Sony WF-1000M5 teased by Sony

We finally have a teaser for Sony’s WF-1000XM5. The design matches the leaks, the matte touch panel and glossy body is visible in the teaser.

Sony will have a live stream even next week on July 24th, 09:00 PST / 12:00 EST.

The tagline, “The Best Silence Drops” could signal this is Sony’s best performing NC earbuds ever, but it will be interesting how they compare to competitors. I do suspect leaks and will be posting the, up once they show up. So stay tuned.

Price in the US confirmed as $299 USD plus tax. In Japan supposedly the expected price is around 41,000 to 42,000 Yen with tax. Not sure how true this is though.

Possible Release Date?

I had quite a few people message me and ask when we could see these on sale. I expect retail availability will be in early August, about 3 weeks after next week’s announcement. But this could vary by region. Some regions will get them sooner than others so check locally for availability after announcement.

Btw if anyone was doubting whether this was the WF-1000XM5, Sony Japan’s teaser features 5 in the word silent, so 5ilent.

Update 4 – July 23rd

Looks like somebody (now removed) uploaded a YouTube shorts video of the WF-1000XM5, woops. Here are some screenshots. We can see the app has the new gesture control for rejecting calls in the video, plus we can see the new earbud tips, with the new extra small (ss) size. Likewise we can see the earbuds in the ears and they look much smaller and should be a nice fit for more users. Of course most the major sites and tech reviewers have the earbuds already since I expect reviews to go up soon after the livestream.

Update 3 – July 22

Thanks to Snoopytech on reddit, we have some new photos of the WF-1000XM5. Thanks for all folks who sent this in.

Now for some comparison photos and a closer look at what we can see.

With the higher resolution photos, we can get a better comparison of the design and size compared to my leak previously. The earbuds appear to have a similar size from the ear tip to the touch panel like the previous model, but the top is much smaller which should help with fit and comfort.

Unlike the WF-1000XM4, the new model’s surface closest to the ear is now curved rather than flat, again this should help with fit and comfort. The end tip also looks to be angled a bit differently versus the old model. I do admit with these new photos, the combination of glossy finish and matte side looks more premium than the outgoing model.

Polyurethane tips

While these photos are compressed, we can still see that there is a difference in materials and shape of the new tips.

The new tips while similar in size, appear to be thinner in their design. While difficult to judge from photos, it could be around 50%. We can also see 2 layers, a inner one which could be silicone and the outer one which I assume is the polyurethane foam. I would imagine Sony redesigned them in order to have a better seal than the outgoing tips which were discontinued in Japan recently. The redesign could also address the rather questionable quality of the WF-1000XM4 tips.

Look at the materials, again compressed photos, but there does not appear to be any texture on the new model tips, hinting at a new material. Although uncertain at this point, it does look like Sony has added a mesh to the opening of the new tips. I do not think this is the mesh from the earbuds themselves but we will know on Monday. This mesh should keep dirt and gunk out of the earbuds, but it will get dirty as well and require cleaning.

Unfortunately there is no size reference for the case, so we cannot really compare them. We are also lacking any photos showing the optical sensor which should be on the underside but is obstructed by the foam tips.

I will add any more photos as they appear.

Update 2 – July 21

I have received some additional information not in the leak (thanks anonymous):

• LE Audio will be available out of the box
• 15% smaller charging case size
• Gestures controls for calls
• 25% less weight
• Head tracking
• $299 USD price (second confirmation)
• Multipoint will now work with Apple devices as well
• Polyurethane foam for eartips is improved
• 20% more noise cancellation versus WF-1000XM4

It appears someone leaked the specifications from a retail store internal directory. Here are the features from the listing, source:

• New V2 processor (Mediatek MT2833) (also reported here)
• QN2e processor
• 24-bit audio processing
• Edge-AI for upscaling along with DSEE Extreme
• Multipoint support
• Adaptive Sound Control
• Speak-to-Chat
• Ambient sound
• IPX4 rating
• up to 8 hours of charge, 16 hours in the case for a total of 24 hours
• 3 minute quick charge provides up to 60 minutes
• Wind noise reduction structure with a mesh warp in microphone to minimize noise during calls
• Polyurethane foam tips in sizes SS, S, M, L
• New Dynamic X Driver (no size provided)
• Precise Voice Pickup

Some of the features are the same as the WF-1000XM4, and the battery life is confirmed from my earlier leak, which is unfortunate. The addition of the QN2e is a surprise, I wonder what chip it will end up being. Likewise, the addition of a smaller eartip is welcome, but the material does look to be the same as the current model.

The poster on reddit also mentioned a $299 price point, assuming this is in USD.

An additional note, the leak also states that the earbuds use all 6 microphones for for noise cancellation, by combining the V2 and QN2e to process all the data.

Second additional note, thanks to daringlyfresh from twitter, pre-orders look to start on the 24-25th with release date on the 26th on July.

Update 1 

Looks like we have our first retail (?) leak. There are no details, but we do have a price and it matches the one from Roland Quandt, 319 Euros. The leak is from sancta-domenica from Croatia. No doubt this listing will now disappear as I post this.