH-1000XM5 and newer, if the app shows a Playback device choice there, Pin to this Mac keeps playback on the Mac. Using Sony headphones with a Mac and iPhone explains each model.

macOS and your apps

Some pauses don't come from the headphones at all:

• The headphones disconnected. Many players pause when their audio device disappears, for example when the Mac sleeps or the headphones turn off. See Sony headphones keep disconnecting.
• A call app started. When an app uses the headphones' microphone, Bluetooth switches to its call mode, and some players stop. See why calls sound bad.
• Another app took over playback. The play/pause from the headphones goes to whichever app macOS considers to be playing, which may be a browser tab rather than your music app.

Open Sound Connect doesn't play or pause anything itself; it has no playback controls. It can change the settings above, though, and so can a scene: if music started pausing after you applied one, check whether it turns Speak-to-Chat or Pause When Taken Off on.