Is the Sony WF-1000XM5 worth the upgrade from the Edifier NeoBuds Pro?

Verdict

Clear upgrade

Going from the Edifier NeoBuds Pro to the Sony WF-1000XM5 buys you 14.0 points of HearWiki score - a clear step up that reviewers agree on rather than a marketing refresh. The gains are concentrated in battery (6.0 to 8.0), sound (7.5 to 9.0) and noise cancelling (8.0 to 9.0). You do give up ground on value (7.5 to 7.0). On paper: battery life 6 h to 12 h, bluetooth 5.x to 5.3 and battery life (anc on) 5 h to 8 h. Worth checking: weight goes 5.3 g to 11.8 g and driver size goes 10 mm to 8.4 mm. One caution: this steps down a line tier (NeoBuds Pro to WF-1000XM5), and base models usually trade away tier features - check the codec and ANC rows above before trusting the score gap alone. That costs $119 more, or about $9 per point of score - reasonable value for the jump. If your current pair is worn out or the gains line up with how you listen, this one is worth the money.