Sony WH-1000XM4 wireless headphones
Type: Over-ear
Noise cancellation: Yes
Weight: 254g
Battery life: 30 hours NC on, 38 hours NC off
Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0 with multipoint, NFC, 3.5mm jack
Voice control: Yes
DesignIt can be quite hard to look good in headphones – it takes a very specific type of person to pull them off without looking a little goofy. However, it’s not hard to look good in the XM4s. We’re not of the lucky few that can style a pair of cans, but these are so sleek and aesthetically sophisticated that we didn’t recoil in horror when we caught our reflection in the window: a great sign that these would work perfectly for the commute.
There isn’t much of a difference here to Sony’s WH-1000XM3s, with the headphones’ silhouette largely remaining the same. However, the XM3s are a beautiful pair of headphones, and the brand seemingly decided that it would be unwise to change a winning thing.
The XM4s twist and fold for better portability, and remain sturdy while packed away in the included carry case. Sturdiness in general is good: although the headphones are quite light compared to their competitors, this doesn’t result in a flimsy pair of headphones, as the materials used – even the plastic body – lend the XM4s an element of luxury and solidity.
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The XM4s are impressively comfortable, to the extent that after a while, you forget you have them on. The cups are snug but never too tight, providing even tension on both sides and a good level of physical, or passive, noise cancellation without resorting to an uncomfortable clamping. The battery life is an impressive 30 hours with ANC turned on, outstripping many competitors and giving you more than enough listening time for that flight to Australia you’ve had your eye on since April 2020.
The headphones disappointingly don’t have an IP rating, meaning they’re technically not waterproof or even water resistant. Despite their solid feel, this could be a deal breaker for some who might want the versatility of taking them around for the day without the worry of the Great British weather making an appearance.
Touch controls are easy to navigate and all found on the right cup, with a series of intuitive swipes and taps doing the work for you, and the XM4s happily still include a 3.5mm aux jack for wired listening. Also included for the first time is multipoint connection, whereby (unsurprisingly) you can connect your headphones to multiple devices – great for ease of use when you want to listen to Spotify on your computer, but switch to your phone for calls. All in all, Sony has thought of almost everything.
SoundThe XM4s offer an unbelievably full sound. Their supreme quality is potentially the best we’ve tested when it comes to richness of sound and audio eloquence. You can hear everything, from trills on the Skyfall score to heavy, rasping bass on Childish Gambino’s Redbone. Busy tracks that run the full frequency range, such as Thursday in the Danger Room by Run The Jewels are at their most impressive through these headphones: they really show off a top-end music producer’s skills.
There’s a great vocal clarity to the sound, down to picking up the distinct timbre of the voice. Watching the Tennyson recital scene in Skyfall (can you see why we listened to the score?) was the perfect example of this, the XM4s detecting every shake and moment of strength in Dame Judi Dench’s voice.
The five microphones inside the XM4s pick up your voice nicely, and we encountered no problems with the voice assistant. Calls also performed admirably, although the XM4s lost a little ground here on the hugely impressive pickup of the Bose NC 700s.
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There is a particularly sophisticated ANC at play here. The Sony QNe1 processor enables the headphones to constantly analyse ambient noise and react in real time, but alongside that, the partner app treats you to a heap of options. A wide array of audio modes, including various levels of ANC and ambient listening, offers personalisation of the XM4s laudable transparency.
For a rapid-fire adaptation to your surroundings, optimisation is very impressive – simply hold the custom button for a few seconds, and the XM4s will provide the very best listening environment. Speaking of the custom button, it can also control noise cancellation or voice assistant. However, you have to decide between the modes via the app, which doesn’t take long, but could become a bind.
One down side with the gamut of options is that the XM4s can, at times, feel a little fiddly. It might have just been us having one of those days, but there’s so much to tweak that sometimes it can feel like you’re missing out on a good feature unless you spend valuable minutes exploring the app. However, once you find your EQ and noise cancellation preferences, the app will remember your choices, so this really is a minor grievance, something we’re struggling to find in an otherwise outstanding pair of headphones.