Sony WH-1000XM5 Sensory Review

During the Covid lockdowns, spending long days as a laptop jockey, I found the ambient sounds of appliances and the outside world harder and harder to tune out on calls. I plumped for the Sony XM3 with high hopes, having owned cheaper ANC before. I lasted three days. The pressure and a high-pitched ringing halfway through hour-long meetings sent them back, returned with a heavy heart. So this test, two generations on, carried some anticipation: how much had Sony’s cancellation learned about ears like mine?

With ANC off the pressure is a warm, physical 2 of 5 from the seal alone. Switching on brings not pressure but a sound: a high 15 kHz hiss like a squeal turned down, unmistakable by minute five, located somewhere behind the head rather than in the ears. At five minutes an airplane-pressure sensation begins, settling to a background 2 by fifteen that holds for the hour and inches to 3 by ninety minutes, felt more inside the ear than against the head by then. Heat outruns pressure: warm at 30, hot at 60, damp pads at 90, and a low-grade ache at the temples late in the session. Removing the room’s hum has a side effect worth naming: a faint disconnection, slightly lonely, as if someone could approach unheard. As for wearing noise cancelling headphones all day: on this pair the heat sets the limit before the pressure does, and for a quiet home office a non-ANC pair without the clamp and the hiss would serve better.

Removal is a relief twice over: the heat and pressure end together, and the room’s ordinary noises return as something close to company. No dizziness and no rebound sensitivity after ninety minutes; the hiss leaves no trace once the electronics stop.

Mixed, and honestly the XM5’s weakest showing. The extractor fan lost 95 percent of itself, nearly matching the XM6. The kettle kept three quarters of its noise, the worst result in the set. At the table, the room that answers whether noise cancelling headphones work for chewing: on this pair, ANC alone, barely. Soft chewing quartered and still intrusive, crunching cut by a third, lip smacking unchanged. Unchanged. A dropped spoon produced the set’s strangest glitch, a pressure click in both ears that enhanced the startle, and a firm door close brought a pressure spike without the click. Pink noise at a third volume removed every trigger completely.

The XM5’s best room, tested twice: a hard 67 dB day and a calmer 45 dB one. Keyboards softened by two thirds into a gentle flicker, air-con cut 70 to 80 percent, general voices halved, and the clamp light enough to forget. A colleague’s one-sided call halved in volume but stayed irritating; pink noise made it unintelligible, leaving only a cadence. Short chats work with the cups on, though voice pass-through sounds slightly processed, like being on a call with yourself. After ninety minutes the pressure sat at 2 to 3, mild airplane territory, with the high whistle faintly present and hot ears from the hour.

Half the engine rumble removed, the rest arriving through the bus frame rather than the air. The honest half of the ledger: the mid-high wash, fan whine, air whistle, and traffic noise, mostly survived silent mode, three quarters of it coming through, so the ride stays a noisy place with ANC alone. Bumps produce a brief interruption, a pressure bubble with a little distortion, milder than the full cutout that flagged a rival on the same route. Announcements stayed intelligible with ANC alone and awareness felt intact; with pink noise playing the tannoy vanished entirely, a disorienting trade on public transport, so silent mode is the awareness setting. Pressure climbed to 3 of 5 on the longer ride as the electronics worked against the noise, still the mildest reading of the flagships in that seat, and the investigation’s notes name these the better long-commute choice than the XM6 or the Bose Ultra. Direct wind at stops reached the mics as mild interference.

The honest-limits room. Beeps softened by a quarter, fridge hum by two thirds, trolleys barely touched, and with the fridge gone the store’s music turned more intrusive, cut only 10 percent by ANC alone. Pink noise reversed it, music and talking down to a tenth, with a catch the notes record plainly: while moving around a shop the pink noise is harder to settle into and can become its own stressor. A chosen track won the day here, overriding the shop’s frequencies and restoring some control. A brief word with staff worked fine in silent mode.

A hard 68 dB room. ANC alone didn’t move the needle much: still a din, chewing nearby halved, cutlery softened, and the background music actually gained presence once the hum beneath it vanished. Pink noise rescued the room: music gone, cutlery down 90 percent, crockery crashes cut to a fifth. Not a recovery tool here without something playing, and the heat becomes one more input to manage in a busy space, though arguably less of a physical distraction than foam in the ear canal. Foam and wax earplugs did the mid range better, offering stillness rather than another input to tune out; silence favours the earplug, masking favours the headphone.