WH-1000XM5 Premium Noise Canceling Headphones, Auto NC Optimizer, 30-Hour Battery, Alexa Voice Control, Black

I thoroughly enjoy what Sony has to offer in their product line. I have the PlayStation 5, a Sony Bravia 4K TV and several other Sony products. Yes although I have owned a few of their product line I will not try to be biased here with the review. What got me into Sony products was really their earphones dating back to 2011! They have the best earphones you could get for $20 back at the time in 2011 and now the quality they still continue to put out never disappoints! Here's the pros and cons of the Sony WH-1000XM5. Update: I also picked up the XM4 Earbuds from Sony and take note that those are on a different level for listening to music compared to the XM5 Over the Ear headphones. Shares the same features like the XM5, not the same sound like over the ear obviously but also more marketed to those who goes to the gym and likes something more compact. Pros: Comfortable and lightweight! I don't ever have a complaint with what they have to offer when it comes to comfort. These are better than BOSE in regards as to comfort. I think the one thing that makes them comfortable also is that they are light. They weigh only about 0.56 pounds! People tend to have problems with headphones if they are heavy in my opinion! I also assume they use a low density memory foam for cushioning which is great but will eventually need to be replaced or tended to if left compressed or squished for too long. Unique features Noise Cancelling is top notch but not much different than their previous lines in my opinion! It is a standard these days to get noise cancelling and the headphones are great for drowning out noise if need be. They also tend to those who need to be aware of their surroundings by implementing a ambient mode like previous models. Works great and works like a charm by either taking the headphones off or covering the touch control panel. Also the Speak to Pause Music feature is insanely nice to have! Helps when your hands are busy and or you just don't want to adjust your headphones having to speak. Superb sound! The sound quality out of these are amazing! Does really well in all areas of music genres. Particularly really in low frequencies for bass! I get to enjoy these at a great volume and it pairs amazingly with my PS5 as a gaming headset! (Will mention the headphones does not come with a microphone for gaming when using a headphone jack.) As a pair of noise cancelling headphones, you can expect to hear a positively good detail in music, movies, gaming or even a phone call! They are clear and surprisingly really balanced. The microphone on these headphones for phone calls are great. Better than the previous versions. Fast charging! The charging rate of these headphones is incredible! I never knew how fast charging can be with this! There's times I have left this powered on overnight as I'm at work for my 10 hour job and it was drained by the time I wanted to use it again. In those times I left it charging and goodness greatness these were ready to go in a about 10-15 minutes! I enjoy these so much that I'm actually glad they have a 24-30 hour battery life. Cons: Cost. Its expensive! If you can get these on sale, it's worthwhile! If it's in your budget go for it! You pay for what you get in my opinion and these are worth their weight in gold! Fitment. They don't exactly fit around my short wide neck whenever I need to take it off and be present in a conversation or in my surroundings. Not exactly a big matter or deal breaker. More so it's a personal perspective. My neck size is 15 ¾ inches in circumference and that's pretty average I believe. I have to extend these in order to keep them around my neck without compromise. They also do not fold inward like the previous Sony headphone models but again never a issue. Cushion. Yes the ear cup cushions are comfortable but again when I place them around my neck it compresses the cushion to a point where it feels awkward after putting it back on. I'm looking at other options to replace their soft fit leather design. Update: There is different earcups that you can replace the OEM cups with but it comes at a cost of I believe $60 which is worth noting. Conclusion. Worthiness of $350+ (price as of 12/07/2022) during the holidays? Yes! Personal opinionated review: Sony WH-1000XM5 or other leading competition? Sony, easily Sony. I've never been unhappy about this purchase and I tell people that Sony is industrial leading company that continues to impress people when it comes to their headphones. Beats by Dre(Apple), Apple and Bose has always been great by popularity but Sony gets appraised by quality! I will update this review as I go until they put a new model out.

I have the XM4 and XM5 and my wife has the XM6. I use my XM5s while my wife blasts the TV. I can sit with her and listen to audio books or even classical music at very reasonable volumes without hardly any bleed through from the TV. So, I'll give it 5 stars for keeping the piece! They sound great. I have Amazon Music and set to the best quality and just love the way things sound, both the spatial quality and the subtle sounds I love to hear. When a call comes in, I never have a problem with answering and having a conversation. Even with the TV playing the person at the other end doesn't seem to notice. I don't like the mode where I start talking and the headphones go into a mode where outside noise is fed through. I keep that turned off. I also have a little difficulty where the computer grabs the BT from the phone. I sometimes have to turn off the computer's BT to stop that. It doesn't always happen so it might be the computer, not the headphones. I do not have them set to connect to two devices at the same time. Battery life is great. Hours of listening and quick recharge. It won't play while charging. Just a design choice I guess. The on/off/battery state button and the fwd/rev vol-up/dn gestures work well. I try to keep things simple. The build seems solid, the cushions are taking a lot of use without any visible wear and tear.

I am almost 65 years old SO, I DO NOT have the ears of a 18 year old. That said, I consider these to be good for these reasons: A: Exceptional battery life. B: Call quality that was considered good UNTIL I did a direct comparison to my Blueparrott B450-XT’s - NO WHERE NEAR the quality of the Blue 450’s, BUT the Blues are made specifically for calls in noisey environments. . Blues are in my opionion the defacto standard by which all other ANC phone calls should be judged. My "demo" for people is to run my upright vacuum cleaner whilst on a call. People on the other end cannot hear it AT ALL – REALLY!, I hear them, and they hear me perfectly! TRULY amazing! I did the same test with these and alas they failed miserably in comparison. I expected that. I was told they sound like I am in a room away from the microphone, a bit fishtank like, and muddy. SO, they’ll do in a call but not as a primary phone call device in noise. I heard a sample of the BOSE 700’s and they were terrible, which is what prompted me to get the Sony’s. C: One unconventional thing they do great at: A Sleep Aid. Yup, they drown out all the extraneous noises like people talking, Air conditioners, fans, Water coolers, hums, etc. ALL gone with nothing playing through them! I bought them primarily for playing on my PS5, and watching TV late at night. They do both quite well. D: Amazingly, my ears do not sweat much in these even after prolonged use. I’ve ordered those Dekoni Suede Earpads for them as well just for added comfort. (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BS4T3X62?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details) (5/16/23 - Returned The earpads: they claim they are suede when in fact they are 2/3 suede. The inner part inside the cup is something else, not leather so NOT durable. Considering this, $49 seems FAR too expensive.) E: They are long-term comfortable unless you have ears like a B-52 in which case you will probably be stuffing bits. As for music, I find them to be more flat without pronounced highs or bass - which I prefer. The EQ on the app is a nice feature. The ANC works very well listening to music and will be adequate to the task in both quiet and noisey settings. Again, I remind you, I’m not 18. ;-) Pricewise, they ARE a bit expensive but the build quality seems better than most. If you have the time, I would HIGHLY recommend you test several brands and models at a store simply because sound quality is subjective and EVERYONE has their preference. UPDATE: 5/23/23 - Returning (REPLACING) Headphones - Why? They started acting "Funky". By that, I mean that if you turn them off, they will not turn on unless you do not hit any buttons for about 15 sec. NOT normal. ALSO, they started to exhibit Connection issues that were NOT there initially. I STILL, at this point consider them excelllent. Now, if the NEW pair goes weird, THEN I would have to re-evaluate. UPDATE 6-3-23: New pair are working as they should no connection issues or on/off bttun problems. UPDATE 2-16-24: Still working perfectly and I use them nearly every night to sleep. UPDATE 7-31-25: Still working great and I still use them as silencers.

EDIT AFTER 1 YEAR OF USE: One of the most frustrating device I've EVER used. I've tested this on 3 separate PC's! If you want to wirelessly connect this to your PC via Bluetooth, hope whatever you're doing is worth stopping! 7 out of 10 times it just connects for a few seconds (no sound), then disconnects, and repeats forever till you LITERALLY RESET YOUR PC and hope it works this time. There's no way around it. I've tried unpairing it from the PC, resetting the headphones, updating the firmware of both devices. NOT ONLY THESE ISSUES but at COMPLETE random it'll decide to turn on "Speak to Chat" without ANY input or button presses from me. Having this option on means every time you speak, grunt, or hum, it'll drastically turn down the volume of the sound in your headphones for about 5 seconds, forcing you to stay as quiet as possible. The only way to turn this off is to go into the app and turn it off, EVERY time." I no longer recommend this device. Sure, it works pretty well, but with all it's issues, if I had another choice that was equal, I'd pick something else. Edit after 5 months of use: Disconnects are more frequent, and at times it would suddenly lower the audio quality. The only way to fix it is to stop everything you're doing, turn it off, turn it on, and hope it reconnects. If I could, I'd get a refund. Either I have a defective model or it happens to everyone just not as frequent. **Edit after a month of use: Using Multi-device connection is very spotty, 3 out of 10 times the headphones will completely turn off without warning, even with a full battery. Noise cancelling is still very annoying, I'll hear all the sound around me till it decides to kick in and block some of it. With no way to adjust the amount of Noise Cancellation happening, the M3's I've been using has better blocking on some occasions. The issue with the band on the top is still just as bad, it genuinely hurts after long amounts of use. The only improvement from the M3 that I see is I can KIND OF sleep on my side with these on and they stay on my head better without sliding down. I still do no recommend this unless you plan on wearing it for short periods and in a quiet environment.** So this review is coming from someone who's worn the M3 Headset for over 4 years and I have to say, it's awful. I live in a place where there's sound in every direction. Dogs barking, kids screaming, everything you can think of, and ANC is a requirement for getting any work done. So the good: - Ear cups are comfortable, doesn't crush your head after long periods of time. - Sound is good, not absolutely amazing, but good. You need to download the Sony app to alter the sound to allow any bass to work, otherwise it'll sound static-y. - ANC is awesome but it's adaptive, which I don't like, but can be a plus for some. When it worked it blocked out almost every single sound. - The case design is cool, it has a little compartment inside that holds the charger cable and headphone jack. The bad: - I'm used to my M3's cancelling noise constantly, this device would adapt to the sound around you, letting sound bleed through before blocking it out after. Example: I was listening to a song at moderate volume, I could make any sound I want and I couldn't hear it. When the music had a break in volume, I could hear a LOT outside the headphones. - The head band that goes over your head is PAINFUL! It legit hurt after only an hour of use, it has almost NO padding and it was a thin plastic. - THE COLLAPSABLE CASE IS TERRIBLE! I unzipped the case to take the headphones out, I used them for a good 2 hours, put them back into the case, and when I went to open it again the zipper got stuck and it's IMPOSSIBLE to open now. Trust me, I got three separate people to try and open the case, they can't. I've been looking forward to a new ANC headphone brand, and I'm disappointed Sony didn't have someone wear these for more than an hour or try zipping and unzipping the bag more than a few times before going "yep, let's send them out.". Sadly, I do no recommend these unless they are on sale and you DIY a comfortable way of wearing them for the top of your head. If they update the ANC and you want to work on making it not hurt the top of your head, they are decent, but not 400$ plus tax decent. The red circle on the picture shows a hole in the zipper, making it impossible to fully open.

I needed the best isolation possible for mixing in-ear monitors. My application for these headphones is probably unlike 90% of other Sony XM5 buyers, so my priorities were also probably different. Creating a mix for live bands / on-stage situations requires good isolation, and in my case (standing right next to the drum riser) is difficult to say the least. I needed the best active noise canceling I could get my hands on, and these headphones do an astoundingly good job - making it much easier to hear what I'm doing. A full acoustic rock drum kit not more than 10 feet away sounds muffled - literally as if it was in an adjacent room with the door closed. I am truly amazed at how good the noise reduction is with the XM5s. I previously used the Bose in a similar (but not quite as demanding) situation, and they also did a great job, but the Sony XM5 is better. I love the fact that I can easily connect a regular 3.5mm cable (included with the headphones) to my monitor mixer and clearly hear what I'm mixing - even with the drums going full-tilt right next to me. I also love the ability to simply place my hand on the right ear cup to temporarily cancel the noise canceling and activate the ambient sound mode. I can then have a conversation with someone without having to take the headphones off. These are truly awesome features for my application. I bought my pair refurbished and got them for well under the retail price, but I would say they're worth it even at full retail. That said, I have not (and probably will not) use many of the other features these headphones have. I don't use Bluetooth for critical listening and I have other Bluetooth devices for telephone calls. I took one star off my rating for two reasons. The app (required to access even the basic features) isn't the sleekest or most intuitive. Also, the app doesn't seem able to connect to the headphones at all if the hardwired cable is in use - any adjustment must be made before connecting the cable. The one saving grace is that your adjustments (equalizer, noise canceling parameters, etc.) ARE applied to the analog signal coming through the hardwired connection. I can only hope Sony will sort this out with firmware updates down the road. The second reason for missing the 5 star rating for me is sound quality. These are not the best headphones I've ever heard. They're not even the best SONY headphones I've ever heard. The sound quality is very good, and pretty neutral - so don't misunderstand me - the biggest issue I have with these headphones is the soundstage / imaging. They do not deliver the imaging one often gets with a pair of audiophile headphones. That said, these are not marketed as audiophile headphones, so I am not terribly disappointed. The XM5s are made for a different use case, and for me they are plenty accurate for what I need. They are not boomy or harsh - they don't add a ton of coloration to the source signal and the bass response is accurate with plenty of punch, even without a lot of super low-range extension. I tend to not use the gimmicky bass enhancement stuff these headphones have (along with so many other consumer-grade audio products). Maybe if I played with that I'd find some more bass, but I really don't think it necessary. These headphones do a very good job right out of the box (after a coupe hours of break-in). Listening to high quality music via the LDAP Bluetooth codec is quite satisfying... just not "hair raising"...and I think they're at least 90% as good as the last Bose Quiet Comfort headphones I heard, with significantly better noise cancellation. Overall, I really like these headphones a lot. I wish I loved them, but I do really like them, and they give me exactly what I need - I'm very satisfied overall.

Bought them for me! My son has a pair and raves about the sound quality and the sound canceling features. I use headset when I mow on my zero-turn and the current pair I have worked ok, but as they aged, I noticed the noise was getting louder and louder and I could not turn the volume up enough to hear over the roar of the mower. These things are remarkable. Expensive, but you truly get what you pay for. Only issue (and my son warned me), the soft leather ear cup pads are delicate and don't react well to the sweat of hard work. He suggested I carefully clean the ear pads each time after use to insure they last as long as the rest of the headset. Sound, and blue tooth connection has been perfect.

I own Sony’s WH-1000 XM4s and the Bose 700s, two of the leading models in the industry. I had AirPods Max for a minute, but I rage-sold them. To me, the Sony and Bose are both awesome headsets. So I was psyched to hear Sony was releasing XM5s. Summer’s here, and these can get a little hot on hot days outdoors. It’s like wearing earmuffs on the beach. But, if you can get past a little sweaty ears, or if you use them indoors or on airplanes, you should be a little excited. The Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones feature, what Sony advertises, “industry-leading noise cancellation.” And they ain’t lyin. With Bluetooth 5.2 and Sony's QN1 and V1 chips, the XM5s have DUAL processors - compared to the lonely single processor of the XM4. These two processors control 8 microphones for crazy accurate noise cancellation. Think - a little computer actually sampling noise from fans, airplane engines, air conditioners, motors, and consistent noise like that - and creates an identical but perfect opposite wave, so they kinda cancel each other out. And this time, the dual processors are capable of filtering higher frequency sounds, including some voices. It’s pretty cool tech. The first time you hear this, it’s like magic! In my video review, you can see my personal reaction. With the XM5s, noise canceling is automatically optimized based on your wearing conditions and environment. You don’t have to do anything. It knows if you’re sitting, walking, in an airplane, et cetera. No, noise reduction probably won’t completely cancel a very loud angry spouse, or a crying baby. But the over the ear closed design may help dull annoying sounds. A very small cadre of people claim they become nauseous using noise cancelling headphones, and especially the old model XM4s. I’ve never experienced this personally, but be aware it could happen. You can disable it if you need to. Some people thought the WH-1000XM4s were too snug. I thought they felt great, but they’ve improved the fit with a new lightweight design with soft-fit leather. This material fits snugly but with less pressure on your ears while still keeping out the external sounds you don’t want to hear. There were a few other design changes – the XM5s aren’t foldable like the XM4s, and there’s a redesigned case that’s collapsible to save room in your bag when you’re wearing your headphones. With up to 30 hours of battery life, you’ll have enough power to travel halfway to the moon in one of Elon Musk’s rockets. But, in case you forgot to charge and you’re in a hurry, you can get 3 hours' worth of charge after just 3 minutes with an optional AC adapter. And unfortunately, the in-flight plug adapter is not included in the supplied accessories this time. But who uses that anyway? That’s so old school! Fortunately, there still is an aux-in for you old-school holdouts. The touch controls survived, where you can pause/play/skip tracks, control volume, activate your voice assistant, and answer phone calls. And the speak to chat lives also, where as soon as you start a conversation, Speak-to-Chat automatically stops your music and lets in ambient sound. And wear detection knows when you take them off. But – how do they sound? Sony has popped new, more rigid, 30mm carbon fiber drivers in the XM5s. They have more of an audiophile sound profile with slightly more balanced sound, better clarity, and more accurate bass. That’s important if you listen to real music, you know, with actual instruments, like rock, jazz, r and b, country, classical, and music like that. The XM4s have 40mm drivers, which will probably be better for hip-hop. The XM5s will reproduce hip-hop very accurately, meaning the way the studio producer intended you to hear it, but they probably won’t have the head-vibrating tinnitus-inducing bass many people want. TBH that's hard to find in any headphone due to physics. The XM5s support LDAC and spatial 3D audio, whatever that is, and they have also upgraded their Sony Music Studios Edge-AI music algorithm, which somehow magically guesses what musical dynamics were lost during compression and tries to replace that, so everything sounds crisp and clean without losing the bass that’s necessary in most of today’s popular music. I have heard some folks claimed the MX4s sounded “muddy” with some music. I didn’t notice that, but I’m a producer and I’m familiar with equalization. There are about 20 presets including several you can create yourself. And even without the Qualcomm APTX Low Latency chip, both my XM4s and XM5s allowed me to watch a complete movie on Netflix on my 2022 Samsung Frame television, wirelessly, from 10-plus feet away, with ZERO loss in mouth synchronization. Plus, like my XM4s, the XM5s still have dual Bluetooth pairing so you can pair them with two devices at the same time and switch back and forth between them. It's a pretty cool feature if you use them for your phone, but also want to use them to watch YouTube videos at work on your computer. But, you probably shouldn’t tell your boss about that. And the XM5s work with Google Assist, Alexa, and Siri. You can even set up Spotify playback with a few taps. Try that on your Air Pods Max. The big win seems to be a vast improvement in the sound of your voice during phone calls quality. They’re actually impressive when it comes to calling in louder rooms. I’ve made test calls on busy streets and on windy sidewalks, and my call-ee said she couldn’t tell I was actually outdoors. Apparently, the four beam-forming microphones and the dual-processor software can recognize your voice and somehow block a lot of background noise. I mean, you can still probably hear tire screeches, gunshots, and car alarms, things you’ll typically hear in the city. But a lot of the noise is just gone. Like magic! Oh – and there’s Speak to Chat. You start speaking, and the XM5s automatically adjust noise cancellation to pick up the voices of other people. No buttons, no fumbling with your phone. That’s a pretty cool feature. So are they worth the upgrade? If you have XM4s and you think your call quality is shaky, then grab some XM5s and sell your sweaty old XM4s on Craigslist. If you’re moving from Bose's Noise Canceling 700 or QuietComfort 45s, the new dual processors and 8 microphone array will provide some noticeable improvements, plus the dual Bluetooth sync, so they’re probably worth looking into. If you’re done with your Air Pods Max and prefer better compatibility with non-Apple stuff including android phones, PCs, and Sony or Samsung Smart TVs, it’s a no-brainer.

*Disclaimer: I bought mine used "like new" or "very good" I bought these because they're rated one of the best headphones on the market, I HIGHLY disagree. Are they bad headphones? No. Are they worth the money? No, not even on sale lol. I returned mine and bought the Sony WH-1000XM4, and here's why: **Noise Cancellation (6/10): This feature was ok at best. The Apple AirPods Max are still top of the line for noise cancellation - I hear nothing when I wear them. With the Sony WH-1000XM5, I can still hear a lot of sounds around me. I'd say it cuts out maybe 60-70% of noise. My biggest issue here was that the noise cancellation would turn off randomly - so I would have to manually turn on/off the noise cancellation and ambient noise, which was just irritating. **Sound Quality (7/10): Sound quality was fine, it was nothing exceptional. The first day I received them, something really weird happened and the sound went completely muffled - like I was underwater. I looked up the issue and there have been similar issues for other customers who bought these headphones. The sounds went back to normal the next day, but I was already skeptical about their performance. **Comfort (9/10): I think they were really comfortable. I wear plastic framed glasses, so headphones that work with them can be a mission. The Apple AirPods Max do not work with my glasses at all, they pinch my frames and move them around - I need to wear contacts with them. With the Sony WH-1000XM5, this really isn't an issue. I needed to adjust my glasses every once in a while, but maybe once in like 3 hours. I think they're one of the best fitting headphones for people with glasses. Also, when I went to adjust the headband portion to make them shorter/tighter, they would slip - they just would not stay adjusted to where I needed them (this could be because I bought them slightly used, so it could have just been from previous wear - but still an issue if they become loose over time). **Product Quality (6/10): The headphones themselves are cheap plastic and just feel flimsy. For almost $400, you would expect them to feel a little better or more sturdy. I was constantly worried I was going to break them. The case is nice and hard, and I personally think they store nicely and are easy to travel around with. I bought the beige ones (again, I bought them slightly used), but the case was dirty and it stains easily since it's made of cloth material. The foam on the ear part is very soft, so it's kind of just your preference there. I think they felt a little cheap, but I also think that they added to the comfort. **Battery Life (9/10): The battery life is fine, they last pretty long. I'm studying for the Bar right now, so I used them for about 10 hours a day. They would last like a little over 10 hours for me before needing to be charged, and charging only took max 3 hours. **Connectivity (5/10): I had huge problems with connecting them to my Mac, I have no clue why. But, just so everyone knows, you need to download the app (Sony Connect) to connect it to your phone and your other devices. They just weren't discoverable on my Mac. I restarted my laptop and the the headphones, downloaded the app, connected them to my iPhone, updated my Mac, etc. It took me like 2 hours to get them connected to my laptop. I'm not sure if I am just technologically challenged or if they just aren't compatible with Apple products, but this process alone made me feel rage that I never thought I would feel. **Aesthetic (7/10): The headphones looked ok on. The ear part was kinda too clunky for my liking. They stick out a little more than other headphones, so I kind of felt like a bear when I wore them. **Overall (7.5/10): I think the headphones are meh. I just wasn't impressed for headphones that are rated sooooo highly in every article online. I did a lot of research and was torn between Sony WH-1000XM5, Sony WH-1000XM4, and the Bose QuietComfort 45. I decided against the Bose only because you cannot turn on/off the noise cancellation with buttons. So between the XM4 and XM5, I picked the XM5 because they were rated so well in online articles, I liked the look of them more (from pictures), and I figured I would just get the most up-to-date model. I returned them mainly because of the connectivity problems, noise cancellation, and sound quality. I just don't think they're worth the money, especially retail price. I just got the Sony WH-1000XM4 and they are SO MUCH BETTER. The sound/product quality, noise cancellation, connectivity, etc. Final Thoughts: If you want top of the line headphones and have the money to spend, get the Apple Airpods Max. If you want great headphones for a better price, Sony WH-1000XM4. The Bose are apparently SUPER comparable to the Sony WH-1000XM4 and are cheaper in price too. So, if having buttons to turn on/off noise cancellation is irrelevant to you, then get the Bose QuietComfort 45. The end.