The Sony WF-1000XM5 offers incredible sound but more importantly it’s an amazing choice when you’re cycling, grab a pair half off.
(Photo Josh Ross/Velo)
Updated October 15, 2025 12:23PM
Almost everyone rides with music but there’s a bunch of different ways to do that. Over the years I’ve worked on a number of lists covering headphones that work well when you’re on a bike.
Bone conduction is one option but that means you probably want more than one pair of headphones so you have something that works off the bike.
If you decide to go with wireless earbuds then you want something that stays in your ear, offers good sound and noise reduction when you aren’t riding, and has a great mic for indoor riding. I’ve been doing a new round of testing for 2025 and I found the Sony WF-1000XM5 to be one of the best choices. Then I found them being sold over half off.
Sony WF-1000XM5 (54% off)
(Photo Sony)
As I said above, when I evaluate headphones I’m not necessarily looking for the very best sound quality you can buy. This is for riding your bike and most of that means you need to stay aware of your surroundings. If it’s an earbud design though, I do want to make sure they sound good in other situations.
These Sony headphones blew me away with sound quality. The Apple Airpods Pro 3 and the Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 are both great and good choices for most people. Then you put the Sony’s on and there’s a whole other level to the sound. It feels like you can hear the plucking of the guitar string.
Let’s get back to on the bike though. Right now I’m writing this having just finished a race on Zwift. It was about an hour effort and I literally left a puddle on the floor. I never once had to touch these headphones to keep them from falling out. They are rock solid.
I also didn’t have to mess with the noise reduction. Often when there’s a fan pointed at your head the noise reduction can go haywire. The Sony noise reduction works fine in this situation and I had no problem communicating with Google Gemini to change the music while racing.
This performance all kind of makes sense given the normal price point. $328 is a step above Google and Apple pricing so you’d expect better performance. I found them refurbished on Amazon for half off though. Grab them before they are gone.