Is rtings.com broken or is it right?

[Indian pc builder]

RTIngs says that the Bose c 35 gaming headset has better anc than the Sony wh100xm5 and has better audio and battery, is’t true and should o order the Bose ones instead of the Sony ones?

[filpo]

1 minute ago, Indian pc builder said:

RTIngs says that the Bose c 35 gaming headset has better anc than the Sony wh100xm5 and has better audio and battery, is’t true and should o order the Bose ones instead of the Sony ones?

According to SoundGuys, the Sony WH-1000XM5s have better noise cancelling capabilities than the Bose QuietComfort 45s in high frequencies. The Sony WH-1000XM5s also have a longer battery life than the Bose QuietComfort 45s. I would go with the sonys so yes rtings is wrong

[Spuriae]

The Rtings battery life listing for the QC35 Gaming Headset is for the wired mode with ANC on, since this is the primary intended configuration for gaming, and says that battery life in Bluetooth (which other non-gaming ANC headphones were tested using) will be around the same 20 hours for the standard non-gaming QC35, which is lower than the 1000XM5.

 

For ANC, they're close; or rather, there isn't really a significant difference between the top modern ANC headphones, even ones a few generations old. Rtings' results for the 1000XM5 do look anomalous though, since the passive isolation graph peaks so significantly. The 1000XM5's ANC should be better than their graphs show, and perform slightly better than the QC35 overall.

 

The Rtings sound accuracy score mostly reflects that Sony's headphones have more bass while Bose's are a bit closer to neutral; that's more a personal preference thing than sound quality.

 

I'd personally rather own the QC35 than the 1000XM5, but that's due to their better comfort (for me) and physical buttons instead of a touch interface, which IMO are much more noticeable in everyday use than the differences in ANC, sound, and battery life.

[Indian pc builder]

rtings also gives the bose one a supposedly better sound signature, @filpo  @Nimrodor @Dedayog @cmndr, what do you think about this?

[filpo]

3 minutes ago, Indian pc builder said:

rtings also gives the bose one a supposedly better sound signature, @filpo  @Nimrodor @Dedayog @cmndr, what do you think about this?

that seems to be true (first pic is bose, second is sony's). If the cyan line is closer to the purple line that means its got a better sound signature

yes rtings was right about that the sony's are a bit too bassy and not quite so good in the highs, their alright in the mids (on par with the boses) but the rest isn't that good for such a high price

[cmndr]

Ideal world you try both. 

I'd use RTINGs as a way to filter to "decent choices" and then error on the side of getting something on sale.

 

Both the QC35 and the XM5s are fine. It's not going to be a huge difference one way or the other. 

If you're always buying "not bad" choices at excellent prices, good things tend to happen in the long run - even if you resell them later. 

[HenrySalayne]

On 4/8/2023 at 11:56 AM, Indian pc builder said:

Sony wh100xm5

The XM5s have been a step back in many aspects to the XM4s. So maybe the XM4s are also worth a look.

[Indian pc builder]

1 hour ago, HenrySalayne said:

The XM5s have been a step back in many aspects to the XM4s. So maybe the XM4s are also worth a look.

i heard the mic quality of the xm5's is significantly better

6 hours ago, cmndr said:

Ideal world you try both. 

I'd use RTINGs as a way to filter doing to "decent choices" and then error on the side of getting something on sale. 

 

Both the QC35 and the XM5s are fine. It's not going to be a huge difference one way or the other. 

in light of the new development that i will be using the headphones more wirelessly than plugged in, the qc35 is out of the running as its only advantage, the boom mic is useless when wireless, 

 

 

therefore the options left are the qc45 and the xm5

 

the qc45 has better audio quality as per rtings and better noise cancelling at lower frequencies

 

however the voice recordings on the website for mic audio are inconclusive

 

does this mean that i should get the bose ?

[cmndr]

Based on what you're saying, I'd lean Bose (never thought I'd say that). If you ever do desktop use, a "proper microphone" will likely work better. 

For what it's worth I'm seeing somewhat conflicting views on certain characteristics here - https://www.pcmag.com/comparisons/sony-wh-1000xm5-vs-bose-quietcomfort-45

With that said I'd still use price as a tie breaker. They're close enough, get the cheaper option. 

You're wavering between two not bad options. It's not like you're choosing whether to cut off a hand or a leg. 

[Indian pc builder]

19 hours ago, cmndr said:

Based on what you're saying, I'd lean Bose (never thought I'd say that). If you ever do desktop use, a "proper microphone" will likely work better. 

For what it's worth I'm seeing somewhat conflicting views on certain characteristics here - https://www.pcmag.com/comparisons/sony-wh-1000xm5-vs-bose-quietcomfort-45

With that said I'd still use price as a tie breaker. They're close enough, get the cheaper option. 

You're wavering between two not bad options. It's not like you're choosing whether to cut off a hand or a leg. 

says 2 not bad options, compares to losing a limb, also i would personally lose a leg as i can get a prosthetic and still live a normal life

also this review seem to be broken as it says that the sound signature of the bose ones is off whereas according to both rtings and ltt, the sony has the more off freq resp curve

[cmndr]

4 hours ago, Indian pc builder said:

says 2 not bad options, compares to losing a limb, also i would personally lose a leg as i can get a prosthetic and still live a normal life

also this review seem to be broken as it says that the sound signature of the bose ones is off whereas according to both rtings and ltt, the sony has the more off freq resp curve

I contrasted it against two bad options. 
 

Part of why I said "it's probably fine" either way. 
No reviews are perfect, sound is somewhat subjecting and both are generally held as being in the same class as each other. 

[Indian pc builder]

18 hours ago, cmndr said:

I contrasted it against two bad options. 
 

Part of why I said "it's probably fine" either way. 
No reviews are perfect, sound is somewhat subjecting and both are generally held as being in the same class as each other. 

on second thought after looking at audio recordings properly, it turns out that the sony microphones are infinitely better, based on this input, would you still lean towards bose?(i was listening to the recordings through my laptop speaker instead of my headphones, and my laptop speakers suck)

[dalekphalm]

On 4/8/2023 at 5:56 AM, Indian pc builder said:

RTIngs says that the Bose c 35 gaming headset has better anc than the Sony wh100xm5 and has better audio and battery, is’t true and should o order the Bose ones instead of the Sony ones?

RTings certainly isn't "broken". And their reviews are generally very detailed and well thought out, with a ranking system.

 

I usually use RTings for TV reviews, so I cannot comment too much about their headphones reviews, but the Bose having better ANC than the Sony doesn't surprise me. Bose is often overpriced, but they have excellent ANC technology.

 

As to which one you should buy? That 100% depends on your needs and wants and what you value most. If you absolutely must have the best ANC, maybe the Bose is the one for you. Maybe the Sony has other features or strengths you'd prefer instead? Only you can answer this.

[spartaman64]

i just use rtings for the raw data and ignore their ratings