The fourth generation of Sony’s flagship wireless earbuds doesn’t bring much that’s new compared to the third . All major changes inside. The main characteristics of the Sony WH-1000XM4 have not changed – a high price, a very comfortable design and a cool noise isolation system. But now, these are almost perfect wireless headphones for enjoying music in any environment.
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Equipment
The headphones come with a hard protective case, a USB Type-C cable for charging, an adapter for wired connection of headphones on an airplane, and a cable with mini-jack connectors. It allows you to listen to music when the headphones are already discharged.
Design and differences from the previous generation
Let’s start with the external differences – there are none. The third generation cannot be visually distinguished from the fourth, even the colors have remained the same – beige and black. A slight difference can only be found by touch: the edging of the bowls has become slightly rough, not as smooth as in the WH-1000XM3, but that’s about it.
The Sony WH-1000XM4 are full-size, plastic headphones. The build quality this time pleased, as in the third generation, numerous backlashes were observed in the test sample. This is not the case here, although it may well be the case in a particular instance. One way or another, I have no complaints about the design and construction of the headphones. Everything is monolithic, the materials are pleasant both to the hands and the skin on the head, nothing creaks or staggers. As for the design, it’s pleasing to the eye and worth the price, especially in the beige version we tested.
Ease of use, management
As in the previous generation, there are no questions about convenience. These are very comfortable headphones that are pleasant to wear all day long. In hot weather, leatherette ear pads can float a little, but not much. On the head, the headphones are almost not felt, they do not press or press. Here it is worth saying thanks to the many degrees of freedom of the bowls and the soft filler of the ear cushions.
As before, in the fourth generation touch playback control remains. It is implemented on the right bowl. To switch tracks or change the volume, you just need to swipe your fingers forward / backward or up / down, respectively. To pause, just tap on the right bowl.
The left one is devoid of touch control, it has a Type-C port for charging, a 3.5 mm mini-jack for a wired connection. Nearby there are two buttons – power and a function key, the action of which can be configured in the Headphones application from Sony .
The application is worth talking about separately. In it, you can adjust the strength of noise reduction, optimize the sound of the headphones for your ears, and control additional functions, which will be discussed later.
The Sony WH-1000XM4 chips are the main thing that distinguishes the headphones from their predecessor. Sony has added a number of innovations, for example, when removing the headphones from the head, music playback will automatically stop, and when put on, it will resume. For this, a proximity sensor is provided, it is located inside the left bowl.
In the third generation. with the noise reduction system turned on, if someone addressed you, then you had the option to cover the right cup with your palm and thus the noise reduction turned off. and the surrounding sounds intensified.
In XM4, this possibility remains, but now you don’t even have to raise your palm – just speak. Headphones are able to analyze the moments when you speak and automatically stop playing music and amplify other sounds.
And for a quick connection, there is still NFC. By the way, another innovation is the ability to simultaneously connect to two devices. This allows you to instantly switch between your laptop and smartphone when you receive a call to the latter, for example. You need the Headphones app for this feature to work.
Sound and noise reduction Sony WH-1000XM4
As for the sound quality, there are no changes here. This is a good, balanced sound that will suit different genres. Sometimes a little high is missing. But, rarely, and only in some compositions. And so the sound is great.
With a good, juicy bass, sufficient stage width. Of the codecs, it supports SBC, AAC for Apple device owners and LDAC. There is no support for AptX and AptX-HD, which is strange, because it was previously. But, given the sound quality and LDAC support, this cannot be called a critical drawback.
Now let’s talk about soundproofing. She is just wonderful. In the Kiev subway, even with the music turned off, I almost did not hear the movement of the train. On the street, it will even be dangerous, so just turn down the noise reduction power a little and everything will be fine. But, in the office and transport – headphones have no equal.
Separately, I would like to praise the quality of speech transmission. This is the rare case when in wireless headphones you can talk on the phone even on the street and you will not be asked again. For this, it is worth saying thanks to 5 microphones and additional noise reduction for speech transmission.
