If 2020 has seen you find yourself, for some reason, working from home a lot more and finding it hard to concentrate on said work whilst the schools were closed and the kids at home, then the launch of Sony’s latest WH-1000XM4 noise-cancelling headphones will be sure to put a smile on your face and maybe, just maybe, help to reduce your stress levels and let you focus, restoring peace, harmony and bliss to your lockdown home life.
In fact, even if you’re commuting into the socially-distanced office, this latest release from Sony could just be the best headset for a noisy office and if you like the sweet sound of silence on your train ride home you can always use noise cancelling headphones for sleep, too!
Sony’s previous flagship, the WH-1000XM3s, were hugely popular and universally praised, and ended up being considered the crème-de-la-crème when it comes to the best noise cancelling headphones. The new version promises new AI features to make compressed music sound better as well as the ability to connect to multiple Bluetooth devices at once.
As the marketing-leading, top-of-the-range consumer noise-cancelling headphones they’re certainly not cheap though at around $349USD or ~ £349GBP. So if the WH-1000XM4 price puts you off, don’t worry; for those on a budget, I’ve rounded up some of the best budget noise cancelling headphones at the end of the article.
What’s New in the Sony WH-1000XM4 Noise-Cancelling Headphones?
The new WH-1000XM4 headphones are mostly the same as the wildly popular WH-1000XM3s, which is undoubtedly a good thing – I mean, why would Sony risk a radical change to such a popular and successful product? So, this time round we see a very similar design with similar active noise-cancelling technology, USB-C fast charging, use of Sony’s LDAC system and touch-sensitive controls on the sides of the outer cans housing the same 40mm drivers.
New this time round is the ability to keep 2 Bluetooth devices paired at the same time, so that will be useful to anyone who frequently uses their headphones with both smartphone and laptop – so you won’t need to keep pairing and un-pairing any more, which will certainly reduce frustration. Presumably that could also have been achieved with a firmware update to the older cans, but it looks like Sony’s reserving that for the new set only.
Sony have also added in an IR (infrared) sensor this time round. No, this isn’t so that you can control your music using a TV remote (lolz) but instead it’s so that the headphones can detect when you take them off and place them back on your head, pausing and resuming playback of your music for you. Nice touch!
Using the M4s to make and receive phone calls (remember them?) should be easier as Sony have sought to make this work better, using what they’re calling “Precise Voice Pickup Technology”. This uses the 5 built-in microphones as well as better signal processing to pick up your voice better as you speak, which is a good thing considering your mouth is so far from anything even resembling a microphone. This is a welcome upgrade which could just make the M4s the best wireless headphones for making calls.
If you like to use your noise-cancelling headphones in a different way depending on where you are, then the smarthphone app you can install alongside the M4s can use a new feature called Adaptive Sound Control which means you can set your own custom profiles for automatic use in different locations, like your shared workspace, a coffee shop or a railway station for example.
The new Speak-to-Chat feature will pause your music when it detects that you’re speaking to somebody. The music will stay paused for 30 seconds by default – or another duration set by you in the app – so you can hear the other person talking back to you. Sounds like a useful feature, although I think it’ll still be a bit weird talking to someone whilst you’ve got your headphones on… they might presume you can’t hear and start shouting at you, or at the very least think you’re a bit of a weirdo. That happens to me a lot, although I don’t think it’s anything to do with headphones…
Do the Sony WH-1000XM4s Sound Better than the WH-1000XM3s?
For audio sound quality, it’s out with the old and in with the new – the version of Sony’s Digital Sound Enhancement Engine technology (DSEE HX) found in the M3s has been replaced with the new and snazzier-sounding DSEE Extreme. Apparently this uses Artificial Intelligence (of course, what else?) to “upscale compressed digital music files in real time” in order to “restore the high-range sound lost in compression.” This means that it recognizes what genre of music you’re listening to and identifies the instruments being played and then essentially fills in the gaps (ie. invents sound) left by the compression of the audio track.
Clever-sounding stuff, but does it sound any better in the real world? Expect a side-by-side blind comparison test on the channel soon, so subscribe to our YouTube channel to see that.
Is it worth upgrading to the Sony WH-1000XM4s Noise-Cancelling Headphones?
If you’ve already got a pair of the WH-1000XM3s, then there’s not much here which is going to make you want to whack them on eBay and splurge on the new version. If you were hoping for an improvement in battery life then you’ll be disappointed, but then if you were disappointed with 30 hours on a full charge (+ 4 hours’ use from a 5 min charge) the last time round, then… well, you’re probably just one of those people who are never happy.
If you use a cable instead of Bluetooth (ie. a “passive” connection) then you should get around 40 hours’ usage out of the XM4, versus the 36 hours last time round – so that’s a decent improvement there. The WH-1000XM4 headphones also use the newer Bluetooth 5.0 standard, with power consumption apparently down from 8W to a tiny 2W!
If you haven’t already got a pair of noise cancelling headphones, especially if you’re going to be working from home more in the coming months, then the Sony WH-1000XM4 are absolutely a cracking pair of headphones which will not only give you superb-quality audio without irritating cables, but they’ll block out noise and distractions like nothing else on the market (even if you just want silence) without needing a recharge every 5 minutes.
The launch of the M4s also means that there are now some great deals to be had on the older, but still very capable, M3s. So if you’re not fussed about owning the bleeding-edge of headphone tech, then now could be the time to snap some up before the old stock gets sold.
We’ll be doing an in-depth review of the new M4 headphones as well as comparing them side-by-side in a blind test, plus examining some waveforms in Adobe Audition on our YouTube channel soon, so be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out.
Are the WH-1000XM4s worth it?
Absolutely! They’re a great-sounding pair of noise-cancelling headphones and they can really help you to focus when working from home, as well as cutting out unwanted sounds from noisy environments such as a busy office, the hustle and bustle of a busy street or the chatter of fellow commuters on the train when you want a doze.
Buy on Amazon:
- Sony WH-1000XM4: https://geni.us/WH-1000XM4
- Sony WH-1000XM3: https://geni.us/WH-1000XM3
Best cheap noise cancelling headphones in 2020
As promised, if your budget can’t quite stretch to the Sony WH-1000XM4s, here are some worthy contenders to check out as an alternative to the WH-1000XM4:
- Sennheiser HD 4.50 BTNC Over-Ear Wireless Headphone with Active Noise Cancellation
- Sony WF-1000XM3 Earbuds Truly Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones with Mic
- Sony WH-CH710N Noise Cancelling Wireless Headphones
- Sony WH-XB900N Extra Bass Noise Cancelling Wireless Bluetooth Headphones
What noise-cancelling headphones do you use? Will you be upgrading to the new M4s or holding on to your M3s? Let me know in the comments below, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for the latest content to keep you “Switched On” to the world of technology, gadgets and the Internet!