NOT worth buying Sony WF-1000XM5 in 2025? 🤔 (Long-term Review)
The Sony WF-1000XM5 has been out for 2 years, and lots have happened in the TWS space. Everyone’s stepping up their game from Technics to Samsung, Jabra with the fantastic Gen 2 Elite series before they unfortunately stepped away. And this year, though there aren’t any leaks yet, we could be seeing the WF-1000XM6 based on Sony’s 2 year release cycle. This is not guaranteed until we have some good leaks from FCC filings and all that. So based on what is in the market right now, is it worth getting the WF-1000XM5 in 2025?
Active Noise Cancellation
In terms of Active Noise Canceling, it’s currently still one of the best in the market, not only with the actual noise cancelling power working against low frequencies, but also with the foam tips mitigating midrange noises.
The issue that some people have with them is fit. They’re so small, and so glossy, that they won’t stay plugged in unless you jam them all the way into the canal. Only then can you get the full noise cancelling power from them.
Microphone Quality
In terms of mic quality, it’s decent. In my mic quality rankings of the most recent earbuds, it got a B ranking so it’s not too bad. But as you can see, there are many alternatives with even better mic pickup. This isn’t so important for people who don’t often make or take phone calls, just using the buds for noise canceling and audio, but if mic quality is your priority in 2025, there are better alternatives.
Sound Quality
As for their sound quality, although I don’t consider them the best sounding earbuds in 2025, that spot belongs to the B&W Pi8, for single 6mm driver earbuds the Sony still stands up very well versus the rest. They can give me almost everything I want in terms of clarity, detail, soundstaging, bass impact, gravity and extension. The only thing they can’t deliver as well as the best sounding earbuds is 3D depth and layering. Apart from that, these still sound pretty amazing. And their tuning is also very customizable, so as far as sound, they’re still quite appealing in 2025. The number one concern people have about Sony earbuds stems from what happened with the WF-1000XM4 and LinkBuds S.
Battery Life
The wrong battery was used in the products which resulted in a software update cooking it, so after about a year, instead of the usual 5-8 hours you’re getting less than 1 hour on one side. That battery issue can be resolved with a third party battery replacement kit and some elbow grease, but it wasn’t reassuring, because when we buy a product we want it to function within expectations.
Question is does the XM5 have this issue? Recently I’ve tested the XM5 earbuds after it’s been updated several times, and its battery is still good. Safe to say that it doesn’t face the same battery snafu as the XM4 or LinkBuds S.
Spatial Audio
For features, they are still very feature rich, great for their multiple options to customize sound, head gesture controls, and the app also underwent a UI refresh. But the feature that I would have wanted these to have that is featured in many earbuds in 2025 is spatial audio with head tracking. Not the kind that’s being restricted to Sony’s Xperia phones and certain apps, I’m talking about spatial audio that works with any device or content which, increasingly, many top shelf earbuds can do. Apart from that, I do think that its feature set is still quite current.
Verdict
So is it worth buying the WF-1000XM5 in 2025? Overall these are still great earbuds that are worth buying, but try to get them at a discount, because there are alternatives that came out recently that do outperform the XM5 in certain areas like in mic pickup and sound, but don’t cost more. And with the XM6 on the horizon, possibly, many people might want to hold back, just in case the XM6 is so much better. So we could see a clearance sale at some point. In other words, yes, it's still worth buying, but be patient, wait for the discount.
If you want to check their latest prices on Amazon, links are below.
Check latest price: Sony WF-1000XM5 - https://amzn.to/3JGI1uN
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