Open Box Sony WH-1000XM5 Wireless Over-Ear Noise Canceling Headphones (Black)

I am a tried and true user of headphones for the last 25 years. These are the most comfortable headphones with the best acoustics I have ever had the pleasure to experience.

There are a lot of noise canceling headsets on the market but even popular brands are not offering any support for phone calls. They are mostly focused on the person that wear the headsets not the person on the other end of the line. I would not be wrong if I tell you that they are making the things worse for the other person, by amplifying the background noise not the person's voice. WH-1000XM5 on the other hand are different and deserve 5 stars for that. I was able to have a normal conversation over the phone while walking outside in regular city traffic. I am not living in a big city like LA or NY but these headsets may perform well even there. My wife told me that I sound like I am in the office. The battery life is very good; I wear these for 3 weeks now listening on them 30 min every weekday and so far I didn't charge them at all. I like also the audio quality though so far I used these only for podcasts with limited music content. Now for the not so good part. When I turn the ANC on, I can feel the noise cancelling kicking in, but I can still hear helicopters, airplanes, noisy traffic or even wind. I do believe that a larger ear cup with more foam could help with this issue. I heard that the ear cups are smaller than on WH-1000XM4 and frankly I would prefer these to be a bit larger. Also the manual shows these as not being sweat proof and unfortunately after wearing these for a half an hour I do find sweat under the ear cups. When I turn my head left or right it will increase the noise that comes from the outside. Not sure if it's related to the headband being more rigid or to the frame of my sunglasses keeping the cups at a certain distance from the ear. The tactile control works good, is responsive, and provides feedback similar to the airpods, but I should read the manual to learn about all the features. Overall I am pleased with the purchase and I would recommend this product. PS: I didn't own the WH-1000XM4 but I listened to some audio samples in a review and WH-1000XM5 seems to do a better job on noise canceling than WH-1000XM4.