Review

AirPods Max vs. Sony WH-1000XM5: The Definitive Comparison

An unexpectedly close race between the two best wireless noise cancelling headphones on the market today

I returned my first pair of Apple’s AirPods Max because of comfort issues shortly after publishing my review. I ended up buying a second pair within a few months, though, because I missed their sheer sonic prowess.

After a bit of stretching to ease their clamping force, the AirPods and I got along much better. The combination of headband design and spacious ear cups does a good job of distributing their (significant) weight in a way that allowed me to wear them for extended periods of time. They’re no Bose, but I no longer need to take breaks every half hour or so to avoid discomfort.

More recently, Sony released the latest in their long-running line of flagship ANC headphones, the WH-1000XM5. I ended up buying a pair and, over the past little while, I’ve been meticulously comparing them against my AirPods Max to see which headphones I prefer.

These are my findings.

Build Quality

There are a few ways to evaluate build quality for headphones; you could simply judge these pairs based on their material…