Sony WF-1000XM5 vs Soundcore Liberty 4 NC

“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.”

“You need the right fit to get the most out of the ANC on the Liberty 4 NC, which is difficult to achieve for some due to the oversized nozzle. I found I had to size up with the eartips to optimise ANC. I didn't really like the sound of the L4 NC. The tuning is very much midbass-centric, with a fair bit of bloat and leakage into the midrange. Some EQ adjustments between 80-300Hz can help slightly, but the timbre still wasn't really right so I ended up returning them”