How to Spot Fake Sony WF-1000XM5 Earbuds
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.
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.
