Sony WH-1000XM4 vs WH-1000XM5

Sony announced the WH-1000XM4 on 6 August 2020 and the WH-1000XM5 on 12 May 2022, less than two years later, and the WH-1000XM6 has since replaced both as Sony’s current 1000X flagship. Choosing between them now means choosing between two older designs that went different ways, not between an old pair and its straight replacement.

Only the WH-1000XM4 folds

The WH-1000XM4’s earcups fold, and the headphones tuck into the supplied carrying case. The WH-1000XM5’s cups only swivel flat into its case. If the fold is why your WH-1000XM4 still comes on trips, the WH-1000XM5 takes it away, and the WH-1000XM6 is the newer Sony that brings it back. If a flat case already fits your bag, the fold shouldn’t decide it.

Weight barely moves: about 254 grams for the WH-1000XM4 and about 250 grams for the WH-1000XM5, so the newer pair won’t feel lighter in a bag.

A smaller driver with the same frequency range

The WH-1000XM4 uses a 40mm dome driver (1.57 inches) with a copper-clad aluminum voice coil, a neodymium magnet and an aluminum-coated liquid crystal polymer diaphragm. The WH-1000XM5 drops to a 30mm dynamic driver with a neodymium magnet.

Sony’s frequency figures didn’t shrink with it. Wired, both reach 4 to 40,000 hertz. Bluetooth playback covers 20 to 20,000 hertz at a 44.1 kilohertz sampling rate on both, and LDAC at 96 kilohertz and 990 kilobits per second extends the top to 40,000 hertz.

Sensitivity over the cable, with the power on, is 105 dB/mW at 1 kilohertz on the WH-1000XM4 and 102 on the WH-1000XM5; with the power off, it’s 101 against 100. Sony gives impedance only for the WH-1000XM5: 48 ohms at 1 kilohertz switched on, 16 ohms switched off.

Either one plays passively through a detachable cable of about 1.2 meters with a gold-plated L-shaped plug, and Sony describes the WH-1000XM4’s cable as oxygen-free copper. Both have Sony’s DSEE Extreme upscaling, and the WH-1000XM5 also carries Hi-Res Audio and Hi-Res Audio Wireless (over LDAC) on Sony’s UK site.

Noise cancelling, calls and voice assistants

The WH-1000XM4 runs Sony’s HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN1 with a built-in analog amplifier, and its Dual Noise Sensor technology uses two microphones on each cup. It also has Personal NC Optimizer and atmospheric-pressure optimizing, plus Ambient Sound Control and Quick Attention for hearing what’s around you. Speak-to-Chat arrived with this generation.

The WH-1000XM5 pairs the QN1 with Sony’s Integrated Processor V1. According to Sony’s 12 May 2022 announcement, those two processors control eight noise-cancelling microphones, and four beamforming microphones with an AI noise-reduction system handle calls. For awareness, Sony’s WH-1000XM5 specs list Ambient Sound Mode; Quick Attention, Speak-to-Chat and Personal NC Optimizer don’t appear under those names.

Sony called the WH-1000XM4’s noise cancelling industry-leading in 2020 and used the same kind of language for the WH-1000XM5. Neither claim comes from an independent test.

On both you can set up Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa through Sony’s app, with regional limits noted for the WH-1000XM5, and the WH-1000XM4 can also reach Siri through a connected iPhone.

Battery: no gain with noise cancelling on

With noise cancelling on, the two are rated identically, up to 30 hours of music, so battery is no reason to swap. With noise cancelling off, the WH-1000XM5 gets 40 hours to the WH-1000XM4’s 38.

The other ratings don’t line up. Sony rates calls only for the WH-1000XM5, 24 hours with noise cancelling on and 32 with it off, and standby only for the WH-1000XM4, 30 hours with noise cancelling on and 200 with it off.

Charging from empty takes about 3 hours on the WH-1000XM4 and about 3.5 on the WH-1000XM5. The quick-charge claims use different clocks and different adapters: 10 minutes for about 5 hours on the WH-1000XM4 with Sony’s optional AC adapter, and 3 minutes for about 3 hours on the WH-1000XM5 with an optional USB Power Delivery adaptor.

Bluetooth, codecs and two devices

The WH-1000XM4 uses Bluetooth 5.0 and the WH-1000XM5 Bluetooth 5.2. Both play SBC, AAC and LDAC; LDAC only works from a source that supports it. Neither has aptX or LC3. Sony lists A2DP, AVRCP, HFP and HSP for the WH-1000XM5, and NFC appears on some regional WH-1000XM4 models but not on the WH-1000XM5.

Both stay connected to two devices at once, which Sony calls multipoint or multi-device connection, but on either pair LDAC can block the second connection, so check the app setting before you count on it. You manage that in Sony Sound Connect, the renamed Headphones Connect app.

Price, colors and what’s in the box

The WH-1000XM4 cost $349.99 at launch and reached US stores in mid-August 2020. The WH-1000XM5 cost $399.99, and Sony opened US pre-sales on 20 May 2022 through its own store, Amazon and Best Buy. Fifty dollars separated them at launch; what either sells for now depends on the seller, so check Sony and the store before you buy.

Both launched in Black and Silver. Sony also names the WH-1000XM5’s silver Platinum Silver, and that model gained more colors in some regions later.

The WH-1000XM4 box holds the headphones, a USB-C cable, the audio cable, the carrying case and, in some packs, an in-flight adapter. Sony packs the WH-1000XM5 with a short USB-A to USB-C cable, about 20 centimeters, plus the headphone cable and a carrying case, which becomes a pouch on some XM5SA models.