Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds vs Sony WF-1000XM5

“Ultra struggles with multiple connections and hissing sound. Ultra earbuds, identical multiconnections, occasionally when I walk, the sound cuts out as if I've turned them off, yet they remain connected, quite strange. There’s a hissing sound when I use ANC, and at times, I notice an odd noise after watching videos on YouTube, TikTok, etc. QC makes a buzzing sound when I transition between YouTube videos, and 2 times I had disconnects. QC earbuds occasionally stop working unexpectedly, I never configured them to turn off. The left earbud doesn't function when I take it out of the case, only when it feels like it. The multi-connection feature is also poor; they lose connection randomly and then reconnect. Wtf is this, right? I do possess more earbuds and headphones, and in 27 years, I have never encountered these problems with a new product priced at half of Bose items, like Melomania M100, Sony LinkBuds S, Technics AZ80, Anker Q35, etc. I can't express how terrible the customer service is, absolutely awful. The comfort and ANC are excellent with Bose; I definitely prefer the sound over Sony's, no contest! I share this so you know what are the true experiences with this product, you can ignore me and buy all of them, but please to not hate people that tell the true, I hope I didn't waste my time typing this much.”

“I have both: the XM4, XM5 and now the LinkBud S. The XM5s were my daily driver, but the best thing about them, the foam and passive noise cancellation, was also the main weakness. As they cannot be washed, they eventually become unusable and the official Sony replacement costs between $20 and $30. Not great. A few weeks ago, I lost one of the XM5 earphones. The XM4s still have the battery problem, so I researched and came up with the linkBuds S (\~60usd). It is essentially the same as the XM5, but with silicone ear tips instead of foam, and the case has a little less battery life. Everything else (app, DSEE, codecs, etc) is the same. The noise cancellation is better than my old Jabra Elite 7, and I would say the same as the XM5, but without the passive isolation. Now, the LinkBuds S are my daily driver, and they don't have the issue of the eartip, since the silicon is washable. Hope this helps.”