APM vs Sony XM5s

[exotic holly]

I'm looking to pick up a new pair of headphones, and I can't decide between the APMs vs Sony's XM5s.
I have an Android and a Windows Desktop PC.
I don't mind missing out on Siri or the spatial audio, but not having usb-c or a 3.5mm jack sucks. I will probably get an adapter if the APMs are the better option.

Features I'm looking for

• ANC and passthrough
• Comfortable for all-day use
• Good battery life

I want ANC for use during the day, so that I can listen to music and shut things out. I also want transparency mode for listening to people around me during the day.
I'm not sure how the XM5's work, even after searching a bit. I know they have very good ANC, but do they have good transparency or just a way to disable the ANC?
I tried on a pair of APMs recently, and they were extremely comfortable and sounded great. I'm not sure how the XM5s feel or sound.
I'm also concerned about durability/care. I've read up on the APMs and I've heard they are very sensitive to water, and have some condensation issues on the inside of the earphone. Is this something to worry about?
I want to be able to comfortably use headphones outside.
Of course, if I bought the APMs I'd be buying apple care. I'm just not sure how long it'd take to get my headphones back if anything were to happen.
Any help would be appreciated! Thanks

[snow basalt]

i’d assume transparency mode on the APMs would be better than the xm5s

i have the xm3s and the transparency mode is decent

it doesn’t sound super natural but it’s good enough where you can talk with someone

[exotic holly]

Are either water-resistant? To rain/snow
I read online that APMs are very sensitive to water and if any got into the mics that the headphones would be pretty much useless. Any idea how true that is?

[exotic holly]

Is anc still good on them?

[snow basalt]

the anc is great

[snow basalt]

i’ve gotten my xm3s wet from some heavy rain

dried it off with a towel and they’re working fine

i don’t think they’re “water resistant”

[exotic holly]

Have you tried APMs, and are they comparable to the xm3s?

Quality and comfort wise

[snow basalt]

i haven’t tried the APMs

[tender merlin]

You can test the Apple AirPods Max at your nearest Apple Store if they put it on display, I tried it a couple times, feels nice

though im more of in ear like the normal airpods / airpods pro / earbuds

idk bout water resistant on AirPods Max

[exotic holly]

Okay, thank you

Yeah I tried on APMs, they're really comfortable

May buy some second hand instead of blowing 700$ on a pair of headphones, apple care, and a 3.5mm adapter lol

[snow basalt]

personally i’d get the xm4s if you wanna save some money

i personally wouldn’t drop 500$ something dollars on headphones

[signal wasp]

beats studio pro

basically airpods max but cheaper and work with android

[exotic holly]

Same features? Comfortable, good anc and transparency?

[signal wasp]

damn near equivalent to the airpods max

heres an mkbhd video about it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJm3UHjs8-Y

oh yeah

and you can turn them off 💀

lmao

theyre in the same price range as the xm5s

but have the full ios support like you would find with all the airpods

what do you think?

erm

i got a dyno warning..

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/sony/wh-1000xm5-wireless

[flat plank]

Just slow down a bit and you won't encounter any issues

[exotic holly]

Watched the video, I'll definitely take a deeper look online. Thanks for bringing these up to me lol

[flat plank]

automod trigger says you sent two links within half a second of each other, that's set up to prevent spam

[exotic holly]

I know someone who's selling some APMs soon, for a pretty reasonable price as well so I will definitely be doing a lot of thinking on this

[signal wasp]

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/beats/studio-pro-wireless

sorry i meant to send the rtings link for all of them, but dyno tripped lol

rtings is an amazing place to go for headphones and mice and some other things

[signal wasp]

ah i see

thank you

[flat plank]

No problem

[signal wasp]

if you can get a really good deal on the apms, itll prob be a better bang for your buck than the other two

[exotic holly]

Yeah. I looked at the apms on rting, it says that they're pretty decent. I'm super huge into audio, I need clarity on it

[signal wasp]

relatable

[exotic holly]

I was really wanting to get a pair of sennheiser hd650s

But I also want to have anc, and have a really comfortable pair of headphones to wear all day

[signal wasp]

if youre an audiophile, you would almost def prefer those tho

ah

i see

[exotic holly]

I literally have my headphones on all day lol

[signal wasp]

bro same, except i use beats fit pros instead

its crazy how apple puts the same tech thats in the airpods, but then puts them in beats for a cheaper price

[exotic holly]

Yeah apple is something beyond my understanding lol

I dropped apple for mobile a few years ago

It sucks because I lost a lot of app store purchases but I love android

[signal wasp]

my phone is a glorified ipod, so i prefer ios to andriod bc it doesnt need to be that versitile

[exotic holly]

Although, nearly everyone I know has an iphone so it sucks to be the green bubble

[signal wasp]

i like it being all pretty

[signal wasp]

wait till ios 15

it wont be an issue anymore

[exotic holly]

isn't 15 out?

[signal wasp]

no, we're on 14

[exotic holly]

Whattt

[signal wasp]

they will get rcs support at the end of the year

wait

[exotic holly]

Oh awesome

Hopefully gamepigeon decides to move to Android as well 🙏

I miss text games lol

[signal wasp]

yeah that would be dope

bruh

im dumb 💀

[exotic holly]

?

[signal wasp]

we're on macos 14 i think

its ios 17 that we're on rn

[exotic holly]

Yeah I was like

Aren't you on 16

Hmm 17

[exotic holly]

Because I remember jailbreaking my old iPhone 8 on I think 13

[signal wasp]

we get rcs support on ios 18

[exotic holly]

ahhh jailbreaking was so nice

[signal wasp]

which releases with the iphone 15

but i digress lol

[exotic holly]

Oh that's right

The US government is suing apple, right?

That's why they're doing rcs?

[signal wasp]

i dont think its that this time

idk whats the official reasoning

but i thought it was just pressure from enthusiasts and stuff

and google has been lowkey slandering them for it too XD

[exotic holly]

Jeez lol

[vocal maple]

Hey, don’t mean to disrupt your convo, but it’s getting slightly off-topic in here. You can continue this discussion in #💻│general-tech 🙂

[exotic holly]

👍

[signal wasp]

well anyways, back on topic lol

you can use rtings comparison tool to compare the sound profile for different headphones that they've tested

[vocal maple]

Based on this, I would probably recommend the Sony headphones. Better Android support, less expensive, comes with the 3.5mm cable, ANC and sound quality are great on both. The APM do have better transparency though based on what I’ve heard.

Though like she said, rtings could be a very helpful tool. Watching review videos on both, especially long term reviews will also be helpful.

[signal wasp]

the beats have a much more flat sound signature, much similar to the sennhiesers

[exotic holly]

I have an equalizer app installed anyways. If I ever want to change anything, I'd prefer to manually add/remove levels :P

[signal wasp]

fair enough

i just find it hard to like the apms from a day to day usablitly standpoint bc of some strange design choices from apple

especially if youre an android user

[exotic holly]

I'm not really worried about siri or spatial audio

[signal wasp]

naw i dont mean those things lol

[exotic holly]

Don't really mind losing those, as I believe that's all that android misses out on

[signal wasp]

you lose both of those using android anyways

[exotic holly]

Usb-c and 3.5?

[vocal maple]

Even I can’t justify it because of the cost and the shortcomings, and I pretty much only use Apple devices lol

[signal wasp]

yeah you have to use lightning for the airpods max

[vocal maple]

Maybe when the 2nd gen comes out I’ll consider it

[signal wasp]

but the beats have complete android support

[exotic holly]

I have a pair of airpods, second gen normal airpods

[vocal maple]

It would be the only thing I use on a regular basis that uses lightning 💀

[signal wasp]

and you get that sam amazing transparency as well

[exotic holly]

And an old ipod I still occasionally use

[signal wasp]

i see

[exotic holly]

I don't mind using lightning at all

Well, it'd be nice if Apple just built it with USB C but

[signal wasp]

thats what the beats have :P

[exotic holly]

If they're good enough then I'll take the hit

I don't really care for the design of the beats, and the way that the mesh rests on the ear would drive me nuts

[signal wasp]

i see

well at that point its just personal preference

[exotic holly]

I literally wear my headphones from the minute I walk out the door in the morning to a bit before I go to bed lol

Yeah

There's some techy stuff that I'm curious about but apple keeps so much private

I love how sennheiser has so many specifications just listed on the site

I can't find anything like that for the apms

[signal wasp]

thats what rtings is really good for, but yeah, they dont have everything

[vocal maple]

At least based on what I heard from the Snazzy Labs video, I would avoid the Beats. https://youtu.be/0wSrkumjlpQ

[signal wasp]

its bc sennhieser is an audiophile company, whiule apple isnt

[exotic holly]

Jeeeeez I never knew I'd have this hard of a time picking out headphones

[exotic holly]

I'll check this out in a few mins, thanks

[signal wasp]

welcome to the audio world 😭

[vocal maple]

Based on your criteria, I still feel like the Sony headphones might be the best option. Or maybe Bose

[exotic holly]

I really am tempted to go for the sennheisers but I need to do more research.. lol

[exotic holly]

Bose?

[signal wasp]

most of snazzylabs critique was about build quality

[vocal maple]

Do the Sennheisers have ANC?

[exotic holly]

Unfortunately not, but the quality is really good

Not anc but dampening I believe

[signal wasp]

yeah thats the thing

[exotic holly]

It does suck

I'm super downed about that one

[signal wasp]

you either have to pick convenience, or sound

[vocal maple]

Idk about you, but if I was wearing these all day, that’d be a dealbreaker

[signal wasp]

there isnt really a best of both worlds

[exotic holly]

Yeah that's the only reason I haven't already bought them

Also comfortability

I'm not sure how the hd650s are comfort wise

[signal wasp]

go to a best buy and try them all on

well

[exotic holly]

Ah true actually

[signal wasp]

they wont have those tho lol

[exotic holly]

I'm not sure if they'd hsve

Yeah

[signal wasp]

yeah

:/

[exotic holly]

The sennheisers probably not

Apms, Sony and beats they'd likely have though

[vocal maple]

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/bose/quietcomfort-headphones-wireless

[signal wasp]

they should have the sony and beats, idk if ive seen the airpods on display there tho

yeah bose is a great option too

another thing you have to take into acount is the price tho

and tbh, with how old the airpods max are, its not worth getting them at all until the gen 2 are released

apple airpods max - $549.00
beats studio pro -$349.99
sony wh-1000xm5 - $399.99
bose qc ultra - $429.00

[exotic holly]

Yeah

[signal wasp]

https://www.bose.com/p/headphones/bose-quietcomfort-ultra-headphones/QCUH-HEADPHONEARN.html?dwvar_QCUH-HEADPHONEARN_color=WHITE+SMOKE&quantity=1

https://electronics.sony.com/audio/headphones/headband/p/wh1000xm5-b

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MQTR3LL/A/beats-studio-pro-wireless-headphones-sandstone?fnode=20db96723e4c0c0b074b6c7e421c446cf70c486209158fb4a8cfdc85a43966a666666cb5ac25b0952ce85acf0b35f5204d7b882161520fa6e995e01026572aff2fea3f47a4b4c3e717030ad9f6e98bd3586021d515b804a0dadf39269e71586b78d5ba117e8fa32e82b3669e5ccc6939

https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-airpods/airpods-max

[exotic holly]

Gen 2 releases within the next year or so right?

[signal wasp]

we have no official date, but we're hoping they do

[exotic holly]

Ahhhhh jeez

Alright

I'll have to see how good the deal on the apms would be then

[signal wasp]

yeah, as far as price to performance goes, theyre def the worst

[exotic holly]

If they're like 300 or less I'll definitely go for them. Otherwise from what I'm hearing I just can't convince myself to get them lol

[vocal maple]

Sounds like a good decision

[signal wasp]

especially with how bad they are on android

[exotic holly]

I'm aware that's like over half the price off, but they're used and such so

[signal wasp]

they are the only one on the list with no dedicated app

[vocal maple]

Yeah, this would be a dealbreaker if I was in that situation

[exotic holly]

So unfortunate that Apple has to gatekeep everything

[signal wasp]

except they dont gatekeep the beats, which is so weird, but im not complaining lmao

[exotic holly]

Separate brand which makes them a ton of money

[signal wasp]

yeah, its like they try and distance themselves from them and make them seem like a seperate company

[exotic holly]

Which, is honestly probably for the best

For everyone lol

[signal wasp]

i was talking to someone about it, and we reached the conclusion that it was so that apple can dip into the android market, while still maintaining that "exclusive" perception

[exotic holly]

Yeah

But idk

Apms don't seem worth it really now

[signal wasp]

well its your money and your decision

[exotic holly]

Glad I came here lol

[signal wasp]

im glad i can help be a source of imformation and a different perspective and opinion on all of this

[exotic holly]

I'd rather spend some money on some really nice audiophile headphones, or some other decent headphones and have a huge chunk of money left over

[signal wasp]

omg

literally

ok

[vocal maple]

Always happy to help out

[signal wasp]

so like

[exotic holly]

Thank you two so much lol

[vocal maple]

No problem

[signal wasp]

for the price of some really really nice audiophile headphones, you can have enough left over for some really nice earbuds

[exotic holly]

I don't care for earbuds

[signal wasp]

rather than dumping it all into one pair of premium over ear headphones

[signal wasp]

oop-

[exotic holly]

My ears are too small, everything falls out lol

[signal wasp]

well there goes that point XD

[exotic holly]

But I could always do 2 pairs of headphones still with the amount it is for apms 😭

[vocal maple]

Rip

[signal wasp]

bro fr tho

[exotic holly]

Hd650 and hd450bt honestly

[vocal maple]

My AirPods Pro 2 fit me great but my mom doesn't like them

[exotic holly]

I don't think I'd honestly do that lol

[exotic holly]

I also like

[signal wasp]

i love sennhieser but like, i need the noise cancelling and transparency too

[exotic holly]

Am very sensitive, sensory wise

The plastic feel is terrible

[signal wasp]

i have mine in all day everyday

driving, school, everything lmao

[vocal maple]

I can relate to an extent

[exotic holly]

Yeah seriously

[vocal maple]

That's me with my AirPods Pro lol

[exotic holly]

My friend has a pair of airpods pros and an iPhone

he can turn down vocalist volume..??

[signal wasp]

thats where it gets to the question of having two diff ones, a settup at home thats full audion, and a pair to go with you thats full comfort and anc

[exotic holly]

Like whatt

[vocal maple]

I believe that's the Apple Music Sing feature

[exotic holly]

Yeah, tempted to do that

[signal wasp]

OHHH

yeah

thats the sing feature

[exotic holly]

Though I'm not sure if I really wanna spend like that much

[signal wasp]

its really cool lol, but not all songs support it

[exotic holly]

Having some realization now

I really don't wanna spend like

That much

😭

[signal wasp]

the audio world is a deep dark hole 😭

[exotic holly]

It's so difficult honestly

[signal wasp]

but there are budget solutions to all of this too tho :/

[exotic holly]

Yeahhh

So many choices

So few solutions

[signal wasp]

check out dankpods on yt

[exotic holly]

Omg lol

[signal wasp]

hes a huge geek about this stuff

wait

do you know him? 😭

[exotic holly]

Yes lmao

[signal wasp]

LMAO

well then you know that this can get very expensive, very fast

but also

there are budget areas that have amazing value too tho

[exotic holly]

Yeah

[signal wasp]

do you have a macbook?

or any mac?

[exotic holly]

I do but I hardly use it

It's a 2013 MacBook air

With windows installed..

Lmao

[signal wasp]

im curious, why did you join the apple den dc then lmaoooo

i love the community here, but like

its very apple specific for the most part

[exotic holly]

Solely for the apm bit

[signal wasp]

ahh

i see

[exotic holly]

Also someone in another server I'm in is moderator here

[signal wasp]

even apple enthusiasts have a hard time selling the apms 😭

[exotic holly]

They moderate for my friend's discord server

[signal wasp]

ahh, i see

[vocal maple]

Lol

[signal wasp]

im trying to get windows installed on this macbook lmaooo

[vocal maple]

That basically doesn't count in this situation, lmao

[exotic holly]

I use it for school

[exotic holly]

Yeaahh I know lol

[vocal maple]

Who is it?

[exotic holly]

Shifters

[vocal maple]

ah

[spark forge]

?

[exotic holly]

Don't know them at all but I've seen them

Oh

Hello 😭

[spark forge]

hi

[signal wasp]

o/

[vocal maple]

😖

[spark forge]

[exotic holly]

Anyways, thanks again so much for all of the advice

[signal wasp]

relatable

[exotic holly]

I seriously appreciate all of it lol

[vocal maple]

No problem

[signal wasp]

im happy that one less person will avoid airpods max bc of the bad value of them 🫡

lmaoo

[exotic holly]

I'm so glad I joined and asked xD

[vocal maple]

Well feel free to stay here anyway. While the server is primarily Apple focused, we chat about all kinds of tech stuff in #💻│general-tech and nearly anything in #💬│lounge

Anyways I'm gonna now mark this thread as Decided if you're good with that

[exotic holly]

I probably will :)
One of my old friends was huge into apple internal stuff, curious what his hype was or if any of that is here lol

[exotic holly]

That's fine with me

Thanks again :D

[signal wasp]

ofc :P