Check latest prices! Sony WF-1000XM5 - amzn.to/3qiamkS Sony LinkBuds S - amzn.to/3xNMab7 Sony WF-1000XM4 - amzn.to/3zbNN12 (Sound Sample chapter errors) Hey all, some eagle-eyed viewers noted that the FR graphs for XM5 and XM4 are reversed at 10:03 during the sound samples. That is true, I made a mistake there. Also the XM5 is labelled LinkBuds S at the end. Too easy to miss 😅 Apologies!

@veYda25

Жыл бұрын

I think you should take the video down and edit it... The sound quality difference between the xm4 and xm5 is important to people, in fact the only thing important for me. Mislabeling them is too big of an error to fix it in the comments.

@aaronloudnwireless

Жыл бұрын

@@veYda25 I hate that the mistake happened, but sadly KZread doesn't take kindly to reuploads. As long as it doesn't have a major impact on conclusions I'll have to let it be for now.

@DavidEsp1

Жыл бұрын

KZread lets you add captions? Nobody minds when "Oops-mistake" correction-captions appear. Vital in this case, surely. Much respect, great reviews.

@aaronloudnwireless

Жыл бұрын

@@DavidEsp1 That is true. I've updated the captions to reflect this. Thanks!

@omarjhungoor2598

Жыл бұрын

Forget phone call quality I want to know about sound quality please

It's disappointing they haven't really improved call quality in noisy conditions. Thanks for the real honest detailed review!

@pauledwards5573

Жыл бұрын

I think this is because they have reached the limits of the technology and what is possible.

@zixednatz

Жыл бұрын

@@pauledwards5573 true, you can't really get clear sound of your voice since the mouth is far away from the earbuds. However my friends never complained of my call quality when i was using samsung buds pro, it seem to get clearer voice.

@friskyfixedit

Жыл бұрын

@@pauledwards5573 There are other buds out there that sound a lot better than these in terms of sound quality.

@aaronloudnwireless

Жыл бұрын

No problem!

@2Ikechi

Жыл бұрын

Especially on $300 -US earbuds.

The review i was waiting for. Your videos are very informative and so much helpful to me.

Earwax is just a natural form of EQ. 🤔

@aaronloudnwireless

Жыл бұрын

Ew lol

@MichaelM28

Жыл бұрын

😋

@dbean5174

Жыл бұрын

LOL

@outermarker5801

Жыл бұрын

True. Clean ears can make treble suddenly unbearable 😂

@KHuyPh

Жыл бұрын

And natural passive noise cancellation

Glad to hear someone mention and test the XM5s for the metallic pinging noise. That one completely ruined my XM4 experience during voice calls, which I used them frequently for while gaming. Kinda glad I parted with my XM4s during the return window, though I did so very heavy hearted - because other than that I was extremely happy with them outside of an extremely obnoxious offender of said pinging noise being my right bud. I will happily give the XM5s a try and if all else fails, I will just send the XM5s back again and re-order the XM4s - hoping to get a less offending set, and/or just accepting the fact that this part is the only con of them. I also hope for less ear fatigue, which was quite pronounced for me on the XM4s. I will miss the quite unique design and matte finish of the XM4s though, they looked marvelous and really stood out from the crowd of wireless in-ears. On the sidenote of design, I am somewhat sad that the LED 'bar' is now replaced with a simple LED dot on the case. I really liked the look of the LED bar the XM4s had on their case. Overall, I am really torn between these two earbud sets, but hope that the XM5 are removing my main gripes about the XM4s, being comfort, the metal pinging and the battery lottery, to the extent I can bear their rather cheapish look (compared to the XM4s). That said, given the regular retail price of both sets, that pinging noise should be an absolute no-go in such a premium price range.

@pauledwards5573

Жыл бұрын

I have the 700ns and wont be ungrading. They got the ability to connect two BT devices yesterday and at under £100 uk very good value for money.

Hi Aaron, thanks for your comparison, I have the xm4's and I feel they don't have enough volume, are the xm5´s louder?

Aaron, did you have issues with ldac lagging when watching youtube videos on the sony wf-1000xm4 earbuds? I have the sony wf-1000xm4 earbuds and youtube lags with ldac enabled. I never use noise canceling since I have noise canceling always off and for my eq settings I have it set to completely flat like a ruler with clear bass set to -10. I have prioritize sound quality instead of stable connection. I'm using the sony xperia 1 iv. I tried the sony xperia 1 iii with the sony wf-1000xm4 earbuds and the sony wf-1000xm4 bluetooth earbuds would lag every second with the sony xperia 1 iii. It was really annoying. I even tried the sony wf-1000xm4 with my fiio m11 android hi res music player set to ldac and it would lag too. I ended up going back to using my wired headphones since the lag was getting annoying. Using google assistant made the sony wf-1000xm4 lag so I ended up turning off google assistant. These issues that I mentioned are the things that annoys me about bluetooth headphones. I never had these issues with wired headphones. Luckily when I pre-ordered my sony xperia 1 iv from best buy during there promotion I got the sony wf-1000xm4 for free as part of best buy promotion.

i have a question and it seems like XM5 is a good choice. I have an Iphone 14 pro max with Soundcore libetry air 2 and use it mostly on the whatsapp, Wechat and line voice call instead of Phone call. I found out that the sound quality of using APP call / Voice message is not a good compared to real phone call.

Thanks so much, really helpful. I have had the issue of answering calls with the XM5 and the caller just cannot hear me. This led to taking out the XM5 to call back in a more traditional way. Unless I'm missing something, this is a real game changer for me as it goes against the purpose of what I purchased them for. Do you have any workaround or a better alternative? I am thinking of returning these as they are quite expensive and switching over to the Link. I'd really appreciate your wiseness 😊

You seem to have forgotten the battery discharge issue on the rhs bud in the WF 1000 M4 following the software upgrade which has still not been addressed by Sony. What is there to suggest that this will not recur?

@AllenReinecke

3 ай бұрын

I see some have the same issue on the Linkbuds S too. Just don't accept the updates. They only make small improvements IMHO and worsen other things at the same time

Thanks for this awsome review.... I have the XM4. I had issues with one side giving off noises when ANC was active and I got a replacement. Months later after i updated my firmware to 2.0.0, I had the dreaded battery drain issue. This time I could not get a replacement. Went to youtube, saw a tutorial on how to replace the batteries and did it myself. My earbuds are now like new, and on top of that I have replacement batteries in case year+ in the future I need to replace it again. I WILL NOT buy XM5, at least not soon. Maybe a few years when they drop the price and my XM4's really stop working. The new features in the XM5 really do not entice me.

Sony dropped a software update for wh1000Xm5 just today . Do you notice any changes in anc, audio quality etc. after the update?

@nahk786

Жыл бұрын

@aaronloudnwireless Can you provide an update?

Yep I agree for the xm4 vocal part, and may I know is xm5 getting the battery drain like xm4 did? Also may I know is there a fix for the right earbud battery drains? Thankss Aaron!!!

Is the quick attention feature faster than the last one? I mean the time between switching from noise cancelling to ambient sound when you press the left side. It was too long in the previous version to me

Thank you...for your detailed impressions. Does the XM5 accept the tips of the linkbuds? Or other alternative tips like the Sednaearfit crystal? Greetings....from Tierra del Fuego

@aaronloudnwireless

Жыл бұрын

Their nozzles are pretty generic. You can use LinkBuds tips on them, and Azla tips too

Aaron, have you considered the nura true pro bluetooth earbuds and the denon perl pro bluetooth earbuds? The nura true pro and denon perl pro both have qualcomm apt-x lossless compression bluetooth codec instead of the lossy compression bluetooth codec that is currently on all qualcomm apt-x bluetooth earbuds and headphones. However, when there is bluetooth interference it loses quality and it goes down to a terrible quality at 140 kbps. I have my local music library stored on my micro sd card mixed with 16 bit 44.1 khz wav, 24 bit 96khz flac and even dsd 64 at 88.2 mhz aka sacd. The sony wf-1000xm4 treble is rolled off and not as bright or fatiguing with tracks that emphasizes the treble even though I have the eq set to completely flat like a ruler with clear bass set to - 10 to make the bass neutral and flat.

How is the noise cancellation compared to the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, AirPods Pro 2, and Bose QC Earbuds 2?

Do you think they can add the option of cutting out background noise when I talk during a call with Linkbud S?

Can you please explain to me why a smaller size should result in a worse fitting seal? For me and a few other people ive talked to the xm4's where just to bulky to stay in properly. I have no such problems with the xm5. Also most other sites claim BETTER low frequency ANC. Have you done any acoustic measurements comparing the 2 ?

what kind of hair product do you use? it barely moved when you waved the fan around

Hey Aaron, the Sony WF-C700n just got a new update regarding multipoint pairing and volume controls, are you going to make a video about it in the near future? Thanks.

Just music sound quality along, will you pick B&O H95 or Sony WHXM5 or Sony WFXM5?

Hey Aaron, thanks for this review. Very helpful. Just wanted to clarify: In 9:12 your legend says the XM5 is red, while in 10:07 you used red for the XM4. Is that accurate?

@aaronloudnwireless

Жыл бұрын

That is not accurate, 09:12 is correct and the graphs are wrong at 10:07. thanks for pointing that mistake out. 👍🏻

Are the controls still limited in pairs or did they improve that? For my xm4, I use play/pause, forward reverse on right earbud and volume control on the left, as I think a lot of people do. But I also want to have ANC toggle and the quick attention feature as well. Can we have all of them at once now?

Hey Aaron! In my headphones app, I was not able to enable triple tap and continuous press options for my Sony link buds s.

How do you configure the audio of your cell phone so that the sound is taken from the headphones and not from the microphone of the cell phone? for example on whatsapp

What about audio latency? You didn't highlight that. Does the xm5 have any improvement in terms of audio latency in comparison to the xm4's?

In the music test at 09:57, the XM5 sounds best to my ears - when listening via my XM4 earbuds (!) for which I apply lots of (V-shaped) EQ... I believe that perceived improvement is due to the XM5's drop in response over 2.5 to 5 kHz (relative to the XM4). Smoother, less "shouty". Following that, I dropped my XM4 buds' EQ down a bit further (than they already were) at 2.5 kHz (while listening to other music), but still (on listening to the test again) the XM5's sound smoother in that department - so I wish there were more (hence tighter) EQ bands in that region, or alternatively a parametric EQ option.

I was just wondering how do you switch off the touch tones on these wf1000xm5 I’m sure you could do that on xm4

My latest heaphones are atleast 10 years old. Motörheadphones.. Ive been arguing since november about what to get.. im down to xm5 i think. Is the WH headphones xm5 a better total package with better NC or are the new xm5 buds just as good? In Sweden the WH cost 450 dollar right now and the WF will be 350 dollar. Just want the best NC.

I didn’t get it well so lemme ask you, do you feel like vocal/upper mid range is more forward on XM5? I quite like the more flat mids on the XM4 and I was hoping Sony wouldn’t change that.

@aaronloudnwireless

Жыл бұрын

Mids are more sparkly on the XM5

Do they address the issue for iPhone users where the EQ changed if volume was around 70%?

Recently started getting battery issues on the XM4, right earphone running out of battery in just a few hours... really enjoyed the headphones especially as someone who's kinda picky with headphones and I'm wondering if it's worth just getting the XM5 over the XM4.

@paragonofmankind9293

11 ай бұрын

Same problem with the right earbud, but sometimes even running out in half an hour and I've only had them for maximum a year

@aaronLoudnWireless I have the xm4 and the right ear bud loses battery charge a lot quicker then the left and only lasts 1 hour. Is there a way to fix this? I have tried battery reset (flipping lid open 5 times) but no fix. I really like them but if the battery issue cant be fixed , I’m looking at getting the xm5s.

@Yuh9818

6 ай бұрын

The only way to fix that is to replace the battery

What do you recommend me to buy the xm4 or linkbuds?

Hi Aaron. Is it worth the change from xm4? Greetings from Chile, great channel!

Can you se the tips from the XM4's on the XM5's? I have 3rd party silicon tips on my XM4's & would use them on the XM5 is they fit?

@aaronloudnwireless

Жыл бұрын

Yes you can

Which of the earphones is louder as I find my xm4s a bit weak.

Do the foam tips on the XM5's fit the XM4's?

Ho Aaron, what do you think is better for absolute audio quality between these and the Beoplay EQ? I have the latter and they're still going strong so I was wondering whether this would be an upgrade or a downgrade.

@danielvanatta8884

11 ай бұрын

It would be a massive downgrade in terms of sound quality. Spend the money on a pair of beoplay ex if you want better sound quality. Buy the bose quietcomfort 2s for noise canceling. Buy the airpods pro 2 for ease of usage and almost as good sound quality as the sony, and better transparency and anc. Buy the master & dynamic mw08 sport if battery life and build quality and looks are the most important to you. Otherwise, the EQs are almost the best sounding earbuds on the market, second to the final ze5000 and the hifiman svanar.

@umbertomasoero367

11 ай бұрын

@@danielvanatta8884 I Guess you're right. Truth be told I tried the EX about one year ago. They were better for calls compared to the EQ, punchier in the lows and more defined in the highs, but ultimately I could't find a good fit (I have huge ears and the EQ work good for me) plus the noise canceling was worse and controls were hit and miss..so I didn't keep them. I guess I'll wait for the next iteration at this point. Besides, I love my current setup with my custom eq plus the hybrid tips that I swapped from my "old" XM4s.

Do the xm5 sound better than the AirPod pro 2 that’s my big question

How secure is the fit compared with Jabra Elite 7 Active?

Great review. Can you be able to compare XM5 to the new Technics AZ80?

Aaron,How to enable Wf 1000 Xm4 LDAC mode on IPHONE?

i've just unpacked mine XM5.... first question (i had the same problem with XM4) How to enable AMBIENT SOUND and stop the music WITH THE SAME ONE TOUCH ?? sounds so obvious ... (and it works like this with Sennheisers) (i don't want to keep holding one earbud for a minute if i want to talk more - quick attention mode)

Can I get sound quality close to xm5 or similar by setting EQ with linksbuds s? Because its wearing comfort and price are both perfect.

In my opinion voices are much more emotional with the XM4. They sound beautiful full, have more "pressure" and presence, are exceptional clear, forward sounding and natural analog like "warm". Maybe this is not the most neutral setup but i like it very much. Music is emotion and the XM4 are best imo in giving that emotional listening experience. The sound is exceptional full bodied with deep bass and beautiful. I won't buy the XM5. Thanks for your making the best in ear reviews on KZread.

Hi Aaron, is it now possible to disable sidetone also for XM4 and linkbuds? Thank you

@aaronloudnwireless

Жыл бұрын

It still can't be disabled

Im not sure if anyone mentioned this to you yet but, on the graph 9:03 with the graph that's labeled with the different earbuds; red is xm5 and yellow is xm4 then 10:03; yellow is xm5 and red is xm4 is that an error?

@aaronloudnwireless

Жыл бұрын

Yes that is an error, thanks for pointing it out 👍🏻

@NamelllemaN

Жыл бұрын

@@aaronloudnwireless 👍

Based on this review, I would choose the XM4. I’ve seen it go on sale quite frequently at around $180 (in 2023). Sometimes even less. The minor refinements do not seem to be worth the $120 or so extra you would have to pay.

@deykno87

Жыл бұрын

🤡

@elmaster6207

Жыл бұрын

Go for the linkbuds S, I had the XM4s and I returned them, the LinkBuds S are kind of the same as the XM4 and you even get waaaaay better call quality, the sound is the same clean sound as the XM4s, the ANC is really effective too on the Linkbuds S, the XM4s are just too big for the ears and looks, is my opinion, not saying that the XM4s are bad, but using the Linkbuds S I don't feel the difference in sound and ANC, well, is stronger in the M4s but the Linkbuds S beat every other ANC earbud out there, every single one (except for Bose)

@watermelon1221

Жыл бұрын

​@elmaster6207 no, now you're pushing it. Linkbuds have trash anc

@pauledwards5573

Жыл бұрын

Well I had the XM 4s and they really hurt my ears

@KL-xv5gj

Жыл бұрын

I use both XM4 and LinksBuds S, I agree that LinksBuds S is actually much better in terms of call quality, light and far more comfortable! Sound and ANC wise, not drastic differences! Yet XM4 is poor with battery life, although claim to be 8 hours! I would still go for LinksBuds S instead of XM5, since it is even more pricey, weakening ANC, still bigger than LinkBuds S in terms of size and weight, with muddy, not as great call quality

Does anyone know what causes the metallic ping noise, I haven't been noticing it frequently, but it is sometimes annoying?

@aaronloudnwireless

Жыл бұрын

Some say the bone conduction rig causes it

@Rast7

Жыл бұрын

@@aaronloudnwireless Alright, so it is a hardware design flaw not software.

How much need to wait to get a pair of earbuds that have stellar ANC (as of Airpods pro 2) ?! I see just a trend of selling at similar prices but not as good quality as Apples

Huge thanks Aaron for this amazing comparison video (one more ^^), highly valuable as usual, particularly the part on the phone call quality 🤩 You rocks, thanks!!!

How do these compare to the Bose QC earbuds 2?

Why are you graphs flat? Do you compensate for a target? Also, are the audio samples raw or compensated?

How do they compare to the liberty 4 NC?

What about the dreaded "Battery Drain" issue with the XM4? Did Sony fix that with another update? I see lots of XM4s on sale and I wanna know if XM4s won't go bonkers on me after buying it. Sony promised those battery drain issues is fixed with the XM5 but never mentioned anything with the XM4s though.

I might upgrade if they go on sale at some point but I really like my XM4s. The XM5s do sound a tiny bit clearer and crisper though.

why my wf1000xm3 have battery issue,, the battery drain so fast with single use only get 1 hour

what firmware version was the wf-1000xm5 on for the testing?

@aaronloudnwireless

Жыл бұрын

It was on 2.0.1

Another significant difference between the XM4s and XM5s is that the XM5s dropped the voice feedback indicating which ambient sound control mode you are in (ambient sound, noise canceling or off). For me, this made the XM5s less useable than the XM4s. I could not easily tell what mode I was in.

Not sure if it is me or the buds. I have the WF 1000XM4 and WH 1000XM5. The ANC on both does not work on me. On trains, I can hear rumblings, announcements, people chatting very clearly. Does anyone have the same issue?

@whatsuphelp

Жыл бұрын

Did you activate anc?

Hey.. i am confused to buy xm4 or xm5.. pls suggest any one

Does the xm5 have that eq shift at higher volume? Xm4 loose bass at higher volume

@aaronloudnwireless

Жыл бұрын

Most buds do lose bass at high volumes actually

Does spatial audio work with Spotify?

I'm thinking about buying the xm5, but what about the battery drain the xm4 had? That was one of the biggest problems I had, and I want to know if it was solved or if it happens to the new ones too, please someone answer me as soon as possible because maybe this week I will buy them

Is the 2.0.2 firmware review coming for the whxm5s?

so its worth the price? whats your favorite in ear earbuds?

Hey Aaron, can you tell if XM5's eartips fits on XM4. Also, how do you clean your XM4s🙃

@aaronloudnwireless

Жыл бұрын

Yes they actually do. Just with a wet napkin nothing fancy. Nozzle is very hard to clean though

@Shreesh_619

Жыл бұрын

@@aaronloudnwireless Thank you.

@cooluser23

Жыл бұрын

​@@aaronloudnwirelessCan you do a review of the XM4's with the XM5 ear tips? Or the XM5 with popular aftermarket ear tips?

Aaron, great review as always! First review on KZread comparing XM5 and LinksBuds S that I have been longing for! You nailed it and my feeling that you still thinking very highly of LinksBuds S overall, when compared with XM4 and XM5 (both still have many hits and misses when compared with LinksBuds S’s so far no complaints on ANC, sound, price, comfort and battery deteriorating!)

@aaronloudnwireless

Жыл бұрын

It's still the best compromise product imo

Yeah I agree I couldn't get spatial audio to work on the wh-1000xm5 probably it will work in the future

What about the baterry drain issue? I've just returned my 2 year XM4 because of this.

Unfortunately the graph and title on sound comparison seems getting wrong to me... At the beginning it shows xm5 but graph from xm4, then sound from xm4 but graph from xm5 and at the end sound and picture from xm5 graph from xm4 and title says LinkBuds S. 😕 Confusing 😕

I'm currently using the XM4 and debating if I should get the XM5. After watching your review in this video, I think I'll stick with my XM4s for now. Sure there's improvements but they're not significant enough to justify the SGD $400 price tag.

Great review!! Subbed & Liked. I would suggest to always wait a while and read feedback on firmware updates before you update yours, no matter what variant you get. A firmware update does not always mean things are better. Sony is terrible at software testing & distribution. Just because theres and update doesnt mean you have to update, no matter what is in the patch notes (which they dont publish everything). If nothing is bothering you and you are happy with your device as it is, leave the firmware alone.

ist worth upgrading from xm4 to xm5?

2:13 there is no filter on the nozzle?

Any idea if they would let us turn off sidetone on the XM4s anytime in the future?

@aaronloudnwireless

Жыл бұрын

Unlikely but we'll see

Hello all !! Great Review! One question plz!! Which earbuds have the best bass on the market?! No matter the brand & price.. :) Thanks!

How long does the battery last in the long run? I mean after 3 years would the battery be decent or do you need to recharge it every 3 hours or so.. its absurd to pay so much money for a product what doesnt last 5 years

Hopefully they improve the X5 through firmware updates.

Bose qc 2 vs xm5 🙏🙏🙏 Which one is better in ANC?

Has anyone had an issue where the left earbud on the WF-1000xm4 sounds a lot more muffled than the right randomly (both in audio and ambient sound mode)? Yes, I've cleaned out the ear tip, turned them on and off again, restarted the phone, unpaired and re-paired it. Any ideas?

This is the comparison I wanted, thankyou. I have linkbuds S due to XM4 fit not being great. But this could tempt ne for an update if sounds quality is significantly better.

Do the eartips on the XM5 have wax guards now?

@aaronloudnwireless

Жыл бұрын

Yes it does

Comparing to Sony linkbuds which is more comfort to wear ?

Xm5 vs best fit pro? Mainly wh3n I golf?

Aaron the wh1000 xm5 got a firmware update can you make video on that ?

Hi aaron great review…. does the xm5 features can be use in iPhones as well??…

@aaronloudnwireless

Жыл бұрын

iOS supports all features except head tracking and LDAC codec streaming iirc

@MichaelM28

Жыл бұрын

@@aaronloudnwirelessStingy apple

Just went to try xm5 this afternoon, never regret to own Bose quietcomfort 2. Noise cancelling feel nothing, just wondering why some articles give high rating for xm5..

Can memory foam eartips from xm5 be used in xm4 ?

@aaronloudnwireless

Жыл бұрын

Yes it can

I need to know how much louder the m5s are compared to the m4s

Which headphone do you think is the best? Is it the XM4, XM5 or Linkbuds S? Or is it just me that think the XM5 is worst than XM4?

If you are an iphone user and told to discard all except one, what will be the only earbud you will keep?

I was a victim of the XM4 battery drainage issues, right ear bud only lasts about 20 minutes. I'm skeptical of buying new Sony earbuds that may have the same issue. I ended up buying a pair of pixel buds pro a few months back to replace them, they don't sound as nice but hopefully they won't become practically useless like my XM4's.

Does one bud still drain faster than the other

I need a mix of linkbuds S fit with the XM4 sound :c not this xm5:/

Glad with my choice of XM4 (got them on sale for 135 euros), it's 1.5 year old and recently due to the latest update Sony sent, it affected both of my earbuds batteries, reached out to Sony's support in France and they replaced both of my earbud with 2 new pairs.

@user-xb6dl9um6h

8 ай бұрын

& this is why I won't touch Sony-subpar firmware updates that destroy the customers product 🤦

Aaron can you do a video of the mic for MS-Teams, Zoom, etc.? A lot of people use these earbuds for work calls, and no KZreadrs test them with Windows PCs or Mac's. Could be a unique video.

Have u tried and tested Status Between pro/3anc ?