Sony WH-1000XM WF-1000XM5: what 7 Hacker News owners think

Likes it

I never really understood how people can wear headphones all day. I have the XM5 headphones, and after a couple of hours, it starts hurting my head. What am I doing wrong? I also have the earbuds of the same generation, and they're much more comfortable, but the noise cancelling is less consistent.

Neutral

On my wh-1000xm2, wh-1000xm3, wf-1000xm4 and lastly wf-1000xm5, there is a quite high frequency pitch (usually coincides with some public transport beeps, and some accidental squeaking of doors) that toggles ANC to transparent mode automatically. I remember reading something about this on Sony's support website.

Likes it

So far, sony wf1000-xm5, but they're also the most expensive I've tried. (OTOH, not a fan of the bose qc ultra over-ear despite the cost). Earfun airpro 4 were probably second after the sony.

Doesn’t like it

Yeah, my experience has been that bunch of features just don't work when LE is used. E.g. on my WF-1000XM5, I can't use multipoint connection, lose per-headphone/case battery status, Voice Assistant support and some other details.

Doesn’t like it

For real quality improvement which is 48kHz stereo + mic, you'll also need GMAP(Gaming Audio Profile) support both on BLE adapter and headset. I've tried multiple combinations with my WH-1000XM6 and WF-1000XM5, but nothing works stable on Windows. Linux requires hand-patching bluez and friends which also failed for me. Android does not support GMAP and just when using LE, a lot of messengers unable to detect it properly(Google Meet works, Telegram and Viber does not). I've finally gave up on that idea. Just thinking about fact we cannot use duplex wireless audio in 2025 pisses me off so much tbh.

Doesn’t like it

That's nice anecdata. Got a pair of FiiO earbuds - works after 5 years Got a pair of Skullcandy earbuds - failed within a month Got a pair of Sony WF-1000XM5 - failed within a year Got a pair of AirPod Pro2 - works after 2 years Got a pair of Beat Fit Pro - failed within a year Got a pair of Moondrop Blessing 2 - works after 2 years I can keep going for a while. Aren't all of these assembled in China? The Chinese meme strong is strong with us.

Likes it

I have owned WF-1000XM3, 4, and (currently) 5. I got the 5 with discount as replacement for the 4 since the battery of one earbud was dead due to a firmware bug. The noise cancelling gets slightly better each iteration. There's another thing the 3 and 4 are better at than the 5: easier to get out of the charging case. Also, while you could replace the batteries in each of these versions, the IP rating would be in practice regressed.

Doesn’t like itHasn’t owned it

Apple plays the 'it's the best for most people' game, not the 'technically ahead in [one or a few feature categories]' game. They make the lion's share of profit in the categories they compete in because they sell to the mass market; there's 2.5 billion active iOS devices! Every time I see someone here dismiss this success as marketing or status, I just shake my head at how much that signals a deep misunderstanding of how the world works or what most of the human race wants in a product. Nobody wants the Sony WF-1000XM5 earbuds because Sony doesn't even give a shit enough to give them a name people can remember. Nobody wants Bose earbuds because nobody wants to open a buggy spyware-laden app to turn on/off noise cancelling. These products are destined to fail because they make simple things complicated, untrustworthy, bothersome. People are whole-experience buyers, not single-feature buyers, and the experience people want is the magical 'I put it in and it works' experience. What people want is all the upside of the magic of technology and none of the cognitive overhead associated with it. The marketing reflects the inherent desire of the customer. Any luxury / status symbol aspects come AFTER that.

Sony WH-1000XM WF-1000XM5

What owners wrote