WF-1000XM5 Premium Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds

I've tried for months for find a decent set of premium wireless earbuds that don't have issues or significant downsides... The Sony MX5s are the winners! Take them out of the case and they connect to your device straight away. Multipoint worries perfectly, both devices connect and switch without issues every time. Sound QUALITY is great, the EQ is helpful. The bass is pronounced and clear without drowning out the mids or highs. The vocals are clear and the treble is crisp. Volume is great, I have my phone set to 50% in most scenarios with ANC on and that's more than enough. The ANC is brilliant. Wore these on a few flights and you can't hear the engine noise, passengers or babies. You will hear that an announcement is happening, but you'll need to use the transparency mode to actually hear/understand it. Noise in cafes and airports is barely noticeable with ANC on. Removing a bud promptly pauses music and jumps to transparent mode in the other one. Putting it back in starts again and turns ANC back on. Works every time. App is easy to use after you work out where everything is. It connects every time, but if you are using multipoint only 1 device can connect at a time in my experience. Not really a problem. I've got android devices so use LDAC codec. Works great, no disconnecting in normal use cases (phone in pocket while walking around). Battery life using LDAC is about 6hrs (maybe a bit more) per bud, then a couple of charges from the case. Ear tips are ok, but a bit firm/uncomfortable for me. They do the ANC. I bought a set of comply tips from Amazon (£12, various sizes) and the comfort is so much better and ANC is better to. Had to tweak the EQ slightly but no degradation is sound or volume. Tap controls work great. However I would of liked more customisation. I regularly just use one ear buds and the most annoying thing is Sony has "sets" of controls that you can assign to the buds. One "set" is playing controls (play/paused skip forward/back), the other is feature controls (toggle ANC mode, start Spotify/Amazon music/ press and hold for temporary transparency/pause). It annoys me that I can't have play controls and a toggle for ANC/transparency on one bud. The volume controls are done with 4 taps on either bud to tun up/down, it's awkward so I just use the device. Not the end of the world, see what I've had on other buds to understand why... So, what did I try before these and why did I return them? 1. Bang & Olufsen Beoplay EX - great sound quality, fit and controls, non-existant ANC but worst of all constant disconnects from any device I tried (like once a minute). Returned. 2. Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra - great controls, great ANC (5% better than Sony's at most though), ok fit but comply tips would have been better. mediocre sound but they had terrible issues with going out of sync with each other and one or the other losing connection. Had to resync with the case every 30mins or so. Case is huge, no wireless charging and felt like it was going to break. Returned. 3. Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 - good sound, great controls, great integration with android, great connectivity. Mediocre ANC, but had 2 pairs both with ANC weakness in one ear (ear seal ok, it's a sw problem). Fighting for a return with Google. Sonya are by far the best experience I've had. Worth the extra and if you can find a deal, go for it.

These are excellent earbuds for me. The sound quality is very nice. I have used the app to finetune the sound, and it has beautiful highs and satisfying bass at the same time. The noise cancelling is OK as well. It does not eliminate outside noise completely (eg treadmill). I did not expect them to. It works against the noise enough such that the music is enjoyable, and the noise is not distracting. Stays in during workout (eg running, rowing). The touch controls (instead of physical buttons) occasionally pick up accidental touch, which is a minor nuisance. I use it on the setting that favours sound quality, yielding less stable connection, disallowing multi point connect. Sometimes when in a busy area (eg Liverpool Street Station) there is interference which disturbs the listening experience. This only happens infrequently, when there are a lot of people around, but has not happened on a plane. It does not bother me, as I know I set it up this way. I don't know how the more fault tolerant setting (with lower sound quality) behaves. I can only compare them to the Jabra Elite 7 Pro, which I had previously, and I think the Sony WF-1000XM5 is a lot better than that.

I've got quite a few sets of headphones and earbuds, both wireless and wired. They all cost a fraction of these. Normally I like cans, I much prefer having them around my ear, but....when I walk my dog and the weather is poor (quite regular of course in good olf Blighty), I wear in ear buds under a hat to keep em dry. I've got some dirt cheap Betron wired jobbies which are perfectly fine for listening to audio books, I've also got some cheap as chips Anker wireless buds, again, perfectly fine for listening to audio books on the dog walk. The trouble is, my phone doesn't have a headphone socket (do any these days?) and the adapter has started breaking up, my Ankers, well they've started playing up too. I decided to splurge and get a pair of these, it was between these, the Bose Ultra and the Sennheiser Momentum 4s. I'd read a bazillion reviews on what to buy, eventually I just plumped for these cos they were the cheapest of the 3, got cracking reviews and I could get em on easy pay! At first, I thought...what have I done, I can't hear much of a difference between these and the cheap Ankers. honestly, if all you do is listen to audio books, don't spend this amount, it's a waste, unless of course you need (and I mean need) noise cancellation. Then.....I decided to listen to some music on my dog walk instead of a book, OH MY GOODNESS, the sound out of these little things is astonishing, I was walking around with a massive grin on my face, you need to select the right equaliser setting that suits your listening taste, but once you do the sound out of these is fantastic. I'm no audiophile but these are top, top drawer. One other thing, the noise cancellation eats into battery life, it does work really well, blocking out a lot of the external noise, on a train commute or a flight these would be brilliant. Without cancellation on the battery life is really good. I reckon I'd get a couple of weeks out of these without needing to recharge the case, that's a couple of hours a day’s use. Now, even though I've said how great they are I'm given them a 4 instead of a 5. I'm being picky but the case is a bit fiddly, especially getting the buds to sit right when putting them back in. They're also a little fiddly to get to sit in my ears right, needing a little wiggling, the cheap Ankers just went in easy peasy, both in the case and in my ears.

Who is giving these such great reviews? I generally have a rule of thumb - if you have to faff with a gadget to make it work, return it immediately. These fall into that category, although I have given them a couple of months, just to make sure they are as irritating as I first thought. Take today for example, I took them out the case and the left ear bud didn't work. Had to put them back into the case to 'reset' them and get them out again. Then walked to the shop; twice there was a down-chime sound and the podcast just stopped. I thought it had run out of battery, but no; I pressed play and it started again. Then three times I had a 2 second Bluetooth cut-out which resumed on its own. When I got to the shop, I took my earbuds out to talk to the assistant, and they continued playing, so I am trying to have a conversation and hit the 'pause' button on my earbuds whilst they are in my hands. Then I had to try and use the very fiddly 'rewind' to get back to where I was on my podcast. This is by far the most annoying thing that the earbuds do. The other similar annoying thing they do, is you'll have them on pause, and they'll actually RESUME when you try to remove them and continue when they are in the case! The above pretty much resembles what it looks like to use them on an average occasion and you get to the point where you can't be bothered any more. Pros - The sound is pretty good, but doesn't blow you away - The noise cancelling is very good - They are comfortable - The app is ok but too many gimmicks and not concentrating on making everything robust. Cons - Left earbud randomly doesn't work. - Play will suddenly stop for no apparent reason. - There are regular cut outs in sound like Bluetooth has dropped for a second. - The control functions are fiddly and you have to keep 'finding' them with your finger each time and always end up doing things like stopping instead of skipping. - They do NOT STOP PLAYING when you take them out of your ear. - When you put them back in your ear, they will often be playing something totally different (i.e. skipped from a podcast app, to radio app). - You have to open the Alexa app on your phone for Alexa to work. - The case will randomly not charge. It will just sit with a red light for hours. - It is difficult to work out which is left and right when not picked from the case. - They have a very cheap feel to them despite the premium price tag. - The range is poor. From my laptop it is about 3m. - I can't work out battery life. There is no indicator. - You can never just put them in and have them work seamlessly. It has NEVER happened. I REALLY, REALLY wish I hadn't wasted my money and I'd got the Bose QuietComfort instead.

A decent pair of headphones absolutely ruined by notable bugs and poor noise cancelling. Within 10 months they have stopped accepting a charge in any way, shape or form and trying to receive support or activate the warranty is nigh impossible. A severe reduction in quality when compared to previous Sony earphones. I was happy with the sound quality when they worked, but given how little they lasted, these feel little more than e-waste.

I've tried several pairs of wireless earbuds over the years, but the Sony WF-1000XM5 easily stand out as the best I’ve used so far. 🎧 Sound Quality & Noise Cancellation: The sound is rich, clear, and well-balanced whether it's music, podcasts, or calls, everything comes through with excellent detail. The noise cancellation is top-tier, noticeably cutting out background noise even in busy environments. ⚡ Charging & Battery Life: They charge **surprisingly fast, and the battery life is solid. I can easily get through a day of use with a couple of short top-ups from the case. 🔧 Build & Fit: Build quality feels premium and sturdy, yet they’re still lightweight and comfortable. Sony includes multiple earbud sizes, which helped me get a snug, secure fit. That’s a big deal for me—I use them while running and working out, and they don’t move around at all. 📶 Connectivity & Features: Bluetooth connection is stable, even while moving or exercising. The ambient sound mode works well for when you want to stay aware of your surroundings—it's not quite as natural as Apple’s AirPods Pro transparency mode, but it's close enough for everyday use. 🎒 Portability: Compact case, easy to carry, and convenient for travel or commuting. They're also quick to pair with multiple devices, which is a nice bonus. Final Thoughts: If you're looking for high-performance wireless earbuds with great sound, secure fit, and excellent noise cancellation, the WF-1000XM5s are hard to beat. They're a bit of an investment, but absolutely worth it for the quality and comfort they deliver.

I decided to take a punt on a pair of the WF-1000XM5s after over a year of use with my fantastic WH-1000XM5 over ear headphones (you've got to love Sony's naming convention...). Whilst I love my comfy, lightweight noise cancellers, I wear in-ear headphones far more often, like when I'm out and about, and have all of the mainstream pairs going - Apple's AirPods Pro 2 and 3, Samsung's Galaxy Buds 3 Pro and Google's Pixel Buds Pro 2. All of these have their own pros and cons though, and I hoped - from experience of the WH-XM5 that Sony's true wireless buds would bring stellar sound quality and ample ANC, even if their build, battery and bang for buck wasn't quite as strong as its competetors. But after just 24 hours with the WF-1000XM5s, I had pretty much given up... First impressions count for a lot, and while the fancy UI dance that AirPods or Galaxy Buds give you is an entirely unnecessary piece of theatre in the process of connecting buds to phone, I never considered the pairing process to be an area that headphones could perform badly in, until now. On taking the WF-XM5s out of the case, I didn't get any prompts with Android fast pair or a regular Bluetooth scan. No problem, I'll just hit the pairing button on the case... Except after 5 minutes of no results, I restored to reading the manual to check I was doing things right, only to have the process of pressing the case's pair button for 5 seconds confirmed - but no dice. So, it was back into the case with the buds, and thankfully after an hour on the charger, they miraculously popped up on about the 30th try. Great. Or at least, that's what I thought until I had to put the WF-XM5s into my ears. I've glossed over the build quality of the case because I was taught that if I didn't have anything good to say, I shouldn't say anything at all. The best comparison I can make to the plastic material and texture of the case is paper mache. Now I know that sounds spitefully rude about the Sony's, but honestly, the rough, hollow-feeling, brittle shell of the case can only really come close to paper mache - or perhaps a recycled paper cup. Sony clearly doubled down on this material choice with the ear tips for the headphones themselves, too. On first insertion into my ears, I wondered if I'd missed an outer protective cover or something, because the sensation of something between recycled paper and cork being pressed into my ears was surely a mistake. But, upon retreating to the cute little box the XM5s come in, the other sizes of ear tips are all made of the same stuff. I should also note that there's a stiff resistence to the ear tips, too, almost like memory foam which should, I imagine, expand to create a nice seal in your ears to achieve noise cancellation, but for me, they just never felt right. I normally wear a larger size of ear tip, I'm an 'L' in AirPods, for example, but between all 4 sizes I tried on the WF-XM5s, I couldn't find a good fit. The default 'M' felt too big, but Sony's Sound Connect app told me they were too small in its seal test, but the 'L' sized tips wouldn't even fit into my ears. The 'S' tips fell out with little provocation, leading me to go with the good old medium size and hope they would better confirm to my ears over time - spoiler alert: in a day, they didn't. But anyway, surely this is all moot, right? As I said, these were the areas I expected the Sony's to fall down in, so what about the important areas where they should excel - like sound and ANC. Well, this was the next fatal blow against the WF-XM5s for me. I have a fairly standard listening test for comparing speakers and headphones, 5 songs across a range of genres to capture a range of dynamics and frequencies and test the full sonic spectrum. Half way into song 1, I knew I was in for a rough ride with the Sony's. I tend to do a first run with no additional EQ, then dial in my preferences afterward and fine tune until perfect. However, no matter what I tried, I couldn't get the WF-1000XM5s to match the range of abilities I could get from Apple's AirPods, Pixel Buds Pro 2 or even Samsung's Galaxy Buds Pro 2 - up until now my worst sounding pair of buds, in my opinion. Whilst the Sony's do capture clarity (which is perhaps their best attribute), the almost complete lack of bass took me by surprise. I haven't had to add bass into buds in quite a while, but even cranking the lower frequencies didn't ever bring the level of low-end balance I wanted. What's more, the poor seal and fit I got from the eartips meant that what little low-end I could capture just leaked out and left the sound more flat than I would like. This leads nicely into the ANC, which I don't feel I can suitable judge because I just wasn't able to achieve the correct 'fit', despite my trying and even the active cancellation couldn't match the passive cancellation I got with other pairs which gave me a better fit. I know the crux of this review rests on the poor fit - and I must note this is obviously highly subjective. This isn't the first (and I'm sure it won't be the last) pair of headphones that have been ruined for me based on fit alone, but with all the recent offerings I've tried, it isn't an issue I've encountered and poor fits and growing more few and far between now. But this really was the nail in the WFs coffin for me. On top of that, the size of the buds also felt fatiguing far more quickly than my other buds. While the weight isn't noticably higher, the blobby nature of them makes them more prone to errant swipes or taps of the touch control panel and they are the first in-ear buds that have caused irritaton with my outer ear in a long time. Whilst I wasn't able to robustly test battery life, it seemed fine in the ~48 hours I spent with them before ultimately hitting the 'return' button with regret and remorse. I really wanted to like the WF-1000XM5s, but the size and fit was truely a dealbreaker here. I know there isn't much that you can do to test this before you buy, but if you're particularly prone to mis-fitting earbuds, be aware that these may not be for you, either.

I have had these for several months. Firstly, I also own Sony WH-1000XM5 over-the-ear headphones and I can make an honest comparison based on the use of these in-ear speakers. The package comes with a type of foam tip in three different sizes. They are easy to fit and size. You have to download Sony’s “Sound Connect” app to get the best out of these devices. I can quite easily wear them for hours at a time as they are comfortable to wear. Providing you have the right ear tip fitted they take a bit of headshaking before they come out. I found the Base reasonable, but the Treble feels a bit patchy, however, your ability to adjust the sound settings in the equaliser setting means you can get some true depth in a tiny package. The noise cancellation whilst not as good as the WH-1000XM5 over-the-ear headphones, works well enough providing there’s not too much noise surrounding you, but it is far superior to Apple Airpod Pro. You can easily lose yourself in whatever you’re listening to if you’re sitting outside a coffee shop on a normal street. I have found the battery doesn’t last as long as the battery in my Apple AirPod Pro. With the battery lasting around about 4 1/2 hours of continuous play. The charging case that it comes with will deliver just under three recharges before you have to recharge the case itself. The case only takes 40 to 50 minutes to fully charge. I’ve given a straight choice between these and my AirPods, I’m more than happy to dump the Apple product. The richness and depth of sound that. These earphones dilemma are only busted by the much more expensive ones. WH-1000XM5. The ability to make and receive a phone call using these ear buds is surprisingly good, but nowhere near as good as Air Pod Pro. The person on the other side can hear you talk in quite noisey locations. I highly recommend these, particularly if you can get them under £250.

Die Sony WF 1000XM5 in Smoky Pink sind für mich ein echter Hingucker. Die Farbe gefällt mir sehr gut und die Kopfhörer sehen insgesamt modern und hochwertig aus. Auch beim Sound bin ich wieder sehr zufrieden. Die Musik klingt klar und kräftig und gerade beim täglichen Hören macht das richtig Spaß. Besonders überzeugt mich aber das Noise Cancelling. Wenn man unterwegs ist oder einfach seine Ruhe haben möchte werden störende Geräusche sehr gut reduziert. Ich finde auch die Größe angenehm und die Kopfhörer lassen sich gut im Alltag nutzen. Die Kombination aus gutem Klang starkem Noise Cancelling und dem schönen Design gefällt mir einfach sehr gut. Für mich sind die Sony WF 1000XM5 weiterhin die Nummer 1 bei In Ear Kopfhörern. Ich habe bisher nichts gefunden was mich insgesamt mehr überzeugt. Von mir gibt es deshalb ganz klar 5 Sterne.

Är sååååå nöjd…

De compacte bouw past goed in mijn oor. Qua comfort toch 1 ster er af omdat ik (volgens de app van Sony) een grotere maat eartips nodig heb voor een goede seal dan wat ik normaal voor mijn eigen comfort zou gebruiken. Gelukkig zijn de meegeleverde eartips redelijk qua comfort, en is het na een beetje wennen wel acceptabel. Dat neemt niet weg dat ik wel andere opties qua eartips ga proberen. Het geluid is over de hele linie goed, de sound signature is vrij typisch Sony, maar wel iets neutraler en gebalanceerder dan hun goedkopere draadloze in ears. Tot nu toe stoorde ik me bij alle draadloze in ears met actieve noise cancelling aan hoe deze de klank beinvloedde of het gevoel dat deze in mijn oren veroorzaakte. Dit is de eerste draadloze in ear waarbij ik dat niet heb. Het effect van de ANC is echter nog steeds ruim voldoende. Het werkt het beste bij constant geluid, zoals een afzuigkap of een koelsysteem. Ik ben er blij mee.

its really good, but expensive, the features are very good, i didnt read the manuel, i just learned on my own what the taps on the ear buds do, the noise cancelation doesnt get rid of all noise in the background, it just causes u to hear it less, but it does cut out the static or air that u would hear without it, so i do prefer it, but sometimes after being in my ear for 1hr or more, it starts to give pain, most of the time i can wear them for hrs pain free, & if u use the smallest size earbud replacements, & bend down they almost fall out of your ear, but to me those are the most comfortable, so i keep using them. 1 thing i noticed when trying take them out of case its easy to drop them, due to the magnetic pull in the case, i have drop them twice that way, because when pulling them out, the magnets keep fighting u, to not let them go easily. but overall very good product, just expensive, i wish the price was lesser, but if i take care of them, i think they would last a long time.

El sonido es excelente la cancelación de ruido es excelente la duración de la batería es excelente el único problema que tiene son las almohadillas que no se adaptan a mis oídos ninguno de los tamaños que trae se adaptan a mis oídos y no aislan del ruido pero he comprado almohadillas viscoelásticas de otro tipo aquí en Amazon por poco más de diez euros y el aislamiento del ruido la comodidad la adaptación al oído todo perfecto conozco a otra persona aquí en mi ciudad que también los ha comprado y tiene problemas con las almohadillas que ya trae estos auriculares pero con esta sustitución de almohadillas viscoelásticas que son suaves al tacto y se amoldan bien al oído puedes llevarlas puestas a ir andando sin que se caigan y aíslan muy bien el ruido estoy bastante contento con estos auriculares porque sé que son premium y tienen una calidad de sonido excelente un aislamiento de ruido excelente una batería excelente y además tiene el modo transparencia que permite oír a través de los micrófonos y es como si no los llevarás puestos puedes oír perfectamente con ellos y escuchar música al mismo tiempo cuando se activa la función hablar por chat con la aplicación del móvil cuando hablas el auricular lo detecta se apaga la cancelación de ruido se pone en pausa la música y puedes hablar y oír a otra persona perfectamente al cabo de varios segundos ya configurado con la aplicación se activa la cancelación de ruido y se activa la música de nuevo y tiene también otras muchas funciones recomiendo estos auriculares para aquellos que quieran una buena experiencia de sonido ya he probado otros tipos de auriculares más baratos y estos son los mejores por experiencia pero hay que comprar otras almohadillas viscoelásticas de sustitución porque las que trae no son cómodas ni buenas al menos para mí.