Two years after the success of the WH-1000M3, Sony produced another successor noise-cancelling headphone, the WH-1000XM4 Noise Cancelling Headphone is out in the market.

The WH-1000M3 is good that I bought and reviewed the headphones on my blog. Sony wrote to me to ask if I am interested in borrowing the WH-1000XM4 to try. I agreed, and now I am reluctant to return this pair of headphones back.

Since I have both pairs of headphones with me, so I thought of sharing with you my thoughts about these products.

Hardware

The WH-1000XM4 does look like the M3, so identical that Sony initially sent me the wrong model. And I even brought the wrong pair of headphones to work, I can only tell the difference by the model name marked on the headphone band.

Some might feel hot and uncomfy wearing headphones while commuting, especially in this Asian climate. All these small sacrifices are worth it for me, while I am watching Netflix, listening to audiobooks, or catching my favorite songs on the go.

Sound

I’ve paired both the WH-1000XM4 and M3 with my mobile phone via Bluetooth. Turning both equalizers setting off and playing a couple of tracks to compare. Ran through a couple of soundtracks from instrumental classics, rock classics, jazz pieces, to even K-pop.

In my opinion, the WH-1000XM4 is a little more bassy, and sometimes jarring when I am listening to Black Pink tracks.

Or perhaps Diana Krall, Eliane Elias, Karen Carpenter are more of my cup of tea. This pair of headphones is more inclined to listening Korean kittens yelping along with low bass booming beats.

Real World

The WH-1000XM4 was one of my traveling companions, whilst I commute to and fro to work. Initially, I feel insecure wearing the headphones thinking that it will be total isolation from the surrounding. A city-state Singapore, we have so many things to look out for, even simple things like walking along the pavement. Such as inexperienced cyclists, careless motorists, inattentive commuters are watching videos on their mobile phone in the subway stations.

I like the adaptive sound control features, it can detect that I could be sitting on a bus, the full noise canceling activates and I immerse in my songs. And while I am walking from point to point, the noise cancellation decreases, allowing me to be more aware of my surroundings.

When I am talking to someone, the music automatically pauses, the ambiance sound seeps and allows me to converse with the other party easily, thanks to the Speak-to-Chat features.

I enjoyed listening to this pair of headphones while composing this blog in the cafe. 

Another great feature would be the proximity sensors embedded in the right ear pads. As soon as I remove the ear pads from my ears, the songs automatically pause and continue when I put on the headphones.

Additionally, on the M3, some of us complain about the insensitive, inaccurate ear caps, that cause frustration in navigating and adjusting the volume with the ear caps. Guess what, Sony had solved this issue on the M4 model.

Summary

Sony Noise Cancelling WH-1000XM4 Headphone meets my expectation, features like quick charging, sound quality, ear pads comfort level wises. It justifies the value that you are paying for.

The headphone is currently priced at $499.00 after $50 Cashback at the Sony Store

Sharing is Caring