I thought it might be cool for us to share thoughts on various bits of “audio hardware” we use day-to-day or maybe have encountered - that means things like headphones, speakers, hi-fi’s, digital audio players, turntables, phono cartridges, microphones, DAC’s, computer soundcards etc.
I’ll kick things off…
Sony WH-1000XM5 Bluetooth Noise Cancelling Headphones
So over christmas I bought some XM5’s to replace my ageing and battered XM3’s.
For years and years I struggled to find a set of headphones that I could enjoy - issues with comfort or them needing to be driven by something more beefy than the 3.5mm line out of an iPod or smartphone.
With the general trend of moving away from headphone jacks, I began to search around for a pair of bluetooth headphones, and as anyone knows the cheap end of the headphones market is awash with poor quality headphones, so I decided to shell out on my XM3’s which I fell in love with after a short demo at my local electronics retailer.
4 years later and my poor XM3’s began to show various issues and problems, but they’ve had a good run being used for nearly 7 hours every day. So I went ahead and bought the XM5’s.
I’ve now had my XM5’s for just over a month and here are my thoughts.
Good Points
- Pretty comfortable out of the box; I’m of the belief you have to “bed in” any headphones from continued use and the foam ear cups will then form to the shape of your noggin. Luckily it was after about day 3 the headphones felt right on my head.
- Great sound quality; one of the things I enjoyed about my XM3’s was how great they sounded. I’m beyond the age of wanting the fillings in my mouth rattled out of my skull from sub-bass, but there are times when I definitely want to feel the low frequencies of music. No audiophile, I don’t have that kind of money, but I find the audio generally well balanced across various genres and the added EQ available when using a compatible smartphone is also beneficial
- They look pretty stylish; I don’t want headphones that are too bulky or stand out, they’re here to serve a simple purpose and not bring undue attention. I feel that the XM5’s in the grey/black colour I opted for do that perfectly.
- Easy to use; the Bluetooth seems to behave well and stay connected to a device without any issues, setting up the headphones with the Sony companion app is also really simple even for a novice user
- Battery life; considering how long I wear the headphones, battery life is really good, often meaning I only have to charge them every 2 days or so and can do it overnight (the XM5’s like the XM3’s do not allow you to charge and use at the same time sadly)
- Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) is still really great; I’m sure someone out there will tell me some other manufacturer does ANC even better but I find my XM5’s do a perfectly suitable job in removing unwanted exterior noise while out and about without becomming dangerous (I personally don’t want to become deaf to the outside world while wearing the headphones)
Bad Points
- Infrequent audio loss; not entirely sure what is happening and if its a firmware issue on the headphones or the bluetooth transmitter used on my PC (as this only really happens while using that device) but very occassionally audio will just stop, I’ll get a click in the headphones like someone had unplugged the line cable. Windows thinks the device is connected, and the only way to resolve is to power down and back up, after which things resume without issue
- Squeaky hinges; I kind of recall having this issue with the XM3’s and eventually the noise went away, sometimes when walking around with the XM5’s I can hear the hinges (as the phones fold flat) moving very slightly, which often can overpower the music. It is quite cold at the moment in the UK so the ambient temperature might be causing this effect.
- Not entirely portable; although this is more of a complaint from my buddy who also uses XM series headphones from Sony, these phones do not fold into themselves, but simply fold flat. This means they take up more space than previous models in a rucksack or bag.
- No voices! Just Bongs! the XM3’s used to talk to me all the time (Power On, Power Off etc.) but the XM5’s now make different bonging noises to confirm power on, off, connect or disconnect which is all great but I can barely distinguish which is which! You do get a vocal read out of battery level from quickly pressing the power button on the left ear cup however.
- Touch controls suck! This is more for any Bluetooth headphones I’ve used, I absolutely hate the touch controls. I tried them on my XM5’s but after day 4 I turned them off entirely, it was too easy to slightly touch them in the wrong position and skip a track, or pause the music
Here’s a photo of them if you ever see them in a catalogue or in a showroom: