Now that there are hundreds of noise-canceling earbuds out there, it’s easy to scoff at the Sony WF-1000XM5’s $299 price tag – I certainly did at first. But while these earbuds are expensive, they offer some of the best noise canceling I’ve experienced in an earbud, paired with incredible sound quality. I’ve been using these earbuds every day for nearly a year now, and in that time they’ve earned a permanent spot in my purse whenever I leave the house.
Design and Features
Like any other wireless earbud, the Sony WF-1000XM5s come in a little charging case, but what sets these apart is how small it is. Standing upright, the case is just 1.57 inches tall and 2.54 inches long, making it extremely easy to fit in any pocket or bag. The case is also covered in this nice rubbery material that feels soft and smooth.
The small size hides some nifty features, though. The Sony WF-1000XM5 case is compatible with Qi wireless charging. At first glance, this seems like an awkward feature, given the round shape of the case. However, the bottom edge of the case is flat, and you can stand it up vertically on a wireless charger to get the juice flowing.
The earbuds themselves look like little black beans, adorned with little bronze circles on the outer corner. The side of the earbud that, well, goes into your ear, has a little stem with a foam tip attached. Luckily, the WF-1000XM5s come with several pairs of tips in different sizes (and materials), so you can find the ones that fit your ear just right. Beyond the tip, though, the small bean-like shape of the WF-1000XM5s are comfortable and fit snugly in my ears.
And unlike a lot of other earbuds out there – namely Apple’s AirPods Pro – that start to get uncomfortable after a while, I can wear the Sony WF-1000XM5s for hours without feeling the need to give my ears a rest, even if that’s not necessarily a healthy choice.
But even with how small these beans are, they have some impressive noise cancelation running under the surface. Sony claims that the noise cancelation tech is ‘AI-based’, and while that was probably true when the algorithm was first created, keep in mind that these earbuds won’t get any better at canceling out noise over time.
Sony also included a bone conduction sensor, to work with the microphone, to more clearly pick up your voice in noisy environments. I’m not sure that was necessary for just the microphone, but the Sony WF-1000XM5s are the best earbuds in my collection when it comes to actually talking on the phone, so clearly Sony is on to something.
The drivers themselves are 8.4mm dynamic drivers, which are technically less capable than the two different drivers found in the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, but these earbuds are still capable of 96kHz sampling. And because Sony owns LDAC, it’s no real surprise that these earbuds also support that lossless codec for high-res audio.
Through the Sony Headphone Connect app, you can enable all the WF-1000XM5’s little software goodies. Adaptive Sound Control, for instance, will change the intensity of noise canceling depending on where you are or what you’re doing. After all, when I’m at home listening to music and writing, I don’t need the earbuds to filter out as much noise as when I’m riding the train to the office.
In the app you can also enable ‘Speak to Chat’. When this feature is turned on, you can start talking and your earbuds will pause your music and turn on ambient noise so you can have a conversation without needing to fuss with your earbuds. Then, when you’re done talking, your previous settings will come back after a few seconds.
The Speak to Chat feature works largely thanks to the bone conduction sensor built into the microphone. This makes the earbuds more able to tell when it’s you talking, rather than someone who’s around you. This stops the feature from interrupting your groove when some stranger on the train starts having a loud phone conversation.
Performance
At $299, the Sony WF-1000XM5s have to sound good, no matter how many fancy features the company worked into the buds. And regardless of whether noise canceling is enabled or not, the earbuds sound fantastic, even if they lean a little bass-heavy from time to time. Luckily, the Headphone Connect app has an excellent equalizer that can dial the sound in closer to your personal taste.
The app also has a wizard that lets you play a song and navigate through some settings in real time to help you find your sound, without needing to spend an hour messing with individual levers. I eventually found myself using an equalizer setting that keeps the strong bass of the default sound, but further highlighting mids and highs for a more full sound.
And over the last year, I’ve listened to everything from Rob Zombie to TLC, and I haven’t found any music that doesn’t sound good. Thanks to the inherent noise isolation that comes from using the included foam tips, too, audio is clear and balanced without having to keep the volume at unhealthy levels – even if I ultimately do that anyway.
The drivers are a bit less advanced than the Samsung Galaxy 3 Buds Pro, which at $249 are cheaper and also have a supplemental planar magnetic driver to balance out its soundstage. I’ve used both earbuds a lot, especially when I was reviewing the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6. And while they do sound great, I still found myself going back to the Sony WF-1000XM5s, mostly on the back of the better noise cancellation.
As someone that gets extremely overwhelmed in loud environments, I am especially sensitive to the quality of noise cancellation. The Sony WF-1000XM5s have become indispensable as a tool to deal with my anxiety issues, especially when I’m out in the city doing errands or running to events. Anyone who’s ever visited New York City can tell you how loud the streets and the subway can get, especially during rush hour, and the WF-1000XM5s can essentially put it all on mute. No other earbuds I’ve used, from the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro to the AirPods Pro, have been able to match the WF-1000XM5’s ability to shut out the outside world.
But again, because of the earbuds’ ability to change noise cancelation depending on where you are or what you’re doing, I’m able to just start up a conversation when I need to without needing to pull out my earbuds. You can even set the earbuds to turn up ambient noise when you’re commuting, in the interest of safety. I, for one, would rather be hit by a car than have to hear the outside world, but you do you.
Battery
Sony claims that the WF-1000XM5s can get up to 8 hours of listening time, which is extended to 24 hours if you charge the earbuds in their cases in between listening sessions. Listen, I’ve worn these earbuds almost every day for almost a year and I’ve never had to worry about whether the battery is going to die before I’m done listening to music.
Even flying from New York to LA, I’m able to listen to the earbuds through security, get on the plane, then land without even needing to pause my music. The long battery life has even been a hassle sometimes, because I’ll forget to charge it – my default assumption is that it has battery left, as it usually does.
When it’s dead it doesn’t even take that long to charge. I can plug the case into my desktop to charge while I’m working, and it’ll be done charging in around an hour. Plug it into a wall with a decent charging brick and it’ll cut the time down to around 30 minutes.
Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra
