Sony WH-1000XM5 vs Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones Wireless

Jan 08, 2025 06:17 PM By Valvutskha

1

Wow, what a great and thorough review! Can you share how the Bose QC Ultra compare to the Bower & Wilkins PX8? I am unable to decide between the two! Thanks and hope youv'e had a good new year!

I dont have the Px8, but from what I have researched, the Px8 seem to have the best sound quality for anc wireless headphones, those and Focal Bathys, the QC Ultra Sound good, but not as good as Px8.

besides that, ANC, Transparency mode and mic quality is superior on Bose QC Ultra, the same thing here, Px8 ANC isnt bad, but is not on Bose level, build quality is superior on Px8, they feel and see more luxurious.

Depending on your preferences one will fit more to you than the other

I love all my 3 headphones and also like the XM4, though they all have their strenghts and weaknesses, and every headphone its unic in their own way, I would say I like my Sennheiser most, due their sound, battery, looks and build and case, followed by the XM5 and followed by QC Ultra, I cant tell about the XM4 because they arent mine, but I like them pretty much too! Sennheiser Momentum 4 : Sound Quality (Better Overall), Battery Life, Design, Case, Build Quality Bose QC Ultra : Sound Quality (Cleaner and less bassy), Transparency, Mic Quality, ANC, Case, Build Quality Sony XM5 : Sound Quality (Bassy but with good clarity), Design, Transparency, Mic Quality, ANC, Features Sony XM4 : Sound Quality (Bassier with decent clarity), Case, ANC, Features Thats it boys! hope I could help with this review! If you have any of these 4 you already have a Top ANC quality headphone, maybe with their strenghts and weaknesses, just like every other pair! Cya and happy holidays yall ! :)

Wow, what a great and thorough review! Can you share how the Bose QC Ultra compare to the Bower & Wilkins PX8? I am unable to decide between the two! Thanks and hope youv'e had a good new year!

Hi there, I have owned my XM5 since Saturday and already got the chance to try them deeply in every of their aspects, I do also own the Bose QC Ultra and Sennheiser Momentum 4, plus my dad have the XM4 so he let me do some comparisons too, and this is what I got when comparing them!

-Build Quality The XM5 are fully made of plastic, and seem to be more fragile than the other 3, while the XM4 are mostly plastic they do have their details on the headband adjustment, while the QC Ultra have aluminum in their low headband part that attaches to the earcups, while the Momentum 4 have a fabric headband and a metal logo, for me the Sennheiser takes the win here, tho none of the 4 headphones are build quality focused like Airpods Max or B&W Px8

Winner : Sennheiser Momentum 4

-Comfort Both the Sony and Bose headphones weight about 250g, while the Sennheiser weights about 290g, so they are heavier indeed, but their earpads feel SOOO COMFY, they have by far the comfiest earpads for me atleast, while also having a good spacious earcups, I feel the XM4 and XM5 quite the same, with more narrow space and comfy earpads, but the Bose do have the more spacious earcups + a good comfy earpads, so I feel better with the QC Ultra in long periods, while in the XM5 after some time get a little uncomfortable due their narrow headband and the Sennheiser feeling a little bit heavy.

Winner : Bose QC Ultra (Subjective)

-Microphone The XM4 have by far the worst mic of this list, they are decent in silent places, tho they are not as good as you would expect for this type of headphones, but in loud and crowded places they just flop, they are just bad, the Momentum 4 are a little better both in quiet places and crowded places, and while the QC Ultra and XM5 perform pretty good, the QC Ultra are better in quiet conditions, but the XM5 arent bad at all, and the XM5 are better on crowded places and noisy conditions, while the QC Ultra are still good, but not that good.

Winner : Sony WH-1000XM5

-App and features I would say that Bose have the worst app here, while not being bad at all, they do fall behind comparing them to these 3, with a 3 band eq and their basic features like head sensor, immersive audio and personalized modes, the Sennheiser app do have a 5 band eq + bass boost and podcast mode, with more features, like “sound zones” where you cand adjust anc and the eq depnding on where you are, auto off when returning them to the case and auto on when getting them out of the case and “comfort call” with a more natural feeling when making a call, but Sony clears here, 5 band eq + clear bass, “speak to chat”, the charts of how much time you have used their headphones, auto play, adaptative sound control, adjusting the anc and transparency depending if you are walking, sitting or in a vehicle, they just win by far here.

Winner : Sony WH-1000XM5 / Sony WH-1000XM4

-Battery life Sennheiser claims to have a 60h battery when anc on, Sony claims that both have 30h battery with anc on and 38h-40h when anc off and Bose claims to have 18h when immersive audio on and 24h when immersive audio off, with my testings, at high volume, ANC at max (85% at the Momentum 4) and AAC on all of them except on the XM5 (LDAC) and heres what I got… XM5 (LDAC) : 16h-20h XM5 (AAC) : 20h-24h QC Ultra (AAC) : 18h-22h XM4 (AAC) : 20h-24h XM4 (LDAC) : 14h-18h Momentum 4 (AAC) : 30h-35h The Sennheiser were far better, while the rest of them at my type of settings got all really close.

Winner : Sennheiser Momentum 4

-Sound Quality All of them are bass heavy headphones (at their own way) so you will find a public focused sound and not an audiophile and full balanced focused sound tuning, for me, the Sennheiser Momentum 4 take the lead here, whithout touching eq they have something like xm5 bass, a little less maybe, less than xm4 and more than qc ultra, but right away you can say they are clearer than Sony headphones and with a better and more spacious and clean soundstage, now, with the bass boost on the app their bass hits even harder than the xm4 without loosing that much the mids and highs presence, they just sound top class, the XM4 and XM5 are pretty similar, with both heavy bass tuning (the XM4 have a little more bass) they have a decent soundstage and spaciousness, tho if you take their bass up you might find them to get muddy, the XM5 have a little better clarity due their little less bass, and the QC Ultra have a more flat sound among these 4, though not flat at all, their bass is more tight and not that present, their mids and highs are top, tho I bring their mids a little down in the eq, but their soundstage and separation is too good, above Sony I would say, overall I enjoy Sennheiser when listening most of the music, but while hearing spanish rock I like it more in the QC Ultra, but in hip-hop I take the XM4 and M4, and with 80s pop I take XM5 and M4, so it depends on your preferences and what you like to hear.

Winner : Sennheiser Momentum 4 (Subjective)

-ANC I didnt test the Sennheiser that much A/B because they do fall behind, but they arent bad at ANC, they are decent, just nowhere near Sony and Bose level, now, with the xm4, xm5 and qc ultra I made some tests in real life and while reproducing different scenarios in my TV and this is what I got…

-Test 1 (Airplane cabin simulation) When reproducing this sound on my TV, on the QC Ultra after waiting some seconds and getting that adaptive NC magic I couldnt hear the plane engine at all, while in the XM5 and XM4 I could still hear it, but like a 10%-15%, tho I didnt feel a difference between both of them, so thats a tie for Sony and a clear win for Bose

-Test 2 (Coffee shop simulation) Things got closer here, tho the QC Ultra still outperforms Sony, it does by a very slight difference, here I could tell the XM5 were better than the XM4, cancelling more of those high frecuency noises, so the Bose was better, slightly above of the XM5, and finally the XM4 by a small difference.

-Test 3 (Mall simulation) Here, the QC Ultra and XM5 was almost the same, the QC Ultra being a little better, the XM5 was almost the same, while the XM4 was also there, it was half of a step behind the Bose and XM5, QC Ultra and XM5 were pretty much the same level

-Test 4 (Office simulation) Bose QC Ultra were quietter than both of the Sony headphones, while the XM5 was by a small difference worst they are pretty awesome, followed by the XM4 by also a small difference, Bose wins here again.

-Test 5 (Mall in real life) Here is where Bose shines, I only could understand my dad voice that was in front of me, while all the background noise was cancelled by a 95% and that kids screaming and dogs barking cancelled by a 85%, it was trully impressive, followed by the XM5 making a incredible performance too! just probably worst than Bose by a 5%-10% difference, I cant tell about the XM4 due I havent tried them irl situations, Bose wins.

-Test 6 (Inside a car in real life) I couldnt say if the XM5 were better than the QC Ultra or all the way aroung, they both cancelled the music that the car was reproducing so good (maybe QC Ultra slightly better) and both cancelled the engine noise too good (maybe the XM5 a little better), but its a tie I would say here

Take in mind that Bose have a very slight white noise while ANC on, so that could make you feel they cancell better than the XM5, because the XM5 are dead silent without any white noise, but irl feeling talking, I felt the Bose were better than Sony tbh. (The XM4 also have a small white noise)

Winner : Bose QC Ultra

Transparency / Aware Mode The XM4 are the worst here, just like their Mic quality, they do lack and fall behind in this aspect, followed by M4 / XM5, both are pretty good tbh, I maybe would take XM5, and finally the QC Ultra, their aware mode is pretty damn good, I wouldnt say at APM level, but it isnt pretty far.

Winner : Bose QC Ultra

-Case The best case are for the XM4, being the second smallest, having a small place inside for charging cables, airplane adapter and that 3.5mm cable with a hard surface that protects your headphones 100% and a pocket outside the case to put some papers (something that Bose dont have), followed by the QC Ultra with almost the smallest size case, a pocket for their cables, and a hard case too, followed by the Sennheiser Momentum 4, that are quite bigger (not that much), because they dont fold, but I like how they have a small pocket, and a specific place for their charging cable, airplane adapter and 3.5mm cable, if it wasnt for the size, they would be top 1, finally the XM5, similar size of Sennheiser (a little bigger), a magnetic part for that charging cable and the 3.5m cable, and a hard case that compacts when the headphones are out of their case, so it reduces depth mostly.

Winner : Sony WH-1000XM4

I love all my 3 headphones and also like the XM4, though they all have their strenghts and weaknesses, and every headphone its unic in their own way, I would say I like my Sennheiser most, due their sound, battery, looks and build and case, followed by the XM5 and followed by QC Ultra, I cant tell about the XM4 because they arent mine, but I like them pretty much too! Sennheiser Momentum 4 : Sound Quality (Better Overall), Battery Life, Design, Case, Build Quality Bose QC Ultra : Sound Quality (Cleaner and less bassy), Transparency, Mic Quality, ANC, Case, Build Quality Sony XM5 : Sound Quality (Bassy but with good clarity), Design, Transparency, Mic Quality, ANC, Features Sony XM4 : Sound Quality (Bassier with decent clarity), Case, ANC, Features

Thats it boys! hope I could help with this review! If you have any of these 4 you already have a Top ANC quality headphone, maybe with their strenghts and weaknesses, just like every other pair!

Cya and happy holidays yall ! :)

Jun 05, 2024 12:51 AM By BobFoss

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I immensely enjoyed the review of the Bose QC Ultras and did try them on for awhile in my military exchange. Your review didn’t mention this, so I don’t know if true, but some are saying as great as the ANC is on these headphones, you cannot completely turn ANC off like other headphones. If so, that could be bothersome for those of us who have issues with constant ANC in our ears, and the pressure some experience. Could you confirm if it can be shut off, or just lowered? Thanks so much.

Hi BobFoss

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones Wireless do not have the option to turn off their Noise Isolation. In order to test their passive Isolation, we had to turn off the headphones.

We will update and make it clearer in our review. Thank you for reaching for pointing this out.

Cheers, Dagobiet.

I immensely enjoyed the review of the Bose QC Ultras and did try them on for awhile in my military exchange. Your review didn’t mention this, so I don’t know if true, but some are saying as great as the ANC is on these headphones, you cannot completely turn ANC off like other headphones. If so, that could be bothersome for those of us who have issues with constant ANC in our ears, and the pressure some experience. Could you confirm if it can be shut off, or just lowered? Thanks so much.