Sony WH-1000XM4
Improving on the WH-1000XM3, these are the best noise cancelling cans out there
$449 sony.com
As good as the recent Shure Aonic 50, not to mention relative veterans such as Bose NC 700 and Sony WH-1000XM3, there’s nothing out there that can beat the Sony WH1000XM4, the brand’s latest noisecancelling headphones. Adding a stack of new features to an existing favourite while still delivering where it really counts – sound quality and noise-cancelling – Sony is clearly not sick of winning yet. The WH-1000XM4 packaging makes a big splash of the headphones’ Hi-Res Audio Wireless credentials, and we can tell you that highresolution (24bit/192kHz) music absolutely slays.
Broadly speaking, everything that was admirable about how the WH-1000XM3 sounded is ported to these intact. They use the same 40mm free-edge full-range drivers, so perhaps it’s not all that surprising. The lowest frequencies are deep, minutely detailed and controlled
really well – so despite hitting hard, the Sonys do so with completely straight edges. That means they’re comfortable with tempos of all kinds, and that bass doesn’t swamp voices in the midrange.
At the top of the frequency range, they’re very reminiscent of the XM3. They’re quite bright and attacking, but while they threaten to tip over into top-end hardness they never quite do so.
More importantly for many users, they’re not sniffy in the slightest about the quality of the digital file you serve them. Naturally, they do their best work with the biggest and most esoteric file types, but if you subscribe to Spotify’s free tier they will make it sound as good as it possibly can. They remain an engaging listen.
The control app has a number of EQ presets, plus the opportunity to save a couple of your own designs, so it’s possible to tame the treble a bit if you find it too wayward.
A feast of features
Plenty of the XM3 features have been carried over – the touch controls on the right earcup, for example. But at the same time, Sony’s piled quite a few new ones on as well.
First is ‘speak to chat’, where the headphones learn to recognise your voice, which doesn’t take long. Then, all you need do is speak for music to be paused, and external sound mildly boosted, for 30 seconds – enough to buy a ticket or a coffee.
The app will also learn your regularly visited locations and then use Sony’s ‘adaptive sound control’ to adapt the sound and noisecancellation intensity of the headphones to match. Having them adjust themselves as you go about your day is strangely satisfying.
Less cutting-edge, but arguably more useful, Sony’s finally fitted them with a proximity sensor and accelerometers so music pauses when you take them off your head.
Despite the quality of the XM3’s noise-cancelling, Sony has attempted to finesse it even further. It’s done that by bolstering its QN1 noisecancellation processor with a Bluetooth Audio system-on-chip. This new arrangement apparently analyses ambient conditions over 700 times per second and makes noisecancellation adjustments accordingly. And the noise cancelling is still, narrowly, the best there is.
It’s with Bluetooth, though, that the headphones strike their only bum note. Wireless connectivity is via Bluetooth 5.0, which is sufficient to get nice big hi-res audio files on board - but it only supports SBC, AAC and Sony’s proprietary LDAC codecs. There’s no sign of aptX, let alone the aptX HD that the XM3 supported, which seems perverse.
All things considered, Sony’s WH-1000XM4 are now the best noise cancelling headphones you can get. A range of talents this comprehensive, both in sonic and technological terms, is a rarity in headphones at any price.