Apple AirPods Max vs Sony WH-1000XM4: Which wireless headphones are best?

These are the newest headphones from Apple and the first over-ears from the brand. The in-ear true-wireless headphone market was transformed by the arrival of the AirPods and the more recent deluxe version, AirPods Pro. These headphones are true-wireless, too – the only cable in the box is a charging cable and there’s no charging plug, by the way.

The headphones are feature-packed, as they should be at this price, you may say. There’s noise-cancelling, something called spatial audio and adaptive EQ, which we’ll come to shortly. So, how do they look, what do they feel like and, most important of all, how do they sound?

Like the first AirPods, Apple has designed something unmistakably different here. The large ear cups have an almost oblong rear, with rounded corners, naturally. They’re made of anodised aluminium, a favourite Apple material, and they attach to the headband with a gleaming stainless-steel connector that’s round and slides smoothly in and out so you can adjust to the perfect fit. The headband itself is covered in a soft, rubbery material and has a mesh canopy at the top which rests on your head.

The headphones come in five different colours. As well as the space grey and silver versions you’d expect, both of which are solid, if cautious, choices, there are three friskier options: a calming green, a feisty pink and a strikingly beautiful sky blue. Across all of them, the aluminium, the mesh ear cups, rubberised headband are all colour-coordinated. So is the carry-case, a simple and space-saving pouch that the ear cups fit into, leaving the headband to serve as a carry handle. The design of the carry-case is the more divisive element of the airpods max design.

The earcups on Apple’s new headphones are spacious and comfortable, enveloping the ears completely, providing an effective noise-isolation effect. Memory foam means they mould to the shape of your head, which increases the completeness of the seal. Because the headphones are reasonably lightweight, the softness of the foam means airpods max are extremely comfortable, even for extensive wear.

Unlike some headphones, they have a brilliant control system. On the top edge of the right ear cup, there’s a small button and a dial, rather like a bigger version of the digital crown found on the Apple watch. The button lets you cycle between listening modes and the dial is a super-smooth and effective volume control. With a light brush of the fingertip you can adjust the volume. You can also press the crown to play or pause a track, answer or end a phone call and so on. It’s a highly effective system.

There are three listening modes: noise-cancelling on, off or transparency. This last uses external microphones to amplify outside noise, including your own voice, to make it easy to have a conversation without removing the headphones.

Raising an ear cup, however, will pause the music playback until you replace the headphones properly. That’s a feature borrowed from AirPods, as is saying “hey, Siri” to raise the virtual personal assistant. Spatial audio, also found on the in-ear airpods pro, creates a persuasive surround sound effect and even uses head tracking. This means that if you’re watching a movie on an iPad, say, as you turn your head, the headphones adjust so the sound is still coming from where the screen is. The other standout feature is adaptive EQ. This is where the headphones change the sound to allow for a different fit on the head thanks to glasses, for instance.

There’s also seamless switching, which is brilliant: if you stop listening to music on your iphone and pick up your ipad or macbook, the airpods max automatically switch to the new source. This only works with Apple products which have the same Apple account connected.

So, the big question: do they sound any good? The answer is yes, AirPods max sound magnificent. There’s plenty of bass when needed but it never overpowers the rest of the track. There’s a pleasingly neutral tone which gives a clean, clear character to the music, across a soundstage that feels wide and uncluttered. In most cases, the music is distortion-free even at high volumes. These are among the best-sounding headphones I’ve tried.

Battery life is good, at 20 hours, and a five-minute charge for flat airpods max delivers an hour and a half of music. There’s no off button placing the headphones in the case switches them so ultra low power mode. There’s also no cable to connect to, say, the 3.5mm jack for inflight entertainment. You’ll need to buy that separately.

Sony has been making outstanding noise-cancelling headphones for years now and this model is the latest in an illustrious series. In design terms, they are much more conventional than Apple’s headphones, with a chunkier headband, a deeper profile ear cup and offering only two choices of colour: black and silver. Both shades are quieter and less eye-catching than Apple’s. Oh, and the carry case is much more unadventurous – a zippable case that completely covers the headphones and cables – and many people will prefer that.

They are also lighter and the ear cups are smaller, though big enough to comfortably encompass most ears. There are plenty of advanced features in Sony’s headphones, such as wearing detection so that, like the airpods max, if you raise one ear cup, the playback pauses. Additionally, if someone’s talking to you, just placing a hand over the right ear cup turns the music down and lets outside noise in. It powers down the headphones when you’re not wearing them, too.

Then there’s speak-to-chat. If that sounds tautological, what it means is that artificial intelligence in the headphones can learn your voice and when it recognises that you’re speaking, it pauses the music and lets ambient noise in using external microphones. This is a fantastic feature and works well. There is a downside: if you like to sing along to what you’re listening to or if you talk to yourself, the same pause kicks in. You can turn this feature off or simply return to the music by touching the right ear cup, which has a touch-sensitive pad in it. You control the volume by sliding a finger up or down the touchpad.

Set-up is not quite as simple as on the AirPods max, requiring the download of the Sony app before you pair them to your phone. It is easier on Android than on iPhone. Neither is complicated and you’re still set up in a matter of minutes, and the downloaded app has extra control features.

One other cool extra is multipoint connection which means you can pair the headphones to two Bluetooth devices at the same time. This is handy if you’re listening to music on a tablet and a call comes in on your phone. The connection switches automatically. You can also switch easily between devices at any time: it’s not quite as seamless as the way airpods max moves between Apple products. Here you have to press a button, but that’s not exactly a hardship.

Sony’s noise-cancelling is second-to-none and the company says this edition is better than ever. It is spectacularly good in even noisy situations, working well on planes, for instance (and Sony thoughtfully includes a cable so you can connect to the inflight entertainment. Overall, there’s little difference between Apple’s and Sony’s noise-cancelling. Along with Bose and its headphones 700, these headphones and the airpods max are streets ahead of rivals for noise-cancelling quality.

Audio quality is also extremely strong, sounding every note with great clarity and deftness, without muddiness or overpowering elements, though there’s plenty of bass, if that’s what you’re looking for. Like Apple’s headphones, there’s a neutral tone that suits all kinds of music and is deeply faithful to it. The soundstage is extensive and sumptuous, with music sounding bright and punchy. It’s worth adding that Sony’s headphones work with its Sony 360 audio high-definition format and also recognises more advanced audio codecs than Apple’s, though for many people this won’t be a deal-breaker.

Battery life is better than Apple’s at 30 hours and a 10-minute charge gives five hours playback, though this requires an optional adaptor.