The market for Bluetooth over-ear headphones with ANC (active noise cancellation) has been getting more saturated lately. But one brand that stands out as offering superior performance at a reasonable price is Sony. Their WH-1000XM5 headphones put in a strong performance in the recent Value Electronics Headphone Shootout and earned our own William Jennings’ enthusiastic recommendation.
Amazon just knocked $50 off the price of the Sony WH-1000XM5 from its usual price of $399.99 to $348 with free shipping. Click the link below to view current price and availability on Amazon:
In Will’s words, “Durability, call quality, good sound quality, and category leading ANC makes these a really strong buy for those looking for the best ANC wireless headphones right now.” Will had particular praise for the headphones’ comfort (even while wearing glasses) and the extended 40-hour+ battery life between charges. While a full charge takes about three hours, a 30-minute quick charge gets you about 8 hours of uninterrupted playback. Per Sony’s specs, even a 3-minute charge will get you up to 3 hours of playback time.
The headphones are a bit bulky, and don’t fold in half for more compact storage, but they do come with a sturdy travel case for when you need to pack them up for travel. While there are direct controls available on the unit itself, and some nice automatic default behaviors (like pausing the music automatically when you remove the headphones), you can get much more granular control over the headphones by installing Sony’s Headphone Connect app.
The Headphone Connect app is available for Android and Apple iOS. The app gives you access to ANC optimization as well as a customizable EQ curve. It also enables optimized playback for 360 Reality Audio content (Sony’s spatial audio format). There’s even an option to take a picture of your ears so Sony can optimize its binaural processing and HRTF (head related transfer function) to make 360 Reality Audio content sound even more realistic with your particular ears and head shape. The headphones are also compatible with Apple Spatial Audio in case that’s how you roll.
Sony’s extensive redesign of the previous model has created a strong, durable, high performance and comfortable set of ‘phones that are sure to please the casual listener or die-hard audiophile. The Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones are available in black, midnight blue and silver. All three color options are currently on sale:
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Jake Jackson
May 25, 2023 at 3:27 pm
But why? When they are objectively worse than the now MUCH cheaper, previous iterations, it would just be silly to buy the MKV. Hopefully, Sony will change directions withe the MKVI.