Sony WF-1000XM5 Truly Wireless Bluetooth Noise Canceling Headphones - Black (Renewed)

I received a renewed set of earbuds which came in mint condition, minus the factory box, but with all the accessories included. Works fine like new. Download the Sound Connect app and follow the setup prompts. Initially the bass was weak, even with bass boost on. Use the best fit foam ear tips, then try the Find Your Equalizer tool. Pick which sounds match the right soundstage to tune the EQ to your preference. This seems to help, you can also manually adjust EQ. Pairing is simple, just remember to turn off other BT devices if they won't pair, too many connections can cause problems with any BT pairing hookup. Once paired, sound is solid from any source. Dont forget to register your product warranty with Sony, take a screenshot of your invoice page as proof of purchase and submit it.

Awesome quality and practically brand new for a renewed pair. The headphones arrived in excellent condition and feel premium right out of the box. Sound quality and noise canceling are still great, especially for the price I picked them up at. There may be better options out there depending on what you’re looking for, but these are still a solid choice. If you already like Sony’s sound, you’ll be very happy. If you’ve got the extra cash and are deep in the Apple ecosystem, Apple might be worth considering.

Further edit, cutting score again since it has a continuous issue where sound quality degrades after 2-3 hours on W10. Slowly gets glitchier and glitchier. Some sort of buffer issue in the firmware, probably. Not something I've encountered with any of several other wireless earbuds I've tried. Edit: Leaving the lower part of the review up in case anyone is having a similar problem with them. The inner fit is everything. Turned out I just needed to get third party XL sized earbud tips in order to get a good airtight seal, which let the ANC actually perform. With that solved, they perform pretty much on par with the XM4s, but are much lighter and easier to wear. Old review: Ok performance for an ANC earbud, but is it worth the price? Well, its ANC is significantly worse than its older sibling, the XM4. It seems to do best at blocking in the 100-400Hz range, but has the most woefully poor low bass blocking I've ever heard, even for budget ANC earbuds. Sound quality is alright, but not enough to warrant the price tag. Overall, not worth it.

I don't feel comfortable wearing these unless I'm sitting upright and very still bc they seem to want to leap out of my ears at every opportunity. Because the fit is so god awful the sound quality they promise is just not there. Even when I jam them all the way in my ear it's nothing to write home about, just a really basic neutral sound, fine but not standout. The noise cancelling is even but isnt very robust even when dialed all the way up on the app. If you want to try using them while cycling or using them in a car with open windows, don't bother, because the wind sound you get drowns out literally everything else. Nothing seems to resolve that issue. I used to have the Sony linkbuds s and loved those. When those broke, these were supposed to be an upgrade, given the higher price and rave reviews. I'm unimpressed. The part of the earbud that sits outside the ear canal is MASSIVE and maybe these would be great for someone with giant ears with deep folds (?) but that's not me. For some reason Sony also decided to make them out of this smooth slippery plastic that makes them exceedingly difficult to actually remove from the case without picking at them a bit? With the way Sony designs their earbuds (where the weight is placed at the top of the bud so it nestles in your ear rather than hanging down like an air pod) makes it so they are rather top heavy and that just compounds the poor fit. Both sound quality and battery life were fine but not great so I'm not exactly sure what we're supposed to be getting for that massive size. They also have this annoying thing where they don't always sense that they are not in an ear and just keep playing music. Older Sony offerings are better and cheaper. The soft ear removable piece things are made of this stiff, cheap feeling foam stuff that feels a little like Styrofoam and seems to love to hold onto dirt even after you wash them. And trust me, based on how often these earbuds fall on the ground, you're gonna be washing those foam things a lot. Glad I managed to return these before one of them got lost permanently on one of their many attempts to flee from my ears.

Sound quality and is very good, but where it lacks significantly is in call quality. It’s just about unusable for that. That’s when I switch to my older AirPods and take calls that way. Also poor connectivity—the product cuts out one headphone at a time randomly. At least 1-2x an hour. Wish I bought the new AirPods instead.

Bought these refurbished at a much cheaper price than new. Great sound quality, good fit in my ear, nice charging case. The software app to control various functions is also a nice touch as well. The tap controls on the earbuds are a little finicky. Seems like you need to tap on the front of them to enable the controls like pause and play.

The packaging wasn't great, but the earbuds are amazing! At first when I used them they sounded terrible and were having some sort of syncing issue with each other and was worried I got a faulty product. After messing with the app for a little (switching the buds to prioritize sound quality, switching off multi device pairing, turning the up scaler on) they started work more as expected. They are the best earbuds I've ever experienced. Sound quality is excellent. Noise canceling is superb. The longevity of the earbuds is unknown as of now but Im loving them right now

Good sound quality. Noise canceling not the best but ok.

Nach 4 Monaten linke Lautsprecher ist funktioniert nicht.

No sé si es que el producto está defectuoso o si realmente es así pero no suena nada bien y cuando aprietas los botones de los oídos tampoco funcionan

Package dispatched DHL tracked with no issues. Well protected within the packaging. Item itself was exactly as described in perfect condition no blemishes or issues. The earbuds are smaller than the old WF-1000XM4. So far very comfortable and light. Customisable equaliser options and voice assistance. Noise cancelling has always been my favourite feature of these buds and they give my BoseQC 35’s a good run for the money and are less bulky for the commute/gym etc.

Parfait comme neuf. Merci

I received the original box, but only one set of ear tips. It's lucky that the ones I received seem to fit my ear canal, but others might not be so lucky. All of the contents appear to be in like-new condition, suggesting that the previous purchaser removed some of the ear tips, or that the unit I received was opened for spare parts. No instructions were included. The headphones themselves are phenomenal. These are the only earbuds I've ever used which I could not improve with EQ. I'm literally using the default, flat EQ because that sounds best to my ear. Incredible. I bought these as an upgrade over the Anker Soundcore Space A40, which compare favourably for the money. I can EQ the Anker to sound fairly close to the Sony, but the Anker lacks a sparkle and clarity which I can only seem to get out of the Sony. If you can't afford the Sony, the Anker would be a decent alternative if you're comfortable with a slight decrease in sound quality. Sony's Android software is horrible. Sony needs to fire every product manager and director involved in that abomination. Installing the software, one is bombarded with seven thousand modal dialog boxes informing the user of a million different features, asking intrusive questions, and generally just being annoying. The spam doesn't stop once you proceed through the initial setup. At all times, weird popups appear to distract you from your task. The UI controls feel clunky and severely lacking polish, like something made by a garage startup company. There are a limited number of EQ presets, and you cannot add more. There are only 3 slots for custom EQ configurations, a pointless limitation in the age of software. Changing between EQ presets causes the sound to cut out for about 500 milliseconds, which severely impedes the ability to compare custom EQ and fine-tune them. Astonishingly, the "Flat" EQ preset does NOT sound identical to a "Custom" EQ preset which is set to a flat configuration. Two flat EQ profiles that do not sound the same. I have no idea what is going on, but this makes no sense. I personally find the default "Flat" EQ to sound best, but I would like to boost the bass very slightly, and I can't do this, because as soon as I move that slider, the Sony software forces me to start editing the "Custom" EQ preset, beginning from a flat EQ profile, which does NOT sound the same as the "Flat" profile. It is thus impossible to modify the default, "Flat" EQ profile, which is pretty infuriating because these headphones are very expensive. The sound isolation is phenomenal. The memory foam ear tips appear to be doing almost all of the heavy lifting. I have a large box fan near me, and when I insert the headphones with noise cancellation disabled, I can barely hear the (normally quite loud) fan. Activating noise cancellation removes all remaining noise. I can't speak to the rest of the frequency spectrum, but compared to the Anker Soundcore Space A40, these Sony earbuds are SILENT. It's an eerie silence. I wasn't expecting the noise cancellation to be this good. Note that it will depend heavily on whether the earbuds seal your canal correctly. On initial insertion, I didn't get a good seal, and I wondered if the noise cancellation was working at all. Overall I think these earbuds have incredible potential. Their performance reputation is well deserved. However, Sony clearly does not care about its customers and their day-to-day experience. Incredible hardware paired with infuriatingly bad software. Sony is lucky that the default performance of these buds is so good, otherwise I would want to return them. Update #1: I did some research and found that Sony makes replacement ear tips, model EP-NI1010, but Sony's authorized online reseller in Canada does not sell them! These ear tips appear unavailable within Canada, and will cost over $100 to import from overseas. Total customer service disaster. I contacted Amazon customer support, who offered a partial refund for the missing earbud tips, or a full refund if I return the product. They also recommended that I reach out to the seller to ask them to send the missing tips, which I have done. Update #2: I discovered, buried within the Sony Headphones Connect Android app, that I can request replacement ear tips from Sony! Tap the "System" tab, then scroll down and tap on the text "Determines Optimal Earbud Tips". Do the "Test The Wearing Condition" test. After the test has failed, you will see an option: "The earbud tips may be too small ... If none of the supplied earbud tips fit, you can request other types of earbud tips. Click here to order." You can then select your country and fill out a form to request replacement earbud tips. After entering my address, I received the message: "We have received your request for new earbud tips. Please allow 7 to 10 business days for processing and delivery." I didn't enter my credit card information, so it appears that these will be free. We'll see what happens. I should note that after filling out this form once, the option does not appear again, even if you reinstall the app. To get the option to order replacements again, go to the "System" tab within the Sony Headphones Connect app, scroll to the bottom and select "Initialize Settings", then choose "Initialize App/Headphone Settings". Update #3: On the recommendation of other buyers, I bought the SpinFit Omni ear tips as a replacement. I got the small size, which is about 1 mm smaller than the medium Sony ear tips size that I have access to. On comparative listening, there is a slightly better sound from the Sony memory foam ear tips, but the SpinFit Omni are quite competitive. The Sonys are warmer and give better punch to bass frequencies. The sound isolation is also slightly better, but only slightly. Memory foam surprisingly seems to make a difference! Update #4: Sony reached out to me via email to clarify my shipping address, and have confirmed that they are shipping replacement ear tips to me. Yay! Update #5: Sony did not provide any tracking information for the replacement ear tips, and I received phone calls from FedEx indicating that I was not home to receive the package. It turns out that Sony sent the ear tips using FedEx Direct Signature requirement, and they are now being held at some location, and I must physically go there with my ID. I am disabled and cannot travel to this location, and FedEx will not allow another person to pick up the package instead. It makes no sense to ship a cheap replacement part with an expensive and inconvenient signature requirement. I get Amazon packages left at my front door every day without issue. I emailed Sony to request that they call FedEx to waive the signature requirement, and ask FedEx to make a redelivery, which is how FedEx insists upon resolving such situations. Update #6: I called Sony and, to their credit, had one of the best customer support experiences of my life. Their phone tree is a horrible labyrinth of pain and suffering, but once I got through to a human on my THIRD call, that human was truly wonderful and clarified that Sony had contacted FedEx with my request, but was waiting on a response. Sony said they would email me when there is a resolution. Update #7: The package finally arrived, but with no notice. I found it in my mailbox when I checked my mail. It contained the WRONG replacement ear tips. The replacements are silicone, but the XM5 earbuds are supposed to come with memory foam ear tips. I am heartbroken. This ordeal has wasted way too much of my time. This is a terrible way to treat customers who keep giving unlimited second chances to make things right. I have emailed Sony to ask them to send the correct part. Update #8: I did some comparative listening between the new silicone replacement ear tips that Sony sent (YY2963/BQ-TPKIT), the original Sony memory foam tips (EP-NI1010), the SpinFit Omni, and my Sennheiser HD-600 open back headphones. The new Sony silicones seal much easier and better in my ear canal compared to the Sony memory foam ones, providing shockingly improved noise cancellation. These are by far the best noise cancelling ear tips currently in my possession, however this may be due to fitting my ear canal better. Recall that the Sony memory foam ear tips I currently have are one size too large for me. The SpinFit Omni feel slightly too small by comparison. The Sony silicone tips are very competitive with the Sony memory foam tips, but have slightly less clarity, slightly muddier bass, and louder bass. The Sony memory foam tips have tighter bass which can sound punchier at times, and add a high end clarity and sparkle which, although very slight, really elevates the immersiveness of the sound for certain tracks. Going back and forth, I really feel the silicone tips are very competitive, and ultimately it comes down to a matter of taste: do you prefer a warmer tone, or a tone with more sparkle and clarity? I prefer clarity, especially now because I suffer from derealization due to prior COVID infection, so my conscious experience feels distant and removed from reality, as if I am experiencing reality through a television screen. Enhanced clarity of sound brings my conscious experience closer to what I used to experience before my disability. So I still give the edge to the Sony memory foam tips, although when listening to a panel of several songs, I'm not confident that I could tell them apart from the Sony silicone in a blind listening test. The SpinFit Omni featured noticeably less bass, higher treble, sounding almost tinny and a little bit shrill, and very noticeably inferior noise cancellation. However, to SpinFit's credit, the Omni tips still provide very good performance, especially when compared to other headphones such as the Anker Soundcore Space A40 mentioned earlier in this review. The Sony silicone tips sounded clearly superior to the SpinFit, however only when wearing the medium size; the small size sounded very similar to the SpinFit, suggesting that the seal quality within the ear canal is a critical factor, and the next larger size of SpinFit may be competitive with the Sony silicone. The Sennheiser HD-600 open-back headphones performed surprisingly poorly, and while I do prefer them to the SpinFit, and while they do sound very good, they featured weaker bass and slightly too elevated treble tones for my taste. My conclusion is that the Sony WF-1000XM5 with Sony memory foam ear tips remain the gold standard. I would really like Sony to send me the correct ear tips that I bought and paid for, because the memory foam seems integral to the sound of the XM5 earbuds. The only reason to pay so much money for a pair of wireless earbuds is to achieve the best possible sound quality, and achieving this is now a critical accessibility need for me since my disability compromises the way that I perceive sound. I actually require the product to perform at its best in order to enjoy music in the way that an able-bodied person could with inferior earbuds. Update #9: It has been 3 months since my purchase. I tried to make Sony's replacement tips work for a while, but they keep sliding out of my ears when I am just a little bit sweaty, or for about an hour after I take a shower. I gave up and requested a partial refund from Amazon. After some convincing, they relented and gave me the refund, which I have now immediately spent on a pair of AZLA SednaEarfit MAX Standard tips. Despite being silicone, these tips produce a frequency response nearly identical to the original XM5 foam tips. @aaronloudnwireless on YouTube has a video comparing the frequency response of the original Sonys, the AZLA, and also the Comply TrueGrip Pro. At this point, I have paid almost as much out of pocket to make up the difference between new and used XM5s, and purchasing the used model was a waste of time. To Amazon's credit, they are the only party who provided meaningful customer service on this issue; both Sony and the seller let me down. I don't know if I would recommend purchasing XM5s based on the experience so far, though the sound quality remains stellar. I popped in the original ear tips for another quick listen today, and the improvement in quality between those and Sony's replacement silicone tips is noticeable. This product is such a hot mess.