**Sony's Flagship Earbuds Outshine the Competition**

Sony's latest flagship earbuds, the WF-1000XM5, have finally arrived, and they're set to take on the best of the best in the world of wireless earphones. With their sleek design and impressive features, these earbuds are sure to impress even the most discerning audiophiles.

**Immersive Sound Quality**

One of the standout features of the WF-1000XM5 is their sound quality. The earbuds boast new speaker driver units and three microphones in each bud, which work in tandem with two new proprietary Sony chipsets to deliver a truly immersive listening experience. The result is a cleaner, more defined sound with better bass definition, making them a joy to listen to.

**Noise Canceling Technology**

But what really sets the WF-1000XM5 apart is their advanced noise canceling technology. With the help of bone conduction sensors, which pick up the vibration of your voice directly from your skull bones, these earbuds are able to isolate your speech from ambient sounds and background noise with ease. This means that even in loud environments, you can enjoy crystal-clear calls without any distractions.

**Testing the Call Quality**

To put the WF-1000XM5's call quality to the test, I conducted a series of tests with colleagues in different locations. The results were impressive: callers reported only minor issues with background noise and distortion, and my own voice was crisp and clear. While there may be some minor imperfections, particularly under harsh conditions, overall, the WF-1000XM5's call quality is certainly one of its strongest features.

**Battery Life and Charging**

One area where the WF-1000XM5 falls short is in battery life. With noise canceling on at moderate volume levels, you can expect around eight hours of playback time, while without it, that number increases to 12 hours. While this may not be as long-lasting as some other earbuds on the market, such as those from Apple or Bose, it's still quite respectable.

**A Better Fit than Expectations**

One feature that sets the WF-1000XM5 apart from its competitors is their unique fit system. With a range of different ear tips and sizes available, these earbuds can be tailored to fit even the most unique ear shapes and preferences. This means that users who struggle with earbuds in general can find a solution here.

**A Sizable Upgrade over the XM4s**

But how do the WF-1000XM5 compare to their predecessor, the WF-1000XM4? While both earbuds share many of the same features and technologies, the new models have several significant upgrades. These include the addition of two new proprietary Sony chipsets with more processing power, as well as improved noise canceling and sound quality.

**A Head-to-Head Comparison**

So how do the WF-1000XM5 compare to other top earbuds on the market? While they may not be the best for Apple users, who may prefer the AirPods Pro 2 for their fit and features, these earbuds are certainly a close second. And with Bose's Quiet Comfort Earbuds 2, which offer impressive sound quality at a lower price point, there is still competition in the market.

**A Verdict**

In conclusion, Sony's WF-1000XM5 is an impressive set of earbuds that offer a host of innovative features and technologies. With their immersive sound quality, advanced noise canceling, and long-lasting battery life, these earbuds are sure to please even the most discerning audiophiles. Whether you're an Android or iOS user, there's no denying that the WF-1000XM5 is one of the best earbuds on the market today.

**A Special Mention**

As with any new product release, there will be room for improvement. Sony has already announced several firmware updates to fix bugs and enhance performance, which should address some of the minor issues users encounter with these earbuds. And while they may not offer a quantum leap in terms of performance, the WF-1000XM5 is certainly a significant upgrade over its predecessor.

**A Recommendation**

For Android users looking for a top-of-the-line pair of wireless earbuds, the WF-1000XM5 is an excellent choice. While Apple users may prefer the AirPods Pro 2, these earbuds offer many of the same features and technologies at a lower price point.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enforeign folks I'm here with a product that a lot of people have been looking forward to Sony's new flagship wf-1000x Mark V noise canceling earbuds that list for 300 for 20 dollars more than the mark IVs those were great buds the xm4s and we gave them a CNET editors Choice Award when they came out two years ago but there's always room for improvement and with this new completely redesigned model Sony has addressed most of the small gripes people had with its predecessor are the mark 5S perfect not quite but overall they're really impressive easily among the top top earbuds on the market so let's dive right into the review to find out just how they're improved and how they stack up to the competition the first thing you'll notice about them is that they're smaller than the xm4s by about 25 percent and also 20 percent lighter according to Sony with each Bud weighing 6 grams by comparison the airpods Pro 2 weight 5.3 grams each their charging case is smaller to about 15 percent smaller and does have wireless charging capabilities I have both sets of earbuds here the mark IVs are a little big and while they fit my ears nicely they don't necessarily fit people with small ears well like co-worker Tara says she has smaller ears so I had her try both sets of buds and the smaller xm5s did work better for her should I do it this back into my ear this one's very sturdy in my ear and very lightweight as well the buds come in black or silver and are partially constructed from recycled materials the xm4s have a matte finish that I like in contrast these mix in a glossy finish there's a little apprehensive about it first but the outer part of the buds where the touch controls live has a matte finish so it doesn't pick up fingerprints I also appreciate that the buds don't stick out of your ears as much as their predecessors did one issue I had with the xm4s that hasn't been resolved is the ear tips that come with the buds which now include a set of extra small tips among the four options they should fit most ears just fine but they just don't quite give me the Tight Seal that you really need for optimal sound quality and noise canceling performance the tips are made out of a high-tech polyurethane foam material that's designed to conform to your ear canal and offer some attic grip so the earbuds stay in your ears more securely but their shape isn't quite right for my ears I need tips that are a little wider and rounder and I had to swap in a set of my preferred silicone tips that allow me to get a better seal it'd be nice Sony included a wider variety of tips but as I said the majority of you shouldn't have a problem with the ones you get and many of you should be able to get a secure enough fit to run with these they are ipx4 Splash proof and sweat resistant okay on to Features Sony's Flagship headphones and earbuds have always been loaded with features and these Mark 5 buds add some new feature upgrades to go along with the existing favorites like speak to chat a mode you can enable that automatically pauses your music and activates the headphones ambient mode when you start talking to someone ambient mode is similar to Apple's transparency mode but with these Sony's you can adjust the level of Ambient sound you want to let in all right I've got my music on here and then I'll start talking to my camera woman numi and if I want to have a conversation with her the music has completely paused I can hear the outside world I can talk to her and then as soon as I stop talking five seconds later the music comes back on I'm not gonna go through all the earbuds features in this video but I'll highlight the ones that stand out for me first you get multi-point Bluetooth pairing so you can pair the buds with two devices simultaneously and easily switch audio back and forth between them after that there are plenty of EQ settings to help tweak the sound and some adaptive sound modes plus support for hands-free Alexa that feature allows you to tap into Amazon's Voice Assistant without pressing anything on the buds also there's a new beta setting called find your equalizer that lets you choose between a series of EQ setting tweaks to find the sound you like best like the mark IVs these buds have ear detection sensors that pause your music when you take an earbud out yes you can use a single earbud if you want and resume playback when you put it back in but what's new is spatial audio with head tracking currently it's only available for Android users according to Sony and it's unclear if Apple users will ever get it but in my test it seemed to work a lot like Apple's spatial audio for video watching these are also compatible with the new le audio standards so in the future you should get access to features like aracast broadcast audio that would allow you for example to tap into an audio stream being broadcast from a certain TV at the gym while you're on a treadmill finally the mark 5 support Sony's ldac audio codec using ldac can get you slightly better sound quality if you're streaming high-res audio tracks from streaming services like Coba as in Tidal iPhone users get the AAC audio codec but a lot of Android phones support ldac if there's a feature that's missing it's some sort of find my buds feature built into the Sony headphones app the airpods Pro 2 have a Precision find my feature it really does come in handy at times as far as performance goes these do feel like a bump up from the xm4s though it's not a Quantum Leap they have new speaker driver units and three microphones in each bud and they're powered by two new proprietary Sony chipsets with more processing power the V2 integrated processor and the qn2e noise canceling processor Sony's been in a nip and Tuck battle with bows for the best noise canceling and Sony says these buds have the best toys canceling based on its tests it's not a huge upgrade over the noise canceling that the xm4s offer but it is a little more effective and is quite impressive overall like Bose's quiet Comfort earbuds 2 these buds are supposed to do a better job muffling a broader range of frequencies for my anecdotal testing they're right there with the Bose buds for noise canceling but it's hard to declare an outright winner the Bose also has great noise canceling there are also improvements to sound quality but again it's not a big bump up from the xm4s which already sounded excellent that said I thought the xm5s just sound a little cleaner with a little better bass definition everything's been tightened up a bit tonally they're a little warmer sounding than the airpods Pro 2 which also sound excellent for their size but the Sony's arguably have a slight Edge in tonal balance they're just a very pleasant set of earbuds to listen to and some of the best sounding earbuds out there right now as for voice calling Sony says you're getting its best ever call Quality the earbuds have bone conduction sensors that Sony says pick up the vibration of your voice directly from your skull bones helping to isolate your speech from ambient sounds and background noise for Clear calls even in loud environments I was generally impressed with the call Quality and noise reduction in particular but under harsher conditions a few callers did say my voice wobbled a bit here's a test call I recorded that gives you a sense of the call Quality though note that the call is recorded via the Internet so you lose a little bit of Fidelity in my voice all right I'm here on the streets of New York to do a test call with fellow editor John Falcone John had some uh some wind I got a bunch of traffic going by let me know how I sound you sound pretty good overall I would say there's a a bit of uh fuzziness and warbliness when you talk but otherwise especially when you're not talking um don't hear any background noise at all and uh it's generally Pretty good overall battery life is the same as what you get with the xm4s around eight hours on a single charge with noise canceling on at moderate volume levels and up to 12 hours with it off the case holds two extra charges that's a couple of hours better than what you get with the airpods Pro 2 which are around six hours so very good battery life overall as I said my intro these really are impressive earbuds though they're not perfect and I'm sure Sony will issue some firmware updates to fix some bugs and perhaps improve performance a bit but the key takeaway here is that Sony has managed to make its Flagship earbuds significantly smaller while actually improving upon performance with incremental upgrades noise canceling and sound quality and a slightly bigger upgrade to voice calling and for Android users anyway there's spatial audio with head tracking Apple users may find some advantages with the airpods Pro 2 whether it's from a fit or features perspective as I've said before the airpods Pro 2 are hard to beat for Apple users they sound great for their size and also offer excellent noise canceling and they are are being discounted to around 200 or 100 less than these I also like the Bose quiet Comfort earbuds 2 and the new Beats Studio buds plus which do cost significantly less but the wf-1000x mark fives really are the complete package particularly for Android users yeah you could quibble about them not including a wider variety of ear tips and maybe missing a feature or two and costing so much but they do largely live up to their hype so there is that but let me know what you think in the comments section and if you haven't subscribed to this channel already please do I'm David Carr for CNET thanks for watching\n"