Sony WF-1000XM5 are here: Price, features, specs, availability, and more

The Sony WF-1000XM5 wireless earbuds have been making a splash since their release. Sony’s latest buds offer better active noise canceling (ANC), sound quality, and call quality in a smaller package than before. The WF-1000XM5 made it as some of our most notable headphones in 2023 and they live up to that billing. Despite a heftier price tag, the buds offer a more comfortable design and an extensive list of high-end features. Here’s everything you need to know about the WF-1000XM5 before you buy them.

Sony WF-1000XM5: Release date, price, and availability

After many months of speculation and anticipation, Sony released its WF-1000XM5 earbuds on July 24, 2023. This came almost exactly two years after the release of their predecessor, the WF-1oooXM4, on June 8, 2021.

Price

The Sony WF-1000XM5 debuted for $299.99, CA$429.99, £259, and €320, although they can be found for less nowadays. Regardless, their original price was slightly more expensive than the Sony WF-1000XM4’s debut price of $278.

Availability

The Sony WF-1000XM5 are available for purchase through Sony’s website and other vendors like Best Buy and Amazon.

Sony WF-1000XM5: Features

The Sony WF-1000XM5 house two new chips: the V2 and QN2e chips. The V2 chip improves Sony’s ANC with faster real-time processing that complements the HD Noise Canceling Processor QN2e. The QN2e also serves as a higher-quality DAC that enables 24-bit signal processing.

The Sony WF-1000XM5 have many of the same features as before. You get Adaptive Sound Control, which adjusts the sound settings based on your environment and movement. The earbuds will affect the ANC/Ambient mode as you sit, walk, run, or enter an environment that sounds like transit. This makes it so you don’t have to interact with the Sony Headphones Connect app to adjust these settings manually.

The WF-1000XM5 also have Ambient Sound Control, which filters background noise through the earbuds. Hearing your environment is helpful when you need to listen to announcements. Ambient Sound Control is necessary for Speak-to-Chat, which detects when you are speaking. The earbuds then pause music and relay external noise through the buds.

As before, removing the earbuds pauses music playback, and inserting them resumes it. Of course, you can also control media playback with the onboard touch controls. Now, you can adjust the volume right from the WF-1000XM5 buds.

The Sony Headphones Connect app (available for Android and iOS) includes features like a five-band custom equalizer and a handful of EQ presets. Here, you can take an ear tip fit test to ensure you have found the right ear tips.

You can also let the app photograph your ears to personalize the 360 Reality Audio effect. This is Sony’s take on spatial audio, which makes music and movies sound more immersive. The WF-1000XM4 also have personalized 360 Reality Audio, but only the newer WF-1000XM5 support head tracking. With head tracking enabled, the sound reacts to your head movements, keeping you at the center of the action.

Design and build quality

The Sony WF-1000XM5 have a sleek, rounded design that’s 25% smaller and 20% lighter than the WF-1000XM4. We’re happy to see the WF-1000XM5 earbuds take a tapered shape, making the fit more comfortable. The earbuds have an IPX4 water-resistant rating. Combine the durability with the improved ergonomics, and the WF-1000XM5 are the most workout-friendly WF-1000X earbuds.

Although Sony revamped the earbuds’ shape and size, the general design language is the same. The WF-1000XM5 come in black or white, and both colorways have copper accents. These accents aren’t just for looks: they help reduce wind noise for a more pleasant listening experience.

Sony provides improved memory foam ear tips that are more flexible, making them easier to squeeze and mold to your ears. Listeners with small ears will want to nab these buds as Sony provides ultra-small, small, medium, and large ear tips.

Sony’s WF-1000XM5 charging case uses USB-C and supports wireless charging. It has a more rounded design than the WF-1000XM4 case and is 20% smaller.

Noise cancelation

Sony’s V2 processor can respond to real-time background noise even faster than the V1 processor in the WF-1000XM4. Two dual feedback mics help comprise the six-mic array onboard the WF-1000XM5. All of this hardware and processing power enable improved ANC over the WF-1000XM4. According to testing from our sister site SoundGuys, the WF-1000XM5’s ANC makes sub-bass rumbles from airplane engines sound about 50% quieter than the WF-1000XM4.

Thanks to Sony’s improved memory foam ear tips and fit, the WF-1000XM5 passively block out more noise than the older buds. Ambient noise like background chatter is up to 50% quieter with the WF-1000XM5. Of course, robust isolation and ANC require you to get a good fit.

We can visualize just how much better the WF-1000XM5’s noise canceling is than the WF-1000XM4 with the chart above. The cyan line represents the WF-1000XM5 and the dashed pink line represents the WF-1000XM4. The higher a line is on the chart, the more noise the corresponding earbuds cancel out. Across almost the entire frequency range, the WF-1000XM5 block out more noise than the WF-1000XM4. This is most notable from 20-70Hz and 85-350Hz. You can see the WF-1000XM5 also block out more noise from 1-3kHz compared to the older model. This is mainly due to Sony’s improved memory foam ear tip design.

Sound quality

The WF-1000XM5 have a new 8.4mm dynamic driver that Sony calls “Dynamic Driver X.” According to SoundGuys‘ measurements, the Sony WF-1000XM5 have a similar frequency response to the WF-1000XM4. You get a louder treble response with the WF-1000XM5, though. What this means for your music is that hi-hats and cymbal hits will come through about as loud as you’d expect, relative to the rest of the mix. With the WF-1000XM4, these sounds are a tad muted — some people may describe them as hollow.

Most listeners will find the Sony WF-1000XM5 sound better out of the box than the WF-1000XM4. Those who feel the bass response is too loud can tone it down in the mobile app’s custom EQ module.

Sony’s earbuds have earned the Hi-Res Audio label for wireless playback. You can also enable the Digital Sound Enhancement Engine (DSEE) Extreme through the app. DSEE Extreme upscales low-quality, compressed audio files.

Again, we can see how Sony changed the frequency response in our WF-1000XM5 vs WF-1000XM4 frequency response comparison chart from SoundGuys — our audio-focused sister site. The cyan line represents the WF-1000XM5, and the yellow dotted line represents the WF-1000XM4. The pink line represents SoundGuys‘ Headphone Preference Curve, which generally follows what most consumers prefer. The WF-1000XM5 and WF-1000XM4 frequency responses don’t significantly deviate until 1,500Hz. Some listeners may want to tone the bass response down with the app’s EQ, but fewer people will want to change the treble.

Microphone and call quality

Sony’s AI noise reduction and bone conduction technology work to deliver good call quality. This advanced system should relay your voice clearly, even in noisy conditions. Again, the copper structure on each earbud — paired with the mesh-wrapped mics — reduces wind noise. Sony consistently hits it out of the park regarding background noise suppression. You can hear just how powerful the microphone technology is in our standardized demos below.

Sony WF-1000XM5 microphone demo (Ideal conditions):

Sony WF-1000XM5 microphone demo (Office conditions):

Sony WF-1000XM5 microphone demo (Windy conditions):

Battery life

The Sony WF-1000XM5 have a battery life of eight hours with ANC on. You get an extra 16 hours of ANC listening from the case. If you listen without ANC, the buds’ battery life extends to 12 hours with an extra 24 hours from the case. The case supports wireless charging and can fast charge the earbuds. Tossing the buds into the case for three minutes grants one hour of playtime.

Water resistance

The Sony WF-1000XM5 earbuds have an IPX4 water-resistant rating that matches their predecessors. This rating indicates the earbuds can resist water splashes from any direction. Runners and general athletes can use the WF-1000XM5 without worrying about water damage. Like with all consumer electronic devices, it is best not to submerge the buds or shower with them.

Connectivity

The Sony WF-1000XM5 use Bluetooth 5.3 and can connect to any Bluetooth-enabled device. In other words, you can pair the WF-1000XM5 with various devices, including Android phones, iPhones, and tablets. You can even connect the WF-1000XM5 to some gaming devices like the PlayStation and Nintendo Switch. Holding the right earbud’s touch panel provides access to Google Assistant or Siri on your phone. Alternatively, you can set the earbuds up to register the phrases, “OK, Google,” or “Alexa.”

Connecting the Sony WF-1000XM5 to an Android device or PC is a one-step affair, thanks to Google Fast Pair and Swift Pair. A notification will appear on your Android phone when you open the case for the first time. Once you confirm the connection, the WF-1000XM5 will reconnect to your device automatically.

The Sony WF-1000XM5 support multipoint connectivity, allowing the buds to connect to two source devices simultaneously. I love using this feature with Sony’s WH-1000XM4 headphones, as it lets me join a video call on my laptop while being aware of incoming calls to my phone.

You can choose from the SBC, AAC, and LDAC Bluetooth codecs. The earbuds also support LE Audio for more efficient energy usage and multi-stream playback. You can receive individual audio signals to the left and right earbuds. To use LE Audio and the LC3 codec, you’ll need an Android 13 device with Bluetooth 5.2 or later.

Sony WF-1000XM5: Specs

Below, you can compare the Sony WF-1000XM5 and WF-1000XM4 specs, or check out our dedicated Sony WF-1000XM4 vs WF-1000XM5 comparison for more details. If you’re wondering how Samsung and Apple’s premier audio products line up, our Sony WF-1000XM5 vs Galaxy Buds Pro 2 head-to-head and Apple AirPods Pro 2 comparison cover their particular pros and cons in more depth.

Sony WF-1000XM5: FAQs