Heads up, music lovers and frequent travelers/commuters. If you haven't yet purchased a nice noise-canceling headset, then you're definitely missing out on what's almost a basic necessity. There's nothing quite like putting on a pair of cans on your head and making distracting noises go away, whether at home or in public. Amazon's Prime Day sales bring you one of the best pieces of kit around for that task: the mighty Sony WH-1000XM5 wireless over-ear noise-canceling headset, currently selling for just $198, an all-time low price. Our own Jake Roach uses this daily, while I have the previous-gen XM4, and we both have nothing but good things to say about either model.
While you might chortle and say that nearly two Benjamins isn't exactly pocket change, be assured that it's an excellent deal for what's of the top-grade pair of cans. The noise canceling on these uses input from eight microphones and processes it through two dedicated DSP chips. In practical terms, this puts them nearly at the top of the market, outclassed only by the pricier WH-1000XM6 and roughly matching Apple's silly-expensive AirPods Max 2.
They're also lighter than the corresponding AirPods at just 250g (8.8 oz) versus a whopping 384g, and the battery lasts much longer; 30 hours versus about 20. When it comes to sound quality, the XM5s also shine bright. While the default sound profile just barely trails that of the AirPods Max 2, it's also customizable via the onboard hardware EQ, which saves settings to the headphones so you can keep them sounding great no matter what you have them connected to. Compared with the AirPods Max 2, you're beholden to messy, suboptimal device-side EQ that isn't saved to the hardware.
Additional niceties include support for the LDAC hi-res audio codec, fast charging with a three-minute charge giving you three hours of playback, the ability to connect to two devices simultaneously via Bluetooth, and a collapsible design. The touchpad on the side lets you control playback and voice calls, as well as bring up Alexa or Siri voice assistants. Sony's mobile app for configuring the headphones has a lot of actually useful options, too. Get the Sony WH-1000XM5 active noise-canceling headphones for just $198 at Amazon.
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