In the Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) headphones game, Sony have arguably been the market leaders for the past few years. The Sony WH-1000XM5 was released in June 2022 and is the latest evolution in the WH-1000-XM series.
This post has two elements. The first is my experience and journey which led me to purchase the Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones, it’s good background info to consider. The second is just my review. Jump straight to the review if you are in a hurry!
I’ve gone through several wireless headphones and headsets in recent years for home office and gaming purposes. I’ve never found a perfect all-rounder. The Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2 for Xbox worked well on my Windows PC using a Xbox dongle, but when I switched to PopOS (Linux) Bluetooth drop outs forced me to dedicate that headset to Xbox use only.
Bluetooth Audio Technology is Crap
Let’s face it, it’s time to move on to better technology. Eternal pairing issues and regular drop-outs make Bluetooth audio a frustrating technology. Most headphone manufacturers now include features that enable multi-pairing to two or three different devices, but in my experience it’s a backwards and forwards process that fails to deliver in the set and forget department.
Yes, the Sony WH-1000XM5 is a Bluetooth headphone and it works rather well, but for me it still drops out when I connect to my Samsung S20 phone or my LG LC1 TV.
My apartment may be at fault here. It is a Bluetooth noisy environment. I have a bunch of Bluetooth smart home temperature sensors, smart watch, smart phone, keyboards, mouses, computers and more. I suspect that my Zigbee and Z-Wave smart home devices also make it a bad environment for Bluetooth audio.
My primary reason for buying the Sony WH-1000XM5 was because it has a 3.5 mm audio jack. You know, the type that your dad’s headphones had in the late 1900s.
My Requirements
I’m fussy with my tech, and given the issues I’ve faced with headphones over the years, I had some strong requirements to meet before I spent any more dollars on my next headphone. My aim was to dedicate the WH-1000XM5s for computer use via a wired connection with a secondary purpose for TV viewing via Bluetooth.
- Comfort – able to stand up to all day use
- Wired – I know it’s legacy technology, but I wanted a fool-proof 100% reliable connection
- Wireless – this was a secondary requirement, because I’ve just about given up on Bluetooth audio technology as a rock-stable connection
- ANC – my home office is often subjected to wind noise and construction work. I know the best ANC can’t perform miracles, but let’s hear (or not hear as the case may be) what the best in the ANC business can do.
- Longevity – Exterior cushion, felt and earmuff sponge generally degrade faster than the lifetime of the internal electronics. Will the WH-1000XM5 be any different?
The Review
They are AMAZING . . . end of review. Just kidding, read on . . .
Cost
At $548 AUD, these aren’t cheap right now and aren’t likely to come down much. I took advantage of Sony’s free ‘Next-day’ delivery. Unfortunately for me, next-day was three days later due to poor courier service. Not Sony’s fault.
Battery
For people on the move, this is a big item. Sony claim 30 hours with Bluetooth and ANC enabled. Going hardwired and disabling ANC will stretch battery life to around 50 hours. Impressive. There isn’t a permanent Power On indicator. I’ve been caught out by leaving the headphones on and running down the battery.
Comfort
There’s lightweight memory foam and vegan friendly faux-leather around the ear cups. Overall the headphones are very light and you’ll hardly notice you are wearing them. I’ve kept them on for 3-4 hours straight without any ear fatigue or discomfort.
Adjustment is in the form of a plastic slider. It does not have notched segments, some users have reported slippage. It hasn’t been a problem for me.
Wired Connectivity
The headphones are supplied with a 3.5 mm cable, which is about 1 metre long. Just long enough. One end has a 90 degree connector, the other is straight. The socket is at the base of the left ear cup. Guess what? It works 100% of the time, no drop-outs!
For me this configuration is perfect. I plug the cable into my PC monitors headphone socket. There’s no drivers to install. I have several video inputs on my monitor that are connected to three different computers. So no matter which computer I am using, I get audio straight to the headphones. No pairing issues and no drop-outs unless I knock the cable out (yes I’ve done that).
Wireless Connectivity
As I mentioned earlier, I had some issues with Bluetooth connectivity. When paired to my phone and TV, the connection would just disconnect after 5 minutes or so. I put this down to my Bluetooth noisy apartment. YMMV though. Pairing was easy. I used the Sony Headphones Connect app on my Android phone, but you can pair to a phone without the app.
Noise Cancelling
Passive noise cancelling (how well the headphones isolate ambient noise – unpowered) is very good, the ear cups do an excellent job on their own when Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) is off.
Turning on ANC for the first time is a revelation. White noise from computer fans and general street noise from the middle of a big city is almost completely reduced. It’s peaceful even when nothing is being played from the headphones. Just be aware that ANC is no magic bullet. ANC will do its best to reduce dynamic sounds such as car horns, banging and conversations, but from my estimations those types of noises are reduced to about 15-20%. This is the special sauce that Sony have over their rivals. Yes, you will pay extra for the ANC sauce, it’s a recipe that the Sony R&D department have been improving on each evolution.
The Auto NC Optimiser, is noise cancelling automatically optimised based on the wearing condition of the headset according to the shape of your face and your hairstyle, or the presence or absence of glasses, and the pressure change in an airplane. Cool!
Remember when shavers had only one blade? The men in white coats at Gillette discovered that two blades were better than one, then soon after three were better than two. Well, the Sony boffins took the same approach. ANC uses microphones to detect ambient sounds and then process them to remove noise. Sony have added 6 extra microphones (8 in total) on the WH-1000XM5 compared to the WH-1000XM4 which had only two. More is better, right?
Controls
Sony have gone for an Apple style clean look to these headphones with minimal visual controls. There’s one button for Power ON/OFF and pairing and one for switching between ANC and ambient sounds. Both buttons are on the left ear cup. The right ear cup has a capacitive touch panel which has multiple controls. The supplied user documentation is also minimal. Unless I missed it, I didn’t notice any reference to the controls available on the right ear cup. The Web Manual also fails to mention them. It wasn’t until I saw a website review that I found a run down on the controls as shown below:
| Function | Right Ear Cup Control |
|---|---|
| Volume up | Swipe up |
| Volume down | Swipe down |
| Next track | Swipe forward |
| Previous track | Swipe back |
| Voice assistant | Press and hold centre |
| Play/Pause | Double tap centre |
| Ambient Mode | Cup hand over ear cup |
Ambient Mode – I absolutely love the last function in the list above. When ANC is activated, the rest of the world is mostly muted. If you need to hear what’s going on around you, Ambient Mode uses a built-in microphone to relay that audio to your headphones. You can switch between Ambient Mode and ANC by pressing a button on the left ear cup, but that can take a second or two once you feel your way to locate the button. Alternatively, cupping a hand over the right ear cup instantly changes to Ambient Mode. This is my favourite feature, it’s so intuitive and quick and simple.
We Need to Talk About the App
There is an accompanying Sony Headphones Connect app for iPhone and Android phone owners. The app offers a lot of customisation features to adjust graphic EQ and presets, configure other settings and apply firmware updates. If you need to pair the headphones to multiple devices, you can only do this through the app. The app is rather good, but . . .
It asks for a lot of personal information, including location details that it needs to perform location-based ambient noise control. This will adjust the amount of ambient noise fed back to the headphones based on the current environment (such as traffic, transport, office and so on). This a great personal safety feature, so you can hear dangers around you. Location is also required for the find my headphones feature. You can input photos of your ears for adjusting the signal for 360 Reality Audio. Creepy!