The title for best wireless headphones has mostly been fought between Sony and Bose in recent years, with Bose’s QuietComfort series holding the crown in the late 2010s, then Sony snatching it with the universally acclaimed WH-1000XM4 in 2020. Sony did not sit idly by for its follow-up, the WH-1000XM5, which got a complete redesign that gives the headphones more of a premium, Apple-like aesthetic. However, the design compromises on practicality, and there was even a controversial decision to tone down bass output.
I’ve been using the XM5s for two weeks, and while I think they’re sonically impressive with some of the best active noise cancelation (ANC) in the business, I’m not a fan of its new design, which makes the headphones unfoldable and able to take up way more space in a bag. As someone who often travels, the space these headphones take up in my carry-on is a dealbreaker. But of course, your mileage may vary. Purely speaking on performance, these are excellent headphones.
Sony WH-1000XM5
Great but bulky
The Sony WH-1000XM5 has a new premium design and audio drivers for more balanced audio, but its inability to fold up could annoy some.
Pros
- Premium design
- Excellent audio and ANC performance
- Plays nice with Android phones
Cons
- Significantly bulkier than the previous generation or rival headphones
- App tries to sell you services and looks outdated
- Not cheap
Sony WH-1000XM5: Pricing and availability
The Sony WH-1000XM5 are available now at retailers across the world. In the U.S., they cost $399 at Best Buy and a buck cheaper on Amazon. You also get the choice between three colors: black, blue, and “silver,” which looks more white.
Design and hardware
Looks great, but too big
The Sony WH-1000XM5, like most non-Apple headphones, are made of plastic with vegan leather padding around the headband and earcups. The earcups’ padding is large and cushy, and they can rotate horizontally and have a bit of range in vertical movement too. Weighing 250g, the fit is mostly comfortable, though they do squeeze my head a bit tighter than Apple’s AirPods Max or Bose’s QuietComfort 45. The clamp force pressure isn’t too bad; I just have to take them off for a short break every 30 minutes or so.
The outside of the right earcup houses a touch-sensitive panel that supports taps and swipes. This is where you control audio playback and volume. The touch panel is very well calibrated, with just about the right level of sensitivity. At the bottom of the right earcup is also the USB-C port for charging, and under the left earcup are two buttons for power and noise cancelation, plus a 3.5mm headphone output. Both the USB-C charging cable and 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable come inside the included carrying case.
Let’s talk about the new design: as you can see from the photos, the XM5 looks sleek and stylish, with a sort of seamless unibody feel, unlike the Bose QuietComfort 45, which are packed with seams and screws to show that they’re constructed with a dozen moving parts. Going purely by looks, the Sony headphones look great.
Bose QuietComfort 45 (left) next to the Sony WH1000-XM5 (right).
However, as I already mentioned, the XM5 take up way too much space. It wasn’t always this way; the XM4 had a design closer to Bose’s with a dual-hinge headband that allowed the earcups to fold inwards. The XM5’s cups can only fold sideways for a flatter shape, but the overall length and width remain the same whether the headphones are in use or not.
Essentially, Sony took the Apple approach by going for a more premium look and compromising practicality along the way. And indeed, the only other consumer headphones that are bulkier than the XM5 are the AirPods Max. When you consider that these headphones are meant to be stored in a travel case, this adds even more bulk to the overall package. Look at how much more compact the Bose package is. I cannot sacrifice this much carry-on bag space when I fly, especially since I try not to check bags as much as possible.
If you know the size of the carrying case won’t be an issue for you, then it’s hard to fault the design of the XM5. They’re definitely one of the better-looking headphones on the market. The components inside are high end too. There are new 30mm drivers in each cup, which are actually smaller than the 40mm drivers in the previous version, but just like with smartphone camera megapixels, a higher number isn’t always better. The 30mm drivers here have been redesigned and housed in a carbon fiber composite dome, and Sony claims it has improved circuitry to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. I am no audiophile, but these 30mm drivers sound great, though the bass is noticeably weaker than the XM4 and Bose headphones. But again, more bass isn’t always better.
There are eight microphones and two chips, Sony Q1 and N1, for handling audio output and HD noise cancelation, respectively. There are proximity sensors on the inside and outside of the right earcups. The inside sensors are for wear detection, so it can automatically pause music when I take off the headphones. This feature is not new and can be seen just about everywhere these days. The outside sensor, however, allows for something very cool: I can put my hands on the right earcup to pause music and turn on transparency mode at once. I’ll elaborate more on this in the performance section.
Software
Everything works as it should, but the app needs updating
Like any wireless headphones, the XM5 work out of the box and are easy to pair immediately, but also like most companies, Sony wants you to install its Headphone app. This allows you to tweak the EQ, customize touch panel controls, and set up 360 Reality Audio, which is Sony’s version of spatial audio. The process required an ear-scanning process that I doubt actually works, which I say because the process just requires a photo of both sides of my face that’s captured using selfie cameras. The app doesn’t have requirements for what type of selfie camera is used, so even a very low-quality lens like the one on the Galaxy Z Fold 4’s inner screen passes the test. The photo is also snapped from so far away that I don’t see how Sony can really analyze anything.
This seems like a lazy attempt to recreate the same ear scanning process used by iPhones for AirPods setup, except most iPhones have a real 3D depth mapping camera and most Android phones do not.
I also can’t verify whether 360 Reality Audio works because all the apps that support it require a subscription, like Tidal or 360 Reality Audio Live. In fact, the whole Sony Headphones app experience feels very spammy. At one point, it asked if I had a coupon code to use 360 Reality Audio Live. Unless you really enjoy customizing EQ to your liking (I think Sony’s is fine out of the box), there’s little reason to use the app. I uninstalled it after the first day.
Once you ignore the app and just use the headphones, the software is fine. The female voice that tells you whether the headphones are connected, or updates you with battery percentage, sounds natural enough and not robotic like Bose’s, and the touch panels work well as mentioned earlier. I like that it requires a double tap to pause/play music instead of a single tap, which would result too easily in accidental triggers. The swipe gestures to adjust volume and skip tracks work without issues. The headphones support Google Assistant both via physical touch (long-pressing the touch panel) or voice prompt (saying “OK Google”). For iPhone users, the headphones can trigger Siri with touch, but they don’t support “Hey Siri” voice prompts.
Performance
Excellent ANC and audio quality
The XM5 uses Bluetooth 5.2 and supports SBC, AAC, and LDAC codec, with AptX noticeably absent. This isn’t a big deal for me, as I am not an audiophile and listen to Spotify exclusively, which compresses audio anyway. I did try a few lossless audio files from my computer and listened in both wired and Bluetooth mode, and the differences were subtle. I listen to a lot of hip-hop, so the lack of bass was notable, but there’s still enough here. It just doesn’t have that extra thump that the XM4 had. However, this also means the audio has a bit more clarity in the mids and highs by default compared to bass-heavy cans.
In rock tracks such as “Reptilia” by The Strokes, I can hear the separation between the hi-hat and guitar riff a bit more distinctively than on the AirPods Max or Bose QuietComfort 45. In The Beatles’ “Here Comes The Sun,” I felt like I could hear the Paul McCartney’s backing vocals a bit more distinctively behind George Harrison’s lead compared to listening on lower-tier earbuds. I have no complaints about the audio performance.
I find the ANC still to be one of the best out there, too. I think Bose’s QuietComfort 45 is the best overall at completely shutting out outside world noise, but Sony’s still does enough that I can work at noisy coffee shops in silence. I’d rank it neck and neck with the AirPods Max for second place. The transparency mode here is even better, allowing sound to pass through naturally without sounding processed. Here, I’d rank Sony’s transparency ahead of Bose’s, but I think AirPods Max is still the king of transparency modes. I do love the “cover earcup” gesture to temporarily turn on transparency mode, though it takes a full second before it kicks in.
Sony did not reveal the battery size but advertises that the XM5 can get a maximum of 30 hours of playtime on a single charge. I have not tested the headphones entirely in one go, but I did take a five-hour bus ride to Las Vegas from Los Angeles, using the headphones 90% of the time with ANC on, and the headphones drained only about 17%, so this mostly keeps track with the 30-hour claim.
Should you buy the Sony WH-1000XM5?
You should buy the Sony WH-1000XM5 if:
- You want a pair of stylish, premium-looking headphones
- You want headphones with all the bells and whistles of an AirPods Max but plays nicer with Android
- You want excellent ANC and good audio
You should not buy the Sony WH-1000XM5 if:
- You prefer headphones that can be more compact when not in use
- You already own the XM4 and are perfectly happy with them
I docked points from my Sony WH-1000XM5 review, but that’s solely because their size doesn’t fit my lifestyle (literally and figuratively). Not only do I often fly with limited carry-on bag space, but I also live in a city where I mostly walk/bus/bike around with a backpack. I don’t want headphones that take up more space than they need to, especially since I sometimes have to carry a camera, laptop, and jacket too.
However, if smaller form factors do not matter, then it’s a non issue. The XM5 are probably the best premium-looking headphones behind only the AirPods Max, which are pricier and don’t play as nicely with Android. If you are considering the XM5, you should think about whether you’d be alright with the larger form actor. Otherwise, the Bose QuietComfort 45 or even the last generation XM4 are still available for purchase. I would deal with the hassle of a bulkier headphone if the XM5 were clearly superior to everything else out there, but they’re not.
Sony WH-1000XM5
Great but bulky headphones
The Sony WH-1000XM5 has a new premium design and audio drivers for more balanced audio, but its inability to fold up could annoy some.