Sony WH-1000XM4 Wireless ANC Headphones

**Disclaimer: I bought mine used like new through Amazon I originally purchased the Sony XM5 because they were soooo highly rated in every article I read. I returned the XM5, got the XM4 and am so much happier. I'll compare the XM4 to the XM5, Apple AirPods Max, and Bose QuietComfort 45 - just to help anyone choosing between them. **Noise Cancellation (4.5/5): the noise cancellation on the XM4 is crazy, almost comparable to the Apple AirPods Max. I gave the XM4 a 4.5 because I still think the Apple AirPods Max have the best noise cancellation, but the Sony XM4 is very close. I also like the fact that you can turn noise cancelling on/off with a button - which is a feature not available with the Bose QuietComfort 45. The noise cancellation is much better than the XM5 and less finicky. An issue with the XM5 is that the noise cancelling would just randomly turn on/off. Like if I paused a video for a little too long, the noise cancellation would just turn off Overall, I wouldn't say I it blocks out all sound, but it's close. I can hear the sound of people talking and music, but it's quieter and I can't make out the words. I definitely can't have a conversation with them on. Also, the XM4 will pick up on when you're talking to people and turn the noise cancelling off for you - but it does make a little announcement when it does that may be annoying or disruptive. **Sound Quality (4/5): the sound quality is great. Way better than the XM5, not as great as the Apple AirPods Max. I think the Apple headphones are just a little crisper. I think it's cool that you can turn 360 sound on, but tbh I never really use it (XM5 also has this feature). The sound is clear, and I haven't experienced any malfunctions/issues with the noise. When I had the XM5, they would just randomly sound muffled (like I was underwater) and, when that wasn't happening, the sound quality was mediocre. **Comfort (5/5): the XM4s are REALLY comfy. I wear glasses with plastic frames and a lot of headphones just don't work and are really uncomfy. The Apple AirPods Max were really uncomfortable with my glasses. Obviously, an easy solution is to just wear contacts, but I hate wearing my contacts for long periods of time - especially, when I study/do work. The XM5 were also pretty comfortable, but wouldn't stay fixed when I adjusted them - they would slip and I would need to readjust them a lot. The XM4 completely cover my ear and the ear pads are soft. They don't squeeze my head the way other headphones do and they don't hurt any part of my ear. I will say that the headband part that rests on top of my head does kind of hurt my head after wearing them for almost 10 hours. Also, I have TMJ so sometimes wearing the headphones does cause my TMJ to flare up and I'll switch to earbuds. But, I think overall these are the most comfortable headphones I have tried. **Product Quality (3.5/5): let's be honest, they're plastic and they feel plastic. They don't feel like super high quality, but let me tell you that they feel way better quality than the XM5 - those felt like a barbie toy. I think the XM4 are sturdy and pretty durable. The Apple AirPods Max are also plastic, but do feel a little more high quality - but also, nothing spectacular. **Aesthetic (3.5/5): If the aesthetic is important to you, I would say they look fine. They're a little bulky, but not terrible. Not as sleek as some others, but they don't look ridiculous. If you're really against a bulky look, then they may not be a great aesthetic match for you. I was worried they would be really clunky, but after getting them and wearing them for a bit, I really don't think they look bad. **Connectivity (4/5): I only have Apple devices (iPhone, MacBook, etc.) and I think the connectivity is great with these products! When I got the XM5, they had so many connection issues. I wasn't able to connect them to my laptop, they wouldn't stay connected to my devices - it was a mess. I was really worried I would have the same issues with the XM4, but I have had no problems so far. I will say it was a little odd to have have to download the Sony Connect app and manage the headphone through that platform, but it's user friendly and it's kind of nice to have a control for them (it's almost like a remote). **Battery Life (5/5): The battery life is insane. I've had them for 8 days and have not charged them yet - they still have about 40% charge left. They will turn off automatically to save battery life if you don't use them for a certain amount of time, which I personally like. OVERALL (4.5/5): I think the XM4 are great headphones for a better price than the Apple AirPods Max. The Bose are apparently really similar, but I've never personally tried them. The XM4 is MUCH better than the XM5 in terms of quality and price. They're comfy, great noise cancellation and sound quality, and have great battery life.

Customer Service: 5/5 I purchased this item on Amazon through the seller Focus Camera. The pair I received had a volume defect that effected one side of the headphones constantly making it louder. After some firmware updates and messing with EQ, it was apparent that this was a manufacturer issue. However, when I went to try to initiate the return Amazon was only giving me the option of a full refund when I wanted an exchange. I then reached out to the seller who initiated an exchange for me without any further questions asked - In fact, I was surprised to have the shipping label in their initial reply. Product: 5/5 Now that I have a new functioning unit, I can say these are some of the best all-around headphones available right now. As an Apple AirPods Pro user - and like many of you - I was discouraged at the price of Apple’s first branded headphone. No matter the quality, many of us can’t justify that price. I’ve been looking for a pair of wired-headphones for gaming use, video editing use (wired-in editing is the best for sound editing precision), and of course casual music listening use. As far as features, the gesture controls have worked accurately for me and I’ve welcomed the volume control which isn’t a feature on AirPods/AirPods Pro. Their companion app with built in EQ and detailed setting is a God-send for us Apple users who want more customization options in their products. The battery is as long as advertised and it’s nice knowing you don’t have to charge them daily (with my use). Speak-to-Chat is a great idea that has some real-world use cases. Noise Cancellation is probably the best in this mid-tier range of headphones. But if listening to your surroundings is most important to you be aware that the microphones used to listen to your environment - “Ambient Sound” Mode - seem to be located near the top of each headphone can and this appears to face up, as a result the ambient mode is not as effective as Apple’s AirPods Pro’s Transparency Mode (which I’ll assume that the same quality extends to the AirPods Max). The AirPods replicate your surrounding sounds perfectly in real-life quality as if you didn’t have anything in/on your ears. So big FYI; Apple is still king in “Transparency/Ambient” modes. Lastly, they’re extremely comfortable although your ears might get a little warm from the leatherette after prolonged use. I think price is important when considering the review of anything because it determines value. I bought these on sale for $278. With the price being so close to Apple AirPods Pro at $250, I personally feel I’m getting more than my money’s worth with a travel case, 3.5mm audio cable, charging cable, and airplane audio adapter all included with the cost at a great deal. These have a retail price of $350. So, given all of the above and the sound quality, I wouldn’t be particularly enthused or feeling like I got a great deal if I paid full-price for them but the convenience and rich sound make it a good investment nonetheless and almost all owners will be happy with them. But, I hope you understand that that means if these are on sale (especially for $250) then don’t even think about it. It’s a no-brainer Purchase them right away if you see them on sale! Lastly: Sound - The sound is great and highly customizable but the headphones themselves seem to lean towards warmer tones and more bass. Don’t worry, they’re not maxed out like the early-model Beats, but I recommend each user download their companion app and try EQ for the perfect balance. As long as you are aware that these aren’t the audiophile headphones for mixing professional music or films, nor the pair of workout/gym headphones, nor even the pair with noise cancellation that will make you sound like you’re in a soundproof room - then you’ll be happy. These headphones will not excel in any of these specific features, but that’s what makes these headphones the best over-all headphones. It’s a jack-of-all trades and so far one of my favorite Sony products ever made. I hope you enjoy yours as I’ve enjoyed mine.

I hate ear buds always falling out while moving or exercising or bending over. So wanted to get a set of headphones that go on your head! Sony for one is a great brand! Got these a year or two after they came out so the price was perfect for what you get! Very high quality. I’m a bass guy and these are perfect for that not to much and has just enough! Can fit any adult/ teen head! Has touch control pad on the right ear pad. Has an app that you can go in and has a ton of options. Noise cancellation is great they work really good! The charge lasts a long time honestly only charged these 2-3 times and I did just because. Very comfortable and come with a great sleek carrying case! If your in the same boat as me and hate ear buds I highly recommend!

So, first things first, I received these approximately 48 hours after purchasing a recent pair of Beats by Kim (Pro, Moon) headphones. An hour and a half after breaking them in.....yea, these are, how folks say, THE BEES KNEES! I don't know where to begin so please bear with me if I seem scattered with my findings but there are so many pros that it kinda became hard to keep track. One of the biggest pros is the fact that shortly after I used them, they made it an obvious decision to move off of my VERY RECENTLY PURCHASED BEATS STUDIO PRO! A $350 pair of headphones, mind you. Sorry, a falsely priced $350 pair of headphones. Out the box, you feel nothing but premium. The material on the site states that it's plastic but it feels like a very soft, shallow leather. Regardless, it feels great to the touch. It comes with the carrying case, a plug that seems to be used on airplanes, a 3.5 mm 2 way headphone cord and a usb a to usb c cable. Simple packaging. Now, on to the listening experience which is just that. A true experience! The noise canceling is the closest that I could possibly get to space! When you have it turned on, you literally feel the noise cancelation in your head. It's what I would imagine being in the vacuum of space would feel like. I know it sounds like I'm exaggerating but I assure you, I am praising these as if they were my own creation that I am promoting! There is also the ambient noise mode that is too smart for my intellect to grasp. It allows sound in while keeping the crazy noises out by using mics around the headphones. Then there is the feel of the ear cups. Again, premium! They don't sit on your ears, they cover them, keeping all sound out. The seal they create is pure listening bliss. They also pair well with the app for the headphones which push the functions of the headphones adjusting the intake of ambient noise based on your activity, sitting, walking, running and commute (train ride, bus ride, etc.). Overall, in my personal opinion, from someone who has within the last 48 hours used both the 2024 Beats Studio Pro and the 2020 Sony WH-1000XM4, Beats are a waste of time product from a company who clearly didn't use any time to update their product externally or internally! The Sony headphones offer premium quality sound, feel, functions and comfort. The price is high, but you see, feel and use every bit of your moneys worth.

I got the MX4's for use when driving and in a noisy office location while doing college work. I also listen to music and audiobooks/podcasts nearly all day, and it is not uncommon for me to have a pair of cans on for 8-12 hours daily. Moving forward, my main comparison is with the Senheiser HD599 ($200) and the HiFiman HE4XX's ($150, plus $200 for a Schitt Modi/Magni DAC and AMP setup, coming to a total of $350 for all three pieces of hardware). My use case is pretty high-volume listening therefore, and my musical tastes go from Jazz, Pop and Trap to Classical, Folk, Acoustic, and Rock. Overall, I would definitely recommend the MX4's IF you are needing the top-end noise cancelation, as the hype surrounding the NC performance is definitely more reality than fiction. It makes my commutes and listening experience in noisy environments, including an interstate, very enjoyable and less fatiguing. I also certainly enjoy the convenience and mobility of these headphones, and the battery life has been excellent thus far. However, if you do not need the absolute best noise cancelling, or maybe don't care so much about mobility, then I would not recommend them due chiefly for the price and audio quality compromise. I shall elaborate, first with what I like: - Comfort (though for bigger ears it may be a little less so). - Build quality is good for a headphone in this price bracket, given the tech. - Noise cancelling is honestly unbelievable, though please note these are my very first pair of NC headphones. - Decent sound for what it is, with good battery life to boot. - Cool intelligent tech, though admittedly I do not use it at all (I keep NC on at all times and do not utilize the speech recognition feature). - Mobility. - Truly some great tech thrown in here, and I can see the R&D going to work, also fairly useful app. Cons: - Price. - Sound quality is lacking when compared to setups at this price point (though I hear it is the best sound quality when comparing to other NC cans), however more on this below. - Ears can become warm after a while. - This may be just me, but I have issues with ear pressure changes throughout the day and can cause a feeling of needing to - and not being able to - "pop" my ears, which is annoying and causes long-term comfort to be an issue for long sessions, forcing me to switch back to my faithful 599's. To elaborate, I have HiFiman x Drop HE4XX'S, with a Schitt Modi/Magni stack DAC/AMP. This entire package cost me the same exact price as the MX4's from Sony, and the sound quality is essentially night and day difference. Sound stage, separation, and dynamic sound range is definitely noticeably worse on the MX4's, and there is significant bleed through the bass and mids in some songs. For reference I am listening on Tidal, with Master track quality. Even on my HE4XX's, the bass is tighter and more responsive, and, while not a bass-havy pair of cans, provides a much more accurate and tight listening experience across all ranges. This is partially due to the open back versus closed back design, but again for the price, if you do not care about being so mobile, or perhaps work from home or are a student doing much of your work and homework from a home office or fixed location like myself, I would suggest looking elsewhere. If you travel all the time and absolutely cannot live without maximum portability and noise cancelling, then the MX4's are the way to go. The sound quality is adequate (though I still grit my teeth when considering how much these cost compared to my true audiophile headphone set ups given the sound quality), especially when compared to other closed-back designs, and again the NC is absolutely insane. Another point is that firmware updates will hopefully keep improving on the already impressive and interesting tech inside these cans. All in all, I really do like the MX4's, but due to the price, it makes me hard to recommend to someone who cares chiefly about sound quality first, and the convenience and portability/NC factors second. If this is the case, I'd say go to something with a better sound profile, and you will likely find yourself spending less with a better musical experience, and a recommendation off the top of my head would be the EXCELLENT Senheiser HD599's (around $200 new on Amazon). Personally, if they would have saved on some R&D and kept the voice and calling features to a minimum but dropped the price, this would be a no-brainer for everyone, but I digress. If however, you need the solid NC and are excited about the mobility and convenience and the versatility that these cans can bring, and are okay with the compromise on sound quality as well as the steep asking price, I would say you would be hard-pressed to go anywhere else than the MX4's. I am still debating on keeping these or not, as I have been spoiled with amazing sound experiences for the past 3-5 years now, and I find it hard to take a hit to my pocketbook like this when I could get a truly awe-inspiring pair of audiophile cans to use with my current setup for the same exact price, though the MX4's are good enough to make it a hard decision which is itself a promising sign. Tldr; Should you buy the MX4's? It depends, but I do like them, and you need to just consider your use case when making that decision. This is a lot of money to spend on a pair of headphones, and if sound quality plays a large part in your decision, you have some serious competition to look at. Would I say I recommend the MX4's in general? Yes.

I purchased these recently while they were on sale intending to use them while I work from home and listen to music, podcasts, or take a work call. They can dually connect to both my computer and phone as I often switch between the two as I'm working. But the switch is not as great or seamless as it could be, sometimes it struggles, causing me to miss something being said at the beginning of the meeting when crossing over from one Bluetooth connection to the other. Pausing whatever device is actively playing media, then switching starting a call, or playing a video on that second device is a lot more seamless this way. Upon first use I was actually surprised by how light the headphones were and how comfortable the padding on these were, but I will say after wearing them for nearly 8 hours, I did notice a little bit of soreness around the tops of my ears but it's nothing compared to what ear buds feel like and what other headphones feel like only 2-3 hours. I cannot really speak on the audio quality as I'm not necessarily a huge expert in that area and I'm largely deaf in one of my ears so half of this pair of headphones is pretty much usless to me... none the less, it sounds great to me, great clear, crisp audio. And I will make note that coworkers that I had to speak on the phone with many times previously and always struggled to understand, regardless of if I have the call on private mode and turned all the way up, speakerphone, or earbuds. But with taking phone calls with these headphones I do not notice this same issue. To mention being largely deaf in one of my ears, these headphones do have a noise canceling features, and although I don't need too much help in the noise canceling area... I can attest that I feel almost completely deaf with these headphones on. Even with other noise canceling headphones, I can hear myself typing on my keyboard, or the sound of resonance of my feet hitting the ground while walking with headphones on, but I do not experience those things with these headphones at all. And so far from about a week and a half of use, the battery life has been great so far, and I am seeming to get about a day and a half (~12 to 14 hours give or take) of battery life from one charge before I get the battery low message, that is when decide to charge mine, but I'm sure you'd still have a good amount of charge left. Also, the case that these headphones come in, and are stored in, is so amazing and such good quality. I always return them to their case after I'm done using them for the day, as the case is strong is really helps keep your headphones safe and protected. I have a habit of throwing my headphones into a bag if I feel like I may want them, but in that bag is also so many other things, and I never worry about my headphones because of how sturdy and strong the case for these are.

Amazing, has noise cancelling, lightweight, and I got it on sale. I carry it everyday to school, on planes, bus rides, etc. Its very comfortable and I highly reccomend it. In terms of noise cancelling, it does cancel out a lot of the noise especially when you are playing music. However, if you are not playing music, you can still hear your surroundings. I do not mind this because i am mostly playing music anyways. I like the smoothness of the headphones as well and the easy sliding feature on the side of the headphones. There are two buttons on the headphones, one is to power on and the other is (tbh I don't use it). However, if you click it, it can tell you the time, read your text messages, and the battery percentage. I am sure there is other features in the button, but I have yet to explore it. I absolutely love this purchase and it is the first pair of headphones that I can comfotable take around with me. I can either put it in the protective case that comes with it or hang it around my neck. I sometimes forget that I even have headphones around my neck because of how light it is. (You know that feeling of light but heavy so you know it is good quality). The headphones came with 6 months free music on amazon music, but I mostly use spotify. This may be a plus to some though.

I bought a set of the XM4 to use at work - a busy "hotelling" desk style setup, with many people talking, while a few of us were trying to focus and write code. These worked quite well to provide sound isolation and also a good mic for Teams calls. I wasn't sure how long they'd last, as many other headphones I've had have started to flake and peel after extended use. Glad to say they've held up for a solid 3 years of near-daily use while working. Are these perfect? No. But they're close. The biggest gripe I have is that if you have the headset connected to your computer and phone simultaneously (yep, these will do that!), and are on a conference call through the computer and your phone rings, you will lose audio through the headset and hear your phone. There's an easy fix for it though - turn your bluetooth off on your phone and the headset won't auto-connect to it. I've also used them on flights and they provide good noise reduction and enough audio for watching movies or playing games. Sound quality seems quite good to my ears, though I'm sure they're not audiophile grade equipment. Others have better reviews about their audio quality, but I don't think these are "poor quality" by any means. Listening to music while programming, they provide good sound quality and enough active noise cancellation to drown out anything else. I'm leaving this review after 3 years, as I'm considering buying another set of them. Not because the first wore out... but because I want to make sure I can have a backup for when they do and Sony eventually stops selling them.

A disclaimer: I received this product as part of Amazon’s Vine program. While I didn’t pay for the item, the review is totally my personal, unbiased review. Neither Amazon, nor the vendor has influenced this review in any way. Pros Excellent noise cancelling Very good sound quality for all Bluetooth profiles (Listening to music, phone/video calls) Battery life Excellent Bluetooth range Automatic voice detection to pause music and enter transparency mode Cons Touch controls are simply awful! Dual Bluetooth device support Constant beeps and noise cancelling turned off especially with “Detection of Actions” enabled Voice detection for stopping music and going into a transparency mode responds to almost any sound you make. A large breath, grunt, anything will trigger this feature. Rubs on the “helix” outer part of the ear on the left ear Somewhat complex set up process Overall these are really excellent Bluetooth headphones. The noise cancellation is absolutely excellent. This is probably the best noise-cancelling headphone available. The Bluetooth range is also exceptional. Audio quality for music is also very good, and I expect most people will find them to be excellent. Phone/video call audio is also good receiving, and acceptable for the microphone. They have long battery life and charge quickly. They are relatively comfortable as well. The touch user controls are simply dreadful. There are many other features with a range of benefit. Comfort: They seem comfortable, and the ear pads are soft and plush. However after several hours the outside of my ears start to hurt from rubbing on the insides of the headphones (the area called helix on top of the ear rubs on the inside of the left ear around optical sensor area.) If at sometime we resume taking long international flights this could be an even larger issue. They are still comfortable though when wearing them with glasses. They ear pads are pliant enough to continue to make a good seal without painfully pushing them into your head. Bluetooth, Pairing, Multiple devices: These support 2 Bluetooth devices to be connected simultaneously. The Bose QC35 has had this feature for some time. I initially paired my iPhone X with the headphones. I then added a MacBook Pro from within the Connect app. I was then able to play music from the MacBook. I went back to the iPhone and tried to play something. It didn’t immediately play. In fact, it is rather finicky. Sometimes starting something with audio on the iPhone will cause audio to switch. Mostly it doesn’t if something is playing already on one device. Stopping the audio, waiting, and then starting the audio on the phone is a bit more reliable. Even if the source on one device is paused and not playing it may not switch back. This is a bit problematic though since the iPhone still thinks it is connected to a Bluetooth headphone, so the audio is still routed to the Sony WH-1000MX4, but isn’t played – so it goes no where. This works far more seamlessly on the Bose QC35. I actually found myself disabling this feature half the time. While the WH-1000MX4 does have voice announcements, it doesn’t speak the name of the device. It will say “Bluetooth device 1 connected,” whereas the Bose QC35 will speak “Joe’s iPhone.” Even more confusing is that device 1 and device 2 doesn’t always refer to the same device. Sometimes my iPhone is device 1 and other times it is device 2. The only way to really know is to go into the app where it will identify the device associated with device 1 and device 2. I added a 3rd Bluetooth device, again from the app. This works, but will disconnect one of the 2 already connected devices. It works pretty much like most Bluetooth devices. You disconnect at least one of the currently connected devices and then connect the new device. You can have multiple devices paired, but a maximum of 2 devices currently connected. You can see the list of devices within the Connect app. Bluetooth range is excellent. It would easily stay connected when going from one area of a reasonably large house to another. The range exceeds any other Bluetooth headphones. Sound Quality: Sound quality has to be the most subjective area to evaluate, yet one of the most important. Most people will find these really very good to excellent. For most these may well be the best sounding headphones they have ever had. Those more critical may find a few areas where they lack, but still they are excellent for noise cancelling headphones. Sound quality is probably one of the best aspects of these headphones. The sound quality when listening to high quality content was very enjoyable. Overall they are fairly well balanced, albeit a bit heavy on the low end, but not boomy or with obvious peaks in the response. More so they sound “warm.” The bass is noticeable, and quite deep. You will clearly hear the thump of a drum, but still somewhat tight. The deep bass on some of the Billie Eilish tracks is impressive. The bass is not so excessive though that it drowns out mid or high frequencies. Music sounds good with individual instruments clearly identified. Male and female vocals sound good and natural. The deep warm bass works well for movies and similar entertainment. These will likely work quite well for watching airplane entertainment. High frequencies are clear, and more smooth than harsh. They are balanced overall with a bit more low frequency emphasis that shifts the balance a bit. The iPhone app does have equalization settings, so it is possible to adjust to your personal preferences. I reviewed these set at flat, default setting. If one is going to compare these to audiophile headphones they will clearly notice differences. They will not replace examples of the best open or closed back audiophile headphones. They simply lack the detail, imaging and placement that those headphones present when paired with a quality DAC and headphone amplifier. That really isn’t a fair comparison though as these are noise cancelling Bluetooth headphones and they do a great job at that. I did listen through both Bluetooth with the AAC codec and wired with a quality external DAC while listening to high resolution content streamed from Tidal through a Master Quality Authenticated DAC. They do sound better with the same content played through a wired DAC than Bluetooth. The difference wasn’t as much was expected. Sony did a good job with Bluetooth. I also tried listening to them with the power off, as plain wired headphones. They didn’t sound that different, which is rather a good thing. The same experiment with Bose QC35s will have a totally different sound. Bose relies extensively on equalization to get their otherwise somewhat poor sounding headphones to sound good. Sony starts out with decent sounding drivers. I have not tried using the LDAC hi-resolution Bluetooth codec yet. This isn’t as easy as it would seem to use on either iOS or MacOS. You can’t simply use a high-resolution source to use it. You need to download and install the Sony Music Center app, then load the high-resolution content into that app to play. I’m not sure how to get it to work with a Mac at all. The better codec should sound better. To be fair, at least part of the problem is Apple in this case. I did try the DSEE Extreme feature. This supposedly improves the sound quality of low bit rate compressed content. I listened to some low bit rate MP3 files, and some standard streaming services, such as Amazon Prime music. It sounded different, I’m not sure I would say it sounded better. At least what I noticed was a boost in high frequencies. It made some of the squashed high frequency details more noticeable, but they still sounded highly compressed, and to some extent the compression artifacts became more noticeable. This may well be a personal choice, and likely varies over content, level of compression, and codecs used. The bottom line is that you really need to start with quality content. The 360 Reality Audio was a disappointment. I tried playing a variety of tracks in 360 Reality Audio on Tidal. I did this using the Tidal app on both iPhone and a Mac. I did link the Tidal app with the Sony app as part of the initial setup. I did notice a wider sound stage. It wasn’t like demos in a movie theater for Dolby Atmos or anything that dramatic. There was some front/rear placement depth. It was interesting to play with for a while. What I found though is that it just sounded strange. I played some of the same tracks on Tidal HiFi or MQA and to me they sounded much better, much more musical. Call me a purist, audiophile, or whatever, but I found the highly processed audio more annoying than enjoyable. It doesn’t replace the stereo imaging or placement that superb headphones can present as described above. Honestly overall these sound good enough without these audio tricks. Perhaps if there were some movie encoded with 360 Audio it would be better to enjoy special effects and less about musicality. It seems more of a gimmick than musical. By far the best quality was the same song in Master Quality on Tidal with an external DAC and the 3.5mm wired cable. Phone calls The audio quality on phone and video calls has been excellent on the receiving side and is about as good as Bluetooth HFP profile gets. it is excellent for conversations. With the excellent noise cancellation these are excellent for long video calls. They will likely continue to be great for those forced to endure a noisy open office environment, or need to make phone calls in a noisy area such as an airport or train station. Phone call microphone: Overall I’ve had only a few complaints from those that I’ve in meetings or on calls with. Most people said I sounded fine. I was on one phone call with my iPhone and the person had difficulty understanding me and could hear me fine when I switched to the iPhone. They said I sounded “far away.” On a video call I had some people refer to the sound as “bubbly.” After switching to AirPod Pros and the sound improved. They seem to isolate ambient noise reasonably well, although I haven’t had extreme cases to try during working from home due to COVID-19. This is one area where Bose QC35 were awful. I don’t know if they match AirPod Pro for microphone beam forming, but so far they seem fine. These work for phone and video calls, but aren’t great. Noise cancellation These are fantastic at noise cancellation. I haven’t been on an airplane with them, the real test, but these seem significantly better than the already excellent Bose QC35. At least around the house they block out the low frequency sounds that noise-cancelling headphones are best at. Around the house even a Ninja blender was mostly attenuated while I was on a conference call. My neighbor’s air conditioner that still can be heard with the Bose QC35 and AirPod Pros is completely gone with these. I was even using a really loud flooring saw and used these. I did still hear the saw, but not very loud, and I could still enjoy music while sawing flooring! Family talking is mostly gone during conference calls and entirely when playing music. I expect that these would be great in an open office environment or an airplane. Bose QC35 were the best I had used prior to these, and the Bose don’t work nearly as well, especially for voice. They have much better noise cancellation than Apple Air Pod Pro buds too. If your main reason for looking for headphones is noise cancellation, these are what you buy. One annoyance I had with the Bose QC35 headphones is if I wore glasses the sidepieces would create an acoustic leak and let some noise in. They still work, but especially on an airplane you would hear more air noise. I haven’t tried them on an airplane yet due to covid, but so far I don’t notice nearly as much difference as I did with the Bose with glasses. Battery: Sony claims 20 hours of battery life without defining what mode. Other headphones sometimes have decreased battery life with HFP (phone calls). These definitely exceed the rated battery life. With the first charge they lasted almost a week of varied use. I used them for a multi-day virtual conference, and other meetings (combination of HFP and A2DP) for over 14 hours, and they still had 60% charge. Sony doesn’t specify any longer battery life with the wired cable. On the Bose I would plug the cable in when I would go to sleep on international flights, and Bose quoted 40 hours like that, so 20 hours isn’t fantastic. It is more than enough though. It will get you through the longest flight plus some other use. Almost any other use it should be more than enough. I used them over 10 hours straight one day and they were still around 70% charged. Charging: These charge with a USB-C connector. They come with a very short (about 6”) USB-A to C cable but no power supply. They charge relatively quickly (less than an hour from 20%, but I didn’t time it). You will need around a 10W power supply to get the fastest charging. I monitored the charge current from 20% capacity. They started at 0.44A or roughly 2.2W, which seemed reasonable for headphones. Then they jumped to 1.32A or about 6.66W, then to the maximum I saw was 1.8A or about 9 W! It is surprising that Sony pushed that much power into a headphone! The actually battery capacity has to be pretty large, so it apparently does use quite a bit of power. In most cases this is of no issue, they charge up quick. It can be an issue is if you are stuck trying to charge them in an airport or airplane port. They will also suck a lot out of a battery pack. User interface: This is the worst aspect of these headphones. The touch controls are simply dreadful, almost unusable. Simple buttons would have been much better. Even with practice it is almost impossible to master the gestures to go forward, backward, start/stop, and change the volume. Either it doesn’t register the touch, or it does the wrong thing. You try and turn the volume down and track changes. To be fair, they do have a volume control. The Air Pods Pro don’t and that is really annoying. Even with practice controls don’t work right. Some guidance: to change the volume, especially lower it, swipe down on the right ear as if you are petting it. Just swiping as if using a smartphone touch screen won’t work right. Swipe down from above the top just like petting it, and then it might change the volume. Changing tracks is even harder, and only seems to happen when trying to change the volume. Hitting the start stop button doesn’t seem to work, except of course when you try to adjust the headphone on your head and then it stops what you were listening to, and would likely hang up a call – be careful of that. I end up using controls on my phone or computer most times. Simple buttons would have been SO much better. Voice assistant: Setting up Alexa is not all that easy. Assuming the headphones are already set for Alexa, you already have the Alexa app installed and set up, and the headphones are already paired to the phone you still need to add the WH1000MX4 to Alexa. This takes going to the Alexa app, and adding the device. It will then want to pair with Bluetooth. I put the WH1000MX4 into pairing mode by using the almost hidden mode of holding the power button (rather than the app). It then showed it failed to connect, but it actually seemed to pair on the second attempt. If you were successful you will have a second pairing of the device as LE_-WH1000XM4, for a second Bluetooth Low Energy pairing. Then Alexa did work hands free (if enabled in the Alexa app). You could just say Alexa and it worked. You could ask Alexa what ever you normally would. It seemed to actually work better than the Echo Auto that also relies on the app. The response audio always has the first syllable of cut off though. This works fine for querying Alexa, or invoking Alexa content. It does NOT work for controlling other functions on the phone, even changing the volume. Telling Alexa to play won’t resume what was playing on the phone, it will resume what the Alexa app used last it seems. This may be iPhone limitations, but I will likely switch to Siri and see if that works better. It would be great if you could have all of them and just invoke the desired one with the appropriate wake word (Alexa, Hey Siri, OK Google). I haven’t tried other voice assistants with these yet. The automatic speak to chat feature is both great and annoying. At least with the sensitivity set to automatic it will detect voice quite well and stop the content you may be listening to, and allow ambient sound to be heard. This, when desired is far more convenient than Air Pods Pro where you have to hold be button for a few seconds to go into transparency mode. While you still can’t hear what someone says to you, at least when you reply to them, it immediately lets you hear them, and doesn’t take the seconds the Air Pods do. With AirPods you also need 2 actions to stop music and enter transparency mode. This mostly works. In the automatic mode it doesn’t need to actually be voice that triggers it. Anything like a grunt, large breath, anything it seems will trigger it. The slightest grunt or sound and they stopped the music and went into ambient mode. There is a low sensitivity mode that I haven’t tried yet. You will find this feature to be a love/hate relationship after a while. Even with the “Focus on Voice” feature enabled this still seems to be overly sensitive. Another feature is adaptive sound control. This is supposed to optimize the sound based on location, and detection of actions. This is likely useful when changing between an office, train station, etc. I haven’t evaluated that during a pandemic. As for automatic detection of actions, that can be very annoying. It was fine when sitting in one place. Initially I didn’t know why EVERY time I bent down the headphones would beep and go out of noise cancelling mode. Then resume playing normally. This is apparently the notification for detection of actions. This can be disabled in the app. If someone were to use these headphones in a gym or exercising this would be annoying as well. (Note: These are NOT sport headphones!) App The app is essential to setting up, using, adjusting, and updating the headphones. Sony even uses the app for pairing with the iPhone, which is unusual. The app allows configuring the many options available, equalization and more. You also use the app to optimize the headphones for the shape of your ears by taking a picture of your head and both ears. I went through the whole process. There are a lot of options in the app, and the layout is OK. It can be a bit confusing. The app does provide a lot of control and information. It shows battery level, and the current codec in use. This last part I really like, Apple typically doesn’t show these details. Many options can beyond simply being enabled or disabled from the app can also be further controlled. Case, accessories A nice rigid fabric coated and lined travel case is provided. It is similar in size to the Bose QC35. It appears that it would protect the headphones and hold up well with travel. A 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable is included. This allows using the headphones with a wired source, such as an airplane entertainment system. The cable does not have a microphone or controls and will not control and iPhone, iPad, or Mac or support calling. It is only a 3-conductor plug for stereo listening. While the Bose QC35 headphones come with an equivalent cable, the Bose QC25 cable, or the Amazon Basics alternative cable can be purchased that does allow using the QC35 for phone calls, and wired remote. Also included is a short USB-A to USB-C charge cable, no charger, and the old 2-pin airplane adapter.

In 2024, I went on this "quest" you could say, to try to find some great wireless headphones, went through four different brands that were all on the cheaper side of things. After having issues with most of them, I remembered that in my teenage years I'd been given some decent Sony bluetooth headphones that lasted years and were perfect (I'd still use them to this day if the battery on it weren't completely dead) so I decided to give Sony another shot, which were the fifth and final brand. Here's the good things about these headphones: The sound quality of the headphones are fantastic, as well as the ANC (they really knocked it out of the park with the ANC). I find that they are also very comfortable to wear, I don't constantly "register" them on my head when I'm actively doing stuff, because they fit very well and are quite adjustable. They also feel very premium, and don't seem like they're just going to randomly break apart. As an added touch, I find the included case to be very nice, and they include both charging cables and an auxiliary 3.5mm cable so that you can use these wired if you want. Now that the pros/positives have been stated, its time for the negatives/cons: Unfortunately, while the sound and ANC is fantastic, there were still some things that I don't really like from these headphones and it primarily has to do with the "features": - The gesture/touch controls are far too easily triggered when trying to put on/take off the headphones - The automatic play/pause function that occurs when putting on/taking off the headphones can get inverted very easily (if your audio is paused and you take off your headphones, then it resumes the audio, you put them back on and it pauses the audio - I presume because there's no separate "play" and "pause" function in the BT protocol, just a combined play/pause action) - The automatic power off function (when you take off your headphones and don't put them back on for 10 minutes) seems to work sometimes, and then completely doesn't other times - You can have two devices connected at once, but when enabling this feature the Sony app warns you that this will disable some features/cause other features to not work as well - Firmware updates take a VERY long time to apply. I don't really consider this a major con since its not like firmware updates are being released every day or even every month, but it would still be nice if they could somehow be applied via a cable since I would assume most of the time it takes is due to having to send the update package over Bluetooth which is a fairly slow protocol for sending large data over. However, I do understand that most people are not going to want to use a cable to apply the update and thus a wireless update is much more convenient, I'd just like an alternative option. - A bit of a "nitpick", but the Sony app that you need to install on your phone in order to manage these headphones requires that you sign in with a Sony account. I'm not sure why this is required, I shouldn't need an account to toggle some features on my headphones. Also, since I primarily use these on my PC I'd much more appreciate having a PC app available, as when I want to manage the features I need to disconnect from my PC, grab my phone, connect to my phone, open the app, etc then disconnect from my phone and reconnect to my PC (since allowing multiple connections causes features to be unavailable as per one of my previous points). And most importantly, the battery life is pretty subpar. I'd say you barely get 8 hours of usage out of them, and for some reason you cannot charge and use them wirelessly at the same time. Plugging in the charger forces the headphones to power down and they will not power back on until you unplug them - for some reason *all* of the headphones I tried last year are like this. I cannot stress enough how aggravating this is when you combine the low battery life with the high price tag, and not being able to work around it by just plugging them into power. Now yes, you can plug in the 3.5mm cable to your PC, but the cable isn't long enough to reach my PC and I don't exactly want two cables running down both sides of me just because the battery ran out. If this limitation weren't in place, I could forgive the limited battery life enough to not subtract a full star for it. The only positive here is that unlike most headphones, these ones do not annoy you with constant "low battery" alerts. You get one alert when it first registers that the battery is at a low threshold (it seems like 10% is the threshold), and then the next alert happens when it shuts down due to the battery running out (so that is only two alerts in total). There's about 45 minutes of time between the warning alert, and the final alert. This is something I very much appreciated as I'm not always in a convenient spot to plug in my headphones. That makes them still usable at the final bit of battery, whereas other headphones will alert you every two minutes which effectively subtracts the battery life from those ones. I do wish that the alert voice wouldn't cut off the audio that is playing on my PC, as when I'm in a conference call at work and the alert kicks in, I end up missing whatever someone was trying to tell me for a couple of seconds while the alert plays. On the note of the alerts, another positive thing is that the voice itself is not annoying, and you can configure what language it speaks to you in via the app for those who are multi-lingual or non-English speakers which is fantastic to see. I'd expect these negatives to occur in headphones that are less than $70, but these headphones are ~$200. The battery is the real kicker for me because I work from home and utilize these during my work shift, and can't even make it through two full work shifts without needing to charge them and thus switch to a "backup" pair of headphones. I had cheaper headphones with longer battery life. The good thing I suppose is that since most of these negatives are "software" (aside from the battery capacity), and theoretically could be improved via firmware updates. As to whether that will actually happen, I can't say. So overall, I give it three stars. One star is lost for the software/features being more on the subpar and glitchy side, then another star lost for the battery life. However, since the physical aspects (including sound quality, excluding battery) of the headphones are actually *really* good, I didn't want to subtract any more than two stars. Times like this I wish that there was a way to rate an item exactly in the middle, because that's ideally where I'd rate these. Great on the physical side of things with a couple of exceptions, but needs improvements on the software side (especially for the price tag).