Sony is renowned for its audio products, pioneering portable music with the Walkman. Nowadays the tech giant is one of the go-to choices when it comes to premium ove-rear noise cancelling headphones, and right now one of its best models has had a sudden price drop over at Amazon.

The Sony WH-1000XM5 are just £249, a huge discount on the headphones’ original £379 RRP. This price is only available if you pick the silver colour options, with black and blue versions currently selling for £279.

These headphones are well-known for their superior noise cancellation and audio quality, and have been well reviewed since their release in 2023.

In 2025 Sony released the WH-1000XM6, a similarly designed sequel to the XM5, which may well be why you can now pick up the older model for a much better price. They come in a protective hard case so you can throw them in your bag and not worry about scrapes and dents.

The discounted headphones are famed for their comfort, with you able to be cocooned in your music, podcasts or audiobooks thanks to industry-leading noise cancellation. I’ve tried out the WH-1000XM5 and can confirm they have wonderfully full sound too, and have microphones good enough to handle voice and video calls for work and personal use.

Sony quotes up to 30 hours of battery life on a single charge, though these figures dip slightly if you are using the noise cancellation. Still, it means you could charge these cans up for a long haul flight and not have to worry about plugging them in to charge. When you need to, it’s via USB-C.

View the Sony WH-1000XM5 at Amazon

Sony offers its clever Sound Connect app for iPhone and Android, allowing you to tweak the EQ to your liking for the best possible sound, as well as turning on clever location based adaptive audio settings or connecting the headphones to two devices at once.

If you have an Android phone, you’ll be able to take advantage of the hi-res LDAC audio codec to really boost your tunes, especially if you are streaming or playing hi-res files. iPhone users can opt to turn on Sony’s DSEE Extreme mode instead, which upscales compressed digital audio files in real time.

These excellent headphones first sold for £379 and are now right down to £249, which is £150 less than the slightly newer XM6 version costs. If you don;t mind the fact that the on-sale XM5 don’t fold down to a smaller size when you aren’t wearing them, they are practically the same headphones. Unless you simply must have the latest model, the Sony WH-1000XM5 are a great deal right now from Amazon.