How to Spot Fake Sony WF-1000XM5 Earbuds

My initial plan was to use photos from marketplace listings of the fake WF-1000XM5, but the photos were of mediocre quality and did not show enough details. So I decided to order a pair from Aliexpress myself so I could get a better hands on with the fakes. With free shipping, the fake WF-1000XM5 cost about 21 Euros/24 USD, which was surprisingly cheap.

Here is a screenshot of the listing, it has gone up in price since I bought the fake. The store is using photos of a real WF-1000XM5, and not the fake to trick potential buyers. None of the photos in the listings have the Sony logo, but it is present on the fake. So let us take a look at what I received. 

Appearance

The retail box is covered with clear plastic wrap, which is absent on the real model. But I have seen grey/black market imports wrapped in plastic, so plastic wrap on the box is not always an indicator of a fake, but it should arouse suspicion. 

Her are some comparison photos with the real box (right). The photo of the earbuds on the front is not the same, the earbud seems stretched out and elongated. The logos on the top of the box are also incorrect, especially the Hi-Res Audio Wireless logo. The noise cancelling logo is just text on the fake. Turning to the rear, text is wrong and logos are missing.

The fake model uses a plastic box instead of paper. On my fake box, the right side corners are misshapen. It looks like the plastic is dented, but in reality, the shape is moulded this way. Almost as if the plastic became dented after it came out of the mould.

Not all fakes have this issue, as the photo below shows rounded corners on a fake box on the right side.

Fake WF-1000XM5 - Dented corner (left), no dent (right)

The engraved 1000X Series logo on the fake box uses the wrong font, but the untrained eye may not spot this difference. See the comparison below.

Fake WF-1000XM5 (left), Real WF-1000XM5 (right)

Removing the top revels the headset inside a plastic bag. The real model has a small paper cage around the case. Sony does not use any plastic in their packaging.

After removing the plastic bag, things become less obvious. At first glance everything seems correct. The shape, size, and colour look authentic. Flipping the earbuds around to the back, again we have a USB type-C port and a pairing button. 

Fake WF-1000XM5 (left), Real WF-1000XM5 (right)

The fake case has 4 differences compared to the real one:

1. Top logo is incorrect, silver instead of gold, and the font is not the same
2. Gap between the lid and the lower half is larger in the rear, especially around the hinge
3. Pairing button on the back is not flush with the case
4. Front LED hole is larger and visible even when not turned on

Fake WF-1000XM5 (bottom), Real WF-1000XM5 (top)

The misaligned USB-C port on the fake is my doing, as I had taken the case apart and it did not go back together like it would normally. The rear 'pairing' button on the fake does nothing apart from turning the front case LED on and off. Deceptive and clever.

Opening lid reveals the earbuds, which could be passed off as the real thing, that is until the red LED lit up in the microphone mesh. 

Fake WF-1000XM5 (left), Real WF-1000XM5 (right)

The red earbud LED is not as noticeable on my black fake, but it shines through the plastic on the platinum silver colour a lot more. This could be due to thinner plastic on the silver model. Here is a photo from an Aliexpress listing.

Here are some photos of the LEDs from my fake earbuds. If you are wondering why there is only one earbud, that is because the right one was already taken apart. It did not go back together.

Red earbud LED turns on when charging

When removed from the case, the earbud goes into pairing mode with the LED flashing red and blue.

Removing the earbuds from the case, we can see that earbud design is close to the real thing. Here are the differences I spotted:

• The gap around the top sensor is larger on the fake
• The microphone mesh holes are bigger on the fake
• Audio outlet has a white mesh covering the opening
• Logo is silver not gold 

There is a noticeable weight difference with the case, but not the earbuds. The fake case is 31g, where as the real one is 49g. The fake earbuds are 4g each, while the real ones show up as 6g.

Here is a closeup of the fake and real earbuds. The 2 things that stand out are the mesh and seam I mentioned earlier. The fake earbuds do not ship with the foam tips, but the silicone tips. The silicone tip are pretty decent.

A shot of the mesh in the audio outlet.

Fake Sony WF-1000XM5

Here are some more comparison shots with the real model. The back of the box has a much larger Original Blended Material logo. Surprisingly the little tray inside for the tips and USB cable was similar in design to the real one. Although in my fake, the tray was not at the bottom where it should be, but in the middle, placed on top of the little booklet box. The booklet box on my fake was all mangled up and squished. It is also not glued correctly. 

Here are some additional shots of the fake from the various retail listings (source Aliexpress).

Connectivity and Sound

The earbuds do show up as WF-1000XM5 on Windows and Android, tricking victims into thinking they bought a real headset.The earbuds are not recognized in the Sound Connect app. Someone mentioned on Reddit that they saw a comment of a user saying fakes do connect to the app, but I have yet to see a photo providing any such evidence.

Fake WF-1000XM5 appearing in Windows as 'WF-1000XM5'

When I first tried to pair and connect the fake, I had some issues connecting the second earbud. It would not turn on for some reason. Eventually it connected. The touch sensors work, but not like the real model. The left side controls the play/pause function, while the right side sometimes pauses when tapped, at other times it restarts what is playing.

So how do the fake WF-1000XM5 earbuds sound? Pretty bad. The sound quality is some of the worst I have heard on any in-ear model in the past 20-30 years. To give you an idea of how bad it is, imagine removing the low and high end parts of the EQ and then dropping the quality to 64 kbps. I tried to EQ the missing low and high ends, it helped a bit, but the quality was still pretty bad.

A surprise was the volume, the fake model is louder on Windows when compared to the real model. Likewise the silicone tips are not that bad, providing a decent seal. It might be the design, as they are thinner and longer than Sony's standard silicone tips. I will need to test them on my other Sony earbuds to see if they sound better than Sony's stock tips.

Teardown

And now for the bit I was looking forwards to, tearing the earbuds and case apart to see what was inside. 

The case came apart very easily, almost too easy. There were only clips holding the top insert into the lower case.

Here is a close up of the battery and USB-C port. The PCB is held on with 2 screws on a diagonal. I mean why waste money on 4 screws right? The battery has no capacity information on it. There is some kind of battery protection circuit, but I did not take that apart.

I plugged in a USB C tester to see what the case was pulling but nothing appeared on the screen. So I decided to use a USB-C to USB-A cable and it worked. It maxes out at 1.07W.

The underside of the top insert with 3 magnets, 2 for the earbuds and 1 in the front for the lid. 

Now let us look at the internals of the case. Notice the date on the PCB, 2024.7.19. Either this fake has been around for more than a year, or this PCB is used in other low end Chinese earbuds.

Here is the top side of the case PCB. We have the USB-C port in the middle, button on the left, and 2 LEDs near the top, a red and blue. The blue turns on when the earbuds are placed inside the case, and turns red when charging. 

Looking at the components, we only have really 2 main ones, IP5413P and 1R5. Googling both, I came up with the following.

• IP5413P
• Main Control IC - An all-in-one SoC that handles Lithium battery charging, 5V boost converter (to charge earbuds), LED indicators, and button control.
• 1R5 Inductor
• Power Inductor - Used for power management.

Throwing IP5413P into Google yields this from the first result.

The IP5413P is a multi-functional power management SOC that integrates a 5V boost converter, lithium battery charging management, and battery power indication. It provides a complete power solution for TWS Bluetooth earphone charging cases. The IP5413P achieves boost functionality through a single inductor. 

Looking at the pin layout in the datasheet, it appears that the charging case PCB uses the same layout. Here is a link to the datasheet.

Here is the reverse side of the PCB. The battery connections are soldered, poorly I may add, as when I tried to put the case back together the connection on the negative terminal broke off. I have no means to solder the connection back on, so the case is basically dead for the time being.

Moving onto the earbuds. Again, they were very easy to take apart. No glue or tape is used to keep the earbud together. The parts are held together through a friction fit.

The 'touch sensor' is not your standard touch sensor one would see in earbuds but a pogo pin in contact with a small metal plate. The pogo pin is the same type found on the case PCB which are used for recharging.  

The top of the earbud PCB has the pogo pin button, the wireless antenna near the bottom, the voice mic, electret, a crystal oscillator, and 2 LEDs, blue and red.

Removing the PCB from the case, we can see the internal battery and the charging pin PCB. The top black wires go to the small driver. The driver is about 8mm. Again no glue or tape is used to keep the PCB in place.

This is the reverse side of the PCB with the Bluetooth chip and connections to the driver (1), charging pins (2), and the battery (3). The BT chip is a JL Bluetooth IC, but I cannot read the print on the chip. But it might be this one. Thanks LG. Here is the link to the IC datasheet. 

After removing the driver, this is what is left of the lower half of the earbud, a magnet. 

Here is the entire internals taken out and spread out. The driver has some rust on it, which probably might also be why it sounds like garbage. It is attached to the housing with tape.

Could there be other fakes that are different? Perhaps. An improved Sony WH-1000XM5 fake did appear online recently, so it is possible better and improved WF-1000XM5 fakes could also appear. I wanted to order the improved WH-1000XM5 fake, but it disappeared from Aliexpress.

There is also a fake WH-1000XM6 on Aliexpress. I did order it twice, but the order was cancelled both times. So I will wait a bit before re-ordering. 

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