The company’s earliest charging cases were ridiculously massive. The case is 15% smaller than the last gen. That, um, got to be an issue for people planning to sweat in their earbuds. At the very least, it doesn’t seem as spongy as older foam tips. Time will certainly tell if it’s as durable as the other stuff. It is nice being able to give them a squeeze and letting them expand inside your ear to form a passive noise cancelling seal. These are more foamy than the standard rubbery inserts. I’m not fully sold on them from the standpoint of comfort - again, I really dig the size of the LinkBuds’ silicone tips. A new pair of grills on the buds’ exteriors, meanwhile, do a better job of blocking out wind noise - the bane of making calls outdoors. As someone with sensory processing issues, I’ll sometimes pop these in my ears without playing music to help focus on the task at hand. We’re still a ways off from full ambient noise cancelation, but the on-board is still excellent, masking the flood of sounds one encounters living in the city. I certainly can’t argue with the results. I will confess that I’m not a silicon expert, but Sony says the decision has allowed it to separate focus on controlling the six-mic array for measuring ambient noise. Instead, it’s opted to build a standalone chip for ANC, called the QN2e. The jump from the V1 to V2 chip drops on-board noise canceling. The company bucked the trend of loading up SoCs with as much functionality as possible. You still can’t beat over ears when it comes to a full and immersive headphone experience, but what Sony has done with these buds remains impressive. The latter brings a rich bass experience that doesn’t overwhelm the rest of the frequencies on board. They handle a wide range of different genres with aplomb, from ambient to hip hop. The WF-1000XM5s are fantastic and well balanced. If you’re looking for the best-sounding pair of earbuds on the market, however, you may have found them. If you’re looking for active lifestyle headphones, probably look somewhere else. They jut out a bit more and don’t anchor as well, making them suitable for walking around outside. For starters, they’re larger and - as such - don’t lie flush. Definitely an improvement, though the latest addition to the line just can’t match the LinkBuds S in terms of fit and comfort. The M5s are 25% smaller and 20% lighter than the last gen, according to Sony. I say with some disappointment that the WF-1000XM5s aren’t my dream headphones - although Sony has done a great job significantly reducing the size of both the buds and case since the awkwardly shaped WF-1000 back in 2017. As a music obsessive, testing good headphones is one of my favorite parts of the job, and Sony seems on the cusp of hitting that perfect sweet spot. When word started leaking out about the WF-1000XM5 I got excited. I’ve since been convinced that were Sony to fit the sound architecture of the WF-1000XM4 earbuds into the LinkBuds S body, it could trounce the competition. It’s fairly subjective, of course, but man, the LinkBuds S feel and fit great. I know a lot of people who can’t wear them at all. Earbuds, on the other hand, are significantly trickier. It’s not too hard to find a pair of comfortable over-ears. But it’s the comfort level that trumps the competition. That’s not to say the LinkBuds S don’t sound very good - not at all. Those specific headphones have won out for me for two different reasons. If you’ve run into me on the street, I probably had the LinkBuds S in my ears. If you’ve seen me on an airplane or been in a virtual meeting with me over the past few years, you’ve almost certainly seen me in my WH-1000XM5s. They sound great, have great balance and are generally comfortable. That applies to earbuds and over-ear headphones alike. I test a lot of headphones from a lot of headphone makers, but for my own day to day use, I keep coming back to Sony. It’s a disservice from what have been some truly excellent earbuds. Nor is it a match for the numerous Chinese smartphone bigwigs. The high end is dominated by a handful of companies like Apple and Samsung, and the company hasn’t done much to distinguish itself. Outside of its native Japan, the Vaio is largely non-existent. The company has an uphill battle in one very important sense: terrible smartphone market share. Headphones often operate best with other devices from the same manufacturing, due to feature sets and first-party silicon. The first answers the question with another question: Who made your phone? Like flagship smartphones, fully wireless earbuds are pretty good across the board - and the category managed to get there in record time. I have two stock answers whenever someone asks me which earbuds to buy.
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