Sony WH-1000XM5 vs. WH-1000XM4 | Time to upgrade?

For now, the Sony WH-1000XM5 do not replace the XM4; instead, they are considered by Sony to be an upgrade. As the more expensive model, do they pack enough improvements to be worth the added cost? We put the two head-to-head to find out whether the XM5 deserve a few more of your hard-earned money.

00:00 Intro
01:27 Unboxing Experience
01:56 Cases & Accessories
03:38 Design
04:02 Comfort
04:37 Battery
05:16 Noise-Canceling
06:20 Call Quality
07:00 Audio Quality
07:54 So which headphones are best?

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[mariareinar]

4:04 According to the official specifications provided by Sony, the Sony WH-1000XM5 weigh 0.55 pounds (250 grams), while the Sony WH-1000XM4 weigh 0.56 pounds (254 grams). Are you telling me that you notice that difference??

[DungarooTV]

I have own these since day 1 (not all) - started with the Sony MDR-1000x (gen 1 in 2018) and have since upgraded to the WH-1000XM4 and then recently was gifted the XM5. Now hear me out, for overall sound balance (good across all ranges) - the 1000x still performs very well despite being around 5 years old now, but next I'll have to say the XM4 is my favourite - bass is so good and the overall look/feel of them is just perfect - the XM5 is also good but I find the fact that they don't fold in, have more 'boxy' cups and plainer design just doesn't do for me - granted the sound-cancelling is a little better, I personally feel the XM4 overall is still king although I do have a soft spot for the original 1000x if I'm just cruising for some songs during a walk. That's my honest review.

[psychopompous]

I bought my XM4's in late summer of 2020 and I've since put thousands of hours on them. They are the best headphones I've ever experienced, and for the price, the improvements with the XM5 are marginal. The loss of portability hurts too. I prefer the XM4's. I even named them, as they have provided such quality service for almost 3 years running. Thank you, Lord Chauncy de Philippo Marquis Jackson! Yoo da real MVP!

[tetzet]

If you have xm4 keep it and wait for xm6

[tonys]

I did a lot of reading of user reviews, and tested both for noise cancelling in the shop. I decided to buy the XM4s. A LOT of users are saying the XM5 noise cancelling is too clever, so at times there are lags of strength and changes. When the XM5s are in the ideal situation, they do have the best cancellation, but when things are changing people prefer the constant amount of blocking on the XM4. The XM4 partially uses white noise, which I personally like. I had to choose between the XM4 and BOSE QC45s in the end, and it was a really hard decision. The QC45 have excellent basic buttons, are lighter, and very comfortable. For people with smaller heads the QC45 may feeel a bit loose. But in the end I felt the noise cancelling in an average office/shop environment was a tiny bit better on the XM4s, but it was a 50/50 call to choose between these two. Again, many users really like the XM4s.

[emadahmed]

This is the best, fair and most persuasive comparative take I've seen on these two headphones. The XM5s are more well rounded and refined but the XM4s have some strengths too. Both are worth their respective price tags.

[robg]

The XM5’s are more like a brother to the XM4’s rather than a successor.

[sedaberry]

I owned both the xm4 and xm5. I loved the xm4’s and I couldn’t wait for the 5’s to come out and I ended up selling my xm4 to get the xm5 and I just wasn’t happy with the xm5. So I sold the xm5 to get the xm4 back. If you’re thinking about upgrading to the XM5. Don’t do it.

[BansGuy]

Here the 5's are 420 euros compared to 240 for the 4's, so I'm gonna wait till they're in stores so I can compare them. My music taste seems to favor the 4 and 180 euros is a huge difference for two ostensibly similar products. Great comparison!

[bgp]

The comparison becomes a lot more complicated when you factor price differences in different countries. Here in Australia, the XM5s are $150 more expensive than the XM4s at MSRP, however, the gap is generally more like $200 as it's pretty easy to find the XM4s on sale. Seems to make justifying the upgrade much more difficult.

[bbqcrew]

Just wore the XM5s on a 24 hour flight trip. Noise Cancelling was next level, better than ear plugs that I use to sleep. Cuts out a lot of annoying high frequency, and you can hear them adjusting to cancel noise

The bigger ear cup was very comfortable. Much better than my XM3s.

Battery life is exceptional. The case was a concern, but the tapper shape packs really well.

The only annoyance is that the headphones don't fold flat with cups facing down when you put them around your neck, you have to put the cups facing up.

Amazing upgrade to my XM3s and keepers for comfort and incredible noise cancelling.

[StevePaulSounds]

Sound quality - I've only had the XM5 headphones one day - (I tried to XM4s three days and remember I've never heard such beautiful bass as the XM4. On the XM5 I've never sounded smooth vocals and certain other sounds sound so gorgeous and smooth and standing out, even on £20000 There's a certain hiss and lack of realism about the very high frequencies not being clear, (eg running water sounds like noise) a lot of the different EQ settings on the XM5 give a beautiful different character to the music, but also there's something lacking about the sounds on certain genres, and it's hard to get the EQ sounding just as you want as if there's something not quite right about the character and realism to the sound quality (note, I'm a music producer, used to working with top notch EQs, and pretty good monitors and headphones, so it could actually be something about a low quality Equalizer compared to what you get in music software degrading the balance....) 

Another thing to note, I returned the XM4s because I noticed distortion after 3 days. I noticed really bad distortion on the XM5s only to figure out it was Spotify on my iPad at fault, it was fine on my phone.... Just in case you run into that problem, it may not be the headphones. So some of my feedback actually may be to do with Spotify's weaknesses.... I'd need to do more wired testing on ALAC, FLAC, WAV and working in music software and LDAC when I get my stolen MP3 player replaced... so I'll come back with a fuller review. I'm also having lots of random music stopping which is really annoying, but I seem to remember that happening on XM4s. It doesn't happen on my Nuraphones (which incidentally have better noise cancelling and magical sound profiling, but really uncomfortable, actually sometimes hurting after long sessions, and a horrible pricing system)

I'll definitely keep the XM5s for now, mainly for the gorgeousness of the vocals, as the features are cool too, but I really miss how amazing the bass was on the XM4s and it's distracting me from enjoying the music quite a But also I'm still worried about the distortion on both devices, and may try switching to different headphones like Momentum 4, Technics or

If you want a quick comparison:
Pro tip - listen to LUMP - Late To The Flight on XM4s for the most incredible bass you've heard. I enjoyed that song so much more. 
Pro tip - listen to Gerhaurd Fankhauser and Einat Gilboa - Native Prayer on the XM5s for the most beautful vocals standing out in the mix.
Then decide which is more important to you.

[immortalsun]

Finally a comparison video that is short and consise, yet thorough. I was looking for one that wasn’t half an hour long. You did a perfect job of explaining what you need to know without going into way more detail than you have to. Fantastic video! Earned yourself a new subscriber!

[daddygrace]

Thank you for this review. I purchased the Samsung Galaxy Pro2 Earbuds several months ago after purchasing my 2022 Samsung 55 inch OLED SB95 4K television. I didn't like the way the earbuds felt and they sometimes fell out my ears from walking around inside my apartment while watching television. I decided to purchase the Sony WH-1000XM4 Black Friday on sale for $228.00 at Best Buy. I love the Sony XM4 headphones and the sound quality watching television and battery life is fantastic. They are now back to the original price of $349.00 at Best Buy. I realize, there is the Sony WH-1000XM5 for $399.99 on sale at Best Buy for $349.99. I saved $110 on the Sony WH-1000XM4 and this is a good deal. The M4 is just as good as the M5 and I am satisfied with the M4's.

[francischiew]

recently I bought the xm4 instead of xm5. firstly it can be folded easily and kept coz the mx5 inability to fold is a major decision. second having tried both at the stores for hours don't see much difference in sound quality or noise canceling. third having tested it out on a river boat taxi here in Bangkok / the noisy road outside here in bkk or the noisy engine of the local bus engine it's enough to tell me that the xm4 is more than enough - noise canceling is so good that standing next to a huge motor boat engine I can feel motor of the vibration of the boat engine rather the engine noise sure I can still hear the noise but it's reduced like up to 90% what I can hear is a low muffled humming of the engine. sound quality? having tried the senheiser /bose numerous hours on different occasions with different musics and videos I can say the xm4 sound better the other 2 brand which people are always comparing to at leastto me. battery life amazing coz definitely long battery life ( didn't keep track but didn't have to charge it after a week of on off usage) lots of reviewers complained about the xm4 build quality saying it will break anytime but the thing is when one spend this amount of money one would definitely take care when using it and I am OK with the build quality and never once hear the moving part noise from the band of the headset at all after using it for nearly 3 months.

[Shady_]

Today I returned the XM5 and will stick with my XM4’s. The sound quality was definitely a bit better and when I would first put them on they felt really comfortable. The reason I’m returning them is because for extended use they XM5’s actually started bothering my ears for some reason and I’ve never had that issue with the XM4. Everyone’s head and ears are different so I’m sure there will be lots of people that won’t have this issue

[JeyVGaming]

Honestly, I much prefer the design of the XM4's and after seeing that they've removed the folding feature on XM5's, I would stick with the XM4's if you want better travel friendly option.

Though, if you don't care about that, sound-wise, the XM5's has better sound accuracy than the XM4's.

[jonno]

Thank you, a good honest review. Having only just upgraded from WH-CH710N to WH-1000XM4, I'm more than happy with what I've got.

[TheBoomerPlace]

I’ll keep my XM 3s until they die. Then I’ll get whatever is good at that time. Great vid as usual.

[medlifessei]

the short cable might be so you can't charge the headphones while using them. that's for regulatory reasons.