So like I mentioned in a past video, I didn’t expect to get the WH-1000XM5’s so soon… and instead of simply replacing the 1000XM4’s… the 1000XM5’s are just a model above the 1000XM4’s. Nonetheless if you’re trying to decided between any of Sony’s ANC headphones… today we’re going to break down Sony’s late 2022 ANC headphones line up. We’ve got the Entry level WH-CH710N, the bass ahead XB910N, the old faithful 1000XM4, and the new kid, the 1000XM5.
Regarding pricing, the entry level WH-CH710N currently have a retail price of $150, but these headphones now routinely go on sale for $100 and I would only pick them up for $100. And also keep in mind, these are the oldest headphones here being released in May 2020… and these are due for an update. Then there are the mid tier XB910N’s which were released in the fall of 2021 and they have a retail price of $250 and they like to go on sale for $180. Next up, there’s the 1000XM4’s which have a retail price of $350, but these like to go on sale for $280… then there are the 1000XM5’s which are the successors to the XM4’s… and these have a retail price of $400. But just knowing sony, I expect these to go on sale for $350, give or take. Nonetheless if you want to pick any of these headphones up they’ll be linked down below.
Now first, lets address the carrying cases that come included with these headphones. Unfortunately the WH-CH710N’s don’t come included with a case at all, which is a disappointment all around cause other entry level headphones do. But then there are the XB910N’s and 1000XM4’s which both come included with decently small hard shell cases and part of the reason why these cases are so small is cause both of these headphones are fully collapsable… where as the XM5’s, these have a lay flat design, so their case does have a noticeably larger footprint than these other two headphones. But also, the XM5’s case is noticeably thicker than these other two cases as well. So if you plan on constantly traveling with your headphones, the XM5’s wouldn’t be my first choice cause traveling with their case is a hassle especially when compared to these other two headphones and even the rest of the competition.
Now with the cases out of the way, lets focus on the headphones themselves. From a materials standpoint, all of these headphones have a mostly plastic body and they all have leatherette on their headband and earpads. However, all of these headphones are using new plastic, where as the XM5’s are using recycled plastic. And simply put, recycled plastic just doesn’t feel as premium as new plastic, and I would argue that both the XB910N and 1000XM4’s feel more premium than the 1000XM5’s. But also, the leatherette on all of these headphones are very different. The WH-CH710N’s have the worst feeling leatherette here, its very rough and its very course. The leatherette on the XM4’s is okay, but it does feel very plasitc-y. Then there’s the leatherette on the XB910N’s which feels much more supple and there’s even a slight grain to it. The leatherette on the XB910N has bose vibes to it, but its not as good. And finally there are the XM5’s which have all new leatherette to it… the leatherette on the XM5’s feels like silicon but with less friction to it. Overall, I prefer the leatherette on the XM5’s over the XM4’s… but I think the XB910N’s have the best feeling leatherette here.
But now lets talk about fit, now all of these headphones are light weight. The XM4’s weigh in at 254 grams, the XB910N’s weigh in at 252 grams, and surprisingly the XM5’s weigh in at 250 grams even though they do look pretty bulky. And for comparison sake, the Bose NC 700’s weigh in at 274 grams, which is average for premium ANC headphones and the AirPods Max weigh in at 384 grams which is very hefty. But finally there are the WH-CH710N which weigh in at 223 grams, which is average for entry level ANC headphones. Overall, all of these headphones are decently light weight and they are easy enough to forget when you have them on. Now when it comes to clamping force, all of these headphones are big head approved… however, the XM5’s do have the firmest fit here… but that’s the least of the XM5’s worries here. Now the ear pads on the XM5’s have a very wide diameter to them… similar to the WH-CH710N’s which also have a wide diameter to them… but the problem here is that both of these ear pads are very shallow. They’re so shallow that they even press down on my average sized ears. Which does get uncomfortable after a while. So if you have ears that stick out a lot, then these ear pads will might not be the best option for you. But then there are the XM4’s and XB910N’s, now their diameter isn’t as large as the XM5’s ear pads… but they’re much deeper. So both of these headphones are going to do a better job of accommodating more ear types. But technically speaking, the XB910N’s do have the most spacious ear pads here, more spacious than the XM4’s… So if you have really large ears then these will might be the way to go. However, the ear pads on the XB910N’s aren’t as spacious as lets say the Bose QC45’s. And even though the ear pads on the XB910N’s are the most spacious here, they do have the most surface area coming in contact with your skin… so these do heat up the fastest here. Now these ear pads don’t have an over heating problem… but the XM4’s do stay a little cooler for longer… and then there are the earpads on both the XM5’s and WH-CH710N’s which stay the coolest for longest cause they have the least amount of surface area coming in contact with your skin.
But then there are the headbands on these headphones… now the WH-CH710N, XB910N and XM4’s all have decently padded headbands and they all have a decent amount of surface area that comes in contact with the surface of your head. So with any of these headphones… hot spots or not an issue. And I can easily wear the XM4’s or XB910N’s for hours on end cause of their padded headbands and decently spacious ear pads…. But then there are the XM5’s… due to the very thin and minimally padded headband on this new headphone design… I’ve found that this headband likes to create a hot spot on the top of your head after 45 minutes. So at the 45 minute mark, I gotta take these headphones off. So overall for me, the XM5’s are the least comfortable headphones here, and they’re very uncomfortable in general. Their headband creates a hot spot, their earpads are very shallow and they have the firmest fit here. Now the ear pads on the WH-CH710N are also pretty shallow, but since they have a loser fit they don’t press down as hard on my ears… but then there are the XB910N’s and XM4’s which are both very comfortable. However, if you need the most spacious ear pads here, then you’ll want to go with the XB910N’s… but if the XM4’s fit you fine, then you’ll might want to go with the XM4’s cause their earpads stay a little cooler for a little longer. And finally, I gotta admit, the XM4’s are the sleekest looking headphones here, where as both the XB910N and XM5’s look pretty bulbs.
But now lets talk about tech specs… and there aren’t any major differences here. The XB910N, XM4, and XM5’s are all good for up to 30 hours with their active noise cancellation turned on, where as the WH-CH710N’s are good for up to 35 hours… and in general, these headphones have above average battery life. And if you were to use these headphones with their ANC turned off the WH-CH710N can go for as long as 45 hours, the XM5’s can go for as long as 40 hours and both the XM4 and XB910N can go for as long as 38 hours.
Now when it comes to charging these headphones, they all charge via a USB C port, as they should. But fast charging numbers are pretty different here. With the WH-CH710N if you were to charge them up for 10 minutes from a dead battery they are only going to get you 1 hours of playback time. Where as the XB910N are going to get you 4 and half hours of playback time and the XM4’s are going to get you 5 hours of playback time. But then there are the XM5’s where if you charge them up for 3 minutes from a dead battery, they are going to get you 3 hours. I think Sony should have just gone, 5 and 5. But what ever.
Regarding bluetooth connectivity, all of these headphones except for the WH-CH710N’s can be connected to any 2 Bluetooth devices at the same time which is good for power users. However, if you want to use this feature on any of these headphones then you are going to have to sacrifice LDAC. Now if you’re an iPhone user this doesn’t matter cause iPhones top out at AAC… and even if you’re an android user, AAC is perfectly fine if you’re streaming your music.
However when it comes to performance all of these headphones have zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone or an android device. And when it comes to audio codecs, the WH-CH710N’s have support for SBC and AAC, a pretty standard stack for entry level headphones. Where as with all of these other headphones, they all have support for SBC, AAC, and Sony’s own LDAC. Now none of these headphones have APTX support cause Sony has phased out APTX in favor of their own high res audio codec, but like I mentioned earlier, if you want to use LDAC then these headphones will only be able to connect to one device at a time and you have to be an android user.
However if you want to, you can always use a wired connection with any of these headphones cause thankfully, they all have a 3.5 millimeter audio jack. And I am thankful for this cause I was worried that Sony would copy apple and remove the audio jack on their headphones… but they didn’t. But I do have to point out, you can’t use the USB C port on these headphones as a wired connection and you can’t use these headphones while they are charging. But they can always be used passively.
But now lets talk about listening to music with these headphones cause all off these headphones sound very different from one another. First lets start with the WH-CH710N’s… personally I don’t really like listening to music with these headphones cause these headphones have a bass heavy EQ to them and they do sound rather shallow. If you want to actually hear the mids and highs on these headphones then you’ve gotta turn them all the way up. And since these headphones do sound rather shallow… they do make it very hard to hear what people are saying when you’re watching movies with these headphones. And unfortunately unlike all of these other headphones the WH-CH710N’s don’t have an adjustable EQ so you can’t change how they sound directly. They don’t even connect to Sony’s headphone app period which is something their predecessors did do. So besides not being able to adjust their EQ, you’re also not going to get any firmware updates on these headphones.
But now lets turn our attention to the XB910N and 1000XM4’s. Now from a performance standpoint the XB910N and 1000XM4’s have the same instrument separation and sound stage. And over all both of these sony headphones sound good. However if you want something that sounds more open you’ll might want to go with something from bose or sennheiser. But over all, Sony’s headphones are people pleasers. Whether you like a neutral EQ or bass heavy EQ… these headphones have you covered and you can make them sound however you want. And the bass on the 1000XM4’s has enough physicality to satiate most people that want to physically feel their music. However… if you really like bass then you’ll might want to go with the XB910N’s. The XB910N’s have an above average amount of bass to them so they are going to rattle your head way more than the 1000XM4’s. Having the clear bass slider on the 1000XM4’s set to ten is like having the bass on the XB910N’s set to 6. Now all of this bass is just dumb fun when listening to music but it also adds an extra level of immersivness when you’re watching movies with these headphones. Now personally I love that the XB910N’s have this extra bass feature and I wish the 1000XM4’s also had this feature… but if you don’t want to you don’t have to use this feature. You can always turn it off by lowering the clear bass slider on the XB910N’s.
But finally, there are the 1000XM5’s… now unfortunately, these headphones don’t have as much physicality in their bass as either the XM4’s and especially the XB910N. However, what the XM5’s do have going for them is that they have better instrument separation and they sound more open than any of these headphones. Now even though the XM5’s do have improved instrument separation… they still don’t sound as open as a pair of bose or sennheiser headphones. So even though technically, the XM5’s sound better than all of Sony’s other headphones here… I feel that your average listener is going to miss that thump in the bass. And given that the instrument separation between the XM5’s, and XM4’s and XB910N’s is a very small one… I feel that the XM4’s are going to do a battery job of being people pleasers… and if you want something with an above average amount of bass, then the XB910N’s are the way to go.
Now when it comes to actually controlling your media the WH-CH710N’s are using physical buttons. Where as these other two headphones are using touch pads. Now the touch pads on both of these headphones are easy enough to use and they are very accurate. Now they’re not perfect… but they aren’t problematic either like some other touch pads out there.
However, both the XM5’s and XM4’s have wear sensors, so they will automatically pause your music when you take them off, and when you put them back one they’ll start playing your music again. Now personally I don’t really care for wear sensors on my headphones, so I usually just turn that feature off… but they are there if you want them.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancelation on these headphones. Obviously as you move up in price these headphones are going to block out more noise. And thanks to the XM5’s… Sony is back to being the king of ANC after being dethroned by the AirPods Max for the last year and a half. But so that you can see for yourself, we’re going to jump into an ANC test.
So like you may have just seen, as you move up Sony’s product line up… they block out more noise. Now the WH-CH710N’s block out an adequate amount of noise for a pair of entry-level ANC headphones. Now these headphones don’t block out a ton of noise and I wouldn’t recommend for flying… but they can help out on your bus ride home. Next up there are the XB910N’s and these block out noticeably more noise than the WH-CH710N. They block out more road noise and they do a better job of blocking out chatter. So these can help out if you're using them in a cafeteria or something. Then there are the XM4’s which block out more noise than the XB910N… plus they have an atmospheric pressure sensor so they are going to perform noticeably better than the XB910N’s if you’re in an airplane, after they have been calibrated… and finally there are the XM5’s which also have an atmospheric pressure sensor and they block out even more noise than the XM4’s. Not only do they block out more lower frequency sounds like road noise… but they also do a much better job of blocking out higher frequency sounds like chatter, which was an issue for the XM4’s. However, even though the XM5’s block out more noise than the XM4’s… they do have noticeably more cabin pressure. So if you’re sensitive to cabin pressure like I am, then you’ll might want to be cautious about the XM5’s… but the XM4’s, XB910N, and WH-CH710N are much safer bets cause they all have much less cabin pressure.
But next up lets talk about the ambient modes on these headphones. Now all of these headphones have a decent sounding ambient mode. However, with the WH-CH710N’s you can’t adjust it to your liking. Where as with all of these other headphones you can. Now the microphone array on both the XB910N and XM4’s do a good job of blocking out wind noise while walking out doors… but the microphone array on the XM5’s is much faster to pick up wind noise. But overall, I am going to have to say that both the XM4’s and XB910N’s have battery ambient modes than the XM5’s cause they will actively block out sudden loud noises like this.
So like you may have just seen, when the XM4’s detected that loud noise, they turned off their ambient mode and when that loud noise stopped, they turned their ambient mode back on. And here are the XB910N’s
Now the XB910N’s performed like the XM4’s which is good… but I think they let in more noise cause it think they don’t passively block out as much noise as the XM4’s. But regardless, I do want to highlight the XB910N’s here cause when they initially released, they didn’t do this. And I hope sony fixes the Active Ambient mode on the XM5’s through a firmware update cause they don’t do this.
So like you just saw, with the XM5’s they turned off their ambient mode but then they turned it on and then back off again. I just hope sony fixes this through a software update like they did with the XB910N’s… cause there’s no reason why these headphones can’t get it right.
But next up there’s speak to chat which is found on both the XM4’s and XM5’s… but the XB910N don’t have this feature… but speak to chat works a little like this.
But personally, I’m not a really big fan of speak to chat because it is very easy to accidentally active. If you’re talking to yourself very quietly that can activate it, if you’re singing along to your music, that can activate it, if you start laughing that can active it, and on rare occasions loud enough outside noises can activate it. So that’s why I don’t use it.
Personally, I still prefer to use quick attention cause its a lot more intentional and you can find it on the XB910N, XM4’s and XM5’s. Basically when you fully cover the touch pad on these headphones they’re going to lower the volume of your music and pump in all of the ambient sound around you like this.
And then when you let go, the headphones will go back to normal. Now like I said, I prefer quick attention cause its a lot more intentional. But Sony still refuses to just lock quick attention after its been activated for a few seconds. So you gotta stay there with your hand like this the whole time you’re talk to someone. I just want Sony to change it so that you can simply let go like with other headphones that have similar feature.
But finally here’s the microphone test. Now plainly said, the WH-CH710N’s have the worst sounding microphone here. Personally I wouldn’t even try taking phone calls with these headphones.
Next up are the XB910N’s which have a decent enough sounding microphone for phone calls while in a quiet room.
then there are the 1000XM4’s which I feel have a slightly better sounding microphone than the one found on the XB910N.
And then there are the XM5’s which do an even better job of focusing on my voice. Now in general, Sony has always struggled with their microphones for phone calls… but after 5 generations, they finally have a usable microphone.
Cause the really impressive thing about this microphone is the way that it deals with noise pollution. This microphone blocks out a lot of noise, cause if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone, you’re going to clearly hear all of this road noise… but if we were to switch back over to the XM5’s its severely reduced.
Where as the XM4’s completely fall apart when it comes to blocking out road noise.
Where as the XB910N’s do a better job dealing with road noise. Now they are interfering with my voice… but this sounds way better than the mess going one with the 1000XM4’s.
And finally there are the WH-CH710N which not only sound super shallow to begin with… they also don’t block out any road noise what so ever.
However when it comes to blocking out chatter… its not awful. But nonetheless I wouldn’t take any serious phone calls with these headphones.
Where as with the XB910N they do decent job of blocking out chatter.
And so do the XM4’s. There isn’t any static in the background when I’m talking like when they are blocking out road noise and the chatter is reduced. I would say this is usable at least .
But then there are the XM5’s which block out a lot of chatter and my voice doesn’t sound too bad. And for comparison sake, if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone, you’re going to hear all of this chatter, and if we were to switch back over to the XM5’s it is severely reduced. So after 5 generations, Sony’s microphone is finally decent.
So with all the being said… here’s my break down of Sony’s current ANC headphones line up. The WH-CH710N’s are fine for a pair of entry level headphones and they can make for a great pair of work headphones in the gym. However don’t go in expecting top tier build quality, and personally I don’t like their bass heavy sound signature. And I really hate that these headphones don’t connect Sony’s headphones app even though their predecessors did. I also wouldn’t try to take phone calls with these headphones. And I feel that their upgrade is right around the corner. And I hope they are cause they have a lot of room for improvement. Then there are the Sony XB910N’s… and over all these are a great pair of mid tier ANC headphones that you really can’t go wrong with because they do everything very well. But their stand out characteristic is their bass. It really is dumb fun and it adds an extra level of immersiveness when watching movies with these headphones. I just personally really don’t like how they look.
And finally there’s the XM4 Vs XM5. Now yes, the XM5’s block out more noise than the XM4’s and they have a much better sounding microphone as well. But personally, I just find the all new design on the XM5’s a major hassle and down grade from the XM4’s. The XM5’s just aren’t as comfortable cause of their shallow ear cups and head band that causes a hot spot, and their new huge case is board line unmanageable if you plan on traveling with these headphones. So personally, from a performance standpoint, the XM5’s just don’t make a big enough case to upgrade from the XM4’s… but more importantly, the XM4’s are just way more comfortable to wear and their case is much more conventinte. The only reason why you’ll might want to go with the XM5’s is cause you need to block out the most amount of noise, and if you plan on taking lots of phone calls while in a noisy environment.