If you’re in the market for a new pair of noise-cancelling headphones, then Sony should be the first brand you turn to. The audio maestro has produced some of the finest pairs of ANC cans in recent memory, dating back to 2020’s WH-1000XM4 (which still rank as the best pair of noise-cancelling headphones for most people in my opinion).
However, the main reason I rate the XM4 as the best is because of their now customary low price (AU$399 at full price) in comparison to their successors, the XM5 (AU$549) and recently released XM6 (AU$699). Well, Amazon has now slashed the price of the Sony WH-1000XM5 to an astonishingly low AU$369, making them the headphones I would recommend right now to any Sony fan.
The XM5 have been a jewel in Sony’s headphone crown, offering a step up in performance over their XM4 predecessor. They also introduced a new design language for the Japanese brand that could’ve been seen as divisive at the time (they don’t fold away as neatly, for example), but that I feel has proven incredibly popular – I can’t go a day without walking through the city and seeing pairs on many heads.
They have now been bettered by Sony’s own XM6s, but that pair costs nearly double the AU$369 asking price here. They’re better, yes, but AU$330 better? I don’t think so, and I’ve spent some time listening to the latest pair. While I can admit they sound good, for me personally, they’re not that comfortable and I don’t think they feel like a AU$700 pair of headphones. I’ve also, personally, not had the best experience with their noise cancellation.
With the XM5s, you still get the benefit of LDAC codec support for higher-quality wireless streaming and Sony’s own DSEE Extreme, which promises to ‘upscale’ lower-quality streams, like those from streaming services such as Spotify. As our tester said in our Sony WH-1000XM5 review, “the soundstage remains spacious and capable of giving all elements of a mix room to breathe and shine” and “everything finds its place with the Sony WH-1000XM5s, and the effect is a wonderful enveloping of sound, even outside of the 360 Reality Audio spatial settings”.
They’re a truly talented set of over-ear headphones and now that they’re available at this remarkable price, I can’t recommend them enough. I can’t guarantee this deal will last forever though, so if you’ve been holding out on investing in a pair, now’s your chance.
