Sony WH-1000XM5 Wireless Industry Leading Headphones with Auto Noise Canceling Optimizer, Crystal Clear Hands-Free Calling, and Alexa Voice Control, Silver

Cumbersome when compared to other noise cancelling headphones as well as HUGE case. The WH-1000XM4 case is very slim, sleek, and compact - something easily carried on a plane where one would expect to use it most. The WH-1000XM5 case is BULKY, oddly shaped, and definitely not something that can be easily carried on a plane and utilized. The main reason for this is that the headphones dont fold like the XM4s do which is a HUGE disadvantage in my opinion. I personally dont care for the on/off button either. Many other higher-end noise cancelling headphones utilize the tilting headphone as the on/off activation which is easy, efficient, and preserves the battery. And an app ... why on earth does one need an APP in order to use the headphones. The only thing these headphones really have going for them is their noise cancelling ability and battery life are good. The negatives far outweigh the positives for the XM5s. Save your money and buy the XM4s or even another brand if truly looking for an exceptional set of headphones as these definitely are not in my humble opinion.

This probably is my first product that I pre-ordered. I generally wait, do extensive research and try it myself before spending such a huge amount on any product. Sony has built a very strong brand for itself in the wireless headphone space since the launch of XM series. XM 3-4 both are great products, with no major issues. But they both had 1 or 2 drawbacks that didnt push be enough to upgrade and buy one. XM4 Bass is little forward for me. I like to prefer tighter, clear bass. XM5 delivers that. XM5 - the good Stuff 1) ANC - Best ANC in the market. I own several Bose headphones and earbuds. This has far the best ANC. 12 Quick setup- It took me not more than 5 mins to open the box, connect my phone and start listening. Battery was pre-charged to about 65% 3) Comfortable - The earcup are soft padded with a faux leather type material that appears to be of good quality. Will have to see how it performs during sweaty, hot environment. 4) Connectivity- It connect seamless, and quickly. The range is insane. I can literally walk all around in my home or in my backyard away from my phone and it stay connected. I have had no issue of any drop at all. 5) Battery/Charging - Long enough and charges quickly 6) App features/Options - Multiple options to customize EQ setting, noise cancellation, transparency etc. 7) Multiple device connectivity 8) Love the Sand (white) color 9) Sound Quality - Last but not the least sound quality is amazing. The default EQ out of the box is really good. But if you customize the EQ and bump little bit the Clear bass and treble it just sounds amazing. Its been 6 hours non-stop listening for me, I have played all kind of genre and they all sound great. XM5-Not so good 1) Carrying Case - Case is little big, flatter. The headphone doesnt fold. Not a huge deal, but it could be issue for some. 2) It can get hot after couple of hours. To sum it up, for 4hunderd bucks, it is not a cheap headphone. But does it deserve the price tag and delivers on that. YES! With all the features it has, I really do not find anything that I am going to be missing or need for at least several years. It even has a 3.5mm jack :) This will be my new travelling buddy as I prepare to start travelling again!

Not 100% sure, but I think this product messes with your ears. I’ve had pressure discomfort in one of my ears since using the anc functionality.

I had the XM3 and thought now would finally be a good time to upgrade. And the XM5s were only slightly better. I EQ my headphones, so after that, they both sounded good to me, so not a significant enough difference there. XM5s were marginally more comfortable, but not enough to make a difference to me either. The couple things that were much better was its ability to auto pause when removing the headphones connect to 2 devices at once (XM3 doesnt have that), the ambient sound mode was so much better, and the headphones overall responsiveness to touch/button controls was much faster. As for noise cancelling, Im convinced that there is variation in noise cancellation strength between each individual pair of WH-1000XM5 headphones. Ive watched videos of sound engineers doing noise-cancelling samples and graphically showing the XM5s beating out other headphones, including the XM3. So I know that objectively, the XM5s should have better noise cancelling than most competitors, especially the old XM3s. But Ive compared them both on a plane, in a room filled with talking people, and outside when a bunch of cicadas were droning. The 2 are either on par or the XM3s slightly edge out the XM5s. Again, its soooo close, but I expected new model to be leaps beyond the model 2 generations ago. But because I know the XM5s have to be better, the only conclusion I can draw is that there is random variation in ANC strength between individual headphones. Im giving 3 stars for now and will be returning my pair, but I like the headphones enough to give them another chance, maybe when they go on sale or something. Ill update my review then.

I came from using Airpods pros to these and the difference in noise cancellation is night and day. Especially when music is playing you cannot hear a thing in the background. The transparency mode is decent, but my voice sounds a bit weird when I talk while its on. Otherwise these are super light and very comfortable at the gym as well, highly recommend

Bought these for my partner, who adores them for their light weight, comfortable fit, good touch controls, good quality voice pickup for video calls, and excellent noise-cancelling ability. I like them because we can talk - they just palm the right earcup to activate pass-through mode. Or, if we need a longer chat, they can pull off the headphones which automatically pauses the music. This has drastically reduced the number of annoyed looks I get. Win-win! Out of the box, the sound quality on these cans is decent but the headphones are more bass-heavy. The low end sounds a little “muddy”. There is an EQ adjustment in the accompanying Sony app, but after downloading it, quickly uninstalled it because the software demanded a lot of personal information. Wed rather rather live with the just-tolerable sound profile than give up all that information to Sony. One star off, Sony, for being just a bit too greedy and not respecting privacy; the app should come with no strings attached, especially given the cost of these headphones.

I cant walk to my nearest coworkers desk without losing signal when these are connected to my computer...seems like a huge miss in the design. I work in a tiny office (the whole place is 1,000 sqft) and with these connected to my PC I can only move maybe 8 ft in any direction before the sound becomes crackly and eventually disconnects entirely. So they work for 5% of my 1,000 sqft space. Im returning them, they otherwise work okay but honestly not any better than my last $200 pair of headphones which actually stays connected. Sad I wasted time on these. Word of warning - if you have coworkers with deeper voices, these will not block ANY of that sound whatsoever.

The factory ear pads are a bit crowded for larger ears. Only negative I could come up with.

Sony does it yet again. These exceeded my expectations. The ANC is... good beyond belief. Absolutely superb. And they are so, so comfortable. 5/5 Sensational! They knocked it out of the park with these. *****

Let me just start off by saying these are SO GOOD! The quality, the look, the sound ARE SO GOOD! They are so sleek!! if someone were to blindfold me and put these on my head, I would really think they were a Apple product, from the sound quality and features. All of my personal devices are Apple products, and I decided to go out of the box for these kind of headphones and definitely made the right choice. I tried the Apple ones, but in my opinion, these were lighter and more comfortable with the same quality. And these are definitely at a bit lower price point. 11/10 recommend.