Read our full review of the Sony XM5 wireless earbuds.
Those who want premium wireless audio in a stunning true wireless design. Whether it’s daydreaming to your favorite tracks in the office or zoning out to instrumentals on a long international flight, Sony’s flagship buds are sonic bliss.
As we patiently wait for the Mark VI wireless earbuds, which are rumored to launch sometime next year, the WF-1000XM5 sit safely atop the true wireless throne. Two years in and they still maintain a heavy lead over industry favorites like the AirPods Pro 2 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds. (Though, the QuietComfort Ultra wins out as the most comfortable earbuds in our testing.)
Sony’s Dynamic Driver X unit expands frequencies for greater clarity and detail. The banging lows, sharp mids, and crisp highs blend well on contemporary recordings. Enabling both DSEE and LDAC enriches sound output and provides smoother streams over Bluetooth 5.3. The V2 and QN2e chipsets work in unison to produce phenomenal noise cancellation that intuitively adapts to environments and removes 90 percent of unwanted noises from the soundscape.
What’s most fascinating about these earbuds is that they share almost the exact feature set as their headphone counterpart. Notables include Quick Attention to lower volume to 10 percent and Speak-to-Chat for auto-pausing content when chatting with people.
These buds hold some of the longest playtimes of any noise-canceling earbuds. A full charge generates between 8 to 12 hours of listening time, depending on how you use the buds. The wireless charging case holds up to 36 hours and comes with effective quick charging (a 3-minute charge gives you 1 hour of use). Call quality, controls, and craftsmanship are also executed incredibly well.
Our only complaint is the frustrating 360 Reality Audio setup. This requires using your smartphone camera to perform a head-tracking test and scan your ears, and it often fails to register movements.
