So, I wanted to test all these out, so I bought them all haha. Well, let’s get straight to the point. The XM5 and XM4 are very similar in ANC quality, but on the XM5, I felt that the ANC had some weird pressure on my left earcup and was unusable for me personally. I’d much rather use it without ANC and at off, as the passive sound cancelling is strong enough for me and for at-home usage. They both have very good ANC, and more so on the XM4.

Their sound quality in comparison to the M4 is very lackluster, I have to say, very muffled out of the box. Also, the XM5 is 70$ more and, with the subpar headband and less comfort and quality just for ANC, it ain’t worth it over the XM4 or the M4 for me personally. The M4 sounds good straight out of the box, and you don’t have to EQ it, but obviously it would sound better with EQ. The ANC is good enough for me, and I use it mostly indoors anyways. The XM4 and XM5 have stronger ANC, that is true, but they do not blur out the sound 100%. You can still easily hear your surroundings, especially when it is loud, whereas I did not notice much difference in such scenarios with either of their ANC functionalities.

I wore them each for longer periods, and the XM5 falls flat for me. The headband is just so thin that it gives me literal pain after not even 30 minutes of wearing them, and they feel very shallow in the earpads. I bought them thinking they would be more comfortable since the earcups are so much bigger and looked like they had much more padding. I was proven wrong. They feel cheap for the price you pay, in my opinion, and so do the XM4. When you hold them in your hand and wear them and compare them to the M4, you can immediately feel the build quality difference, as well as the padding in the headband, especially towards the XM5. As a consumer, these products at this price range should fit right out of the box, and you shouldn’t have to buy aftermarket padding, cough cough XM5.

The sound quality is the most noticeable difference. The M4 are the clear winners here, no doubt, as was mentioned in countless other posts already. The XM5 sounds a little more open than the XM4, which sounded mufflier, in my opinion, out of the box. Also, the Momentum 4 was uncomfortable in the beginning too, but once you wear them often, they become very comfortable easily.