Are the WH-1000XM5 premium noise-cancelling headphones Sony’s forgotten masterpiece? Since their debut, Sony’s successor model WH-1000XM6 cans are getting all of the attention and praise. That’s totally understandable, since the 1000XM6 are mind-bogglingly good in pretty much every way imaginable. But maybe we can scare up some love for the WH-1000XM5s now that they’re 30% off at Amazon, which makes them an absolute steal at just $279.
Before last May when the 1000XM6 headphones dropped, there wasn’t much debate about what the best noise-cancelling over-ear headphones on the market were, and it was the WH-1000XM5s. Priced less than the competitor Apple AirPods Max and armed with a 30-hour battery, a comfortable fit, and a two-processor, eight-microphone array that made them the premier noise-cancelling wireless headphones, the Sony WH-1000XM5s had a three-year run at the top of the charts. Guess what — they’re every bit as good as ever, except now they’ve had over $100 carved from their price tag.
Opportunity Knocks
Now that the WH-1000XM6 wireless headphones are Sony’s flagship charged with beating the AirPod Max and other top-class noise-cancelling headphones, the WH-1000XM5s occupy a new niche on the market. We wouldn’t go as far as to call them bargain headphones, because nothing with that tag could possibly sound as good as the WH-1000XM5s, but they’re most definitely in hot-deal territory. This new sale price at Amazon places the WH-100XM5 noise-cancelling headphones a solid C-note beneath their new big brother, and nearly $200 under the AirPods Max. One thing is for certain — if there’s a performance gap between the WH-1000XM5 headphones and AirPods Max at all, it’s nowhere near worth a $200 price gap.
The Sony WH-1000XM5 blew away reviewers and customers alike when they dropped in 2022, mostly due to just how good their active noise cancellation feature was. They represented Sony’s greatest leap forward in that all-important feature, and it took three years and another Sony model to finally push them off the perch as the best ANC headphones. But there was — and is — much more to love about them, including a 30-hour battery life and crazy fast-charging feature that takes only 3 minutes of charge to give you 3 hours of listening time.
Midrange Monster
The other features that made the Sony WH-1000XM5 wireless headphones a solid buy at $400 make them an unbeatable deal at $279. Easy multi-device pairing and toggling, equally formidable performance for music, podcasts, and phone calls, Alexa control, and a high level of customization through the Sony Sound Connect app are every bit as impressive now as they were when these headphones were released. The only difference is, now they’re in a whole new, more accessible price category.
Think of the Sony WH-1000XM5 wireless noise-cancelling headphones as a world champion boxer that’s decided to drop down a weight class or two in order to dominate a new division. That’s what’s happening right now, because as long as these world-class headphones are just $279 at Amazon, they are hands-down the class of that price range.
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