Sony
Its frequency response field says 2.4 GHz. That is the Bluetooth band, on a $298 audiophile headphone.
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Six axes, the same rule for every model. This is our judgment, not the manufacturer's.
| Battery life | 5/10 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cancelling | 9/10 | |
| Sound | 9/10 | |
| Comfort | 9/10 | |
| Calls | 9/10 | |
| Value | 5/10 |
The XM5 is the headphone most reviewers would hand you if you asked for the best all-rounder. Eight microphones across two processors, thirty hours, 250 g, and the cleanest phone calls of anything on this site.
Its Amazon page says the frequency response is 2.4 GHz. So does the frequency range row above it. 2.4 GHz is the Bluetooth band — it is the radio, not the sound. Two fields, one wrong answer entered twice, on the $298 flagship of the category.
LDAC is not mentioned anywhere on the listing. It is the single technical argument for buying a Sony instead of a Bose at this price, and Amazon's table has no row for codecs at all. Neither does the Bose page. The one specification that separates two $300 headphones is invisible on both.
Then the rating: 4.2, the lowest of any over-ear here, below a twenty-dollar BERIBES. Part of that is the XM5 dropping the folding hinge the XM4 had — you carry a bigger case now — and part is buyers arriving from years of five-star press and finding a headphone rather than a miracle.
The cancelling is still excellent. Everything on the page around it is not.
Anything marked «—» is a figure the manufacturer doesn't publish. We don't fill those in by eye.
| Type | Over-ear |
|---|---|
| Form factor | Closed-back over-ear, non-folding, carry case included |
| Active noise cancelling | Yes |
|---|---|
| Cancelling type | Two processors, eight microphones, Auto NC Optimizer |
| Transparency mode | Yes |
| Driver size | 30 |
| Driver type | Dynamic |
| EQ in the app | — |
| Battery life, ANC off | — |
|---|---|
| Battery life WITH ANC | 30 |
| Total with the case | — |
| Fast charge | 3 min for 3 h |
| Wireless charging | No |
| Replaceable battery | No |
| Bluetooth version | 5.2 |
|---|---|
| Codecs | — |
| Two devices at once | Yes |
| Latency | 200 |
| 2.4 GHz dongle included | No |
| Microphones | 8 |
| Weight | 250 |
|---|---|
| Water resistance (IP) | — |
| Folds | No |
| Warranty | 1 |
| Frequency Response: 2.4 GHz | The field for the audio range has the radio band written into it. So does the row above it — «Frequency Range: 2.4 GHz». This is the $298 flagship of the category, and neither of its two frequency fields is about sound. |
|---|---|
| No codecs, on the headphone people buy for the codec | LDAC is the main technical reason to choose a Sony over a Bose at this level. The listing does not mention it once, and Amazon's table has no codec row. |
| Audio Latency: 200 milliseconds | A fifth of a second. If that were real you would see every video out of sync, and Sony's own low-latency mode exists precisely so it is not. The number is on the page anyway. |
| The lowest-rated over-ear in this comparison | 4.2 from 20,047 ratings. The $19.99 BERIBES above it scores 4.5 from 57,702. |
| 30 hours, without saying whether the cancelling is on | Every cancelling headphone gives two figures. The listing gives one. We file it as the figure with ANC, because that is how Sony measures, and leave the other box empty. |
| Theme | «Video Game», on Sony's flagship listening headphone. |
A summary of the reviews published on Amazon.com as of 2026-09-08.
4.2 out of 5 from 20,047 ratings. Praise concentrates on cancelling, comfort and call clarity. The complaints are specific and repeated: the non-folding design, the case size, the price against the XM4, and a run of reports about the headband hinge. It is the widest gap on this site between press consensus and buyer score.
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The best cancelling here by a distance, at nine times the price of the model above it.
$49.57 for a headphone listed at $179.99 — on a page that says it takes 50 hours to charge and weighs 99 grams.
Amazon's #1 over-ear headphone, 73,732 ratings at 4.5, and forty dollars.