So overall, Sony’s speakers, headphones and earbuds have all been improving very nicely over the last few months. And the sony WF-1000XM5’s have some significant upgrades over their predecessors. But today we’re going to see how the Sony WF-1000XM5’s compare to Sony’s linkbuds s which are a pair of really good mid teir ANC earbuds that I feel a lot of people sleep on.
Now regarding pricing, the Sony WF-1000XM5’s have a retail price of $300… which is up there, but I do expect these earbuds to go on sale from time to time. But then there are the Linkbuds S which have a retail price of $200, but these now like to go on sale for $130… not bad at all. Overall if you want to pick either of these two earbuds up they’ll be linked down below.
Now first lets talk about their case, now both of these earbuds have decently sized cases for every day carry. Both of these cases are very small and they aren’t too noticeable when they are in your pocket. However, the WF-1000XM5’s case is a smaller than the linkbuds S case, the XM5’s case is just a little larger than the AirPods Pro 2 case which I feel is the gold standard when it comes to case size. But also, the XM5’s case isn’t just smaller than the linkbuds s case… it also has wireless charging, where as the linkbuds s don’t… and in general, wireless charging is still something that Sony is reserving for their more premium ANC earbuds.
But also when it comes to battery life, there is a big difference here. With the linkbuds s, they have an advertised combined battery life of 20 hours with their ANC turned on. The earbuds themselves can go for 6 hours and the case can supply 2 additional charges, however, if you were to use these earbuds with their ANC turned off, you’ll be able to extend their battery life. The earbuds themselves can go for 9 hours the case gives you those 2 extra charges, for a combined battery life of 27 hours.
But then there are the Sony WF-1000XM5 and these have an advertised combined battery life of 24 hours with their ACN turned on. The earbuds themselves can go for 8 hours and the case can supply 2 additional charges. And if you were to use these earbuds with their ANC turned off, they have a combined battery life of 36 hours, the earbuds themselves can go for 12 hours plus those two additional charges.
So overall, the battery life on the link buds s is okay… but the XM5’s have a longer combined battery life… but they also have a better battery life of case size ratio cause they have smaller case and longer battery life… and the earbuds themselves have better stamina… plus the XM5’s have wireless charging.
But now let talk about the earbuds themselves. Regarding fit, both of these earbuds are standard fitting in ear ear buds… and in they both go into your ear canals a decent amount like lets say the galaxy buds 2. These aren’t shallow fitting in ear earbuds like lets say the AirPods Pro 2, Bose QC Earbuds 2, Beats Studio Buds Plus or Galaxy Buds 2 pro. Now the good thing about standard fitting in ear earbuds is that they offer better lock down than shallow fitting in ear earbuds, so they aren’t going to wiggle out as easily as lets say AirPods Pro or Beats Studio buds. But they might not feel as comfortable. But the really important thing that we need to point out about both of these are the ear tips. Now the Linkbuds S come included with silicon ear tips… like with the majority of earbuds out there. And I have zero issues with these silicon ear tips. But then there are the Sony WF-1000XM5 and these only come included with foam ear tips. Now these foam ear tips are supposed to offer more lock down and passively block out more noise than silicon ear tips… and they do that. But find that these foam ear tips can get itchy after awhile. Now this might not be the case for everyone but it is for me. But overall comfort wise, I do prefer the Linkbuds S over the WF-1000XM5’s… personally I just wish the XM5’s also came included with a set of silicon ear tips.
But when it comes to their Bluetooth connectivity, with both of these earbuds, 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 set up that we expect to see on all of our earbuds nowadays.
But also, with both of these earbud they can be simultainisly connected to any two bluetooth devices at the same time, regardless of eco system. So you can easily hot swap from one device to another… making them a great option for any power user out there that has devices from different eco system.
And when it comes to overall performance, both of these earbuds have zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone, whether you’re using an iPhone or and android device, and when it comes to audio codecs, both of these earbuds have support for SBC and AAC but they both also have support for LDAC which is Sony’s own in house high res audio codec. However just keep in mind that if you want to use LDAC you have to be an android user cause iPhones top out at AAC, and also LDAC does take an additional toll on the battery life, which could be a big problem for the Linkbuds S.
But now lets talk about actually listening to music with these earbuds. Now with both of these earbuds you can go into their app and you can either choose from a few pre made EQ’s or you can make your own. So you can make them sound however you want. But these earbuds do sound and perform differently from one another. Now with the linkbuds s, these sound like your typical pair of sony earbuds. They sound a little narrow cause their instrument separation isn’t the greatest, and the bass on these earbuds strictly resonates. Overall I would mainly recommend these to someone that like a really bass heavy sound signature. But then there are the Sony WF-1000XM5’s… now these sound more open cause they have better instrument separation. And they also have better detail in the instrumentals. But then there’s also their bass, the bass on these earbuds both resonates and there is some kick to it if you go into their and raise the clear bass slider. So overall, both of these earbuds sound good, but the Sony WF-1000XM5 do sound better than the linkbuds s cause they have better instrument separation and their bass is a lot more dynamic.
but when it comes to controlling your music with these earbuds, both of these earbuds are using touch pads, and overall both of these touch pads are easy to use and their very accurate and you can somewhat customize these touch pads through their app. But I know some people just dont like to deal with touch pads on their earbuds.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancelation on these earbuds. Now overall I will say that the ANC on both of these earbuds is impressive given their respective prices. But I do want to taper expectations here, dont expect these earbuds to block out as much noise as a pair of premium ANC Headphones like lets say the Sony 1000XM5’s, Bose QC45, AirPods Max, or Sennheiser Momentum 4.
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, the linkbuds S also very rank well here and these are a pair of mid teir ANC earbuds… and also, the XM5’s do have a slight advantage over the linkbuds s cause of their foam ear tips. But overall, both of Sony’s earbuds have really good ANC for their respective price points… but even if you use the XM5’s with silicon ear tips, they’re still going to block out more noise than the Linkbuds S.
But like I have mentioned in the past, I only use the ANC On my earbuds when I have to and what really matters to me is the quality of their ambient mode. Now with both of these earbuds you can adjust their ambient mode to your liking, and both of these microphone arrays do a really good job of blocking out wind noise when walking outdoors. But I am going to have to say that the ambient mode on the XM5’s sound a little more natural than the ambient mode on the linkbuds s.
But also, both of these earbuds have speak to chat which works a little 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 Linkbuds S Quite
But finally here’s the microphone test, now I feel that sony has always struggled with their microphones for phone calls… but is is going better
Mic XM5 quite
Now I feel that both of these microphones are decent to take phone calls with while in a quite room.. and I feel that the microphone on the XM5’s does a better job of focusing on my voice than the linkbuds s.
Mic XM5 road noise
But when it comes to blocking out noise pollution, I feel that both of these microphones struggle a little bit cause right now my voice is getting pushed down a little bit and you can hear some road noise in the back ground.
Mic Linkbuds S road noise
And its the same thing with the linkbuds s, these are pushing down on my voice and you can hear some road noise in the back ground.
Mic AirPods Pro 2 Road noise
And for comparison sake, these are the AirPods Pro 2, and these are doing a much better job of dealing with 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 AirPods Pro 2, it is severely reduced.
Mic AirPods Pro 2 Chatter
And when it comes to blocking out chatter, its the same thing, the AirPods Pro 2 do a really good job of reducing all of this noise pollution,
Mic Link buds S chatter
Where as with the linkbuds s, these are pushing down on my voice and you can hear some chatter in the background
Mic XM5 Chatter
And the XM5’s are also struggling with this chatter a little bit. So with both of Sony’s earbuds, they have decent sounding microphones to take phone calls with while in a quite room… but I would take it easy with the noise pollution.
But with all of that being said, both of Sony’s earbuds are really good cause they both have very impressive active noise cancellation, they both have good bluetooth connectivity, they both have small cases and they both sound good. But my main critique about both of these earbuds is that they need better sounding microphones for phone calls. But if you are trying to choose between these two earbuds, with the Sony WF-1000XM5’s you are going to get better active noise cancelation, better sound, an even smaller case and better battery life. The only thing that you’ll want to lookout for are the foam ear tips cause they might not be for everyone.