@VSG my wallet needs a comparison of the ANC capabilities of this one coming out and the WF-C700N. I am buying one or the other, the decision is up to you! I need the best ANC in my life that earbuds can offer! Silence the world VSG!!!

As LinkBuds S owner i approve of more compact design. Previous XM models were way too bulky and the case was too large for the battery it offered.

As a owner of the previous version (XM4) i was never the biggest fan, maybe my hears are weird but i could never get a perfect fit. These seem very similar so i will probably shop somewhere else

Bomby569As a owner of the previous version (XM4) i was never the biggest fan, maybe my hears are weird but i could never get a perfect fit. These seem very similar so i will probably shop somewhere else

i've owned the XM4 for almost a year and sadly i'm underwhelmed, they're huge and they don't fit my ears nice without incurring pain in the cartilage and/or not seating correctly, i can't wear them for extended periods of time without becoming too painful and i don't have small ears or a small frame.

The foam pads are disgusting after usage(i have waxy ears) and don't seal too well, and they can't be cleaned like a silicone one can.

The ANC is more a gimmick as i don't really find it "excellent", my wired AKG earbuds that came with my samsung S8 have far better isolation.
My benchmark for ANC is that with ANC active and NOTHING playing i should NOT be able to hear almost ANYTHING. But the XM4 simply muffles it, and not the same for both ears even when the app tells me the fit is correct i still get a ton of leakage specially towards the low fequencies

The stated battery life is a complete lie from Sony(they promise 8hrs of continuous playback), with ANC+LDAC in a extremely noisy environment they don't go over 4~, barely 5hrs with luck and that's not even at full volume but the 3/4 "healthy" volume and listening to podcasts(which has a silence component that's not there with music).

Oh and there's also the google/assistant bug, that if you don't disable it it will tank the battery on the right earbud in less than 3hrs whilst the other non-assistant bud has +20% more battery.

Space Lynx@VSG my wallet needs a comparison of the ANC capabilities of this one coming out and the WF-C700N. I am buying one or the other, the decision is up to you! I need the best ANC in my life that earbuds can offer! Silence the world VSG!!!

I'm not wasting my time emailing Sony about review samples anymore, so unless someone decides to send me one there's not going to be much from me to say about either of those.

VSGI'm not wasting my time emailing Sony about review samples anymore, so unless someone decides to send me one there's not going to be much from me to say about either of those.

Understandable. ANC is the most important feature for me, but finding honest reviews in a sea of youtube video shills is really hard...

that's one reason I like you, you are brutally honest, which is prob why Sony won't send you anything LOL

L'Eliminateuri've owned the XM4 for almost a year and sadly i'm underwhelmed, they're huge and they don't fit my ears nice without incurring pain in the cartilage and/or not seating correctly, i can't wear them for extended periods of time without becoming too painful and i don't have small ears or a small frame.

That is why chose LinkBuds instead. The internal hardware is almost the same but they're much more compact, cheaper and use standard silicone tips. The case is smaller too.

L'EliminateurThe ANC is more a gimmick as i don't really find it "excellent", my wired AKG earbuds that came with my samsung S8 have far better isolation.

ANC is tied to seal. So if you have a bad seal then ANC is much less effective too.

L'EliminateurThe stated battery life is a complete lie from Sony(they promise 8hrs of continuous playback), with ANC+LDAC in a extremely noisy environment they don't go over 4~, barely 5hrs with luck and that's not even at full volume but the 3/4 "healthy" volume and listening to podcasts(which has a silence component that's not there with music).

From Sony's website:

BATTERY LIFE (CONTINUOUS COMMUNICATION TIME)
Max. 5.5 hrs (NC On) / Max. 6.0 hrs (NC Off)
Battery Life (continuous music playback time)
Max. 8 hrs (NC On) / Max. 12 hrs (NC Off)

I strongly suspect these numbers are taken with AAC instead of LDAC.

TomorrowFrom Sony's website:
I strongly suspect these numbers are taken with AAC instead of LDAC.

yeah those numbers are pure baloney, and the sony reddit is full of those accounts. The "5.5hrs NC on" listed for "comms" are more accurate for music playback....
The thing is that i also tried using AAC as i also suspected that LDAC was cutting battery life but it made NO discernable difference in runtime(maybe some extra 15~20minutes)

L'Eliminateuri've owned the XM4 for almost a year and sadly i'm underwhelmed, they're huge and they don't fit my ears nice without incurring pain in the cartilage and/or not seating correctly, i can't wear them for extended periods of time without becoming too painful and i don't have small ears or a small frame.

The foam pads are disgusting after usage(i have waxy ears) and don't seal too well, and they can't be cleaned like a silicone one can.

The ANC is more a gimmick as i don't really find it "excellent", my wired AKG earbuds that came with my samsung S8 have far better isolation.
My benchmark for ANC is that with ANC active and NOTHING playing i should NOT be able to hear almost ANYTHING. But the XM4 simply muffles it, and not the same for both ears even when the app tells me the fit is correct i still get a ton of leakage specially towards the low fequencies

The stated battery life is a complete lie from Sony(they promise 8hrs of continuous playback), with ANC+LDAC in a extremely noisy environment they don't go over 4~, barely 5hrs with luck and that's not even at full volume but the 3/4 "healthy" volume and listening to podcasts(which has a silence component that's not there with music).

Oh and there's also the google/assistant bug, that if you don't disable it it will tank the battery on the right earbud in less than 3hrs whilst the other non-assistant bud has +20% more battery.

I find the silicone tips cause whatever device to fall out of my ear. For Sony's I did find their foam pads to be pretty painful. I gave it a fair try, and the pain did go away completely for me. I noticed the foam pad became softer with use, so I think once that stiffness went away of them being new the pain went away. Though I also think that it causes them to want to "seat" a specific way. When I pop them in, I can tell if they aren't seated correctly because ambient noise gets through. Usually need a little push in or a slight twist to get fully seated.

Space Lynx@VSG my wallet needs a comparison of the ANC capabilities of this one coming out and the WF-C700N. I am buying one or the other, the decision is up to you! I need the best ANC in my life that earbuds can offer! Silence the world VSG!!!

Is in ear a must? Otherwise just buy the over ear version and be done with it. Presumably these would have better ANC than the 700's, as these are the cheaper option.

FrickIs in ear a must? Otherwise just buy the over ear version and be done with it. Presumably these would have better ANC than the 700's, as these are the cheaper option.

yeah in-ear is a must for me, it just makes traveling so much easier.

I remember that my Airpods Pro 1 , when it is functioning properly, should offer much better isolation and ANC performance. Sadly, mine degraded real hard, but its performance would make me recommend Airpods Pro 2 for those who's on Apple side of mobile device, wants best ANC possible and can tolerate a "good enough" audio quality and garbage EQ options.

My WF-1000XM4 is awesome in audio quality, but with meh isolation/ANC, and very noticable lag latency when connected to iPhone or PC, left a lot to be desired and denied it to be my "gaming" audio device. Hope the XM5 can fix that...Not sure if the lag is a protocol thing though. (EDIT: I'm sure my Airpods Pro didn't lag on iPhone, so, protocol thing, I guess?

TodestriebMy WF-1000XM4 is awesome in audio quality, but with meh isolation/ANC, and very noticable lag when connected to iPhone or PC, left a lot to be desired and denied it to be my "gaming" audio device. Hope the XM5 can fix that...Not sure if the lag is a protocol thing though. (EDIT: I'm sure my Airpods Pro didn't lag on iPhone, so, protocol thing, I guess?

people swear by the amazing quality of the F-XM4 ANC when you get a proper seal, i never got a proper fitting so i can't say the same. I think that's the problem for so many people.

I never had lag issues, that could be from something other then the F-XM4

Ah yes i forgot another thing for the XM4: IT doesn't ANC when using it as a comms device, it goes to "ambient sound" mode.
The audio quality also changes drastically when it goes to comms mode for some reason.

The automatic voice detection to pause/switch to ambient when talking is also iffy: sometimes it takes forever to kick in and i have to shush people up until it kicks in or i can't hear them or i have to press one ear to stop then the other for "ambient sound". And sometimes it kicks in for nothing like yawning, or if i happen to quietly karaoke along to the music, so to karaoke along i have to disable the "auto voice mode" function...
I also disabled the automatic activity detection as i never found it useful(i always use ANC everywhere).

On the foam pads issue i've found that there are third party silicone over foam pads available(saw a couple reviews in youtube), i'll have to buy them to try