Sony WH-1000XM5 Review: The Best Just Got A Little Better
August 21, 2022Diver unit: 30mm, Dome Type
Type: Wireless, Wired mode available
Weight: 4.8g x 2
Size & Weight: 250g
Battery: 30hrs Music Playback Time
Features: ANC, Bluetooth 5.2,360 Spatial Sound Personalizer, Atmospheric Pressure Optimizing, Ambient Sounds, Speak to chat, DSEE Extreme, Google Assistant/Alexa, Dolby Atmos
Colour: Black colour
Rating:9/10
RM: 1,799.00
Sony’s premium wireless headphones, the WH-1000XMx series, have been sporting the same look and feel for close to four generations. It’s only now with the WH-1000XM5 that the design has changed significantly. Compared to the XM4, the XM5 is a very different-looking product. It feels sturdier thanks to the chunky, tubular frame.
The earcups swivel inwards to minimize the overall size, which is in stark contrast to the XM4’s origami-style folding earcups. I prefer the former simply because it takes up less space when it’s slipped into a backpack. Though many fanboys lament the redesign, the new look helps breathe life into a fairly dated shape.
It’s a similar story for carrying case. Instead of the fairly generic, egg-shaped look of the XM4, the XM5 has a more curvaceous appearance that tapers towards the top. for the sides, it has opposing triangles, that make the entire look, seem very “chic”. There isn’t any extra room in the case. There’s just enough space for the headphones and cables.
What’s It like?
Like its “shell” the XM5 also features a slender profile with more concave earcups. Each of them houses four microphones, which Sony describes as its biggest step forward in noise-canceling technology. This allows ambient sounds to seem more natural than what we got with the XM4. The system is also able to cancel out most noises, regardless of where you are.
This is a noticeable improvement over its predecessor. The perceived isolation is improved throughout the frequency range. Granted, it still isn’t impervious to the effects of a chatty Cathy, but there’s significantly less chatter that reaches your ears.
It doesn’t matter if you’re in a crowded coffee shop or an airport lounge, the XM5 is able to isolate you from close to 80% of ambient sounds even without any music playing. Once you start listening to a track, everything around you seem to disappear. This is what you want if you appreciate peace and quiet while working or studying.
The cushions that surround each earcup feel plush, comfortable and supportive. It doesn’t matter how large or small your ears are, the padding encompasses them, which in turn leads to a decent amount of passive noise isolation.
Cushioning around the headband feels a little bit more sportive than what’s provided by the XM4. Admittedly, I’m somewhat of a contrarian when it comes to the XM5. Compared to other reviewers, I believe that it’s a better thought-out design compared to its predecessor. It feels studier in its construction. Sony even thought about making it as quiet as possible to extend or retract each earcup.
It’s this level of elegance that makes you understand why it’s priced slightly higher than the XM4’s already expensive MSRP. It’s in line with what Sennheiser and Bose are accustomed to producing, which is probably what Sony was aiming for when setting out to pen the design.
The XM5 can accurately detect when you’ve taken it off or that you’re just reseating one of the ear cups. If you’ve deliberately taken the headphones off, the music that you are listening to is paused automatically. It resumes once you place the XM5 back on your ears.
But that isn’t all, because the software is constantly listening for your voice. And when it detects it, the music is immediately cut off, to let you speak, uninterrupted. This happens seamlessly and without hesitation. It’s this added layer of convenience that negates the need to take off the XM5 unless you’re done listening to it for a while.
Precise voice pick-up technology used concurrently with the four beamforming microphones in the earcups allows for pleasant call quality. People on the other end of the line can hear you clearly and with minimal ambient noise. But the overall effect diminishes as you approach higher pitched disturbances.
Practicality
Each ear cup is touch-sensitive, which allows you to swipe or tap to accomplish pre-defined functions. Sony does give you the option of adjusting what your gestures do, via the Headphones app. Holding the right earcup activates the ambient sound setting, which allows you to hear what’s going on all around. It works like a charm.
The same is true of swiping up or down for the volume controls as well as swiping forward or back to shuffle through your playlist. The sensors pick up the lightest of touches and respond instantly. All you have to do is be deliberate with your finger moments, and the XM5 will do the rest. The touch-sensitive surface feels playfully smooth as you graze your finger against it.
There’s a tinge of suppleness to the entire surface, which isn’t very far off from what’s exhibited by the XM4. But the experience is slightly better on the XM5. That said, it’s a fingerprint magnet. At the end of the day or after a heavy listening session, you’ll find the outer surface covered in fingerprints and to an extent the oil from your skin.
It would be best to carry a microfiber cloth within the XM5’s case. Once you’re done, just give each ear cup a light wipe down to make them look presentable again. The XM4 suffers from the same problem, worse if you tend to have sweaty palms.
In order to tailor the XM5 to suit your preferred touch gestures or adjust the overall acoustic properties, you’ll need to use the Sony Headphones app. It’s what makes or breaks a pair of Sony headphones. This is true of the WH-CH710N as well – a lot of potentials was wasted there.
There are a number of predefined presets like bass boost and clear vocals. But the one that offers the most balance and fairness to all genres is treble boost. With this setting, both vocals and instruments feel equally represented despite there being a distinct disparity in range. The XM5 is able to balance the effects well enough that you get the best of both worlds.
What’s the Listening Experience Like?
The dome within each ear cup is crafted well enough that the acoustics bounce around to create a spatial effect on each track. That coupled with the perfectly calibrated 30mm driver unit creates a 3D soundscape that can be likened to having the same music played to you by the same musicians. This is why you pay a hefty premium to own the XM4 and XM5.
Both dome and driver are made from a carbon fiber composite material. Not only does it have lightweight properties, but it improves high-frequency sensitivity for a more natural overall sound effect. There’s a surreal level of depth to the acoustics. Each instrument or vocal feels like it’s coming from different angles from the rest, but from the same direction.
This is akin to seeing a band perform in person. Yes, it feels that real. Besides great drivers, the XM5 also supports DSEE Extreme. It’s Sony’s AI-based system that upscales compressed digital music files in real-time. It’s able to analyze any track and restore the range or data lost due to compression, which is the case with MP3 files. The result is richer-sounding music.
That said, the XM5 falls short of the mark when playing bass-heavy tracks. Like the XM4, the drivers are biased towards vocals and instrumentally rich music as opposed to heart-thumping bass. Pop, jazz, instrumental, country and some R&B tracks are perfectly suited to these headphones. You’ll be rewarded with accurate playback and a decent amount of depth.
However, if you do like rap or hip-hop music, XM5 won’t be your cup of tea. It would be best to look elsewhere for a better experience. Even when placed on the bass boost preset, the experience isn’t great. Sometimes the music sounds like it’s being muzzled from afar.
The overall sound quality is on par with the XM4, if not identical. This is because there’s only so much that can be done without introducing external hardware like an amplifier. But that’s ok. The XM5 is more than enough for most people. It’s only audiophiles like me that tend to notice why wired headphones are still relevant till this day.
Battery life on a full charge should last about 30 hours, but your mileage may vary. On average, I could get about 27 hours of playback despite the volume being set to 80%. Since the XM5 supports quick charging technology, you can get three hours’ worth of playtime with just 3 minutes on the charger.
Should You Buy This?
The XM5 is one of the best-sounding headphones on the market. It looks and feels slightly better than the XM4, which says a lot of the effort Sony’s made here. But they remain equal in overall sound quality – there’s hardly a difference between them. The only area where the XM5 edges out the older device is in the effectiveness of noise cancellation. But it’s only marginally better.
If you own an XM4 or something similar, then the XM5 isn’t for you. For everyone else, it’s a great pair of wireless headphones. It delivers on every front, which is why it will definitely win you over. Buy the XM5 and you’ll probably never regret it unless you’re into bass-heavy music.
