Sony WH-1000XM5

Block out external sound while piping sweet music to your ears

- Simon Lucas

£379 FROM sony.com FEATURES 2x 30mm drivers, active noise cancelling (ANC), 360 Reality Audio, 8 microphones; 30 hours battery life (ANC on)/40 hours (ANC off), 250g

Since launching the WH-1000XM3 active noise-cancelling headphones back in 2018, and updating them with the WH-1000XM4 in 2020, Sony has led the field. The WH-1000XM5 is aiming for the hat-trick.

The WH-1000XM5 use Bluetooth 5.2 for wireless connectivity and offer compatibility with SBC, AAC and LDAC codecs; aptX codec support would be nice but is missing here.

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. That’s an unpromising number compared to the size of the drivers in every other pair of headphones that might be judged realistic competition…