Sony WF-1000XM5 Earbuds Review: Is This the Ultimate Listening Experience?
Sony makes some of the best audio equipment on the market, and while we don’t like the company’s naming strategy, the products speak for themselves. The Sony WF-1000 series offers TWS headphones that are a quality copy of the WH-1000 range of headphones. Here we have Sony WF-1000XM5 launched in India at Rs 24,990. This is the next iteration of the WF1000 family, which seems to have been given a lot of thought and feedback from previous customers.
The company explained that the new headphones are lighter and have a new chip for noise cancellation, but is all the hardware a trump card or flattering to deceive? This is what we’ve been trying to figure out with the Sony WF-1000XM5 earbuds for the past few weeks.
yay
– Smaller headphones
– Impressive ANC performance
– The sound quality is one of the best
– Good for voice calls
– Reliable battery life
No
– Shiny headphones
– The user interface of the application is dated
– Certainly expensive
Sony WF-1000XM5 Review: What’s Cool?
Sony WF-1000XM5 headphones are really small, how small? The company mentioned that it’s about 20 percent smaller than the WF-1000XM4 headphones, and when you put them both together, you can see the difference.
Even the overall fit of the WF-1000XM5 is better than its predecessor, and when you hook it up with the tips in the box, you notice the small size of the headphones. You get a perfect ear seal that blocks out all ambient noise, including moving around on an airplane, airport bus, or subway.
We tested the headphones in all three situations during our recent trip, and it did a very good job of blocking noise. This means that the active noise cancellation (ANC) chip works as advertised, and the overall efficiency of the new chip allows you to use the headphones for longer than before.
That’s not all, there’s a chip to improve audio performance, which got me thinking, can Sony really improve on the WF-1000XM4, which was already one of the best on the market? Turns out they could and did. The WF-1000XM5 builds on the sonic range of its predecessor, offering a sophisticated soundscape that works in most genres that people like to play.
We pushed everything through the headset to see how it performs and if there are any weaknesses, but we didn’t find much to complain about. This is all credit to Sony for listening to people and working on a product that could have changes, and it did.
The bass doesn’t feel overwhelming at the default EQ settings, but you’re free to experiment and the headphones respond to these changes bluntly. With Sony Connect+, you’ll never be disappointed with your headphones, you’ll make it work for anyone.
Another big plus with the new chip is battery life. Sony claims the WF-1000XM5 will offer around 8 hours of playback, and in our time we got them to last around 7 hours, which is pretty good. You also have a charging case that supports three additional charging cycles. To be fair, we didn’t really need to bill the case for over a week, which should keep most people happy.
Sony WF-1000XM5 Review: What’s Not So Cool?
While we liked the overall size of the headphones, we didn’t like the use of a glossy finish, which made them difficult to remove from the case. Another issue we encountered was accidentally dropping the buds because of the way it’s made, and that can make people worry about losing them easily.
And yes, while the design of the headphones makes them comfortable to wear, cleaning the ear tips isn’t easy, and that’s a bad thing for us in terms of hygiene. The last thing we didn’t like is the lack of a proper IP rating on these headphones, which makes them ideal for workouts, and at Rs 24,990, we or probably everyone expects that these days. We’d also like Sony to revamp the interface of its companion app, which still looks outdated and hasn’t changed much in all these years.
Sony WF-1000XM5 Review: Should You Buy
The Sony WF-1000XM5 in-ear headphones have most things going for them, including its new compact design, new chip for ANC and sound enhancement, wide sound field on offer, and decent battery life.
However, the headphones can be a slippery customer due to the glossy surface and still without the IP rating of the case. Most of you might also consider it an expensive case at Rs 24,990, but that’s the price for one of the best on the market.
