What I Hate about Sony WH-1000XM5 🤔
I have wanted to cover this topic for a while now. There are things that I don’t like about the Sony WH-1000XM5, having used it now for a few months almost everyday, indoors and outdoors. Three of its quirks really jumped out at me, and those are probably the reasons why despite the XM5s having been in the market for a couple of months, it’s still not as popular as its predecessor, the XM4.
That is according to Google Trends. This was not the case when the XM4s came out in 2020 cause it was clearly better than the XM3s in almost every way. Not so much the XM5s. Now, don’t get me wrong. There are some things the XM5s clearly do better than the XM4, especially in terms of call quality. If you want to hear the difference, I’ve got the sound samples in this video.
But almost everything else is debatable, especially with that price increase.
First, the noise cancelling. When I’m testing the XM5 in a controlled environment, its Adaptive noise cancelling could clearly cancel more noise than the XM4. But it’s also a little annoying when I’m using it outside. The thing about Adaptive Noise Cancelling is, based on how noisy the environment is, it toggles white noise masking in an attempt to mask over mid range frequency noise. But the toggling is too abrupt, and it’s so intermittent that it feels like the ANC is stuttering. It feels quite uncomfortable if you focus on specifically the ANC.
I just hope that Sony makes this an option through a future software update, sort of like Adaptive Sound Control in the Headphones Connect app.
Second, that steep dropoff at 15 khz.
Now, I understand that most people can’t really hear frequencies that high up, and YouTube cuts off at 17khz on iOS anyway, but if these are to be hi-res certified, it should be able to reproduce frequencies along the equal-loudness curve, audiophiles will know what I’m talking about. And this is so that audiophiles who can hear the very subtle airiness in their music, especially for percussions instruments, they will be able to hear that with the Mark 5s. Now, with regular music files (as in, not Hi-Res), or for people who aren’t that fussy, these headphones are gonna sound absolutely fabulous. (I do enjoy its sound quality myself on a daily basis.) But more demanding audiophiles are going to feel like it’s a step down from the XM4 in this regard.
Sony WH-1000XM5 (Blue) vs WH-1000XM4 (Red)
Third. After using it for a few months, it seems like the telescoping headband is getting looser. So when I’m wearing this, the headband doesn’t keep its sizing firmly. I very much prefer the way it was with the XM4 which uses a mechanism that clicks into place when adjusting the size, and this stays in place a lot better. The XM5’s headband simply needs better hydraulics for it to work properly, and it seems that Sony did not deliver on this front.
So those are the three quirks that I’ve discovered about the WH-1000XM5 from using it everyday. Now, I just wanna put it out there that I love the XM5s, they are super comfortable, lightweight, have extremely powerful noise cancelling, and their call quality is one of the best by far. Pretty much on par, maybe in some ways better than the AirPods Max.
But it’s not perfect. Let’s see if future software updates will continue to improve these headphones further. Stay tuned for updates. But if you’re interested in checking out the Sony WH-1000XM5’s latest price and availability, you may do so through this Amazon Link.
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