I've played the EWI 4000S during almost five years. The EWI 5000 is a great step ahead, the instrument maintain the overall characteristics of playability and capacity of adjutment to personalize it.
the sounds are clearly better, also the selection of instruments, mainly wood wind and some brass, I agree to the discard of the string sounds. It is a wind instrument ! Of course the sounds don't match a real instrument. Who like a real sax sound, must buy a sax ! The degree of expresivity is the same of the 4000S.
The wireless work very well, I've tested it far away of the receiver, it brings to the instrument a fantastic freedom.
I still haven't tested the soun edditor. It is an useful characteristic to have a default sound bench and a personalizable user sound bench.
At the next link Peter Climie show the 100 default sounds:
Peter !
I'm really satisfied with my new Akai EWI 5000.