Sony Unveils the New WF-1000XM5

With the WF-1000XM5 finally revealed, I wanted to create an in-depth analysis of the design, features and do a comparison with the WF-1000XM4. This is not a review, but I hope to have one in the future once I buy it. But I will need to save up before that happens. So let us dive in.

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Design

The most obvious change is the new design. Sony has drastically reduced the new mark 5's size and weight. We are looking at 25% smaller size and 20% less weight (5.9g per earbud, 39 grams for case). The size reduction will be welcome by many, including myself. The WF-1000XM4 can become uncomfortable after an extended period of time in my experience so I expect this issue may have been solved with the new design.

Aside the size and weight changes, the new glossy design will split some opinions. When I first saw the original certification photos back in March, I was hoping the materials would change for the final production unit. But this turned out not to be the case. A common remark is that they look cheap, and I get that, but from my own experience with the WF-1000XM4, it can get dirty and cleaning the matte plastic can be a hassle. Now with the new model, the area that touches the ear is glossy and should be easier to clean. Of course that appears to be the idea. Whether this is true in practice remains to be seen. Of course I will still need to see in person to make a final judgement. I wonder if we could see a similar design change with the WH-1000XM6 when it arrives next year.

For a size comparison, Sony has provided us with a nice set of reference images on their product pages. In the photo below we have the WF-1000XM5, LinkBuds S, and WF-C700N. I used the ear mesh as my size reference.

This comparison shows that the mark 5 is more or less the same size as the other 2 and has a similar ear tip orientation like the WF-C700N. So if you own either the LinkBuds S or WF-C700N, the new WF-1000XM5 should have a similar fit and comfort. This is good news for me, since the WF-C700N is really comfortable, even for long listening sessions.

Finally here is a comparison of the WF-1000XM3 and WF-1000XM5 from the Sony Store Ginza Twitter account.

Charging Case

For a size comparison of the charging case, we can thank the Sony Engineer interview for these 2 comparison photos.

WF-1000XM4 (top), WF-1000XM5 (bottom)

WF-1000XM4 (L), WF-1000XM5 (R)

Comparing the designs, we can see the new case is a lot more rounded with softer edges. The interview reveals that the inside of the WF-1000XM4 lid is made from resin, where as in the new model, this same part is made from silicone, which helps protect the earbuds.

Sony WF-1000XM5 WF-1000XM4 charging case comparison

The rear of the case also has a pairing button like the LinkBuds S and WF-C700N. Wireless charging is still present, and uses the Qi standard. From reviews online, and even in these press photos, the colour of the case (and earbuds) appears to be a slightly different colour. I think it is the same black as the WH-1000XM5.

WF-1000XM4 (L) - WF-1000XM5 (R) tips

New Earbud Tips

Another change are the earbud tips. Sony describes them as "Noise Isolation Earbud Tips" and says they are made from an exclusive material which enhances the fit but also comfort thanks to their newly designed shape.

 

The new tips appear to have a similar construction to previous ones found in the WF-1000XM4. We have a silicone center layer surrounded by the polyurethane foam. The foam is much thinner on the bottom which should permit a better squeeze and fit in the ear canal.

In addition Sony has included a mesh in the opening to keep out dirt and grime from the inside of the earbuds. This mesh will require cleaning, so it will be interesting how well it stands up to constant cleaning.

 

 

We have the new model name of the ear tips, EP-NI1010. The new tips will be available starting September 1st in Japan. No word if they will be sold outside of Japan. The tips will be sold in individual sizes, priced around 2000 yen each. The WF-1000XM5 will ship with 4 sizes of tips, SS, S, M, and L. The previous tips, EP-NI1000, are already discontinued. I will be buying up a few pairs of the new tips for my WF-1000XM4 and WF-C700N, to test them out later this year. I do not expect a huge improvement in sound quality but hopefully the comfort and seal will improve.

New Features added to the list

The new WF-1000XM5 brings a few new features like gesture control and head tracking. With gesture control you can nod your head to answer a call or shake it to deny the call. The head tracking will be used for various applications like 360 Reality Audio or TIDAL. But the functionality will require a firmware update as it will be available Summer 2023. This could mean, August, or it could be early September. Head tracking was recently added to the WH-1000XM5 via a firmware update.

 

The updated Sony headphone app also has a new feature called "Find your Equalizer". You play a song you like in the player, go back to the app, then click Find your equalizer. With the song playing, you have 5 EQ settings to choose from, which you can preview by selecting them. Once you find one you like, you click next, this is repeated 2 more times. At the end, you can see compare the selected EQ with your previous settings. The app is meant to optimize the EQ to a person's listening style. The feature is still in beta and it does work well. It choose a pretty close EQ to what I was using for my WF-1000XM4. I expect the feature will improve with time.

 

Other features remain the same like DSEE Extreme, Voice Assistant support, quick attention, and ambient sound mode, Fast Pair for Android, and Swift Pair for Windows also help with pairing. I am aware that there are some changes to the tap function but I suggest looking at reviews for that information.

New Dynamic X Driver

 

Sony has opted not to add any balanced armature drivers to the WF-1000XM5 (boo), but we do have a new larger (8.4mm) driver. We get a closer at the driver and what is new thanks to the Sony Engineer interview. In the first 3 photos, we can see a real life comparison of the WF-1000XM4 and WF-1000XM5 driver size.

 

WF-1000XM4 (L), WF-1000XM5 (R) driver comparison

WF-1000XM4 (L), WF-1000XM5 (R) driver comparison

WF-1000XM4 (L), WF-1000XM5 (R) driver comparison, photo courtesy of AV-Watch

 

We can see the new driver is bigger but also flatter, similar to what we see in Sony's WH line of headsets. In the interview, the engineers say that there are 2 methods for high sound pressure reproduction. First, using a larger diaphragm to increase the vibration area, and second using a small diaphragm to generate a larger vibration amplitude. Sony uses the former in the new WF-1000XM5, where as the latter was used in the WF-1000XM4.

 

The interview also reveals that the new driver diaphragm is composed of 2 different materials, the central dome is more rigid, helping recreate higher frequencies which are clearer and higher; where as the outer edge is softer and more flexible which helps reproduce deep low frequencies. This design is similar to the WH-1000XM5 diaphragm.

We do have a close up of the driver from the WF-1000XM5 product page. I suspect this is the idealized rendered version, but it does provide a nice close up of the design.

Sony WF-1000XM5 Dynamic X Driver

In this next photo, we can get a good idea of how much space each driver takes up inside the earbuds.

 

WF-1000XM5 (L), WF-1000XM4 (R)

The driver in the WF-1000XM5 takes up a lot more space in the earbuds, which themselves are smaller than the WF-1000XM4, where the driver seems much smaller with respect to the other components. I am looking forward to comparing both devices in the future together.

Also one more thing, in the product video, there is an exploded view and we can see a piece of plastic that is some kind of cover that goes over the main outlet of the earbuds.

It covers the entire bottom of the earbuds, perhaps creating a seal with the outside, maybe for the IPX4 certification. Silly question, would this plastic piece not dampen the sound coming from the driver? I am also wondering if it is glued in or just pushed into place.

Noise Cancellation

One the major selling points of the WF-1000XM5 will be the noise cancellation. Sony claims they are the best noise cancelling headset on the market right now. (July 2023) Because the new driver is able to produce more sound pressure, it is able to produce more accurate cancellation waves in the lower frequencies to cancel out noise.

The new model now features 3 NC mics per earbud. When I first saw the product video, I was puzzled why there was a microphone in the middle of the earbuds with no hole. 

Reading the press released explained the reason:

The WF-1000XM5 now feature three microphones on each earbud, including dual feedback mics, which improve low-frequency cancellation performance. This is Sony’s biggest ever step forward in noise cancelling, resulting in ambient sound captured even more accurately.

 

This is also expanded upon in the Engineer interview, the extra feedback microphone in the middle of headset helps with cancelling the lower frequency range. In addition, the microphones are newly developed, smaller in size and have less noise. Although I am uncertain if this is referring to all 3 NC mics, or just the additional feedback one. For comparison, Apple decided to increase the size of the microphones in their new Beats Studio Buds +, but I cannot find any teardown photos of the new model to compare the mic size with the older model.

From my understanding, Sony uses the same mic for voice and feedforward NC in the WF-1000XM5, like in the LinkBuds S. It is an interesting decision, I suppose if it works in the LinkBuds S, it would work here as well. The absence of a dedicated voice mic does not bother me, but if the call quality is not improved over the WF-1000XM4, then I could see this being an issue for users who use the voice mic a lot. Sony has released a firmware update to address the rather mediocre voice call quality.

Could Sony have fit in a 4th microphone for voice? Good question, perhaps, but maybe the benefits of a 4th microphone outweighed the costs.

The two feedback NC microphones are positioned in 2 different areas, the first microphone is inside the audio canal, with the second microphone closer to the driver. The placement of the NC microphone in the audio canal is why the eartips now require a mesh, since none exists on the actual unit.

We can see the actual mic in this photo, courtesy of Sasaki on Twitter.

Going back to the earlier part where there is a plastic cover over the outlet, I wonder how the flex PCB with this microphone goes out, maybe there is a notch in the plastic cover? Or perhaps the flex PCB just fits between the cover and case? Hopefully this can be revealed in a teardown.

 

The noise cancellation is improved according to Sony, who have a graph on the Japanese product page. According to the graph, there are improvements in the low to mid frequency ranges. The new model looks to also improve the cancellation of human voices, which is an area NC struggles.

The photo is not very technical, so I decided to combine the ANC performance charts from 3 Sound Guys reviews, the WF-1000XM3, WF-1000XM4, and WF-1000XM5. 

 

source: www.SoundGuys.com

 

The higher the graph, the better the headset can cancel out the noise in that frequency. I will not be discussing the WF-1000XM3, but I added it just for comparison to see how much both the mark 4 and 5 improved.

The WF-1000XM5 does appear to have better ANC performance overall, even in the low end. The mark 5 dips a bit below the mark 4 around the 600 Hz area, but recovers and surpasses it at around 900 Hz. At 3000 Hz, the performance begins to jump around, with one model better in certain points and the other better at other points. But this is just technical information with real world performance probably varying.

Personally I am looking forward to see the review and comparison from This is Tech Today. Their video comparing the WH-1000XM5 and WH-1000XM4, along with Airpods Max and Bose QuietComfort 45 was excellent, and quite technical.

 

Sony V2 and QN2e Processors

We first learned of the 2 processors from the leaks, but now we have a bit more information why the extra processor was required. Because Sony added a second feedback NC microphone inside, additional processing power was required. This is where the QN2e comes in. 

 

We have little information about the QN2e, it could be a new chip, or an evolution of the QN1e, whatever the case I suspect it will be close to the QN1e's design as seen below.

CXD3871 (QN1e) block diagram

 

Sony does have a CXD3782 chip which has 3 microphone inputs, but it uses a lot more power, 13mW, versus only 7mW for the CXD3871. We will probably have to wait for a teardown to identify the chip. Perhaps the FCC filing will reveal the chips under the metal cover, just like we saw in the LinkBuds S, but if not, maybe 52Audio will perform a teardown and remove the lid to reveal the chips. If that does not happen, I could always try to fund raise for a teardown and take one apart myself if people would want me to.

 

Moving to the V2 integrated processor, the engineer interview reveals that the SoC is a new chip, but provides no specifics. I have already identified the chip as the Mediatek MT2833 in an earlier post. We also have little information on this chip, but from Google's Fast Pair compatibility list, we can see that this chip is paired with the AB158x. Long ago on a Mediatek employee's LinkedIn page, they had the MT2833 paired with the AB1588, so I am going to assume this is the case.

 

I cannot find much on the AB1588, but there is an AB1585 on the Airoha website. But from other Airoha products and their documentation, I am certain that the AB1588 is the same as the AB1565, but with more embedded flash. I found this ANC diagram of the AB1565, and looking at the inputs, we have the 2 NC mics and a voice mic.

Airoha AB1565 ANC block diagram

 

I would not expect the AB1588 to have any more additional inputs, meaning the extra feedback NC microphone could not be processed by the SoC. So I am wondering myself now how Sony has setup the connections in the WF-1000XM5. Is the QN2e only processing the one extra NC mic, or all 3? And what about the MT2833 (V2)? Does it still play a role in any noise cancellation? I do not think we will ever get an exact answer to that question, but in the engineer interview, it is mentioned that the V2 works in conjunction with the QN2e to cancel out noise.

I will have another new post in the future about the V2 and the various other Sony and Airoha SoCs. So stay tuned.

I am hopeful the FCC internal photos will become available sooner than August 22nd, but for the time being we have one photo from the Engineers interview, which I have supplemented with additional photos from the March 2023 leak.

 

1. Contacts for Dynamic X driver
2. Optical sensor
3. Feedback NC microphones
4. Contacts for charging pins
5. Feedforward/Voice microphone
6. On board connector for antenna/touch panel flex PCB
7. Integrated battery protection chip
8. Acceleration sensor
9. Unknown chip
10. Contacts for antenna/touch panel
11. Battery contacts
    

I still cannot identify the small (#9) chip, maybe it is related to charging as this is where the charging pins are located. While we do not have photos of the other side of the PCB, we do have the rendered photos from the product video.  If we are to believe what is there, then the reverse side only has the V2 and QN2e chips.

As I asked earlier, if we do not get any teardowns from 52Audio, perhaps we can try a fund raise for me to buy one to take it apart? If not, we might have to make due with the FCC teardown.

And now for some comparisons of the specifications.

	WF-1000XM5	WF-1000XM4
Bluetooth Ver.	5.3	5.2
Earbud weight	5.9g	7.3g
Case Weight	39g	41g
Driver Size	8.4mm	6mm
Waterproof	IPX4	IPX4
DSEE Extreme	Yes	Yes
Batter Life	8 hrs (NC On) 12 hrs (NC Off)	8 hrs (NC On) 12 hrs (NC Off)
Earbud Full Charge	~ 1.5 hours	~ 1.5 hours
Case Full Charge	~ 2 hours	~ 3 hours
Quick charge	3 minutes = 60 min	5 minutes = 60 min
Wireless charging	Yes	Yes
Codec Support	SBC, AAC, LDAC, LC3	SBC, AAC, LDAC
Case Dimensions	64.6 × 40.0 × 26.5 mm	67.0 x 40.0 x 30.0 mm

The WF-1000XM5 does appear to recharge the case faster and has an improved quick charge, but overall the speed to a full earbud recharge is the same. I suspect Sony could have upped the charging speed but would rather keep it the same as not degrade the internal battery.

Sony has put up the online guide for the new model after I published the post, just my luck. Here is a comparison of the battery life.

	WF-1000XM5	WF-1000XM4
LDAC NC ON	5 hours max	5 hours max
LDAC NC OFF	8 hours max	6 hours max
AAC NC ON	8 hours max	8 hours max
AAC NC OFF	12 hours max	12 hours max
SBC NC ON	8 hours max	7.5 hours max
SBC NC OFF	12 hours max	11 hours max
LC3 NC ON	7 hours max	-
LC3 NC OFF	11 hours max	-

The WF-1000XM4 battery life is provided with DSEE extreme to auto and off, I selected the off numbers since the WF-1000XM5 battery life does not have DSEE extreme in it. If even says that DSEE Extreme, EQ, speak-to-chat, etc, will decrease battery life. The LC3 battery is a bit lackluster, it is still beta, but if it does not improve over SBC in the final release, then that will be very disappointing. There will be other features of LC3 like the audio sharing, so there is that to look forward to. 

Similar situation with the LinkBuds S and their LC3 battery life, not great, but not terrible.

And with that. this concludes the post. I will start saving up for the new model. The past week before announcement helped bring in some adsense revenue, but no where near enough to buy the new model. I hope to have enough saved up by Black Friday in November or before Christmas. By then perhaps the price will have dropped a bit. If the FCC internal documents drop this week, I will update this post, otherwise I will make a separate one once they become available. Thanks for reading and sorry it took so long, most of the other sites got the information ahead of time and could prepare, I could not.

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