It’s been three years since Sony updated its flagship wireless over-eat headphones but the Japanese firm has just announced its WH-1000XM6 cans, much to the delight of audio fans the world over. If you’re looking for a Bluetooth headphone upgrade they might be very tempting, but the £399 price tag might be enough to put you off. That’s why we’ve hunted down a deal on the WH-1000XM5, the last generation of Sony’s headphones. 

Released in 2022 and originally sold for £379, the Sony WH-1000XM5 are on sale from UK retailer EE for £259, a huge £120 saving on the RRP and £140 less than the new XM6.

On paper, there is barely any difference between these two sets of headphones, with the design appearing practically identical. The cheaper XM5 do not fold up with hinges, so the carry case is larger, but the cups look minimalist and sleek, and EE is selling the ‘phones in black, blue, silver or a rather fetching smokey pink.

The XM5s have excellent noise cancellation. Sony is known as one of the best in the business when it comes to blocking out external sound, and you’ll find it here. Whether you’re trying to hear your tunes over a plane’s engine, traffic, the neighbour’s house party or the washing machine, these headphones will do a solid job of muffling it all out.

Sound quality is top notch too, with Sony’s Adaptive Sound Control and EQ settings all adjustable in the companion app for iPhone and Android. Some Android phones can also eke out improved higher-res audio streaming with Sony’s LDAC audio codec, too.

The headphones get up to 30 hours of battery life on a single charge and recharge quickly via USB-C. Touch controls on the cups handle all your play, pause and volume needs, while Speak to Chat detects when you natter, pauses the music, and turns on the transparency mode to let sound in without needing to take your cans off.

Sony says it has improved noise cancellation and sound quality for the new XM6s, but all but the pickiest audiophiles will be absolutely fine with the XM5s, which were already considered class-leading headphones.

£259 is a great price for the XM5s, but you can always spend less. The excellent Beats Studio Pro are £219 from Amazon at the time of writing, while the mid-range but superb Sennheiser Accentum Plus are currently just £139.

But if it’s the Sony brand you have your eye on, you can consider skipping the newest XM6 model to instead save a good chunk on the WH-1000XM5s.