Four weeks in, I have a habit I did not expect. I put these on in the morning to write, and I take them off when my dog needs to go out, and somewhere around hour three I realize I have been wearing them the whole time without noticing. The XM5 disappears on your head in a way most over-ears do not, and that comfort is the foundation everything else sits on.
The noise cancellation is the headline and earns it. On two long-haul flights last month the engine drone dropped to a soft suggestion, and in a noisy co-working space the HVAC simply stopped existing. The XM5 is the best-in-category ANC, narrowly ahead of the Bose QC Ultra in pure measurement but more importantly ahead in how it sounds — there is none of the slight pressurized feeling some Bose ANC modes leave behind. The ambient passthrough is also dramatically improved over the XM4 and is now clean enough that I can hold a quick conversation without taking the headphones off.
Call quality is the place the XM5 most clearly beats its own predecessor. The multi-mic beamforming actually works in a noisy room, and the people on the other end of my video calls stopped asking where I was calling from somewhere around week two. After years of headphones being merely acceptable for calls, this is one of the few that is genuinely good at it.
The sound is good without being exceptional. It is a strong all-rounder with a slight V-shape — punchy bass, present treble, mids that occasionally feel a touch recessed on dense rock mixes. There are EQ presets in the app for the people who care, and a 5-band parametric for the people who really care, and I have left mine on the default because the default is what I want for most of what I listen to. If you are a critical listener, the Sennheiser Momentum 4 sounds more accurate at the same price; if you came here for the ANC, you will not be disappointed.
The app is mature. Multipoint Bluetooth pairs my laptop and phone without drama, the adaptive sound feature actually learns my locations after a few weeks, and the speak-to-chat mode that pauses music when you talk is more useful than it sounds. None of this is glamorous. All of it just works, which is the most damning praise an app can earn.
The genuine loss in the XM5 redesign is the folding hinge. The XM4 tucked into a pouch the size of a paperback. The XM5 requires a hard case the size of a small lunchbox. If you carry a backpack every day this is an actual quality-of-life downgrade, and the only XM4 feature I have actively missed. The build also feels marginally less premium — the plastics are fine, but they no longer feel like a flagship the way the XM4 did the first time I held it.
The XM6 is coming. If you can wait, wait, because Sony's first-year discounts on the outgoing flagship tend to be steep and you should be the person who benefits. If you cannot wait, the XM5 is still the right answer for most people in 2026.
Verdict: Buy these if you want the best noise-cancelling headphone available at a price that is no longer the most expensive option. If you are a backpack-carrying minimalist who misses the folding case, hold out for the XM6.