- We spent $400 out of our own pockets
on the new Sony XM5 headphones, and we have some questions.
- Are they really worth the price?
- Did Sony finally fix the number one biggest issue
with the XM4s?
- And how do they stack up
against the best premium headphones
that Bose and Apple have to offer?
- But before we get to those comparisons,
let's meet the Sony XM5s.
Let's take 'em outta the box.
Here is the headphone case,
and the first thing you'll notice
if you had a pair of XM4s
is that the case is a lot bigger.
- I saw some complaints recently on Amazon
that the zipper broke on somebody's case,
and that was one of the first things that I noticed,
was that the zipper itself
isn't necessarily the best quality.
- Got a nice little magnetic flap there for your cables.
- Yeah, there you go.
- Or your stash.
Here they are. The XM5s.
One thing I like about the XM5s as opposed to the XM4s
is the more subtle branding of the Sony logo.
Of the headphones that use the sliding mechanism,
I think Sony does it best.
I'm not a fan of how the Bose antennas
kind of poke out to the bottom.
- I like the Bose, but I own the Bose;
they're my headphones, so I'm trying not to be biased here.
- On each ear cup,
you have four noise canceling microphones.
The XM4s only had two on each ear cup;
Bose 700s and the AirPods Max
already had the eight noise canceling microphones.
So Sony is catching up there, and I think that might lead
to some improved noise cancellation on these headphones.
- And I think that's where there was room for improvement,
for sure.
- I feel like your skin oil leaves bigger marks on these
than I'm used to seeing on headphones.
Maybe that's just my fault.
Maybe I should shower more.
In terms of weight,
these headphones are about five grams lighter
than the XM4s and the Bose.
You're not going to notice that.
What you will notice
is the more than 100-gram weight difference
between these and the AirPods Max.
- It's ridiculous.
- In terms of durability,
they do seem pretty durable to me,
but I will note that these are not water resistant at all.
So, maybe not the best headphones for the gym.
- Or when David takes a shower.
I like the fact that there's a noise-canceling button.
- Let's put 'em on, see how they sound.
(upbeat music)
- I don't even wanna have to say this, David,
but I'm a little disappointed.
- I was a little disappointed too; I was expecting better.
- I think the XM4s sound better.
- I think they do too.
The big issue that I had with these,
and that I heard consistently throughout the tracks,
was that there was a lack of clarity
on the larger sound stages.
It sounded similar to the way that Apple
optimizes their music.
- That's exactly what I thought.
What I was gonna say is that the bass is very strong.
I could hear it in "Billie Jean",
where you've got different bass frequencies happening.
It was like certain parts of the bass
were standing out more than other parts.
And then I felt like the Kronos Quartet
just didn't sound as spacious as some of the other ones.
Did I think that these were gonna be better than this?
- Yes.
- A hundred percent.
Yeah. Also, I mean, these are comfortable,
but I'm feeling a little bit of a pinch,
and it's not a consistent pinch around the ear.
- And they actually got kind of warm for me, too.
- That was disappointing.
- That is very disappointing.
Sony, what are you doing?
$398, David? I don't think so.
- Yeah, there are some cool built-in features that,
you know, speak-to-chat:
you just start talking and the audio stops playing.
The example of the Sony had that they used
is this woman is going to, a bakery,
and she's placing an order.
Just take your headphones off.
You don't need to...
- It's kind of rude, isn't it?
- I was gonna say, it's a little rude.
Just, oh yeah, I'm just wearing my headphones and, uh...
Well, let's test out the noise cancellation.
- You got a lawnmower going right now.
You can still hear the lawnmower, but it's quieter.
- In terms of microphone and call quality,
- This is a test of the Sony XM5 microphone.
Pretty good.
- Pretty good.
- Yeah, especially after I put 'em on the right way.
- Yeah.
- First time I had 'em on backwards.
- Didn't work out.
- Didn't sound as good.
- Sony has been making over-ear headphones since 1964;
Apple started in 2020.
Are the AirPods Max worth the $549 price tag
compared to the Sony XM5s?.
- Let's find out.
- A lot of people are complaining about the Sony XM5s:
their portability, their case is bigger.
AirPods Max case; you've heard this before.
It is pathetic.
- Yeah, it's a joke of a case.
- In terms of weight and comfortability,
why are the AirPods Max so heavy?
They are built with very durable materials.
- Except for the headband.
- I haven't really seen any widespread complaints
about the mesh headband wearing down or getting damaged.
Obviously, in terms of style,
these are a very Apple-looking product.
And I do like that you can replace the ear cups
with, you know, maybe you wanna get different colors.
So a pair of ear cups does cost $69 on apple.com.
And the audio cable is not included with these headphones.
That's another what? $29?
(laughs)
It's expensive.
Really, to go all out with these headphones,
you're adding another, you know, $110 to your list price.
It's a complaint about the XM5s that can't fold,
but the Bose 700s don't fold, AirPods Max don't fold.
We're gonna give these a listen,
test them out head-to-head to the XM5s,
see which sounds better.
(relaxed music)
- The most ridiculous part about these headphones
is really that there's no way
to listen to CD-quality music on them,
even with the cable that you could buy for $39.
- Go get a Walkman.
They focus;
Apple does optimizing their sound for vocal clarity
at the expense of everything else,
so the bass was consistently weak.
- "Tinny" was the word that came to mind.
- Noise cancellation: not even close to the XM5s.
Mic quality AirPods Max.
- This is a test of the AirPods Max microphone
during phone calls.
- I would say, pretty definitively,
inferior to the Sony XM5s.
So when we're ranking these headphones head-to-head,
we identified six categories.
We're just gonna pick a winner and a loser.
So, style.
I do think that the Sony XM5s are a bit more stylish.
- If you're an Apple fanboy,
and you're not gonna buy any Sony products,
then yeah, this is gonna win.
- But, we're gonna give the slight edge here
to the Sony XM5s.
In terms of comfort, Sony XM5s weigh a lot less.
There's less pinch around the ears.
- They're shaped for human ears.
These things are shaped for rectangle ears.
- Yeah. And they're just they're so heavy.
Case and portability.
(laughs)
- It's not even close, right?
Let's not even talk about it.
- Not even close.
Sound quality.
I think the XM5s definitely have a bit of an edge here.
- They sound better.
- Noise cancellation: Sony XM5s.
And call quality, also the Sony XM5s.
- XM5s, but the AirPods Max do win
in the expensiveness category. So that's about it.
- Clean sweep for the XM5s, taking down the AirPods Max.
And now I finally get to say
that these do not belong
in the premium over-ear headphone category.
Anytime we review these headphones,
they never make the top three.
They're always in the middle of the pack.
It's time to stop treating these like Sony and Bose.
- If it can't play CD quality music,
it doesn't belong in the premium category.
- When we're talking about
the two best-selling premium over-ear headphone brands
on Amazon, it's two brands.
It's Sony and it's Bose.
So we're gonna test out the Bose QuietComfort 45s
head-to-head, and I think the first thing you'll notice
when you take these two outta the box: case size.
- Right, so for portability,
and then the ability to fold up.
Should we just demonstrate that with the Bose?
- I will try to demo. I mean, I can fold 'em up.
- That's that was tough.
These will not do that.
- Yeah. A lot of YouTube reviewers
are always emphasizing traveling with headphones.
If you travel a lot with your headphones,
Bose is clearly more portable.
- Oh, transferring update.
This did not appear yesterday.
(upbeat music)
- I think what they did
is they kind of toned down the treble-ness just a tiny bit.
- Maybe.
- And then bumped up the bass.
- They did.
- And it just made for a more complete sound.
I think the clarity was still there, despite the changes.
- It was.
Sometimes there's a shaker on the side,
or some little piece that I never heard before.
And I actually heard a couple of things of this.
- For me, what was really clear,
was the Michael Jackson snaps in "Billie Jean".
- Was it great?
- It was interesting.
Let's do the call quality test.
Cause it might come down to that.
- This is a test
of the Bose QuietComfort 45 headphone microphone.
Wonder how it sounds.
- We've done our tests head-to-head.
Sony XM5, Bose QC45.
In terms of style, I think Sony has to take it.
I feel like these look kind of cheap,
even though I know they're not,
and they don't sound cheap; they just look cheap.
Next: comfort.
I think this is kind of a wash.
- It is. Yep.
- These are lighter. Bose QC45s are lighter.
These are softer.
So maybe, you're sitting on airplane for eight hours,
you might get a little hotter with the XM5s.
- It's tough.
- Case and portability.
I think this has to go to the Bose.
- It does.
- The case is smaller. It's about as sturdy.
It has a pouch, just like the Sony XM5s.
- I think it's at least as sturdy.
- Sound quality. So before the firmware update,
I think it was a slight edge for some.
After the firmware update,
I think, I think Bose has to take it.
- Oh, of course it does.
- In terms of noise cancellation,
the firmware update did make the noise cancellation
on these headphones a bit better.
Got rid of a little bit of white noise we were hearing,
but I still think the Sonys have to take it.
Call quality:
Slight edge to Sony. Three to two.
- Three to two with a wash.
- With a wash on comfort.
The Sony XM5s aren't here to replace the XM4s.
Instead, Sony is just adding
another premium headphone to its lineup.
- But it's worth noting that the XM4s go on sale a lot.
I've seen them for as low as $280.
Are they really worth the extra $120
if they're on sale, or extra $50, if they aren't?
- Let's find out.
Before I even take the XM4s out of the case,
I just wanna talk about the cases.
XM4 case is a bit smaller, a bit more portable.
I think it's also just a little bit sturdier too.
Let's open these up.
They fold right up nice.
These look like they've never been used before.
Stylish, comfy, light.
- You thought that the Sony logo was too much on these?
- Yeah. I just think it's more subtle.
I mean, you compare the size, the Sony logo on the XM5s,
the XM5s are about five grams lighter than the XM4s,
so you're not gonna notice that.
In terms of durability,
I think it seems pretty durable to me.
(relaxing music)
Did Sony fix the number one issue
with the XM4s in the XM5s?
They did.
I use these headphones for work,
and one of the things that I do is watch through videos
before they get uploaded to YouTube.
And one of the things I listen for is background music.
Sometimes, I listen for the background music
and it's not there,
and what I hear is this hiss.
And once you hear it, you can't unhear it.
- The Sony has gotten better over time
to the point now where it's gone.
- Although these are technically
about five grams heavier than the XM5s,
they still feel a little bit lighter on my head,
and that might have to do
with the materials used in the ear cups.
But in terms of just audio quality overall,
where the XM5s had some bass inconsistency,
I feel like these just had a bit overpowering bass,
a lot of the time.
- These are getting a four for me.
I think these are good pair of headphones.
- Yeah,
I think these might have actually done better than the XM5s
in terms of the clarity of the full sound stage.
- They sounded better than the XM5s.
- I think they sounded just a little bit better
than the XM5s.
- Is sound quality the only thing
that matters with headphones? No.
- Technically not, but I feel like it's, you know,
we have six factors and if I had to pick one
that was most important,
I would probably pick the sound quality.
- This is a microphone test of the Sony XM4 headphones
during a phone call.
- Let's go to our six categories,
and I think call quality.
We'll start at the bottom and work our way up.
Sony XM5s; I don't think it was that close.
- No, Sony XM5s are the winner in call quality
- Noise canceling, also Sony XM5s; white noise issue fixed.
In terms of sound quality,
I think the XM4s by a couple of hairs.
Case and portability.
I mean, there really is no contest, right?
Do I need to say more?
Which do you think were more comfortable?
I think I'd have to give it to the XM4s.
- Yeah, XM4s. Barely.
- Not by much.
Well, it comes down to style.
Is it gonna be an XM4 victory or a split decision?
In terms of style, I would give it to the XM5s.
They're more modern. They're more sleek.
I like the Sony branding better.
- I don't know if I can be unbiased in terms of style
because of my affinity for the Bose 700s.
I would go for the XM5s, I think, if the price was even.
- Well, the price isn't even.
XM4s are $50 cheaper on Sony's website,
or on Amazon,
often times more than a hundred dollars cheaper.
- And if it's that, there's no question. XM4s.
- You know what's on sale today,
is subscribing to this channel.
You can do that for $0.
- For an unlimited time only, hit that subscribe button.
It's free.
- Bose Noise Cancelling 700.
This has been our favorite pair of headphones
since we started making headphone review videos.
And the big difference here
between the Bose 700s and the Sony XM4s,
which is always number two,
was that noise cancellation issue.
Now we've got Sony XM5s,
and you can kinda see where Sony got their inspiration:
from these headphones.
- And this is why I'm saying
that this is a better comparison.
- It sure is.
- Than the XM4s to the 700s.
- Yep.
- Clearly Sony took a page out of Bose's book
with this one.
- And I think Sony did it better,
especially with the sliders.
I mean, come on.
The case of these two headphones, wow.
Look how similar those are too.
Now I think the Bose case is just slightly smaller.
- In terms of durability though,
I'm gonna give it to the Bose.
- I like the way that the Sony case feels,
just the texture on the outside.
This is more slippery.
- I don't need texture.
- Bose is definitely smaller and thinner too.
Let's do the audio test.
(relaxing music)
In terms of audio quality,
the word I would use to describe the Bose 700 is "balanced".
- It wasn't even close for me, really.
I mean, Bose landed in the 4.75 range for me.
- Unfortunately, call quality in the Bose 700 is poor.
- This a test of the Bose Noise Cancelling 700 microphone
during a phone call.
- Especially compared to the XM5s, poor.
- Right. So let's go down our list here.
- All right, let's go down the list.
Call quality.
Sony XM5s, not even close.
- Take the kick.
- Noise canceling.
I give the slight edge to the XM5s
now that that white noise issue has been fixed.
- And so do I.
- Oh boy.
- Sound quality: Bose 700.
I don't think it's that close.
Case and portability: Bose 700.
Comfort.
- I mean, for me, it's clearly the Bose.
- Okay. So the Sony XM5s are about five grams lighter,
but again, the issues I have with the Sony,
even though they are lighter,
I feel like there's like a breathability issue.
- That's what it is for me.
- Style.
I mean, I think the Sonys are a lot.
I just, don't like that design.
I think these are sleeker, more modern, more stylish.
I'd go with these.
- And I would go with the Bose.
- All right.
- Because I think that they're metal.
I think those look like a rip off of these.
- It looks like an improved version of those.
We'll call that one a wash.
- We'll call it a wash.
- Give the Bose 700 a three-to-two victory.
I just wish these were more balanced, the Sony XM5s.
So maybe there's some stuff you can do
with the EQ in the Sony app
that might make them sound a little bit better,
- But that is subjective.
That is not how we test.
- Right.
We take 'em outta the box,
and make sure they're up to date with the firmware.
- And we test them out.
And to be fair, we did turn on DSEE Extreme on the Sonys
to make it sound as good as possible.
- On Android, yep.
King is still the Bose 700, in my opinion.
- Sorry, Sony.
My takeaway is that the Bose QuietComfort 45s
are now the competitor of the XM4s.
It's a tough call, which is better.
- I think the sound is better on the QuietComforts,
and the Sonys win noise cancellation.
But if the XM5s are the top competitor to the Bose 700s,
the Bose 700s are still the best.
- Yeah. I don't care what people say.
They're wrong.
- Yeah.
Maybe the Bose 800s will come in
and disappoint us again.
But for now,
if you're looking for the best premium over-ear headphones,
it is the Bose 700.
- And they're cheaper.
- If you buy the Sony XM5s,
I don't think you'd be disappointed.
They're a good pair of headphones.
- You might be if you own the XM4s.
- You will.
If you wanna help us make more videos like this,
comparing all these very expensive headphones,
consider joining this channel.
- It's a big help.
I mean, we've been in here for four hours recording.
- We have.
- It's been a day.
- It's been a big day. That would be a big help.
We appreciate everybody who joins the channel.
- Yep.
- Helps us offset the cost.
We didn't get any of these sent to us for free.
We, talked about $2,000 of headphones today.
- Yeah.
- I did the math.
- Thanks for watching.
Next, We're gonna test the microphone quality.
- And to do that, we asked for the help
of our biggest fan.
(audience laughs)
It's a Dyson.