Sony WF-1000XM4 Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones review

Sony WF-1000XM4 has the most feature and user-friendly pair of wireless earbuds we’ve ever tested.

With a new audio processor and a new charging case and definitely a new design and even improved eartips.

Premium noise-cancelling headphones that comes in discreet packaging makes more environmental sense.

Bluetooth: version 5.2
Noise-cancelling: Yes
Battery life: 8 hours BT + ANC, 24 hours (combined)
Wireless Charging: Yes
Voice control: Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa
Colours: Black and Silver
Weight: 7.3g x2

Hardware

The all new case charges via USB-C and also allows wireless charging via compatible Qi charging pad.

It even allows wireless charging from phones that have the function.

Battery life is amazing, 8 hours with ANC and bluetooth and another 16 hours of charge from the carrying case. This is much better than the AirPods Pro of 5 hours. 12 hours without ANC and 24 hours combined withe the case. There’s quick charging capability too, with 5 minutes you can expect an hour’s worth of playtime.

You now get eight hours of play from the earbuds with noise-cancelling and Bluetooth turned on, and Sony claims the case can supply a further 16 hours of charge. That places their battery life from a single charge above all major rivals. The AirPods Pro can only manage five hours, the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless seven hours and the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds six hours. Turn off noise-cancelling and the Sony’s life is extended to 12 hours from a single charge and 24 hours with the case. A five-minute quick charge is good for one hour of playtime, too.

The required time for fully charging the headset and the charging case is about 3 hours from flat.

The matte finish on each earbud gives the headphones a premium feel, while the small accents around the microphone and sensor holes add a tiny splash of colour. Speaking of colour, the XM4 come in a choice of black or silver. If you’re a casual gym goer this would make a perfect pair with some water resistance. But take note only the earbuds not the case.

If you notice the eartips are different. This a new of material from Sony which is made from polyurethane and Sony believes it gives a stable fit and tightly secure for a better experience to maintain or reduce noise.

There’s no silicon eartips included in this package but I’m sure everybody has some lying around in the house from all our previous purchases.

Technology

There’s a new processor from Sony for the XM4 which is Integrated Processor V1. This new processor has a clearer sound and better noise-cancelling than their previous models. And also including DSEE Extreme audio processor with Edge-AI which we have already seen in the WH-1000XM4. This is for upscaling music files to high res quality. Not forgetting it also uses less power.

For the hardware XM4 is using a 6mm driver which features a new material and a bigger magnet than XM3. It has enhances noise cancelling by generating a high-precision cancellation signal to the low frequency range.

Not 1 but 2 noise sensing microphones per earpiece. both with different purpose. one feed-forward and the other feed-back to make it more aware of the surroundings.

Another new from Sony is the eartips. The newly developed uses a unique polyurethane foam material. It is Soft and elastic which helps maximises the surface contact area between the earbud tip and the ear canal. For reducing gaps to insulate sound and reduce noise.

Headphones Connect app

As usual, we need the Headphones Connect app on our android phones to maximise the usage of this wonderful earbuds. the XM4 supports independent listening so don’t worry about using just one earpiece

 

From the Headphones Connect app we can customised the touch function of both sides of the earpiece. We can use it to control volume, playback start/pause or even change noise-cancelling mode or ambient sound modes.

Another function is Quick Attention Mode. Quick Attention Mode is a function that makes it easier to hear ambient sound without removing the headphones by lowering the volume of currently playing music, phone calls, and ringtones.

To activate the Quick Attention Mode
Hold your finger to the touch sensor on the left unit.
The Quick Attention Mode is activated only when you are touching the touch sensor.

There’s also an auto function called Speak-to-Chat when you start talking it will reduce the volume and switch to ambient mode. Pretty neat function.

To enable Speak-to-Chat
To activate the Speak-to-Chat mode, the headset’s automatic audio detection must be enabled in advance.

Take note Speak-to-Chat is disabled by default, To enable, change the setting with the app.

Sony’s LDAC file format which allows hi-res audio files up to 24-bit/96kHz to be transmitted at data rates of up to 990kbps. This can be noticed once paired with your android phone.

More about LDAC here

Sound Quality

Bass. That’s all I need in earbuds and WF-1000XM4 has plenty of bass. The sound quality is amazing and low frequencies are clear and crisp. There’s no need to adjust the equalizer for these set of earbuds. Tonality and overall sound is well balanced.

Conclusion

Sony has made an amazing earbuds with their latest model WF-1000XM4. Almost perfect set of earbuds for professionals or anyone with looks for top notch noise cancelling earbuds and don’t prefer headphones. Premium choice for $379 in Singapore.