sony just released the new updated xm5
over ear headphones with a 50 price
increase but are they really good enough
to take on apple's legendary airpods max
well today we will find out and we will
not only be comparing the active noise
cancellation the design but we're also
going to talk about other things such as
the comfort the microphones and other
features as well so let's dig right into
it now i've been using the airpods max
ever since they came out i liked the
previous sony's but they were not as
good finally they went ahead and they
changed the design to something that is
a lot more sleek more minimalistic can i
say more like the airpods and max but
they also have some killer features so
sony's also changed to this eco-friendly
box let's open it up here
oh they got an updated case as well
that looks nice and sleek of course
apple gives us this nice case for the
airpods max i'm joking i literally do
not use that thing at all
this is what the airpods max should come
with this is a half hard shell but it
has some flex has a little bit of
origami style design and there are the
headphones we have that little cover
like before which also include not only
the charging cable but a three and a
half millimeter jack with my earpods max
i just spent another 35 bucks for this
cable that i you do use by a couple
times a month so it's so nice to have
that included pulling these out you guys
can see that new design and also man
the weights this thing is a lot lighter
than the airpods max that is the first
thing you notice
55
lighter now just because they're lighter
doesn't mean that they're gonna be more
comfortable we'll check that out but the
first thing i have to say is props to
sony for changing up the look these look
way more sleek and clean we had those
old vents over here with little accents
that were shiny that is gone and now we
have these little cutouts that are
minimalistic on the sides for the
microphones and these things actually
have nine microphones that they will use
for noise cancellation the band now also
just has a single stem just like the
airpods max and they are infinitely
adjustable so we don't have any notches
here so it makes for a nice good look
you can twist these in order to have
them around your head and the sonys are
completely made out of plastic unlike
the airpods max which use stainless
steel and aluminum making them heavier
now right away i feel that these ear
cups are super soft they're like a
memory foam these have been upgraded
they definitely feel nice on the airpods
max we have this kind of fabric also
with some foam that is very very soft as
well now as far as the band we have the
same kind of foam here but i don't know
if it's just the outside band material
but it's definitely a lot stiffer than
the actual ear cup is where on the
airpods max we have this kind of fabric
that's a net and it's insanely insanely
stretchy and soft and i've worn these
for hours eight hours i think 12 hours
was the longest and i didn't have issues
because of this kind of compression
style design now these ear pads aren't
designed to be easily replaced and
they're one solid material here whereas
with the air pods max these can
literally just pop off magnetically and
then just align and click in you can buy
replacements with different colors i've
had these for a year and a half you guys
see mine a little bit dirty i can just
pull these off throw them in the wash to
wash them or replace them which is
definitely a nice feature enough talking
let's go ahead and put these on
all right
wow
so first off
the first thing that kind of stands out
to me is one they are definitely
lightweight and they have a killer seal
around the ears
i don't even have these things turned on
and i'm blocking out
so much sound and my voice video to me
sounds really weird it's so deep all the
hives are completely gone i have
something else to mention but let's just
toss these guys back on
very similar these are definitely
improvement over the xm4s in that manner
now another difference is with these i
feel more pressure around my ears but a
lot less pressure on the headband i can
barely feel anything up here whereas
with the sony's i have less pressure
around the ears but i definitely have
feel a distinct line of pressure above
my head as far as controls and buttons
we have the power button the active
noise cancellation button the headphone
jack and a usbc on the sony's whereas
the airpods max has a digital crown just
like an apple watch for a lot of your
controls and then one toggle we have no
power button it's all automatic just
like other air pods and we don't have a
headphone jack you have to buy that
specialty cable now with the sony's you
have controls on the sides it's a touch
sensitive system so let's just go ahead
and pair it up and we'll test it out so
the right ear cup is touch sensitive so
if i want to skip a track i just slide
my finger i can double tap to pause or i
can press and hold to do like your
assistant i can go ahead and raise my
volume by going up or i could cup it to
turn on the transparency mode to hear
somebody i really like that feature it
says it's nice and quick really really
quick
no delay whatsoever with the airpods max
of course we have the crown you can spin
it louder quieter very natural double
click triple click if you want to pause
single one and then we have these two
buttons so it's kind of a preference you
get those tactile controls compared to
more digital so as you see i pair them
to the s22 ultra let's go ahead and test
out the active noise cancellation in the
off position i still hear some
background sounds kind of a little bit
of fuzziness lower tones
we have a fan over there in our lights
and as soon as it goes noise
cancellation it almost like lightens
everything up
more of that sound goes away my voice
sounds more natural but quieter
it sounds fantastic let's compare that
to the airpods max so they're very
similar when i have it shut off let's go
ahead and turn on noise cancellation
okay
wow it doesn't sound as airy i would say
which sounds very weird i just don't
know how else to describe it a little
more kind of maybe pressure on your
eardrums from the active noise
cancellation happening so i don't know
if it's stronger but it's very similar
which is a good thing i just flew with
the airpods max on the airplane two
flights it was so nice to have and i'm
sure these sonys are gonna work
just as well but even go ahead and say
something hey man you hear me yeah i
hear you you sound very natural uh which
is good but definitely a lot quieter
everybody say something again all right
man how does that sound different at all
yeah you sound louder
here with the airpods max than you do
with the sony's all right let's try try
that one more time
what's up yeah you are actually quieter
with the sony so as far as ambient noise
low noise highs very similar but vadim's
voice is definitely quieter with these
sonys now let's go ahead and try out the
ambient mode
that sounds very weird for one reason
one thing is my voice is a lot louder
from the left side now than my right
side of the ear very weird it doesn't
sound as natural i also have a little
bit like maybe
staticky not probably not static maybe a
little bit more crispness you know when
the high's a little bit too loud in
speakers in the tweeters a little bit of
that not bad at all i'm sure these are
better than the previous sony's but i
almost sound like i have a little bit of
a lisp or am i just talking that way
no
uh very interesting of course we know
okay that sounds a lot more natural all
right whoa
that's better
that sounds a lot better i mean we know
these sound amazing it literally sounds
like i don't have them on
let's go ahead and take it off
talking right now put it back on it's
like no
almost no difference so incredibly close
so i also wonder does that mean that the
microphones are a lot better with the
airpods max we will test that out very
soon before we jump into music here's
one thing that really stood out to me
look at all that grease on the matte
black version it's just for my hair gel
and me touching the headband i've been
touching the airpods max as well
but these have a coating on that that
resist fingerprints really well whereas
the sony's my goodness you're definitely
going to want to keep it clean or just
pick up the lighter version that's not
going to show this as easily and now
let's go ahead and jump into music i'm
going to play three different styles of
music that way you guys can look at my
reaction see on my face if it comes
through you guys can listen along with
me non-copyright and then i'll let you
guys know after each one what i think
for each genre here is the first track
[Music]
all right
is it weird to say
that these are more bass heavy than
airpods max
we know these things pack a heavy punch
with bass nice deep bass these also got
really deep i don't know if they're
deeper maybe a little bit worse
definitely bass heavy on the signature
it's it's very interesting this is the
factory profile usually they're very mid
heavy a lot of bass still uh but high
stood out the base it out and the mids
were kind of brought down previously i
really liked the bright profile but i'm
going to listen through a few of these
and see what the differences are alright
so yep i like the bright profile the
best it brings up some of those mids
here sounds really good vocal is also
good but it brought the bass up even
more too much and then the bass boost
what's funny is that is where you're
kind of just flat there let's go ahead
and switch over to the next track which
is our modern kind of classical with
instrumentals
[Music]
all right well
there's one thing that really stands out
and that is volume now in the previous
song it didn't stand out as much but
here it is very noticeable now one thing
that apple does with the airpods max
that i've noticed since i bought them
over the last year and a half is that if
they are fed a good high quality signal
they will get louder in the processing
if it senses bad quality there's any
chance of having
any weirdness any clipping or any
distortion the whole song gets brought
down to limit that here they played very
loud whereas the sony's were i don't
know three decibels
quieter definitely noticeable difference
we're here actually would want to turn
them down i could here i would actually
would like to have them slightly louder
now with that said uh vadim did you
notice the difference as far as hearing
them oh yeah yeah
how did the sony's did you were you able
to hear sound leakage or i heard a
little bit the sonys are muffled but
with the airpods like i can clearly like
hear the song everything any differences
for bass or heist
sounds like as far as sound leakage if
you don't like that the sony's and this
style of
this style of like a fully sealed ear
cup they're doing a good job with that
sealed in now as far as soundstage and
presence
i don't know if this sounds better
because we have different vents built in
maybe that's why it's louder too for
vadim or this material but the sound
stage is bigger here when we had that
sweep it felt like it started out
further and then adhere and the
separation with all the instruments as
well
you just sense that more now sony's are
still very good
sound quality definitely has been
improved but sound stage and volume
definitely better with the airpods max
now let's go ahead and jump to our last
song this is a rock song here a lot of
those frequencies get mixed together
with poor headphones it's a torture test
let's see how it goes
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
all right well that was the biggest
difference that's why i call that song
the torture test
sony still sound good they sound better
than before the previous xm4s they kind
of fell apart more in this test first
off not as loud if you love loud music
get the airpods max these things get
loud with a good source second the synth
that's in the background that sounds
really good it kind of gets
hidden covered up by the other
instruments and also the hi-hat that
really stands out more so with the
airpods max kind of blends in
it's not more noticeable blends in more
with the sonys so as far as the
separation of instruments not as good
and it's not as loud now the bass it
wasn't muddy they have done a good job
controlling that even though there is a
lot of bass so that's not good it's just
not as powerful when it thumps probably
because there's so much going on in that
track so for people that listen to
electronic let's say listening pop
classical whatever these do great but
heavier rock like this uh this is where
it definitely takes a step lower a
couple steps compared to the airpods max
now with that said
overall they've sony's done a good job
it does sound good if you don't want air
plus max i don't think you'll be
disappointed but you'll definitely
notice differences if you listen to them
side by side and with that said let's go
ahead and test out the quality of the
microphones this is the microphone
quality with apple's airpods max indoors
and a normal room with some background d
noising and this is the microphone the
sound quality with sony's xm5 headphones
and once again this is the sound quality
of the airpods max and again sony's
brand new xm5 headphones go ahead and
let us know down below which one you
think sounded better personally i just
listened to them and the airpods max not
only does my voice sound more natural
but there's also a lot less background
hiss and noise as well compared to the
sony so are the sony's good enough for
your use cases um just let us know down
below so overall what are the
differences well you guys heard
everything we compared you guys see the
design and build quality difference i
think for me personally if you want
really loud music where you listen to a
lot of tough to play music with a lot of
separation
different instruments the airpods max
does do better in that active noise
cancellation the sony now beats out the
airpods mac which is very impressive you
get a lot less ear cup pressure on the
sony's which is nice but you trade that
off with the headband pressure now as
far as the
ambient mode or transparency mode
absolutely the airpods max are better
and that also comes through with the
microphones as well and prices these
things originally are 550 bucks we've
seen them as low as 400 i think right
now on amazon they're 480 but we'll
leave a link down below for you guys
check them out compared to 400 for the
sony so these are less expensive both
these have extra software features that
i didn't cover they both have their own
spatial audio or 360 audio things like
that but i will just say that sony has
made a really nice improvement they
fixed a lot of things before the noise
cancellation works great so if you want
to buy these and you are using android
or i just don't like the airpods max
pick them up i think he'll be happy
but personally i think overall because
of
the transparency mode that i do use a
lot and because of the loudness which i
love i do prefer the airpods max thank
you guys for watching let me know if you
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