We may earn a commission if you buy something through the affiliate text links or affiliate image links on Seeking Tech.

WH-1000XM5 battery life guide

The battery life for the Sony WH-1000XM5 can be drastically different depending on the codec being played as well as the settings being used.

To get a general ideal of usage time based on a fully charged battery for this device, you can check out this guide at Seeking Tech.

What is the battery life when using the AAC codec?

If you are using the WH-1000XM5 only with content that features the AAC codec, then you should be able to get up to 40 hours of battery life. Out of all the other supported codecs, this is the most energy efficient.

If you have either the Noise Cancellation or Ambient Sound Modes activated, then the battery life drops to 30 hours at the maximum when using AAC.

What is the battery life when using the LDAC codec?

If you are using your Sony WH-1000XM5 to only play content that uses the LDAC codec, then the maximum battery life is 36 hours, which makes it the most power hungry out of the supported codecs.

If you enable Noise Cancellation or Ambient Sound Modes, then the maximum length will drop to 26 hours.

What is the battery life when using the SBC codec?

When it comes to the SBC codec, you can get up to 38 hours in battery life.

If you are using SBC along with either Noise Cancellation or Ambient Sound, then the maximum battery life drops to 28 hours.

What is the battery life when using voice communications?

If you are only using the Sony WH-1000XM5 for voice communications, then you can get up to 32 hours.

With either Noise Cancellation or Ambient Sound turned on, then the maximum battery life will drop to 24 hours.

What is the battery life when using the headphone cable connection?

If you are connecting your WH-1000XM5 to another device by using the headphone cable, then you will be able to get up to 38 hours.

If you have Noise Cancellation or Ambient Sound enabled, then the maximum length will drop to 28 hours.

Keep in mind that you can also use WH-1000XM5 without depleting its battery life by using a wired connection via its headphone cable with the headset turned off. By doing so, however, you won’t be able to use Noise Cancellation, Ambient Sound as well as other features.

To learn more about using this headset over a wired connection, you can check out this article.

What other factors impact the WH-1000XM5 battery life?

There are other factors that will impact the battery life of the Sony WH-1000XM5, including the following:

  • Ambient temperature
  • Volume level
  • Over-discharged
  • Battery degradation battery
  • DSEE Extreme feature
  • Speak-to-Chat feature
  • Equalizer feature
  • Service Link feature
  • Voice activated features

If the battery life for your Sony WH-1000XM5 is a lot shorter than what it listed in this guide, then you can try disabling some or all of the aforementioned features.

To find out more about how you can prevent the WH-1000XM5 battery from draining and, therefore, extend its battery life, we recommend that you take a look at these directions.