A Private Concert In Your Cans: Sony WH-1000XM5 headphone review

The Sony WH-1000XM5, which comes from a long line of great headphones, have a split appeal. The aesthetics lend them a flavour to tickle the taste buds of any fashionista and luxury lifestyle advocate – these facts play well with the noise cancelling, silencing the morning commute as you continue to look your best.

Meanwhile, the quality of the audio tech appeals to the audiophile. The new and improved 30mm drivers replace the WH-1000XM4’s 40mm units – Sony promise that these newbies offer even better results when listening to your favourite tracks.

This split in the market appeal is reflected in the price, too. Anyone with a keen style and eye for brands will not scoff at the price. Likewise, anyone with an ear for tone knows that often, you need to pay for quality. On either front, the price isn’t unexpected – £380. Steep for some but right on trend for this range of Sony headphones.

The only thing left to do is try them out. Editor William Lobley took them for a two-week spin, and here’s what he found out.

Style and (near) silence

Taken as a whole package, the Sony WH-1000XM5 have a lot to offer. Firstly, the case is a geometric nicety, housing the headphones and related cables well, and collapsing to be a bit flatter when empty - though it's still chunky. The grey fabric and subdued gold zip matched the Platinum Silver headphones sampled.

While Platinum Silver in name, this variant of the XM5s is decidedly grey – they put me in mind of exposed concrete or unpainted plasterboard. This muted look won’t be to everyone’s taste, but I came around after a few days. To the touch, the matte finish is pleasant and oddly organic and defies your knowledge that these cases are plastic.

The head pad and earcups are finished in soft leather. It’s more than just a plush finish – they are very comfortable. The earcups do a stand-up job of keeping your ears at an equitable temperature, even after hours of listening. This is no small feat, and when combined with the overall lightness of the build of the XM5, ensures that all-day listening really is possible.

As is standard practice for wireless headphones, there are a few buttons around the edge of the earcups for functions like ANC and power. There’s a touchpad on the earcup that offers some control, like song skipping, smart assistant activation and similar. Lifting an eye cup will pause playback – great for in an office when you need to talk to a colleague, or when using public transport to listen in on Tannoy announcements. As expected from Sony and this price bracket, all of this works without fault.

Just as anyone who has used Sony’s WH-1000XM range would tell you, the noise cancelling is great. While not quite encountering a vacuum-like void as with the Jabra 85h headphones that we love, Sony’s implementation is just right. The outside world isn't silenced entirely – it’s more of a distance mumble. This means that if someone pretty close is directly talking to you, you can still pick up on the cue. Maybe this is down to the tech – an upgrade over the XM4s – or maybe it’s the light plush earcup padding. I don’t know, but I like it.

Inside the XM5s there’s an array of microphones, all trained on your voice to improve clarity during phone calls. They work well and are more impressive the louder the environment. If you are in a quiet space, they will pick up the occasional words of others, but this isn't unusual – there are never any secrets in small offices.

Beyond these standout features, there are even more. Speak-to-chat, Spotify Quick Access, the headphones Connect app and multipoint connection are all excellent additional features that take the XM5’s blasting into the premium stratosphere with ease. The battery, too, deserves mention – not only long-lasting at 30 hours with noise cancelling, but the very quick charging is the true gift. You can have enough power for an afternoon of listening in the time it takes to go and get a coffee.

Sounding off: WH-1000XM5 vs dance, death metal and Dire Straits

The physical style of the headphones and the additional features that Sony packed into these headphones is excellent. But given that headphones deliver audio, these are only part of the equation. If the sound isn’t good, the headphones aren’t worth jack. Gladly, this isn’t the case.

The sound quality the XM5 produces is excellent – no doubt thanks to the high-resolution audio decoding found onboard - and without wires, handily (note that you'll need a service that provides hi-res streaming to get the most from this tech). Here’s a sample of my listening experience.

These Things Will Come To Be by DJ Seinfeld

The XM5s carry this song’s panning with clarity and atmosphere, giving a defined sense of space. Delicate synths sit with depth from the bass frequency. Spinning the volume to near-full on the closing crescendo of the track raised some goosebumps but never reduced the audio quality. The contemporary thick bass never lost its punch or roundness, and the highs never squealed.

Hey Boy Hey Girl by The Chemical Brothers

This classic dancefloor filler receives a lot of respect. Now over 20 years old, the bass is much tighter and more enclosed than on contemporary dance tracks. The XM5s handled it well, carrying plenty of energy. Only when I pushed the volume upwards of 75% - something a doctor wouldn’t recommend – did the more hectic areas of the track lose some definition and gain a little distortion.

Entombment of a Machine by Job For A Cowboy

Though not one we’d recommend showing to Nan, this intense metal barrage tested the headphones’ ability to handle… well, a lot. It did so with apparent ease, allowing the extremely distorted guitars to shred over pin-sharp drums and gut-sinking bass guitar drops. Those new 30mm carbon fibre drivers really do hold up well.

Money For Nothing by Dire Straits

The sharp and restrained guitar work of Mark Knopfler demonstrated the ability of the XM5s to separate instruments. Guitar panned to the left, keys to the right, all while the rhythm section keeps time in the centre. An absolute joy.

The responsible handling of frequencies by the XM5s translates well to the spoken word, too. Whether it’s a Netflix documentary on cults or podcasts catching up with the world’s latest, the mid-range has dialogue coming through with clarity. For travel, this is a joy when placed with a podcast and public transport. Noise cancellation sets the world at a calming, not alienating, distance while the 30mm drivers keep the voices you want to hear coming through loud and clear. Superb stuff.

Any downsides?

While I heard distortion on one or two tracks, this was only at the higher limits of volume and was few and far between. If you listen to only one or two specific genres of music, I recommend heading into the app to fine-tune the experience to prevent these very infrequent distortions. A minor concern in the scheme of things.

The look of the Platinum Silver – cough, grey - isn’t for everyone, and though I warmed to it by the end of my test, I still wouldn’t go for it. My main concern is around general wear and tear – the markings of general use wouldn’t show so well on a black set. Lucky that that’s available, then.

Price and competition

At a £380 retail price, it’s no surprise that these are to be considered high-end in the standard consumer market. Competition for Sony here is also no surprise – think the Bose 700, Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 and Bowers & Wilkins PX7 S2. Each is a worthy adversary, though, for me, the XM5 take it on their ability to deliver fully on every feature advertised.

Some iPhone, iPad and iMac users may fancy paying Apple tax and shelling out £549 for the AirPods Max, but the saving made with the XM5s is staggering.

The real challenger to the XM5 headphones is its very own ancestor – the Sony WH-1000XM4. Though the latest version tops the XM4s in almost every way, it’s hard to ignore that they are still brilliant and tend to retail for only £250 at the time of writing.

Verdict

When you’re shelling out the best part of £400 for a set of headphones, you want them to deliver the goods. If there’s a feature advertised on the box, you want it to work - even if you’re not sure you need it. If the brand has stated that the leather on the earcups is a special soft leather, you want to touch that leather and think, ‘damn, that is soft.' If it’s ripped its previously beloved 40mm drivers and installed a newly developed set, you need them to be blisteringly good.

All of the above is what you get with the Sony WH-1000XM5. A blisteringly competent and high-performing set of headphones that'll meet your audio needs for the next few years. These are the ones – unless you fancy saving £100 and getting their grandad, the XM4. In which case, they are the ones.

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How this product was tested

The Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones were tested for just over two weeks. They were in continuous use, being employed to blot out background noise when walking in busy shopping centres and to enjoy music at every opportunity available. The headphones were synced to a work computer, home computer and smartphone, and used for professional and private calls, both phone and video.

William Austin-Lobley is the Editor for What's The Best. Here, he oversees, curates and researches listicles and reviews as many products as his home office can handle.

He has spent nearly five years writing about tech, audio, outdoors and fitness and has reviewed everything from smartphones to ice baths. In addition, he's well-versed in sniffing out the best deals and savings the internet offers.

When not at his desk writing, reviewing or deal-hunting, he'll be relaxing with Japanese crime novels, bingeing some classic anime, strolling the countryside or at the gym listening to the heaviest metal Spotify has to offer.

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