![]() ![]() Both are five-star (and therefore highly recommendable) earbuds, but if you don't need ANC or are willing to sacrifice it for a bargain buy, then the Sony WF-C500 are your best bet. They don't have active noise cancellation, which isn't surprising at this price, so if that feature is a must we would point you to the slightly pricier, next-model-up Sony WF-C700N or, if a long battery life is high on your list of priorities, the JBL Live Pro 2 TWS. The C500 are very likeable indeed, and easily the best package you'll find at its very modest price tag. Some alternatives are a punchier and more ‘exciting’ listen, but very few strike a more convincing sonic balance. And yes, you can buy greater outright scale of sound – but you won’t encounter a more complete control app. Yes, the WF-C500 can be bettered (and by quite a margin) for battery life, but you’ll be hard-pushed to find a more comfortable pair. In the WF-C500, Sony has managed to bring a lot of what makes its established premium true wireless in-ears (such as the WF-1000XM4 further down this list) such a success without cutting too many corners too obviously. Easy What Hi-Fi? Award winners.īuilding affordable true wireless in-ear headphones is a different discipline from building expensive ones, but it’s no less tricky. The previous WH-1000XM4 were already the best around – and are still very appealing, by the way, at their now-reduced price – but the XM5 are undoubtedly better for those who can afford them. ![]() Ultimately, if you are looking for a new pair of wireless noise-cancelling headphones and your budget can't stretch to the pricier, superior-sounding Apple AirPods Max, Focal Bathys or Mark Levinson No.5909, your auditioning should certainly start here. None have yet, despite very decent efforts by the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless and Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2, which are decent alternatives if you value long battery life (Sennheiser) or more attentive listening (B&W). The Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones might feel a little less premium than the outgoing XM4, but the jump in sound quality from the previous generation is a big one, and rivals once again have their work cut out to beat them. We wondered whether it was a wise move to give one of Sony’s biggest success stories in recent memory – the WH-1000XM4 that came before them – a major redesign. But it's paid off. When we saw the official pictures of the Sony WH-1000XM5 when they arrived last year, we were more than a bit surprised. It can be tricky for a manufacturer to push the sound performance of a product consistently from generation to generation, but that is what Sony has managed to do with the WH-1000XM5 wireless headphones, our new Bluetooth noise-cancelling over-ear favourites. Of over 100 pairs of headphones we review and judge for the What Hi-Fi? Awards every year, this eclectic nine are our absolute favourites. Our expert team of reviewers have thoroughly tested every pair to ensure its audio quality and value for money are up to scratch, so you can trust our buying advice. This is why we’ve created a handy guide detailing the best headphones we’ve tested that you can buy, covering all types and budgets. We’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve received a sample pair of headphones for review that on paper looks amazing but actually fails to deliver the goods when we put them through their paces. Then you’ve got to think about the form factor: do you prefer the comfy isolation of over-ears, the snug fit of in-ear, or the middle ground of on-ear? Do you want the reliable interruption-free boon of a wired connection or the blissful freedom of wireless? Is active noise-cancellation (ANC) important to you or can you happily live without it?īut even after answering those questions, buying blindly without doing proper research to determine how different pairs perform in the real world still puts you at risk of investing in a poor product. There is your budget to think about, of course – that's the easiest part.
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