Sony’s WF-1000XM5 costs $199.99 and EarFun’s Air Pro 4 costs $62.99, and both promise quiet flights, clear calls and hi-res sound. So the real question isn’t which spec sheet wins, because on paper they trade blows all day.
The gap is $137.
That money buys real things, just not the things a comparison chart shouts about, because EarFun loads the Air Pro 4 with the longer codec list, the bigger battery numbers and the newer Bluetooth radio, and it does all of that while undercutting the Sony by nearly two thirds.
Sony spends its money somewhere quieter, on processing, call hardware and a fit and finish that carry the premium in the hand and in the ear, and none of that prints neatly in a spec table.
Sony WF-1000XM5 (Black)
8.4mm Dynamic Driver X · LDAC with DSEE Extreme · 8 hours with ANC on and 24 hours with the case
Price: $199.99 $329.99 (save $130.00, 39% off)
Where to buy: Buy on Amazon
What the Sony money actually buys
Start with the silence, because that’s the headline purchase. Sony runs two processors in the WF-1000XM5, the Integrated Processor V2 and the HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN2e, working across six microphones to feed the noise cancelling, and that dual-chip setup, tuned per ear and per environment, is the core of what the extra money buys.
Calls get their own hardware story, and it’s a good one. An AI-based noise reduction algorithm and a bone conduction sensor work on your voice from two directions at once, picking up vibration as well as sound, and it’s the system Sony built this whole model around.
The driver is Sony’s 8.4mm Dynamic Driver X, and the codec list runs SBC, AAC, LDAC and LC3. LDAC streams at up to 990 kbps with a compatible phone, and DSEE Extreme upscales compressed tracks in the app, so the polish shows up in the chain before the driver ever moves, and it keeps showing up on badly compressed older tracks.
None of that looks dramatic on a chart. It’s headroom, plain and simple, the kind you only notice when it’s gone.
Headroom is what survives a loud train platform, when a call has to push through wind, announcements and a crowd of rolling suitcases without your voice dissolving into the noise floor.
Where the EarFun refuses to give ground
Now look at what $62.99 already includes, because the list is longer than the price suggests. The Air Pro 4 runs a Qualcomm QCC3091 chip with Bluetooth 5.4, and its codec list beats Sony’s, adding aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless alongside LDAC, SBC and LC3, with Snapdragon Sound certification and LE Audio with Auracast support in the mix.
We know this one firsthand around here. The Air Pro 4 earned a full review on this site, and the kit that carried that review is all still here.
Its QuietSmart 3.0 system adjusts the cancelling to your surroundings and how you’re wearing the buds, or you can set high, normal or low yourself and leave it there.
Six microphones with AI and cVc 8.0 handle calls. A 10mm composite diaphragm driver handles the music, the EarFun Audio app adds a 10-band EQ you can actually shape, in-ear detection pauses playback when a bud comes out, and a 50ms low-latency mode covers games, so the daily-use checklist is fully covered.
Read that list against the Sony’s once more. The cheap buds aren’t missing the features people use every day, and in two places, codecs and Bluetooth version, they’re the ones a step ahead.
Battery and the daily carry
Battery is where the EarFun stops playing catch-up and takes a lead it keeps. It runs 7.5 hours per charge with noise cancelling on and 11 hours with it off, and the case stretches those totals to 35 hours and 52 hours respectively, charged over USB-C or wirelessly, so a full work week of listening fits inside one case charge.
Sony counters with endurance of a different shape. The WF-1000XM5 runs 8 hours with cancelling on and 24 hours total with its case, so it wins the single-charge stretch and loses the case math, and its case takes Qi wireless charging pads too, which keeps a desk setup cable-free.
Both pairs connect to two devices at once. Neither forces a laptop-versus-phone choice at your desk, and the EarFun adds Google Fast Pair for Android on top.
Its IPX5 rating also shrugs off workout sweat and rain a notch better than Sony’s IPX4 splash rating, which counts on gym days.
Small numbers, daily consequences, because a case that needs a cable every second day changes how a bag gets packed. At 52 hours of total playtime the EarFun can ride through a long weekend, a conference and the flight home without once thinking about a charger.
The numbers side by side
Sony has already moved the flagship line on, and our WF-1000XM6 coverage tracks what changed there. The XM5 at $199.99 is still the pair in this fight, and it anchors our noise-canceling earbud picks, where the EarFun keeps showing up as the value problem nobody prices around.
| Spec | Sony WF-1000XM5 | EarFun Air Pro 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $199.99 | $62.99 |
| Driver | 8.4mm Dynamic Driver X | 10mm composite diaphragm |
| Noise cancelling | Dual processors, six microphones | QuietSmart 3.0 adaptive, six microphones |
| Codecs | SBC, AAC, LDAC, LC3 | SBC, AAC, LDAC, aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless, LC3 |
| Bluetooth | 5.3 | 5.4 |
| Battery, ANC on | 8 hours, 24 hours with case | 7.5 hours, 35 hours with case |
| Battery, ANC off | 12 hours | 11 hours, 52 hours with case |
| Wireless charging | Yes, Qi | Yes |
| Multipoint | Yes | Yes, two devices |
| Water resistance | IPX4 | IPX5 |
The chart tells the story cleanly. Sony wins the driver pedigree, the call hardware and the single-charge figure, EarFun wins codecs, total battery, water resistance and price, and they split the rest.
Which pair earns the money
Buy the Sony if your days run on calls and transit, because the dual-processor cancelling, the bone conduction call pickup and the LDAC chain are the parts of this comparison that can’t be added later with a firmware update. At $199.99 against a $329.99 list, the flagship is already carrying a serious discount of its own.
Buy the EarFun if the spec sheet is what you’ll actually live on. It covers multipoint, wireless charging, hi-res codecs and a work week of battery for $62.99, and the money left over buys a lot of music, a nice dinner, or most of a second pair for the gym bag.
EarFun Air Pro 4 (Black)
10mm composite driver · aptX Lossless and LDAC over Bluetooth 5.4 · QuietSmart 3.0 adaptive ANC with a 6-mic call system
Price: $62.99 $79.99 (save $17.00, 21% off)
Where to buy: Buy on Amazon
Three times the money buys the deeper silence and the clearer call, and that’s a real purchase for the right person. For everyone else the EarFun is the pair that makes the flagship explain itself, and at a third of the price it doesn’t have to win every line of the chart to win the day, it just has to be this complete.
