Sony WH-1000XM5 Best Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Bluetooth Over Ear Headphones with Mic for Clear Calling, up to 40 Hours Battery -Black

These are the best headphones from Sony. Previously I used Sony headphones but they're entry-level headphones. I also used headphones from other brands like Sennheiser, One Audio and JBL but all of them are entry-level headphones. This is the first time I bought high-end headphones and I trust Sony. You can't go wrong with Sony as per my experience. Coming to the headphones, I already knew that these were best. However, I researched thoroughly on YouTube and read many articles for almost 3 months before buying these. I want to get the best value for the price. These headphones are costly and I don't want to go wrong with my purchase decision.Build quality: These are made of high-quality plastic and feel lightweight and comfortable to wear for longer durations. The only thing is, that the headband is thin and hurts a little on my head after wearing it for a few hours. Just move or adjust it a little and I'm good to go for another hour.Sound quality: It's Sony, no need to brag about sound quality. Sony is known for sound clarity. Every small musical instrument is heard in great detail. I can't forget my first experience of listening to music using these headphones. I'm blown away by the details and the clarity of sound.Battery life: It is mentioned 30 hours. Seems to be true. Headphones will easily last up to two days of mixed usage.Noise cancellation (N.C.): These headphones are my first experience with noise cancellation. When NC is turned on, it is silent. Zero noise. But after a few days, I realised that I could still hear voices from other people when they were shouting or talking loudly. It's good not to completely block all sound.Update on N.C.:I want to address one thing people who are saying that NC is not good. I think they feel like that because of the adaptive NC feature in the Sony headphones app. Due to this feature, the level of Noise cancelling is adjusted automatically according to the surroundings. I know it doesn't work 100% accurately every time. It works sort of 70 - 80 % accurately depending on the surroundings. That's why some people complain that NC is not completely silent or perfect. Some are complaining there is no option to disable the adaptive NC feature. It is available in the Sony headphones app after the latest update. We can also manually disable the adaptive NC of headphones using the app. I mentioned these details because some people may not be aware of these features available in the headphones app.Note: When NC is turned on, a sound pressure is created between ears and headphones. So there is a vacuum-like seal between ears and headphones and it blocks external sound. I'm not sure how NC works. This is the first time for me experienced noise cancellation. It was a shock and a surprise feeling when NC was on. My brother got scared due to this effect. I got used to it now. Check the Sony manual regarding the safety of NC. In the Sony Headphones Connect app, there is a safe listening setting. Please follow it and you don't need to worry about your ears getting damaged due to headphones. I have attached screenshots of the same. Please check.Final Verdict: I can say that these headphones are the best consumer headphones. Audiophile headphones are different that's why I mentioned them as the best consumer headphones. Most people who use them will love them.

I had been an AirPods Pro user and was always of the belief that they have the best music reproduction with lossless audio from apps like Apple Music. Was seriously wanting to try the XMs when the XM4 was launched but wasn’t happy with the reviews of mic quality as I generally take calls for more than 7 hours on my work days. But when XM5s came in was tempted to try them after the reviews paying more details on the improved mic quality. I wanted to give it a try and tried the music when I was in France in a store, but the sound quality was very poor since the store let me use it only with their wired audio source and said NO to try with my phone. Back in India I tried again once in a store using my phone and Apple Music and Boy o Boy I was proved wrong!!! I was simply blown over on how the headphones were clear with the Spatial Audio even with the default EQ setting. I’m not a bass heavy person but rather love the different tones and this is a Pro quality one in that. With the ANC microphones it was even a blessing that the call trials(both with MS Teams and Phone) I did were fantastic. Decided to grab this and ordered in Amazon when it was available for around 28K net with cashback and I would say this is the best investment I had made. The dual connectivity, monstrous battery back up, ANC combined with the best mic makes it a great headphone one can ever have. The size and case as most say as negative isn’t a problem at all. The build also is good and this is a keeper. If you are not worried about the budget and need a headphone that u can use for both work(calls) and music blindly go for this.. 👍🏻

4 star rating just for bad packing from seller as there are no packing material on the box. seller slapped bill on original box. for such premium device it is disappointing.Build and design: I had used these headphones for more than week and I would say device is very comfortable for longer use ( watching movies) , quite light weight , controls are easy to use, touch response is fast with almost no delay.Audio: Well I am not used to over the ears devices so I cant compare to others but its great overall. bit bassy for my liking and little less bright u can say but it can be easily fixed by eq. so no problems there ( may be brand had tuned it for more neutral profile) .After eq tuning these are mostly excellent for songs , movies podcast etc.also audio quality depends upon you device too. as I tested it on low end mobile and high end devices, u can observe difference.noise cancellation: I bought these for work at home , typically coding, study research papers , as people can get really vocal and for analysing complex articles you need silence. As per all reviews these are one of the best but you need to keep your expectation realistic. You can easily hear person talking at moderate volume in same room( reduce by a bit ) or even to next room if someone it talking loud or moderately loud.But if in next room people are talking a moderately low volume you wont hear them same is for tv, at high volume you will definitly hear it.( you can play some white noise or music than you minimise other noise.)what more to consider: These cut other background noise like of ac ( almost completely ) , birds, other typical noises. It can get little uncomfortable( unnatural silence 😂) for some in begining. you also hear people because it cut other backgroud noise so much that even little things are more highlighted.for other: If you are buying these for listening music and watching movies while travel It will cut every thing while playing music or movies. Maybe these are designed for this purpose.Pass though mode: As per my opinion its great , almost natural with no delay,Battery I didnt tested extensively that how much time it can go but I feel more than sufficient easily last for couple of days if using 5-6 hours a day, charging is also fast so no worries there.Biggest bummer for me. Its no surprise that there is no dolby atmos support. I think for this price it should be there, As sony 360 audio is not supported at all platforms n very less content is available. so for spatial audio doby should had been there. I had used other product with dolby it makes huge impact.