So these are the Sony WF-1000XM5’s and overall these earbuds have a lot of important upgrades over their Predecessors, the Sony WF-1000XM4’s, both inside and out. And in general, I am very excited to talk about these earbuds today because Sony’s last batch of products ranging from their speakers, to headphones and earbuds have all been improving very nicely.
But regarding pricing, this is something that hasn’t improved on these earbuds… now the WF-1000XM5’s have a retail price of $300… that is very steep for a pair of wireless earbuds… and this is actually a $20 price increase from their predecessor, the WF-1000XM4’s cause these retail for $280. But I do expect the WF-1000XM5’s to go on sale from time to time. Nonetheless, if you want to pick these earbuds up they’ll be linked down below.
Case
Now first, lets talk about the case on these earbuds… and this is actually a very big surprise to me. The WF-1000XM5’s case is actually a little smaller than the WF-1000XM4’s case… now the WF-1000XM4’s is decently small for everyday carry, but just seeing the size reduction on the XM5’s is a very welcomed surprise cause now this case is almost the same size as the AirPods Pro 2’s case. Now the XM5’s case is just a little wider and its a little thicker… but regardless, I feel these two cases are in the same wheel house and more importantly this case is smaller than your other staple ANC earbuds like lets say the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, the Beats Studio Buds plus, Sennehsier Momentum 3 and especially the bose QC earbuds 2. And what’s most important is that with this case, its not going to be super noticeable when its in your pocket, and in general, this case is as convenient fro every day carry as the AirPods Pro 2’s case. And when it comes to the overall design of this case, we’ve got a slate feeling to this case which is great for grip, and we have a magnetic lid that’s super easy to open and close. My only critique about this case is that the magnets that hold the earbuds are noticeably weaker than the magnets found in the WF-1000XM4’s case, which makes putting away these earbuds a little less easy… but besides that, the new smaller case on the WF-1000XM5’s is a welcomed surprise and this case is now in line with the AirPods Pro 2’s case for overall convininace.
Battery life
Now when it comes to battery life, the battery life on the WF-1000XM5’s is the same as the WF-1000XM4’s. They both have an advertised battery life of 24 hours with their active noise cancellation turned on, the earbuds themselves can go for 8 straight hours and the case can supply two additional full charges.
Or if you were to use these earbuds with their active noise cancellation turned off, they can go for as long as 36 hours. The earbuds themselves can go for as long as 12 hours plus those two additional charges. So if you’re like me and you only use the ANC on your earbuds when you have to, you’ll be able to get a lot more than just 24 hours out of your earbuds… and in general, these are a good option for someone that needs something with a lot of stamina cause they can go for as long as 12 hours.
And when it comes to charging these earbuds, you can either charge them with a wired connection… or you can charge them wirelessly… and wireless charging is still something that you won’t find on Sony’s other earbuds.
Fit
But now lets talk about the earbuds themselves. Now when it comes to fit… there have been some major upgrades… but there are still some old problems. First off, the XM5’s are now significantly smaller and sleeker looking than the XM4’s which I personally really like. But also, the XM5’s rest a little more naturally in the bowl of your ear than the XM5’s and again, the XM5’s just look sleeker when you’re wearing them. Now both the XM5’s and XM4’s are a pair of standard fitting in ear earbuds. As in they go into your ear canals a decent amount like lets say the Sony Linkbuds S, or Galaxy Buds 2. These aren’t shallow fitting in ear earbuds like lets say the AirPods Pro 2, Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, Beats Studio Buds Plus or Bose QC Earbuds 2. So the XM5’s may feel a little more intrusive than your AirPods Pro 2’s… but they will offer better lock down and they’ll passively block out more noise. And the XM5’s dont go in as deep into your ear canals as lets say the Sennhesier Momentum 3’s. But the key thing to point out about these earbuds is that just like the XM4’s the XM5’s also come included with foam ear tips. Now these foam ear tips are going o passively block out more noise than your silicon ear tips, and they are also going to give you even more lock down… but these foam ear tips still have their problems. First off, these foam ear tips are big. So you’ll might have to use some of the smaller ear tips that come included with these earbuds. Im usually a medium but with these I have to use the smalls. But also, these foam ear tips can get itchy rather quickly. Now I noticed that the foam on the XM5’s is a little softer than the foam found on the XM4’s… so I think that helps make these ear tips not get as itchy as quickly… but still, after like 20 minutes… these ear tips still get itchy for me. So personally I still really wish that the XM5’s came included with silicon ear tips cause even though the softer foam on the XM5’s is helping… I still want silicon ear tips on my Sony XM5’s.
Connectivity
Now when it comes to connectivity, each earbud establishes a connection with your phone so if you just want to use one earbud at a time, you can use either one, it doesn’t matter and this is the connection setup that we expect to see on all of our earbuds nowadays.
But also, these earbuds can be simulatinalsy connected to ant two bluetooth devices at the same time, regardless of eco system, so you can easily how swap from one device to another… so these are a really goof option for any power user that has different devices from different eco systems.
And when it comes to overall performance, these earbuds have zero latency across the board whether youre watching a movie or video on your phone whether your using an iPhone or an android device… and when it comes to audio codecs, these earbuds have support for SBC, AAC and LDAC which is Sony’s own high res audio codec. However just keep in mind that if you want to use LDAC you do have to be an android user cause iPhones top out at AAC. And also, if you do use LDAC, that is going to take an additional toll on the battery life. With AAC they can go for as long as 12 hours… with LDAC they can only go as long as 8 hours.
But now lets talk about sound, right off the bat I am going to have to say that the XM5’s sound and perform a little differently from the XM4’s. First off I want to point out that the XM5’s are now using 8.4 millimeter drivers, where as the XM4’s are using 6 millimeter drivers… so I find it impressive that sony managed to cram in larger drivers in a smaller earbud. But regardless, just like before you can go into these earbud’s app and you can either choose from a few different EQ settings or you can make your own. So if you like a bass heavy EQ then these earbuds can do that or if you want a more neutral EQ you can also do that. Now first I want to point out that the XM5’s have a much more neutral sounding stock EQ than the XM4’s… cause with the XM4’s these have a much warmer stock EQ to them. So the XM5’s sound a lot more balanced than the XM4’s. But also, the XM5’s sound a little more open than the XM4’s. But with their Stock EQ, the bass on the XM5’s doesn’t resonate like the bass on the XM4’s… if you want the bass on these XM5’s to actually resonate, you’re going to have to go into these earbuds EQ and raise the clear bass setting. Overall, the XM5’s are a pair of good sounding earbuds and they have slightly better instrument separation than the XM4’s… and whether you like a neutral EQ or a Bass heavy EQ then these earbuds should have you covered… but personally I still feel that the AirPods Pro 2 sound better than the Sony XM5 cause they sound more open and their bass resonates cleaner.
Now when it comes to your media controls… just like before these earbuds are using touchpads and these touch pads are easy to use and they’re very accurate, and through Sony’s app you can adjust the layout of these touch pads to your liking so with the correct layout, you’ll be able to control your music but also control your active noise cancelation settings.
But something that I dont like about these touch pads is the method by which you raise or lower the volume. In order to lower the volume directly from the earbuds themselves you have to continuously tap on the left earbuds and to raise the volume you have to continsuly tap on the right earbud. I feel that this method is very clunky to instead ill adjust the volume of my music from my phone or ill use my smart watch if im using it.
But also, these earbuds do have wear sensors so that will automatically play or pause your music when you take them out of your ears and they’ll start playing again when you put them back on. Now eventhough I dont care for wear sensors on my headphones… I do like them on my earbuds and they are expected on premium earbuds like these.
But also, something that’s new for the XM5’s is that you can answer or reject calls with these earbuds by simply nodding your head yes, or shaking your head no. now personally I feel that this is just a gimmick… but more importantly, the XM5’s now have accelerometers in them which are useful for head tracking, either VR games or if youre listening to spatial audio through a compatible streaming service. Peronsally, i feel that this whole head taking thing for lisnteing to music or watching movies is just a gimmick in general.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancelation on these earbuds, Now the ANC On the Sony WF-1000XM5 is very impressive, and it has been improved from the XM4’s… the ANC on these earbuds blocks out as much noise as a pair of mid tier ANC headphones… but they aren’t blocking out as much noise as premium ANC headphones like either the Sony 1000XM5’s, Bose QC45, Sennehsier momentum 4’s or AirPods Max.
And when it comes to overall ranking, for me the AirPods Pro 2 and Sony WF-1000XM5’s are neck and neck for number 1, closely followed by the Bose QC Earbuds 2, below them are Sennheiser momentum 3’s, below them are the Sony WF-1000XM4’s, below them are the linkbuds S, below them are the Jabra Elite 85T’s, below them are the Galaxy buds 2 Pro and below them are the Pixel Buds Pro.
Now the reason why I say the Sony WF-1000XM5’s are neck and neck with the AirPods Pro 2 is cause with the AirPods Pro 2’s, they do a slightly better job of blocking out constant low frequency sounds like road noise, where as the XM5’s do a slightly better job of blocking out random higher frequency sounds like chatter. Overall, both of these earbuds are at the top when it comes to blocking out noise… but here you’re going to have to choose if you want to block out more road noise or if you want to block out more chatter. But regardless, the difference here is very small.
But like I have mentioned in the past, I only use the active noise cancelation on my earbuds when I have to and what’s really important to me is the quality of their ambient mode… and the ambient mode on the XM5’s sounds very natural with zero hissing in the background, this microphone array does a really good job of blocking out wind noise when walking out doors, and you can adjust the ambient mode on these earbuds to your liking. But I think the most important thing is that this ambient mode actually sounds a little more natural than the ambient mode found on the XM4’s.
But also, the XM5 have speak to chat just like with the the XM4’s and Sony’s more premium ANC Headphones and it works like this.
Speak to chat demo
But personally, I’m not a really big fan of speak to chat because it is very easy to accidentally activate. 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 feel that just removing your ear bud when you’re going to talk to someone works best.
Mic XM4 quite room
But finally here’s the microphone test. Now sony has struggled with their microphone on their earbuds for quite some time… but it has been getting better.
Mix XM5 quite room
And in a quite room, I think the microphone on the Sony WF-1000XM5 is decent and it does a better job of focusing on my voice than the XM4’s.
Mix XM5 Road Noise
But the microphone on the XM5’s is doing a better job of dealing with noise pollution than the microphone found on the XM4’s, cause right now this microphone is doing an okay job of reducing this road noise, cause for comparison sake, if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone you’re going to clearly hear all of this chatter. But if we were to switch back over to the XM5’s it is reduced, although my voice isn’t as clear as id want it to be.
Mic XM4’s Road Noise
However, the XM5’s do a much better job of dealing with this road noise than the XM4’s cause with the XM4’s there’s a lot of static in the background.
Mic XM4 Chatter
But the microphone on the XM4’s does do a better job of dealing with this chatter.
Mic XM5’s Chatter
But the microphone on the XM5’s does an even better job of dealing with this chatter… but clarity still isn’t as good as id want it to be. Overall, I feel the microphone on the Sony WF-1000XM5’s is decent enough to take phone calls with while in a quite room… and you can get away with some chatter.
But with all that being said, the Sony WF-1000XM5’s have some very big upgrades on them over the XM4’s both on the outside and inside. First off I love that they now have a smaller case and their case is just a little larger than the AirPods Pro 2’s case, but more importantly, this case is even more convinainte than before for everyday carry. I also really like that the earbuds themselves are smaller and sleeker and they fit better too. My main gripe are those foam ear tips… they’re a little more comfortable than before… but I still want silicon ear tips. But from a sound quality standpoint, these have better instrument separation than the XM4’s… and they no longer depend on such a bass heavy EQ. But finally there’s the active noise cancelation on the XM5… the active noise cancelation on the XM5’s has been improved from the XM4’s and its neck and neck against the AirPods Pro 2 for number one… the XM5’s do a slightly better job of blocking out chatter but the AirPods Pro 2 do a slightly better job of blocking out road noise.