Black Friday has arrived and we can confidently say that some of the best deals are on Sony headphones and earbuds.
Naturally, the brand features heavily in our live headphones sales coverage. Sony is behind many of the best-value pairs we have reviewed (and the majority of our 2024 What Hi-Fi? Award winners), and all of those pairs are heavily discounted across Amazon and other retailers this Black Friday. Some have even hit their lowest-ever prices.
Of course, the headphones lineup from one of the world’s biggest consumer electronics brands is as wide and eclectic as you would imagine, so we understand if you’re overwhelmed by choice when confronted with the tens of in-ear and over-ear models in Sony's arsenal.
Essentially, we can with full confidence recommend the following Sony wireless headphones and earbuds at their Black Friday deals prices.
- Sony WF-C510 earbuds
was £55now £40 (save £15) - Sony WF-C700 earbuds
was £100now £62 (save £38) - Sony WF-1000XM5 earbuds
was £259now £186.50 (save £72.50) - Sony WH-CH520 over-ears
was £60now £31.50 (save £28.50) - Sony WH-CH720N over-ears
was £99now £64 (save £36) - Sony WH-1000XM4 over-ears
was £229now £175 (save £54) - Sony WH-10000XM5 over-ears
was £379now £245 (save £134)
No, we haven’t forgotten about Sony’s ULT Wear, LinkBuds or studio models – we just don’t recommend them as highly as those above in the brand’s core ‘WF’ and ‘WH’ range.
So, six top choices, but which is best for you? That is what we are here to establish…
The VALUE choice
If you have a modest budget and are purely after a cheap and cheerful pair of Bluetooth earbuds or over-ears that sound decent, Sony’s entry-level pairs are an easy recommendation.
The WF-C510 earbuds and WH-C520 over-ears are both five-star pairs (the earbuds are also What Hi-Fi? Award winners) and our top pick at their ultra-budget prices, beating similarly affordable rivals we have tested from brands such as JBL, EarFun and Jabra for sound quality.
Buy the WF-C510 or WH-C520 if…
- You want the best sound you can buy for under £50
Avoid the WF-C510 or WH-C520 if…
- You want active noise-cancelling technology
- You would be happy spending more for better sound quality
The NOISE-CANCELLING choice
If you want your headphones to block out the noisy world, however, you will need to go up a model to the WF-C700 earbuds or WH-CH720N over-ears.
Both pairs feature active noise-cancelling technology that will reduce distracting outside noise. Paying that £27-32 extra over the value pairs will also get you a step up in sound quality and an arguably slightly better build quality, although don’t expect much disparity when it comes to other features. Essentially, you’re paying for ANC here, in what is still a very sensibly affordable price bracket.
These too are five-star pairs, as well as What Hi-Fi? Award winners, that represent the best you can buy at this price, in not only Sony’s catalogue but also the wider headphones market.
Buy the WF-C700N or WH-CH720N if…
- You want the best sound you can buy for under £100
- You want noise-cancelling at affordable prices
Avoid the WF-C700 or WH-CH720N if…
- You want and can afford premium sound quality and the most effective noise-cancelling in the business (see below)
The ULTIMATE choice
If you have a healthy budget around the £200+ mark and are looking for premium travel companions that deliver the peak of what the wireless headphones world can offer and rival what is out there from the likes of Bose, Apple and Sennheiser, you’re looking at Sony’s top-tier WF-1000XM5 earbuds or WH-1000XM5 over-ears.
Again, these are our first-choice picks at this level – they are both What Hi-Fi? Award winners – and offer a step up in both sound quality and noise-cancelling intensity over the entry-level and mid-range Sonys above. You also get more features – support for the higher-quality LDAC Bluetooth codec, for example, and ‘Speak to Chat’, which lets you talk to someone while the headphones are still on your head. In the case of the earbuds, you get longer battery life too.
Buy the WF-1000XM5 or WH-1000XM5 if…
- If sound quality is your priority
- You want the best-value premium experience you can buy around the £200+ mark
Avoid the WF-1000XM5 or WH-1000XM5 if…
- You want the very best noise-cancelling, which is offered by the very good Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds and Ultra Headphones
- Battery life is your priority and/or you can't quite afford the XM5 – the Sennheiser Momentum 4 headphones and Momentum True Wireless 4 earbuds are cheaper and offer a longer battery life
- You are an iPhone user and can afford the AirPods Max over-ears, which sound better than the Sonys but cost considerably more (...double)
What about the Sony WH-1000XM4?
If your budget for wireless noise-cancelling over-ear headphones falls between the £64 Sony CH720N and £247 WH-1000XM5 (albeit nearer the latter!), you should strongly consider the WH-1000XM4 for £175.
This is Sony's former flagship pair – the model that the WH-1000XM5 replaced in May 2022. So yes, they are pretty old now. But they were class leaders in their dau and, quite honestly, they are still great buys today at this Black Friday price.
At this price point, it's a tough choice between these XM4 and Sennheiser's current flagship Momentum 4 Wireless, which are on sale for £180 at Amazon. This newer pair is pretty much just as competitive on the sound and noise-cancelling fronts, but they offer a much longer battery life and support aptX Adaptive Bluetooth.
This is one price point Sennheiser probably has over Sony, then.
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