Is the Sony WF-1000XM5 worth the upgrade from the OnePlus Buds 2 Pro?

Verdict

Clear upgrade

Going from the OnePlus Buds 2 Pro to the Sony WF-1000XM5 buys you 12.0 points of HearWiki score - a clear step up that reviewers agree on rather than a marketing refresh. The gains are concentrated in sound (7.5 to 9.0), noise cancelling (8.0 to 9.0) and calls (7.0 to 8.0). You do give up ground on battery (8.5 to 8.0) and value (7.5 to 7.0). On paper: battery life 9 h to 12 h, battery life (anc on) 6 h to 8 h and full charge time 100 min to 90 min. Worth checking: battery incl. case goes 39 h to 24 h and driver size goes 11 mm to 8.4 mm. One caution: this steps down a line tier (Buds 2 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 $164 more, or about $14 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.