Sony WH-1000XM5 Wireless Noise Cancelling
Oct 13, 2022 at 9:51 AM Post #406 of 591
I bought the xm5s for my daughter.But ended up buying one for my self to,because the anc is really good.But i still wanted the momentum 4.So i sold my shure aonic 4 and ifi xcan wich i really dont use that much so i could pre order momentums.I also have some sennheisers ( the tw3 and ie600,and had the ie 300 before ) and l like the sound of these.
I am choosing between this and XM5. My use case of M4W and XM5 will be PURELY when I am travelling in subway/tube/MTR, in short, traffic.

As such, I am under the impression while M4W might sound better (I love HD6xx and Chord Mojo, and that is why I only use these ANC in traffic), given the background noise, the better ANC from XM5 might allows me to have better music?

OR the ANC improvement from XM5 is not so relevant once the music is on?
Any thoughts, and especially real life experience will be appreciated. Thanks!
 
Oct 13, 2022 at 2:34 PM Post #407 of 591
I am choosing between this and XM5. My use case of M4W and XM5 will be PURELY when I am travelling in subway/tube/MTR, in short, traffic.

As such, I am under the impression while M4W might sound better (I love HD6xx and Chord Mojo, and that is why I only use these ANC in traffic), given the background noise, the better ANC from XM5 might allows me to have better music?

OR the ANC improvement from XM5 is not so relevant once the music is on?
Any thoughts, and especially real life experience will be appreciated. Thanks!
I do not own or tried M4W, but I own 3 ANC headphones. While XM5 has the best ANC over the others, leftover(?) noise gets drowned by music anyway. XM5 sounds good to my ears with some help from EQ. If M4W has better SQ, I wouldn't worry about weaker ANC so much. I hope you have a device with AptX Adaptive support so you can take full advantage of M4W though.
 
Oct 13, 2022 at 6:24 PM Post #408 of 591
I do not own or tried M4W, but I own 3 ANC headphones. While XM5 has the best ANC over the others, leftover(?) noise gets drowned by music anyway. XM5 sounds good to my ears with some help from EQ. If M4W has better SQ, I wouldn't worry about weaker ANC so much. I hope you have a device with AptX Adaptive support so you can take full advantage of M4W though.
Thanks much! What is your EQ tuning btw?
 
Oct 14, 2022 at 9:54 PM Post #410 of 591
In the Sony app, Bright EQ setting with Clear Bass +2 was a fun sound for me. For a bit more mellow(neutral?) sound, I started with Wavelet AutoEQ and tweaked it a bit to my liking.
this EQ is the way to go, it really makes the headphones sound clear without making the tonality choked or feel artificial.
 
Dec 6, 2022 at 10:25 AM Post #412 of 591
and if plan to use the XM5 wired with my pc, can i still benefit from eq via sonys app?
It depends on whether you’re going to have the power on the headphones themselves turned on or off. You cannot use the Sony app at all on the PC since one doesn’t exist. You will have to set the EQ and other settings on a smartphone. The customized settings will be stored on the headphone itself.

If you’re going to use the headphones in passive wired mode, then obviously nothing will work. You’ll be stuck with the headphone’s default tonality/tuning (however lousy it may be).
 
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Dec 6, 2022 at 11:07 AM Post #413 of 591
The longer I've had these, the more I do find myself returning to them over other choices.

Even though the Shure Aonic 50 sounds overall more pleasing to me, work vastly better with multipoint, and supports Low Latency-AptX when I'm gaming, they're also larger, heavier, a little more uncomfortable, and when my AptX transmitter fails (as it is apt to do :xf_rolleyes:) my set seems to have an issue with wired mode creating a buzzy sound sometimes (and uses the annoying non-standard smaller headphone jack).

Although the XM4s pack up into a much smaller package for travel, some might like the more in-your-face bass more, and I still love the blue color, they have an annoying creakiness when walking with them, and definitely don't sound as clean.

My first pair of wireless over-ears, the Bose Soundlink AE2s, only support SBC and while they do still sound pretty good all things considered (and reasonably comfortable with fresh replacement earcups), it's a pretty notable step down, especially in terms of bass.

The black finish on the XM5s is awful, they truly look like a greasy mess and it's impossible to not touch them since they require touch controls. But they've also proven to be reasonably durable and survived some (gentle) trips in my bag without their case. The multipoint does not work with LDAC enabled, so I have to manually activate them when I switch devices (often). The seal on the earcups isn't perfect; I notice the noise cancellation failing me if I happen to be chewing/eating.

And yet they're great. They sound overall excellent. I wasn't sure at first about the comfort level, but after some time, I find I *notice* other headphones more, and these just melt away (for me). Call quality is *awesome* - and by that I mean I can have a lengthy conversation on the phone and the other person will have no idea I'm not using the native phone microphone. For the ergonomic aspect of not holding my phone to my ear and/or craning my neck for an hour at a time, these are worth it just for phone calls, if you make them regularly. I wouldn't record a podcast or lay down a vocal track with them or anything, but for actual phone calls, they're great.

I would never argue these are the best in any single category - for substantially higher music quality listening or versatile features? For the not-small price? They're clearly not. There's tons of room for improvement. But as a sum of all their parts, they are pretty great.
 
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Dec 6, 2022 at 11:15 AM Post #414 of 591
It depends on whether you’re going to have the power on the headphones themselves turned on or off. You cannot use the Sony app at all on the PC since one doesn’t exist. You will have to set the EQ and other settings on a smartphone. The customized settings will be stored on the headphone itself.

If you’re going to use the headphones in passive wired mode, then obviously nothing will work. You’ll be stuck with the headphone’s default tonality/tuning (however lousy it may be).

thank you very much and yeah i plan to turn them on still

are the pads wider and deeper at all compared to the XM4?

and would the bass of the XM5 be more pronounced and punch harder then an hd 800 s for example?
 
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Dec 19, 2022 at 7:31 PM Post #418 of 591
Not sure if this has been posted already, but Dekoni have released replacement pads for the XM5. I still have the XM3 & use the Dekoni leather pads, found the sound cleaned up a fair (probably because the pads are thicker & create space around the ears) - trade off may be slightly less ANC.

In any case, anyone experiencing muddy bass with the XM5, which I've read a bit, it's worth trying the Dekoni pads.
 
Dec 25, 2022 at 9:10 PM Post #419 of 591
The longer I've had these, the more I do find myself returning to them over other choices.

Even though the Shure Aonic 50 sounds overall more pleasing to me, work vastly better with multipoint, and supports Low Latency-AptX when I'm gaming, they're also larger, heavier, a little more uncomfortable, and when my AptX transmitter fails (as it is apt to do :xf_rolleyes:) my set seems to have an issue with wired mode creating a buzzy sound sometimes (and uses the annoying non-standard smaller headphone jack).

Although the XM4s pack up into a much smaller package for travel, some might like the more in-your-face bass more, and I still love the blue color, they have an annoying creakiness when walking with them, and definitely don't sound as clean.

My first pair of wireless over-ears, the Bose Soundlink AE2s, only support SBC and while they do still sound pretty good all things considered (and reasonably comfortable with fresh replacement earcups), it's a pretty notable step down, especially in terms of bass.

The black finish on the XM5s is awful, they truly look like a greasy mess and it's impossible to not touch them since they require touch controls. But they've also proven to be reasonably durable and survived some (gentle) trips in my bag without their case. The multipoint does not work with LDAC enabled, so I have to manually activate them when I switch devices (often). The seal on the earcups isn't perfect; I notice the noise cancellation failing me if I happen to be chewing/eating.

And yet they're great. They sound overall excellent. I wasn't sure at first about the comfort level, but after some time, I find I *notice* other headphones more, and these just melt away (for me). Call quality is *awesome* - and by that I mean I can have a lengthy conversation on the phone and the other person will have no idea I'm not using the native phone microphone. For the ergonomic aspect of not holding my phone to my ear and/or craning my neck for an hour at a time, these are worth it just for phone calls, if you make them regularly. I wouldn't record a podcast or lay down a vocal track with them or anything, but for actual phone calls, they're great.

I would never argue these are the best in any single category - for substantially higher music quality listening or versatile features? For the not-small price? They're clearly not. There's tons of room for improvement. But as a sum of all their parts, they are pretty great.
I've put a skin on mine to not show the greasy finish, It works great and they look better imo.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/HynPEndBhHDpk4Y59
 
Dec 30, 2022 at 4:25 PM Post #420 of 591

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