Here are 10 tips to fix THE SONY WH 1000 XM5!
TIP 1: CHAT FINGERS
Ok just try this.
Take two fingers. Spread them apart. Gently, place them on… the right earcup. And speak to chat activated. Yes if your music stops playing when you start talking – you probably have speak-to-chat enabled. You can fish your phone out of your pocket, use the app to change this setting… Or… just two-finger that cup. Speak-to-chat is no more!
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🎧 Buy the Sony WH 1000 XM5: https://geni.us/SonyWH-1000XM5
🎧 Buy the Sony WH 1000 XM4: https://geni.us/SonyXM4
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TIP 2: (UN)FIXING MULTIPOINT
Bonus: this works with the Sony WH-1000 XM4 too. Sony’s last 2 generations of headphones let you connect to 2 devices simultaneously. But for the XM5, the app has a HUGE upgrade! You can see the 2 devices you’re connected to and also all the devices you’re paired to. Fantastic. So much clarity as to what’s going on with your audio. Also – if for some reason, multipoint doesn’t work well for you – say a notification from the iPhone interrupts audio on your Android – Sony lets you fix this temporarily.
Just go into the app. On the first tab ‘Status’, hit the arrow under ‘device currently being connected’. It will show you the connected devices in the first section and paired devices in the second. Hit the 3 dots next to the device you want to keep the audio on and select the badly worded ‘Fixing playback device’. Hit ok.
And that’s it – problem fixing! And device fixing. Once you’re done, hit those same 3 dots and hit unfixing. Poor grammar – great functionality!
TIP 3: CONTROL THE PRESSURE
Ok check this out – you can see the current sound pressure in decibels at the bottom of the app. Don’t have this? No sweat – just enable it from the activity tab. Sign in and accept the conditions and the app will not only show you current sound levels, but also what you’ve been doing over time. The biggest health risk that headphones pose is your hearing being affected. This helps you with that. Nice of Sony to add this. And since this is a Sony app, it works with the XM4 as well as Sony’s newer earbuds.
TIP 4: ASSISTING THE ASSISTANTS
So there’s Google Assistant on the phone. And there’s Google Assistant on the headphones! Two VERY different beasts. Now if you go to this app. Swipe over to System and open up the voice assistant section – the first option is for the assistant on your phone. Holding down on the right earcup calls it up. Siri for you iPhone losers and Google Assistant for Android users. But you Android users, you can also go one step further. Choosing the second option marries the assistant to your headphones. Congratulations. And on the headphones it can do a few more things. First off – you can just say hey G… to activate it.
Hands-free. No touching. It can also proactively read out your notifications and let you respond to messages with your voice.
But but but, did you know you can also – turn on the ANC or Ambient mode. Or turn up and down the ANC or Ambient mode. Ask for the battery life. And disable the touch controls. At least according to Google. So we tested it – and the good news? It works. The bad news? It doesn’t. It doesn’t do everything Google allows. Sony decided to let you only turn on/off ANC or Ambient mode. And ask about the battery life. And what’s embarrassing is that you need to use the exact phrase or terminology or Google will say: ‘I don’t understand’. So while voice assistants are trying to learn natural human language – we’ll need to meet them halfway and learn machine language. Do note: just like marriage, this too can take a toll on your life.. Battery life. Since it’s always listening. Just like marriage.
TIP 5: SUMMONING THE ASSISTANTS
On previous Sony headphones you also had a button called ‘Custom/NC’ above the power button. And you were faced with the dilemma of using it as an ANC/Ambient mode toggle or a Google Assistant button.
Choices choices. And we always kept it on the ANC toggle. But if you want that Google sauce all over your XM5 and want to keep the ANC toggle as well, now you can! From the XM5 onwards, you can turn on the voice assistant in the app, and you can use it with a tap & hold on the right earcup. And the ANC/Ambient button above the power button stays as it is. Now you can have your cake and eat it too!
TIP 6: DR STRANGE AND THE MULTIPOINT OF MADNESS
Sony is one of the few that give you the ability to pull a connection from a previously paired device. You can just select the XM5 from the bluetooth menu on a previously paired device. And this works with Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, the Multiverse, everything.
TIP 7: DEVICES ARE NOT HUMANS
You know – color is a sensitive topic. All human beings are equal to us. But wireless audio devices? Not so much. So if you’re a greasy sweaty human — points to other guy who goes ‘what?’— Well, take a shower. But also don’t get the black color. Because once you get this black, it’s probably going back. The grease and oil discharge from some of our skins and hair gels are just too much to handle for the black color. This lighter color is less gleamy and less in need of a wipedown after a hard day’s work.
And oil emissions. Ok we’ll stop grossing you out now.
TIP 8: NOT ALL EQs ARE EQUAL
We strongly believe in equality. And EQing. And we need to because the Sony WH-1000 XM5 sounds a bit dark out of the box and we think it needs to be brighter. Not sure what that means? Don’t worry – Sony’s got you covered.
Simply use the ‘bright’ equalizer preset in the app and see how that really opens up the sound for you. For us, this is a great starting point for you to tweak your sound and if you really get lost, you can always just go back to bright and start again. THIS is the preset we use to get the best out of our sound, but that might change tomorrow, but this is still way better than what you get out of the box. What do you think?
TIP 9: DEATH IS NOT THE END
So your battery on the XM5 died and now you think you need to listen to the outside world or to the voices in your head? Don’t worry, we got you! Not too many ANC headphones do this nowadays, but Sony does. You can still continue using the XM5 to play audio if you use the audio cable. Of course you can’t use any of the other features like touch controls to adjust volume – you’ll need to do that on the source device. It’s also a good way to save battery if you don’t need all the touchy-feely, transparency-ANC stuff anyway. In that case save yourself 300 bucks. So you saved battery and money.
Wow, this tip should’ve been 3 tips. Now go give us a tip by becoming a Patron – click here.
Well if you take calls on your headphones, you’re in luck.
TIP 10: FROM HEADPHONES TO PHONE
The XM5 sounds very good on calls. The biggest reason to upgrade to it in our opinion. But for some reason if you can’t hear the other person or the other person can’t hear you – Sony has a neat little trick up its sleeve. Just take the headphones off your ears. The call automatically switches to the phone. This works for Android as well as iPhone. Not only that, the touch sensor gets disabled, so you don’t have to worry about touching things when you’re not supposed to.
You’ve been putting your 2 oily fingers where they’re not supposed to be and we’ve been DHRME. Namaste!