Warm Winter Good Thing Award
The two tech items you can find almost at any time in most pockets, purses, and backpacks are a cell phone and a pair of wireless headphones. They're incredibly versatile – they can make great sounds, block out annoying, distracting sounds, keep us working, exercising.
Sony's new model of headphones, the WF-1000XM series, has been firmly at the top of several generations of headphones, with excellent sound quality and super comfort, excellent battery life, and the best ANC in the world.
The XM5 is smaller and 20% lighter than the XM4, and Sony has addressed some of the key questions users had with its predecessor from the start. The XM5 is also more streamlined and elegant, with what used to be a slightly protruding gold cap around the microphone port that now sits flush with the body of the earbuds, making it less obtrusive and more stylish. In terms of wearing, the XM5 has redesigned the foam earbuds and comes with a new ultra-small size, making a total of four options to fit more shapes and sizes of ears.
The new accelerometer in the XM5 opens the door to some neat head movement gestures (nodding to answer**, shaking head to refuse), and Sony has switched to a dual-processor system, combined with a redesigned microphone and driver that allows for a dedicated chip dedicated to handling noise cancellation. The XM5's active noise cancellation is slightly better than the XM4's, and this model has a decent voice location mode that can help you hear conversations better.
The redesigned drivers are 40% larger than those on the XM4, so it's no surprise that the XM5 sounds just as good, if not better, than the XM4. The bass response is great, vocals are clear and unambiguous, the soundstage is wide for a pair of earbuds, and there's even new head-tracking spatial audio support, which works well as long as the phone you're using supports it.
Sony added Bluetooth multipoint connectivity to the XM4 in an update last March, and thankfully, that feature has also moved to the XM5, allowing you to connect to two devices at the same time.
The XM5's all-important battery life remains unchanged, with the ANC delivering up to 8 hours** when on, 12 hours** when turned off, plus two full charges of the charging case for a total of up to 35 hours. A quick three-minute charge gives you up to an hour of playtime.
Anker's latest Soundcore Liberty 4 NC costs $100, but arguably better than most**twice as much.
The Liberty 4 NC is comfortable, snug-snug, snug-like, and has an IPX4 rating, exercisers will love it because they can withstand sweat and can be washed. They sound powerful and balanced, with excellent bass response and remain undistorted at reasonable volumes. There's also an app (hearid) that can give you some good personalization options to get the perfect sound. For audio fans, the Liberty 4 NC also supports the high-resolution LDAC audio codec (sorry, Android only), which is rare for budget earbuds.
When it comes to ANC and Transparency mode, though, the Liberty 4 NC does a great job, and our reviewers gush about the ANC that it can even rival the $250 AirPods Pro 2. And features!For your hundred clams, the Liberty 4 NC has excellent adaptive noise cancellation, presets for airplanes and buses, and manual sliders for you to choose from. Our reviewers found that the transparency mode sounds natural as if you weren't wearing headphones and does a great job of letting in just the right amount of external noise. The Liberty 4 NC's call quality is also good, with ambient noise being effectively compressed.
What about the most important battery?With ANC on, the Liberty 4 NC can last up to 8 hours on a charge, or a total of 40 hours if the charging case is included.
Even with the latest Sony WF-1000XM5 earbuds, it's still hard to beat the Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds when it comes to an overall superior listening experience.
Sound quality has always been Sony's strong point, and the XM4 continues that tradition with richer bass. The low end of these headphones has warmth and vibe, favoring a variety of genres, especially styles centered on stringed instruments and drums, such as jazz, classical, and even edm. Sony decided to equip the XM4 with foam ear tips instead of the usual silicone ear tips. This increases comfort and provides an excellent and secure seal, but it also has a slight tendency to disrupt high-frequency accuracy.
The Sony Headphones app gives you deep control over all settings, such as EQ, ANC, transparency, and touch controls, and includes an option to customize the earbuds and**apps such as Tidal, Deezer, and Amazon Music for use with Sony's headphones. 360 Reality Audio (360RA) immersive** format.
Active Noise Cancellation is excellent, as is Transparency Mode, but Sony has also introduced a cool new feature: voice sensing. Just start talking, and the XM4 will automatically switch to transparency while lowering the volume.
The battery life (8 hours with ANC on and 12 hours with OFF) is excellent, but the total time (24 hours) is fairly standard. Fast charging only takes five minutes to charge for an extra hour of use.
While it's only been about a year since Bose introduced the second-generation QuietComfort Earbuds II (QCE II) to us, rest assured that its latest release is still a wonder as it keeps the outside world at arm's length from some of the best headphones. The ANC on Earth and the Adaptive "Perception Mode" transparency mode sound natural.
So why is a new set of QCEs being rolled out so soon?Should you upgrade?From a design point of view, they are still comfortable to wear and are almost identical except for the new metallic paint. In terms of sound, we didn't notice much of a difference – they're still clear, rich, and exceptionally shiny in the midrange and high frequencies.
The differences are, firstly, the QC Ultra earbuds now support higher resolution audio through Qualcomm's Snapdragon Sound platform, which includes the APTX Adaptive and APTX Lossless Bluetooth codecs for high-resolution audio;Second, Bose itself employs head-tracking technology to process spatial audio, which it calls immersive audio.
Unfortunately, the battery life has not changed compared to the QCE II and is still at a low level: 6 hours per charge and an additional 18 hours with the charging case. However, with immersive audio on, you only get 4 16, and you can quickly charge the earbuds so that after 20 minutes you get an extra two hours of battery life.
Unfortunately, there's still no wireless charging or Bluetooth multipoint pairing, which is a bit of a shame.
Master & Dynamic (M&D) continues its commitment to making very premium wireless headphones with its latest model, the MW09, and this $350 headphone set is a addition of high-resolution audio, Bluetooth multi-point connectivity, and wireless charging this time to its predecessor, the MW08.
M&W retains its unique and sleek aesthetic in the MW09, as well as the easy-to-use physical controls on each headset. They are also very comfortable and come with silicone and foam ear tips for a perfect fit. The M&D app has also been fit-tested, and the earbuds themselves have an IP54 rating, making them resistant to sweat and rain, although our reviewers suggest that there may be better earbuds for workouts due to the MW09's larger size.
Full, beautiful bass is complemented by clarity and clarity in the midrange and treble. EQ presets and five-band EQ are also available through the app, but they sound great out of the box.
However, a new surprise in terms of sound is accompanied by the addition of Snapdragon Sound, which brings the APTX Adaptive, capable of enjoying lossy high resolution up to 24-bit 96kHz, as well as lossless CD quality up to 16-bit 96kHz. 48khz。But sadly, these advanced audio codecs are only available for Android devices and Snapdragon Sound-enabled devices. No application is required for Apple devices.
While the MW09's ANC and Transparency modes can't be on the same level as the AirPods Pro, Sony WF-1000QM5, or Bose QC Ultra earbuds, they're still very good at blocking out all the everyday noise in your life and allowing you to hear conversations and the outside sounds you want to hear. Call quality also has its own unique features.
You can choose between two charging cases, one made of Kevlar and the other made of aluminum, both of which offer wireless charging, IPX4 waterproofing, and a 32-hour charging capability. The MW09 earbuds themselves provide 12 hours of battery life per charge when ANC is on, and 16 hours per charge when ANC is off.
A great ANC earbud that with a new microphone and noise handling, the Buds+ can do an excellent job of blocking outside noise such as construction, subway, and noise. Aircraft sounds and other unwanted audio distractions so you can enjoy them to the fullest**. The transparency mode has also been improved, and the call quality is clear.
The battery life of the buds+ is a big step in the right direction. While the **time per charge has only increased by 1 hour, from 8 hours to 9 hours, the total ** time has increased from 24 hours to 36 hours – both ratings are done without ANC turned on. When ANC is turned on, it can be used for about 6 hours per charge. However, a five-minute quick charge will get you an hour of playtime, which is pretty good.
The IPX4 water and sweat resistance makes them suitable for gym people (feel free to wash them with water afterwards), and they're very comfortable.
If you like the comfortable fit and simplicity of Apple's original AirPods, then you should consider buying the third-generation AirPods, the new design that incorporates some of the best features of the AirPods. AirPods Pro boast a firmer fit, better sound quality, and physical pinch control on the stem, while maintaining the semi-open shape that AirPods fans have loved for years.
AirPods 3 come standard with wireless charging, and the case is compatible with Qi standard chargers as well as Apple's MagSafe chargers. Battery life has also been improved, with 6 hours per charge and 30 hours of total** time with the charging case, giving these AirPods the best battery life of Apple's iconic white headphones.
Like other AirPods models, the third generation comes with a wearable sensor that automatically pauses when you take off your headphones**, in addition, Apple has added head-tracking spatial audio, a feature previously reserved for AirPods Pro and AirPods Max. It's a fun and very immersive way to enjoy movies and **.
But for AirPods fans, the biggest upgrade is the sound quality of the third generation. This is a huge leap forward from the first and second generations, and they can sound just as good as the more expensive AirPods Pro when you're in a quiet room. The new headphones also received an IPX4 water resistance rating, which was lacking in previous AirPods. Combined with the firmer fit of the AirPods 3, they are now a great companion for the gym.