Sony WH-1000XM5 With New Design, Better Drivers Announced

Sony WH-1000XM4 is one of the best wireless headphones that money can buy. The brand announced the Sony WH-1000XM5, which is a thoughtful upgrade compared to its predecessor. These new headphones come with a much-expected price bump and will be available for purchase in the coming week of May.

Sony WH-1000XM5 sports a new design and a new case. It has a much bigger footprint because it doesn’t fold like the XM4. The headphones offer two basic color choices: namely black and silver with a bigger carrying case. It is befuddling why Sony chose a design that made the new headphones not fold like they used to.

The earcups are more elongated now, much like what you get with the Apple AirPods Max. They are soft and cushy and are made with something called soft fit leather. With a weight of 250 grams, they are certainly lighter, and worthy AirPods Max alternative.

Sony WH-1000XM5 Hardware Specifications

The new pair of headphones incorporate another chip called the Integrated Processor V1 alongside the HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN1. The result is impeccable noise cancellation that filters out everything. There are a total of 8 microphones on the earcups to enhance the quality of noise cancellation.

Sony WH-1000XM5 sport the same swiping controls and even come with Spotify playback support. The controls remain the same and there is a physical button for toggling the ANC. It also supports a transparency mode like the previous models.

Surprisingly, Sony reduced the driver size from 40mm to 30mm in the new headphones. It is an attempt to improve sound clarity and bass reproduction, which wasn’t very good when compared to other products. Sony claims that the voice call quality is much better due to the proprietary algorithms that will ensure clear voice calls.

Battery Life

Sony wireless headphones offer decent battery life and this one is no exception. Sony WH-1000XM5 can last up to 30 hours on a single charge (obviously with low volume levels). Moreover, it supports fast charging and can offer 3 hours’ worth of battery life with just 3 minutes of charge.

Sony WH-1000XM5 will retail for $399 which is a $50 dollar increase from the previous version. You can buy it from the first sale which goes live on 20 May 2022. However, the Sony WH-1000XM4 also sounds like a good deal if you can grab it for $300-$320 and can adjust with some minor lack of features.