Sony WH-1000XM5 Wireless Industry Leading Headphones with Auto Noise Canceling Optimizer, Crystal Clear Hands-Free Calling, and Alexa Voice Control, Silver

The noise canceling is unbelievable as is the comfort

These are a great pair of headphones that have incredible noises canceling. The base on these are not the best. An equalizer is recommended if you plan on making these your daily driver for listening to music.

I had the XM3 and thought now would finally be a good time to upgrade. And the XM5s were only slightly better. I EQ my headphones, so after that, they both sounded good to me, so not a significant enough difference there. XM5s were marginally more comfortable, but not enough to make a difference to me either. The couple things that were much better was its ability to auto pause when removing the headphones connect to 2 devices at once (XM3 doesnt have that), the ambient sound mode was so much better, and the headphones overall responsiveness to touch/button controls was much faster. As for noise cancelling, Im convinced that there is variation in noise cancellation strength between each individual pair of WH-1000XM5 headphones. Ive watched videos of sound engineers doing noise-cancelling samples and graphically showing the XM5s beating out other headphones, including the XM3. So I know that objectively, the XM5s should have better noise cancelling than most competitors, especially the old XM3s. But Ive compared them both on a plane, in a room filled with talking people, and outside when a bunch of cicadas were droning. The 2 are either on par or the XM3s slightly edge out the XM5s. Again, its soooo close, but I expected new model to be leaps beyond the model 2 generations ago. But because I know the XM5s have to be better, the only conclusion I can draw is that there is random variation in ANC strength between individual headphones. Im giving 3 stars for now and will be returning my pair, but I like the headphones enough to give them another chance, maybe when they go on sale or something. Ill update my review then.

Only one concern, getting too hot after long term wear around 2 hrs

Very happy with these headphones. Lots of features and Great sound. Well worth the price for them.

I cant walk to my nearest coworkers desk without losing signal when these are connected to my computer...seems like a huge miss in the design. I work in a tiny office (the whole place is 1,000 sqft) and with these connected to my PC I can only move maybe 8 ft in any direction before the sound becomes crackly and eventually disconnects entirely. So they work for 5% of my 1,000 sqft space. Im returning them, they otherwise work okay but honestly not any better than my last $200 pair of headphones which actually stays connected. Sad I wasted time on these. Word of warning - if you have coworkers with deeper voices, these will not block ANY of that sound whatsoever.

This is truly amazing. First, they fit perfectly over my ears and are so comfortable Second, The sound quality is awesome. Third, the features are excellent. I can set it so if I need to hear people talking I can, or set it to hear only whatever I am listening to. I really like all the features of these headphones. Honestly, this is the best headphones I have ever purchased. Well worth the cost. They fold and have an amazing case to carry them in as well.

Overall Im happy with these headphones. The sound is OK but my old Bose were, I think, better. I have a big head (not in the ego sense) and these fit comfortably. I also have silver hair so the white blended in nicely. My only beef with these is the adaptive noise cancelling. Seems like a great idea in theory but it doesnt work very well. I was wearing these and using an electric weed whacker. Everything started out just fine and I could barely hear the weed whacker. Then, for no reason at all, the noise cancelling cut out and I heard all of the ambient noise. After about a minute the noise cancelling turned on again. This same thing has happened at other times as well. I suspect it was because I was stationary (although I have no idea why I would want to hear everything around me if I was standing still). I finally gave up and turned the feature off.

Ive really enjoyed these headphones and find it difficult to take them off. I was stuck on either getting the XM4s or these and ended up with these as they were basically the same price with the Prime Deal. The appearance of the XM5s ultimately made me decide to get these rather than the XM4s, but there is one important drawback I got from these: I cant wear these around my neck comfortably. They fold outward for no listed reason, so Id have the ear cups rest on my collarbone. The way around this in which I found it the most comfortable would be wearing them above my ear, which is kind of obnoxious in my eyes, but it was the most comfortable position if I didnt want them on my ears. They are super comfortable and I find myself about to fall asleep with them on. Doing activities such as school work with the active noise cancelling helped me get so much work done with little to no distractions. Using them at the gym hasnt really been a hassle, as Id wear a hoodie to protect them from sweat. The music quality is superb and I havent noticed any distortion from higher levels of music. The things that would really drift me away, especially at this hefty price point would be: The lack of any water resistance on the headphones The ear cups not being able to rotate inwards or fold into themselves Touch pad gestures should be able to be customized But other than the features listed above, they may cater towards you, but the XM4s are generally similar if not better than the XM5s.

I love the quality of these, yes it is a little pricey but it is definitely one of the leading headphones. I am having a wonderful time mixing music with them, the quality is just amazing!! (especially if you are trying to use Dolby)