TRIPLE-CROWNED SOUND Sony WH-1000XM5

Sony's new cans will block out the sound of a hurricane while delivering music to your ears just as the players intended it

£379 sony.co.uk

SPECIFICATIONS

Drivers 2x 30mm

Frequency range 4Hz - 40,000Hz

Audio features active noise cancelling, 360 Reality Audio

Connectivity USB, 3.5mm jack, Bluetooth 5.2 with LDAC

Microphones 8

Battery life 30 hours (ANC on), 40 hours (ANC off)

Weight 250g

Since launching the WH-1000XM3 active noise-canceling headphones back in 2018, and updating them with the WH1000XM4 in 2020, Sony has led the field. With the WH-1000XM5, it's aiming for the hat-trick.

The Sony WH-1000XM5 use Bluetooth 5.2 for wireless connectivity and offer compatibility with SBC, AAC, and LDAC codecs. That's great but we can't help thinking it doesn't go quite far enough. Not everyone has a Sony smartphone, after all, so aptX codec support would therefore be nice.

Once those full-fat digital audio files are on board, they're handed over to your ears by a couple of 30mm mica-reinforced cellular full-range dynamic drivers. '30mm' is an unpromising number when compared to the size of the drivers in every other pair of headphones that might be judged as realistic competition. Fingers crossed, then, that it's not all about the size of your drivers...