Instead of just rebadging the old model and changing the ‘3’ to a ‘4’, Sony claims the WH-1000XM4 deliver a more comfortable design, better noise-cancelling, better audio, better call quality and more useful features compared with their predecessors. Sony hasn’t exactly gone back to the drawing board for the WH-1000XM4 over-ear headphones (if it ain’t broke etc…), but you will notice a few subtle differences here and there.
They still don’t, perhaps, look as premium or stylish as a pair of B&W PX7 or Bose Noise Cancelling 700, but they certainly give the impression that they’re built to last. Because the grip isn’t as vice-like as some rivals, though, and the fact the headphones still don’t have an IP rating (for water and dust resistance), we wouldn’t recommend using them during exercise.
The name might be different, but it carries out all the same duties as before, such as switching between noise-cancelling and Ambient Sound modes and running the NC Optimiser. The new engine not only attempts to upscale compressed music to near hi-res quality, it also adds artificial intelligence technology called Edge-AI.
Helpfully, you can set the sensitivity of Speak-to-Chat in Sony’s Headphones Connect app to try and stop it going off accidentally. There are a couple of occasions when we trigger the feature with a cough and an enthusiastic sing-along, but you can just slide a finger up or down on the right touchpad to go back to your music.
But you can set up profiles and geo-fence certain areas using the Headphones Connect app, so the WH1000XM4s will automatically switch modes when you enter them.
Battery life remains among the best in class, with a full charge lasting up to 30 hours with both Bluetooth and noise-cancelling enabled. Charging the headphones with an AC adapter will give you five hours of battery life from just a ten-minute burst of power. Sony has been making waves in the noise-cancelling headphones market for a few years now, and it claims the WH-1000XM4 are able to cancel out more midrange and high-frequency sounds than ever before.
Its HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN1 uses a brand new algorithm and works in tandem with a new Bluetooth System on Chip (SoC). This is all happening in real-time, a first for Sony headphones, and the technology is claimed to give greater control over how the noise-cancelling performs. The Sonys have no trouble cutting out unwanted extraneous noise, from the rumble of a train as you pass under a railway bridge, to the hustle and bustle of a busy high street.
Play Ramin Djawadi’s cover of The White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army and the clarity and definition of the strings really shines through.
The song’s powerful bass notes help drive home the track’s intensity, leaving a lasting impression on the listener. Sony’s WH range has consistently set a benchmark for timing and dynamics and the XM4s continue this trend.
Their ability to slot into the groove of a track and follow it faithfully means they can entertain you with the most basic of beats and then make the switch to more complex arrangements without a second thought. Their sense of enthusiasm, pace and agility means they’re as happy charging through The XX’s I Dare You as they are getting to grips with the complexities of Radiohead’s 15 Step.
Switch over to Click by Charli XCX and a dramatic synth rift lays the foundation for the track, followed by a pristine vocal that hangs against a backdrop of subtle, sparkling percussion. We weren’t sure if Sony could improve on the XM3, but somehow the WH-1000XM4 have managed it: they’re as comfortable as ever; they introduce useful features that elevate the user experience; and, more importantly, you’re getting a serious hike in sound quality for the money.
Sony WH-1000XM4 Wireless Headphones review
While they don’t look significantly different from their predecessors, a number of new features including multipoint pairing, DSEE Extreme upscaling, conversational awareness and auto-play/pause using a built-in sensor all help the WH-1000XM4 claim the title of best headphones in 2021. While they don’t look significantly different from their predecessors, a number of new features including multipoint pairing, DSEE Extreme upscaling, conversational awareness and auto-play/pause using a built-in sensor all help the WH-1000XM4 claim the title of best headphones in 2021.
Thanks to their extremely comfortable fit and great noise cancellation, we highly recommend the Sony WH-1000XM4 for most people, but particularly travelers or those with long commutes.
However, they’re not great for workout enthusiasts who need a secure fit and water-resistance – or business people who require a best-in-class microphone for phone calls.
The company also releases a firmware update to improve Bluetooth stability when the headphones are paired to multiple devices and to fix a bug which saw users struggle to connect the Sony WH-1000XM4 to Windows computers. We’re keeping a keen eye on all the best Black Friday headphones deals in the run up to November 29, and we think there’s a good chance the WH-1000XM4 will return to – or even beat – these all-time-low prices. It’s also worth bearing in mind that Black Friday 2021 is around the corner – and we could see some incredible Sony WH-1000XM4 deals now that they’re a little older. That’s not the end of the world, though, as the design of the 1000XM3 is refined and subtle, allowing it to blend in on subway stations, planes and offices without drawing any attention.
The result is a product that feels mostly durable while remaining extremely comfortable to wear for an extended period of time. The outer part of the earcups act as a touch-capacitive control panel that can be used to play, pause or skip music, and raise or lower the volume. Key to that, of course, is the Sony QNe1 Processor that constantly samples ambient audio to reactively adjust the level of noise cancellation. That sounds like common sense – and fairly easy to achieve – but that does limit the places you can bring them: if you’re looking for a pair of running headphones, these aren’t them.
The Sony WH-1000XM3 were feature-rich upon release, full of inventive control schemes and intelligent applications of their noise cancellation technology. Though high wind can still cause a bit of extraneous noise to come through, it’s otherwise among the best (if not, the best) noise-cancelling system we’ve heard from a pair of wireless headphones. With the feature activated, the Sony headphones play a small chiming tone when it’s reached one of your set locations, and dials the noise-cancellation up or back appropriately.
Though GPS requirements mean it won’t be able to work during a subterranean commute, you can preset your station or travel hub in the accompanying Headphones Connect app, and have it activate your preferred noise cancelling settings whilst above ground before descending.
With this option switched on, the headphones’ microphone will intelligently recognize when you’ve started talking, and pause your music while ramping up ambient noise being funneled into the cans. However, it’s a double edged sword, as it’s almost too effective – if you decide to break into song and sing along with your tunes with the feature activated, it’ll pause your track, ending your karaoke session.
It’s a warm and balanced sound that does well to offer a wide soundstage when required and detail that can pierce through a powerful bass performance. At the other end of the spectrum, Janelle Monae’s absolute banger Make Me Feel sounds supremely powerful on the WH-1000XM4 headphones. From the bop of the percussion to the wall of sound that accompanies the pre-chorus, it sees the Sony WH-1000XM4s firing on all cylinders, with expressive dynamics and clear and distinct separation between each instrument.
From the perspective of a work-at-home, share-the-kitchen-table-with-a-flatmate user scenario, those around us did notice a substantial amount of noise leakage from the Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones – enough to distract at even half their maximum volume level.
Although the Sony WH-1000XM4 don’t come with a battery life improvement compared to their predecessors, they do stretch their playback time as far as possible thanks to the new auto-on/off and play/pause sensor inside the earcup that can tell when you’ve taken the headphones off. It’s a huge boon to folks who might forget to turn off their headphones at the end of the day only to find that they’re dead 24 hours later.
The 30 hours should be enough to get you through multiple international flights or a few days to the office, but it’s also good to know that the headphones can be charged in a matter of minutes thanks to fast-charging. The Bose Noise-Cancelling 700 only clocked in at around 20 hours of battery life with noise cancelling turned on, while the Bowers and Wilkins PX7 matches the Sony at 30.
Usually you’re forced to pick between a pair of noise-cancelling headphones that do a good job of blocking outside noise, or ones that excel at audio playback. With the volume turned up and the noise cancelling up and running, there’s little doubt in our mind that these headphones can finally bring you that much-needed respite at home.
Sony WH-1000XM4 review
Now Sony has released the new and improved headset that adds multipoint connectivity at the expense of aptX. Commuters and jet-setters will appreciate the battery life, noise canceling, sound quality, and not needing to choose between them. It makes it easy transitioning from listening to music while working at your desk to watching a YouTube video on your phone, and back again, all without opening your Bluetooth settings. This was one of the biggest complaints with the WH-1000XM3, and having it here in the Sony WH-1000XM4 is definitely going to make plenty of people happy, with one big caveat.
Absolutely not, but it’s the kind of subtle touch that you’d expect from a $350 pair of headphones and Sony nailed it here. The actual earcups are also slightly thicker than the previous pair, which results in better isolation even when noise cancelling is turned off.
When you place your hand over the left ear cup, ambient mode immediately activates. Swiping to control volume and skip between songs works seamlessly, but for some reason, the headphones struggle to register taps. Sometimes it’s easier and quicker to simply take off the headphones and let them auto-pause—the pause functionality worked roughly 25% of the time for me. Cupping your hand over the left earcup activates ambient mode, which is still one of my favorite features.
Not a huge deal for anyone still spending most of their time at home like I am, but useful if you need to quickly catch an announcement from the pilot or train conductor while commuting. Plots like the one above give a rough idea of how much noise is cancelled across the audible spectrum of 20Hz-20kHZ (the limits of human hearing).
The WH-1000XM3 isn’t a slouch where ANC is concerned, but the Sony WH-1000XM4 is better in its ability to attenuate lower-frequency sounds like the low hum of an air conditioner, or the constant rumble of a jet engine than most other headsets. Pairing to the Sony WH-1000XM4 is as simple as tapping your phone to the back of the NFC logo on the left earcup and following the prompt that appears on your smartphone. I live in a fairly average-sized two-bedroom apartment, and in my testing I didn’t have any issues with range.
The same held true with my Pixel 3 smartphone which managed to remain connected regardless of which pocket the phone was in. While the noise cancelling is already excellent out of the box you can optimize it for whatever situation or level of air pressure you’re currently in via the app. Of course, you can always cup your hand over the right earcup to allow a full passthrough so you can order a cardboard-tasting lunch from the friendly flight staff in economy class. This is obviously still great and more than good enough for most people, but I find it odd this doesn’t last as long as its predecessor, which clocks in at about 24 hours. The more neutral-leaning frequency response in the lows translates to a sound that doesn’t get a huge bass boost as you’ll find on some other headphones.
Follow the below chart as a loose guide for your adjustments to get the sound to better fit our house curve. There is a slight drop-off in the frequency response under around 150-200Hz which isn’t unusual for Bluetooth headphones, but it’s more pronounced than on the previous version.
It’s likely an attempt to keep the proximity effect—the pesky phenomenon that makes some podcasts and other recordings overly bassy—at bay. As of March 24, 2021, 4,286 readers rated the above mic sample as somewhere between “okay” and “good.” This is a pretty typical result for wireless headset microphones, and at the upper end of what you should expect to get out of any products of this type.
They promise about 20 hours of constant playback with noise cancelling turned on, the same H1 chip that you’ll find in the AirPods Pro, and a transparency mode as well. However, while the Sony WH-1000XM4 is much more affordable than Apple’s latest headphones, the AirPods Max does offer better ANC performance. If you just want a pair of the best pure noise-cancelers around, the Bose QuietComfort 45 attenuate more outside noise than any other headphones out there—but they don’t sound quite as good. They’re more expensive and have fewer codecs, but their minimalist design looks really nice, though performance still lies with Sony.
Bose’s headphones are slick and offer a lot of good features—but if you want higher-bitrate codecs, stick with Sony. This rocks all the latest specs and Bluetooth codecs just like the WH-1000XM4, can use a USB-C cable as a wired connection, and it looks pretty great.
The premium build quality, great sound, and impressive noise cancelling earn this an editor’s choice award. The Sennheiser PXC 550-II lacks a few of the top-tier features you’d expect of headphones (like USB-C charging), but for $199 USD, it’s an almost-unbeatable pick. You’ll get a sleek design, superb noise cancelling, Bluetooth multipoint, and great sound quality to boot.
Sony WH-1000XM4 Wireless Review
Their touch-sensitive surface is similar to the Sony WH-1000XM3 Wireless, but they now come with several new features, including a Speak-to-Chat function that pauses your audio and lets in ambient sound as soon as you start talking. There’s also a Quick Attention feature that lets in ambient noise while you cover the right ear cup, so you can be aware of your surroundings without pausing your music or talking. Some users have previously reported that the Sony WH-1000XM3 Wireless’s touch-sensitive controls had issues working properly in cold weather.
Sony WH-1000XM4 review: A nearly flawless noise-canceling headphone
And like any good Hollywood sequel, the eagerly awaited WH-1000XM4 is equal parts familiar and satisfying, with a dash of slight disappointment thrown in. But if you thought the 1000XM3 was pretty great, which I did, and just needed to fix some of its small flaws, you may very well be happy that Sony has made some incremental improvements that address many (though not all) of the little gripes users had. The earpads are ever so slightly bigger — the oval inside is a little wider, and the padding is also a touch softer.
We didn’t get the bigger loss in weight that we got when we went from the XM2 to the XM3, but Sony did add a sensor — more on that in a minute — and still managed to shed a gram.
From the app (for iOS and Android), you can now program the button to do what it did before: toggle between noise canceling and a transparency mode that lets sound in from the outside world. Also, if you hold it for a few seconds, the headphones go into a calibration mode to detect the shape of your head and whether you’re wearing glasses. Inside the left earcup there’s a sensor that detects when you have the headphones on and automatically pauses the audio when you take them off. Sony had pulled even with Bose as far as noise canceling goes and then arguably went slightly ahead with the release of the XM3.
(Note that some people are sensitive to active noise canceling, which can create the sensation of pressure on your ears and feel oppressive.) The headphone does a little better job at upconverting streaming music from services like Spotify to pseudo high resolution, according to Sony. The XM4 is better at processing highs, adding back in a bit of missing detail that’s lost when you’re dealing with compressed streaming audio. It’s not a huge omission, but some people swear that streaming using AptX sounds better (AAC is just fine, however).
Like the XM3, this headphone also supports Sony’s new surround sound music format, 360 Reality Audio. A handful of streaming services — Tidal, Deezer and Nugs.net — have libraries of tracks recorded in the new format.
With the enhanced processing power, the headphones do seem to sound slightly more refined and detailed, even though the hardware — and by that I mean the drivers — are the same as those found in the XM3. (Sony has frequently updated its headphone apps and firmware over the past couple of years, so it doesn’t feel like an empty promise.) On the first issue, Sony says it’s improved the noise reduction while making calls and also says the upgraded microphones now pick up your voice better. The official company line is that the “WH-1000XM4 features new Precise Voice Pickup technology, which controls five microphones in the headphones optimally, and performs advanced audio signal processing to pick up voice clearly and precisely for hands-free calls and Speak-to-Chat.”
I don’t think the XM4 is quite as good as the Bose Noise Cancelling 700 headphones for voice calling, but it’s definitely better and not a weakness like it was on the XM3 when it first launched. As for the touch controls’ response in cold weather, Sony says it has made some improvements with that issue as well.
I’m not convinced the touch controls will work flawlessly at really low temps, but then again, a lot of electronics can’t handle sub-zero weather.
But this is a great headphone that’s now about 15-20% better, thanks to a few small but significant upgrades and it should improve a bit further with firmware updates. We’ll see what competitors like Apple, Bose and others have in store over the next six months, but if I was going to drop $350 on a noise-canceling headphone today, this would be at the top of my list.
Sony WH-1000XM4 review: the best noise-canceling headphones get better
They address the two main downsides of the previous product: you can now pair to two devices simultaneously, and updated mics should make for clearer calls. Everything else is very similar or unchanged from last time around: the design is nearly identical, battery life still tops out at 30 hours, and the buttons and controls all work the same way. (Sony has assured me that the 1000XM4s will perform reliably in cold weather after it was found that the M3s had significant touch sensor problems in winter.)
I think some people will find this useful; the 1000XM4s still have the useful trick where you can cover the right ear cup with your hand to lower audio volume and pipe in ambient sound, but this method is voice-activated. There was also a situation during my testing where the headphones stopped when an overhead announcement was playing at the train station, even though the feature is supposed to be listening for your voice. You can adjust the sensitivity of Speak to Chat in Sony’s Headphones Connect app to avoid false activations. I don’t like the headphones taking control or changing the audio on me unexpectedly, so I tend to leave those features switched off. The new headphones have the same outward appearance, down to the copper accents — including the one around the microphone inlet that almost makes it look like a USB-C port. The head cushion at the top has been slimmed down; the ear pads now have 10 percent greater surface area for more contact with your head; and the curve of the headband has been “fine tuned.” I’m not some masochist who likes wearing over-ear headphones outside in the sweltering summer heat, but I’ve found the 1000XM4s to be plush and comfortable when worn for several hours around my apartment.
I haven’t had the previous pair on hand to compare against, but my visits to the grocery store have been free of noisy distractions or chatter cutting through. I’m still riding high on my high-energy summer listens like Phoebe Bridgers’ Punisher and Taylor Swift’s Folklore, and the Sony headphones showcase both albums superbly. My time with the 1000XM4s has made me a firm believer in Sony’s LDAC codec (available on most Android phones), which streams audio wirelessly at a significantly higher quality than the AAC you’re limited to if using an iPhone.
But Sony’s software improvements — multipoint, Speak to Chat, and nice throw-ins like Fast Pair — aren’t insignificant. With no outward design changes, I’m a little perplexed about what took Sony so long to release these — especially considering the 1000X, 1000XM2, and 1000XM3 headphones launched in such rapid succession.
But we started counting exactly how many times you have to hit “agree” to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people don’t read and definitely can’t negotiate.
I’ve also added a mention of the cold weather issues reported with the 1000XM3 headphones, which Sony insists have been fixed in the new model.
Sony WH-1000XM4 Review
I don’t normally recommend noise cancelling headphones to people unless they’re in certain environments where this feature is essential. It’s important to remember that many people use headphones on the go, while on transit or in places where there’s a lot of ambient noise.
The Sony WH-1000XM4, however, is a brand new ANC headphone that manages to significantly improve on these issues, boasting some of the best noise cancelling tech available.
The big question in my mind now is, is the lack of ambient noise significant enough for enhance the sonic perception of the music being played – and is this something I can finally get into?
I find that because the cups aren’t very big, they tend to scrunch my ears up a bit when I wear them. In particular, the XM4 has a sensor that detects when you take the headphone off, pausing your music, and then resuming playback when you put it back on.
I also appreciate the ability to pair the XM4 to multiple devices at the same time, so I can have it connected to my phone and then seamlessly switch to using it with my computer without having to unpair anything. What surprised me most about this feature, however, is that when switching to using it on my computer, I found that the XM4 retains the EQ profile I had specified in the mobile app software. This is great for when you get into specific adjustments and custom profiles – which I highly encourage for anyone who is looking to buy this headphone (or if you already have it) The Sony WH-1000XM4 uses a dynamic driver, but importantly it’s also a closed-back, wireless, active noise cancelling headphone.
In particular, the ‘in-use’ sensor on the left side creates asymmetry on the inside of the cups, and this does show up in the measurements. In fact, it doesn’t even compete all that well when compared with less expensive closed-back headphones, and is easily beaten by the similarly priced Audeze Mobius (and its various iterations).
The sense of immediacy for the initial leading edge isn’t particularly strong, meaning that tones lack the kind of tightness and control that makes music engaging with great headphones. They provide a sufficient sense of punch and impact to the music, and while this may be artificially enhanced by the headphone’s bass emphasis, even when EQ’d to a more appropriate level, the XM4 still delivers some decent slam. Once again, it’s not on the level of some similarly priced dynamic driver headphones (I have the Drop TR-X00 Ebony here for comparison), but it’s still decent. Now to be fair, it’s way better on the XM4 than I’ve heard on other ANC headphones, but that artificial de-noising burble is still ever so slightly audible in some environments.
This is mainly problematic for cymbal tones, but it’s also a bit overshadowed by the compressed and congested sound of the overbearing bass bleed. Thankfully there is a built-in EQ function that users can play around with to try to improve things, and so we’ll go through how to make this headphone sound more appropriate than its default tonality. This is likely due to the extra sensor that exists on the inside of one of the cups to determine if the headphone is being worn, and this allows it to automatically pause and resume the music when taking them off and putting them back on. This is a cool feature, but it also makes it so that when the battery runs out, you’ll likely end up with a bit of an incoherent channel imbalance going on.
Now I have to stress that while this isn’t exactly sibilant (this would be more of an issue around 7-9khz), it does cause some problems for percussion compression and it can come across somewhat aggressively in general. The nice thing about the XM4 though is that it’s meant to be used with a phone and with Sony’s headphone app, you do get a number of EQ presets and you can make your own as well. While still V-shaped and still somewhat aggressive in the treble, it does a lot to bring the bass response back in line to a more appropriate level. My favorite aspect of the XM4 though – apart from the excellent noise cancelling – is the ability to create a custom EQ preset in the mobile app.
While you don’t get enough tuning control for areas that really need to be adjusted (like 100-200hz), you do get a few filters that allow you to make this a decent sounding headphone. To my ear, this adjustment makes the bass a lot more distinct and well represented, along with additional clarity and balance to the mids. If you don’t need noise cancelling, but you’re still looking for a wireless, closed-back headphone, the Audeze Mobius is a far better option.
While the Sony WH-1000XM4 has some of the best noise cancelling and features of any wireless closed-back headphone I’ve used, it unfortunately trades off in terms of sound quality to a significant degree. Its default tonality is a boomy yet aggressive sounding experience that isn’t done any favors by both its frequency response or its technical ability. However, with the use of Sony’s mobile headphone app or a custom EQ profile like the one provided above, the XM4 becomes a more interesting proposition.
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