Sony WH-1000XM5 Review: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back!

Sony's MK5 noise cancelling headphones are still king of the hill,

Headphones provided by Sony for review.

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[arjunsankar]

The sound design in this video is absolutely beautiful. I hope this trend continues in your future headphone review videos.

[TheGroovyGuitarDude]

I’m still rocking the Mark 3s and love them, not enough improvement to justify upgrading yet! 🎧

[LLANTALOBOTOMIK]

I actually love the fact that they won't fold. Folding make them weaker and they rattle a lot.

[RaedVS]

I think not being foldable will eventually be better for durability in the long term

[hutch]

I absolutely adore my XM4’s - wear them for up to 8 hours a day with absolutely no discomfort. One of the best technology investments I’ve ever made, hands down!

[Lotus_on_YT]

Have the XM4s, don't plan on upgrading. That being said, I do love this series of headphones; I use them cross platform (windows desktop, macbook, and linux office computer) and it's really convenient that they work more or less identically across all devices.

[ChiliMn]

Honestly as someone that only uses them at home, I prefer the new design. They look and feel way more premium and in-place for such a high price range. The older designs were much more prone to break due to the folding mechanics. I do however agree that the naming is completely wrong. I feel like they should just have 2 design lines. The classic XM-Line with a focus on travel and the ability to carry it around easily, and a more premium line focused on maximizing comfort, sturdiness and design.

[itsJoonsung]

I can't speak on the travel aspect as I have yet to travel with them. My main use for them is for work. So that aside, I love them. They're super comfortable, the noise cancellation is top notch, and i'm not a sound engineer but I really enjoy the sound quality.

[hunternelson]

I've had the xm3's for years, they're so freaking good, and even after heavy use for years the battery lasts for days

[yyyyyeeeee]

I have XM4s, and what I would really need to see to upgrade is:
- Be able to use them while charging.
- Dual-band bluetooth (i.e. use headset in music mode and headset mode at the same time, for gaming), theres no reason I should need to keep an entire extra dongle or microphone around when the hardware has more than enough bandwidth for hi-res audio and a hi-res audio stream.

[joelconolly]

Considering that the XM4's are great already, the XM5's are small incremental upgrade that definitely already hit mark. You are actually fine with either one of these even if you have unlimited budget.

[TechnoLawyer]

I picked up a pair. I like them more each day. The light weight, the comfort, the very good noise canceling, the way I can have it paired to my laptop and my phone simultaneously and it'll switch back and forth on the fly depending on which device is outputting sound to it (fairly useful during the workday).

But know the best part? The touch to the side to place it into transparency mode and how it immediately returns to noise canceling once you remove your hand. Extremely useful when you work from home and the kids get home from school. Runner up is how it can be set to automatically go into transparency mode when it detects you beginning to talk. Also useful for the same scenario.

The best $400 I've spent on tech in years.

[realtimestatic]

I’ve been daily driving the WH-1000XM3‘s and they’ve lasted great and are still really good for daily use and I still find it’s noise canceling really good 2/3 years later

[JinglesOnJuniper]

Literally bought the XM4s less then a week ago and when I saw this video my heart dropped because I thought I made a mistake. After watching it though I realize the XM4s are the correct pair for me. Thanks for all your reviews

[wondermaid]

M3 and M4 weakest points were the folding hinges, you can find a tone of sets on the used market with broken hinges. Sony had to fix this and their solution was to remove the folding hinges entirely. I don't blame them for that

[KatrinaFoxemployerbranding]

These are my first pair of NC headphones - they have changed my relationship with music. I'm sure the M4s would have been as good - but the M5s look as good as they sound IMO. Excellent review for those looking to buy

[jordanmartinetti]

I have the M4 version and I love them. Honestly the larger footprint from the lack of folding is a dealbreaker for me. My backpack is jammed full when I travel and being able to get the M4 folded up small is something I won't look over again.

[anaslatique]

i just bought these 2 days ago and they sound amazing. i really don’t care about them not folding as long as they sound amazing and the noise cancellation is top notch!

[abigailthaliamallows]

I bought the XM4 about 2 months ago, just before the XM5 was released. I was almost disappointed that I hadn't waited a few more weeks, but thank you for showing me that the XM4 is perfect for me and the changes would actually have been worse for me personally. Thanks!

[labellajo]

I brought the XM4 recently for $400 and I must say that I don't regret buying it at all. In terms of noise cancellation, yes it does work effectively at cancelling out noises - I don't have any complaints about it and Im soo glad its foldable.