Sony WH1000XM4

Specs

Battery Life: Up to 30 hours

Companion App: Sony Headphone Connect

Frequency Response: 4 Hz-40,000 Hz $350

For years, Sony and Bose have been taking turns wearing the crown as king of noise-canceling headphones, and last year the victory was Bose’s with the Headphones 700. But there’s no rest at the top. The Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones, emerging after months and months of rumors, have lived up to their hype, taking their rightful place as the best noise-canceling headphones out there — for now.

Sony didn’t exactly reinvent the wheel with the WH-1000XM4S. In fact, they look virtually identical to their 2018 predecessors. But that doesn’t mean they haven’t improved. Slightly larger earpads and a tweaked headband with a slimmer head cushion are subtle alterations that make the WH-1000XM4S exceedingly comfortable. But where the WH-1000XM4S really excel is in their improved noise-canceling ability, sound quality and features list, making them a joy to wear and absolutely best-in- class.

With improved internals, the WH-1000XM4S are just stellar at canceling out human voices, like from your noisy coworker (or these days, more likely your partner or roommate). And like their predecessors, they are still simply the best at canceling out lower frequencies, like from a car, train or plane, if you happen to be traveling. Thanks to added smarts, the Sony WH1000XM4S are also now intelligent enough to listen to your surroundings, and they’ll automatically tweak the noise- canceling settings so that the music sounds best.

Sony’s bread and butter with its headphones has always been the features list, and the WH1000XM4S don’t skimp. They have a new Speakto- Chat feature that automatically pauses the music when you start talking. There’s a new proximity sensor that will play/pause the music when you take headphones on and off. And, maybe most importantly, they can pair via Bluetooth to two devices at once. It all adds up to a pair of headphones that are truly top-of-the-line.