I have been through the wringer on this tech product. One day I’m ready to throw this thing across the wall and another day I’m ready to commit to it and give it a ring:). Basically a love/hate relationship at it best. And the main connection to this back and forth is the Earphone foam tips. The choice that they went with (even different from the xm4s) really had me off balance and I struggled to get get seals, which meant I struggled with the ANC, Sound quality and comfort. And these just so happen to be my top most looked for designed next to Battery life. So sometime around 10pm last night I started to get good seals without pain and without discomfort with the foam tips. I had tried to use the silicon tips in its place but the tech inside these earphones for ANC left the ANC pretty weak using silicon tips. So I was excited that the foam tips started become more pliable and formfitting in my ears.
This created a new world of sound quality and ANC. So inside this world my opinions changed greatly. Now it was the Sony’s that were wider in its presentation over my Bose QCII with better imaging and separation. They still weren’t able to beat them in Bass but everything else started tilting toward the Sony camp..even the volume quality and details across the board. This then led to me picking up the Sony’s more throughout today and it was then that I started realizing that the smaller footprint was really making things more addicting to use and put in my pocket more than my Bose. So this led to me asking myself a very important question…
Would I have gotten the Bose if I had the Sonys already and given up all these things below vs what the Bose would bring to the table?
- Sony has the best features of any bluetooth in the world today!
- Sony has Multiple pairing and the Bose QCII don’t
- Sony has the smaller footprint
- Sony has the better battery life per charge cycle
- Sony has wireless charging
- Sony has the better phone quality …bose lets in too much noise and I don’t understand it .
- Sony has the best connection while the Bose stop connecting to my phone at times
- Sony has LDAC ( if I do get android again )
- Sony’s starting having better imaging
- Sony’s starting having wider soundstages
Bose brings 4 things
- Better ANC
- Better Bass
- Better touch controls
- Easier Fit
Answer: NOPE.
I had to come to terms that no matter what I previously thought…on paper the Sonys are the better earphone overall. The only question now is, does this mean enough to make them number 1 for my usage? And as of right now, without me thinking about it, I found myself naturally reaching for the more portable, more feature rich, and convenient companion for my needs throughout today. And something tells me the more I use them, the more I will move away from the Bose out of sure convenience. Especially with things like Multiple Pairing options working on my laptop and Phone without thought when I use the Sony’s. It just makes more sense. Now I can’t guarantee this will remain this way once I need to take a trip on an Airplane with the ANC still being better on the Bose but my day to day is just made more simple and feature rich when I use the Sony’s over the Bose. So because of all this …my new revised Score is a 9.4 out of 10 for the Sony Wf1000xm5’s. So don’t be surprised if you see conflicts with a lot of reviews like it did with me. The tips are something that will make or break everything on the Sony’s WF1000xm5’s. They are the key to why so many people liking it, loving it, or hating it, which is why they should have built this earphone with more options for trips physically and in the ANC algorithm. It would have been easier to adapt to them and remain consistent. But nonetheless, we’re here now. Congrats to the “ONCE AND FUTURE KING”, Sony Xm5’s.
Tech-N-Things 