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Sony’s flagship noise-cancelling headphones – the WH-1000XM5 – have been the gold standard for some time now, but premium quality usually comes with a premium price tag. Even this Black Friday, when the price has been cut to £245 (from the average £287), they’re still pretty pricey.
The good news is that, if you’re desperate to pick up a decent pair of noise-cancelling headphones, Sony’s offerings don’t stop there. It sells high-quality headphones across the price ranges — we’ve reviewed a lot of them, and they always tend to perform well in our testing – and you don’t have to sacrifice too much when it comes to sound quality, features and noise-cancelling, either.c
The question is, with so many Sony headphones on the market, which ones to go for? Here’s my selection of the three best alternatives:
Our favourite Sony WH-1000XM5 alternative deals on Black Friday 2024
1. Sony WH-1000XM4 | Was around £225, now £175
Before the WH-1000XM5 came along, the WH-1000XM4 were the best noise-cancelling headphones around, and they’re still on sale. They’re not the last word in audio quality in 2024, nor is noise-cancelling quite as good as it is on the 1000XM5, but the differences are pretty small in our opinion and for £175 who’s complaining?
We said at the time of our review that, due to the small differences and their lower price, the Sony WH-1000XM4 remained “a better option for most people”. Well, that’s still true today — you won’t miss out much, but you will save yourself £70.
2. Sony WH-C720N | Was around £84, now £64
If £175 is still too much money for you to spend on a pair of headphones (I’d urge you to find some justification to at least spend that much), then how about saving yourself a further £111 and opting for the Sony WH-CH720N instead.
These over-ear headphones have active noise cancelling just like their far more expensive siblings, yet according to our reviewer they still “perform admirably” and cost (right now, at least) a mere £64. Our reviewer, Matt Reed said they feel a little on the cheap side — which is what you’d expect from a cheap pair of headphones, right? — and that the 35-hour battery life can’t match others at a similar price (he cited the Anker Soundcore Life Q30 as being better) but he liked the noise cancellation — a traditional Sony strength – and the wide array of customisation options for audio, noise cancellation and ambient sound.
3. Sony WF-1000XM5 | Was around £206, now £189
Sony’s in-ear noise-cancelling headphones share many of the same attributes of its larger cousin. They sound wonderful, cancel out external distractions incredibly well and have largely the same feature set. There’s a Black Friday deal on them, too, bringing the price down from the original price of £230 (and an average Amazon price of £206) to £189.
Now this isn’t a massive discount, and if you want the very best in noise cancelling, I’d suggest you go for the Bose QuietComfort Ultra EarBuds instead (currently on sale for a very reasonable £199) but when it comes to an all-round package that delivers on comfort, good looks and features — particularly in the form of Sony’s clever Adaptive Sound Control, which detects what you’re doing and where you are, switching settings automatically — these Sony headphones are still a great buy.
