Sony WH-1000XM5 Premium Noise Canceling Headphones, Auto NC Optimizer, 30-Hour Battery, Alexa Voice Control, Midnight Blue

I recently bought this XM5 as a perceived upgrade from my old XM3 bluetooth cans. I had held off this purchase, thinking that by now Sony would've released the XM6 by now. But no, Sony decided to continue making and selling the XM5. Tired of any further waiting for something that might not happen anytime soon, I finally caved and bought the XM5 when Amazon put the price back under $300 for the October 2024 Amazon Days.The first thing I noted was how CHEAP the packaging and the accompanying accessories were for this XM5. No stout carrying/storage case this time around. The headphone's boxed packaging might appear to be about Sony trying to be environmentally conscious and being "green", but I suspect that Sony was more about SAVING some green by cheapening up their packaging costs. Even at a discount price, the rudimentary unboxing process made me feel a bit cheated.However after charging up the XM5, I have to admit that in the end it's really only about the user experience with the headphones. And I must confess that it's pretty great, a definite step forward from the XM3 from two generations before. The XM5 is definitely more comfortable for me than the XM3, which itself wasn't all that bad to begin with. I still loathe the swipe controls on the right earpad, but at least I god used to them during my years of using the XM3.I have six plus decade old ears, so a LOT of the sonic range is now denied to my brain as my ears certainly don't perform like they used to. But I still can hear enough to say that acoustically the XM5 is a noticeable step forward from the old XM3. While initially the XM5 sound seemed a little colder and a bit on the sharp side, the soundstage imaging is better and more appealing to me, and detail recreation seems marginally improved over the older headphones. So far well-recorded live performances sound a bit more spatially realistic than what was possible with the XM3, and as the burn-in hours add up (roughly about 120 hours of burn-in so far), I suspect that these nuances with further blend, warm up and smooth out.I don't generally use over-ear wireless headphones for phone calls, so I can't really comment about this feature set of the XM5 when I used it with my cellphone. It does seem to work okay, and persons on the other end seem to regularly claim that they can hear me well enough.All in all I'm pleased with the XM5 so far. It sounds nicer than the retiring XM3 I had been using, and it fits my large noggin decently well. I do think that the headband is, if anything, a bit on the loose side. But that does seem to aid in making the XM5 wear as comfortably as it does for me. The XM3 was a difficult set to wear to sleep; any slight turn of my head at night often resulted in neck pain the next morning. I've not had this problem at all with the XM5. So far it's been a 5-star experience, and I'm looking forward to continuing to use these for the next few years.

The XM5 scores high on the three key dimensions that matter most to me -- sound quality, noise cancellation, and comfort. I'm very satisfied on all fronts, feel very good about the purchase. The sound is rich. The noise cancellation is astoundingly good. On a train ride, I could hear nothing, including the guy behind me talking loudly on his phone.I had also bought the Sennheiser Momentum 4 and compared the two side by side. I found the sound quality to be about the same as the XM5 and the noise canceling nearly as good. But, for me, the Momentum 4 is far less comfortable. Whereas I wore the XM5 for more than five hours on a train journey with no fatigue, I found the Sennheiser irritated my ears after only a half-hour or so.I also like the hand-gesture controls. They function very well and being able to simply touch the right cup to control volume and to skip/repeat songs is great.I'm somewhat concerned about the build quality after reading that there may be an issue with the joint connecting the cups to the headstrap. Haven't had them long enough to know if it's going to be an issue -- but I bought extended warranty just in case.I bought them on Amazon Prime day and after the XM6 came out, so I paid less than the list price -- which mattered to me.Highly recommended!

Awesome headphones. I've owed Beats, JBL, Technics, and several others, including an earlier version of these from 10 years ago. Ive had ear buds, on-ear and over-the-ear headphones. I spent hours researching and actual purchased and returned 5 other brands before purchasing these. These are perfect. The best sound quality, ease of use and very comfortable. Noise canceling is very good. I enjoy tight bass and spatial range of sound..listening to all different genres of music...rock, jazz, classical. Yhese headphones bring out the subtle nuances and provide very enjoyable quality of sound and comfort. Controls took some getting used to but work perfectly to increase/decrease volume, rewind/fast forward. Hands free call are queit and mic is excellent. Includes hard case. Fairly compact but I just stash them in my backpack when traveling. Have flown all over the country as well as to Europe and South American and these are my go-to headphones. Highly recommended.

DO NOT BUY. Lack of durability due to a hinge on the headband has shown by many to make these useless. Even under the 1 year manufacturer warranty, this issue is not covered. If you haven’t come across this yet, just google sony headphones hinge issue and you’ll see many others like me who have experienced this.After 9 months of normal use and taking care of them quite well, I put them in one day and noticed the hinge had essentially broken. As a result, the right ear wouldn’t sit on my ears. This makes them useless. I reached out to Sony knowing I had a 1 year warranty as part of my purchase and they let me know this was considered “physical damage” and that type of damage is not covered under their warranty.Luckily, because I bought them through Amazon, I’m able to get a full refund from Amazon directly. But, as far as the product goes, you could find yourself spending hundreds of dollars on headphones that become useless within a year or two. Shame because as far as headphones go these really are the best in my opinion. But, because of this experience and many others who have faced the same, I won’t be buying a Sony product again.