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How to fix WH-1000XM5 audio skipping issues

When using your WH-1000XM5 to listen to music, watch a video and/or play a videogame, you may notice that the audio may skip from time to time.

To see how you can get a smoother listening experiencing when using the wireless headphones, you can check out this troubleshooting article at Seeking Tech.

1. The first step we recommend taking is to try playing a different media file to see if the audio skipping issues are related to just a specific content or are happening across all contents.

2. If the audio is still skipping when other content is being played, then you can try to changing the Bluetooth setting to stabilize connection.

In order to do so, you can try taking the following steps:

  • Open the “Sony | Headphones Connect” app on your smartphone or mobile device. If you don’t have the application, then you need to download and install the from the Google Play Store of your Android device or Apple App Store of your iOS device.
  • With the app opened, connect your WH-1000XM5.
  • Change the sound quality mode to “Priority on stable connection.”

3. You can also try moving the headphones closer to the Bluetooth device to see if doing so will stop the audio from skipping.

4. If there are any physical objects blocking the line of sight between the WH-1000XM5 and the connected device, then it may weaken the Bluetooth connection to the point with the audio starts to skip.

5. You should also avoid the covering the left ear cushion of the WH-1000XM5 as that it where the built-in Bluetooth antenna is located.

6. Furthermore, you should also avoid covering the Bluetooth antenna on the connected device.

7. Any other wireless devices that are nearby may also interfere with the Bluetooth communication, causing a choppy audio streaming experience.

In this case, you can try moving the WH-1000XM5 and the device to an area that don’t have any other wireless devices. Alternatively, you can turn off the other devices in the area.

8. You can also try resetting the connected device. By doing so, you will refresh the Bluetooth connection. This action will also close apps and any processes on the connected device that may have been causing the audio to skip.

9. You can also try turning off the Service Link feature in the aforementioned “Sony | Headphones Connect” app.

10. If you are using the Adaptive Sound Control feature, then the audio may pause while the noise cancellation parameters are being adjusted by the headset.

This feature is considered to be normal by Sony. If you want to turn it off, then you need to disable noise cancellation.

11. You can also try updating the firmware versions for both the WH-1000XM5 and its connected device to see if the audio skips go away afterwards.

12. Resetting or factory resetting the wireless headphones may also help with the problem. To find out how you can do both of these actions to the WH-1000XM5, you can check out this tutorial.

If the sound output is still skipping after you try all of the aforementioned potential solutions, then we suggest contacting Sony for additional help.