As 2023 draws to a close, Android Police has been reflecting on the best tech of the year. In terms of groundbreaking new advancements, 2023 hasn't been an especially impressive time: many of our category winners — like our favorite phone, the Pixel 8 Pro, or our pick for best smartwatch, the Galaxy Watch 6 — are refinements to proven formulas that we've liked for years. Android Police's best earbuds of 2023, the Sony WF-1000XM5, don't buck that trend. Sony's latest flagship earbuds are a lot like its last flagship earbuds, which were themselves a lot like the pair before them. But Sony's been making some of the best earbuds you can buy for years, and that pedigree shines in the WF-1000MX5: these earbuds might not be radically cutting edge, but as earbuds go in 2023, they're damn near perfect.
