Black Friday is here, more or less, with early Black Friday deals being highly abundant at this time. One pair of such deals is for Sony’s quite legendary XM5 line, with both the headphones and earbuds being on sale. In fact, a Best Buy early Black Friday deal got me to buy the earbuds and complete my collection.
As a self-described “audiophobe” (I crave silence the way others crave deep bass beats), I’ve been tempted by Sony’s WF-1000XM5 after experiencing the peace and quiet of the WH-1000XM5 headphones. And at their current price of $230, which is $70 down from the usual $300, they were an easy pickup for me. But, with the WH-1000XM5 — the headphones that consistently sit at the top or our best headphones list — down to $300 from a usual price of $400, are the WF-1000XM5 really the best deal for you to pick up at the moment? As someone who owns them both, I’m going to give you the case for picking out each pair.
Why you should buy the WH-1000XM5
The WH-1000XM5 are a mainstay in the headphones world. For someone like me who wants to have peace and quiet on a regular basis, they’re pretty much effortless. I just slide them over my ears, tap a button, and all is peaceful again. From the crowded Best Buy where I first tried them on I was able to tune out the vast majority of the store’s chatter within seconds.
Their ease of use and convenience has spilled over into my entertainment regimen too, however. With an easy pair of taps you can start and stop media. This means that I can go grab a drink or some food while a YouTube video plays and — if something interesting happens that I want to see as well as hear — pause it remotely via my headphones. These are easy, convenient, comfy headphones and (as mentioned in our WH-1000XM5 review) they sound great when playing music and have very robust EQ controls to get you the precise sound you want.
The one thing they don’t do well, however, is active work. Sweating, drizzles outdoors, and wet hands from doing dishes are all no-nos around your WH-1000XM5s, but its still all good so long as you know their limitations. At their current price of just $300 I would be a bit envious of anyone just buying these now, as I paid closer to $350 during a Prime Day sale last year.
Why you should buy the WF-1000XM5
For anyone wondering why I highlighted how instant the WH-1000XM5’s utility came to me, the WF are the answer. With the earbuds, you’ll need to work to get a solid fit. Trying all of the eartips on, twisting in and out of ears, using the app to test how good your fit is, and so on can take some time, especially if you’re picky about the silence levels. I’ll also use this point to mention that the tap controls on the WF-1000XM5 will feel quite familiar to WH-1000XM5 users, but they have a tendency to go off when you’re inserting and removing the earbuds from your ears. Turn them off briefly when doing your initial setup.
However, when all is said and done and you do get the right fit, the noise cancelation is quite good and, of course, the sound is right. On my second day of owning them, I wore my WF-1000XM5s while building the wooden shelf you can see them displayed on in the image above while playing very light music. It wasn’t until after I was done that I noticed there was some fairly loud YouTube watching going on in the next room. And, with the buds (but not the case) being IPX4 water resistant, I know there will be other new things I’ll do with my WF-1000XM5. I got mine for $230 and I’m pretty happy that I did. You can find yours by tapping the button below.
Conclusion: Should you buy the WH-1000XM5 or WF-1000XM5 for Black Friday?
Having worn both of Sony’s XM5 styles, I feel pretty confident that most people will feel most satisfied with the WH-1000XM5 headphones. Both my own experience and customer review ratings point to them being the better experience, even if it isn’t by a lot. That being said, the WF-1000XM5 are $70 cheaper at this time and you can still get an excellent noise isolation experience, especially if you boost it by playing some music (which you probably were going to do anyhow). The WF-1000XM5 are for sure the value play, and if you’re a bargain hunter there’s no way you won’t feel pleased with yourself getting them for $230, at least until next sales cycle when they might get closer to $200. With some water-resistance, they can go many places the WH-1000XM5 cannot, too, adding to the value. The WH-1000XM5 headphones are fantastic but the WF-1000XM5 earbuds sure have their place.
Of course, this all brings us to one question: Why not both? While I wouldn’t necessarily recommend buying both until you’ve at least tried one out, if you have the WH-1000XM5 now is a great time to pick up the WF-1000XM5. And, likewise, if you have the WF-1000XM5 now is similarly a great time to pick up the WH-1000XM5. Though they have similar aims, they’re different enough tools and owning both doesn’t feel like complete overkill. It’s kind of like having a wedge and a driver in your golf club bag, to use a horrible sports metaphor. Finally, be sure to check and compare these to our listings of Black Friday Bose headphones deals, Black Friday Beats headphones deals, and Black Friday AirPods deals to get more perspective on price and availability this deals season.