There are four adaptive sound levels: sitting/standing still, which Sony oddly terms “staying”, walking, running and transport – and the headphones will automatically switch between them depending on your actions. Each can be customised on a sliding scale ranging from “Noise Cancelling” to “Ambient 20” and the headphones’ ability to detect what I was doing and its surroundings proved uncannily accurate. In terms of materials, you’re mostly looking at a high-quality plastic build with supple pleather padding. The result is a product that feels mostly durable while remaining extremely comfortable to wear for an extended period of time.

Sony WH-1000XM4 Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones Sony WH-1000XM4 Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones

While aptX HD support would have been welcome, the Sony’s LDAC codec, present here, does a good job with devices that support it, pushing lots of detail through wirelessly. The introduction of DSEE Extreme, an AI-driven process that looks to restore detail from lossy compressed formats, does well to bring clarity to even the lower quality formats and files you may throw at the WH-1000XM4. The 30 hours should be enough to get you through multiple international flights or a few days to the office, but it’s also good to know that the headphones can be charged in a matter of minutes thanks to fast-charging. According to Sony, you can get about five hours of charge from 10 minutes of power and a full charge after about three hours. The Sony WH-1000XM4 build upon the impressive functionality of the WH-1000XM3 by adding a number of new features, all of which successfully enhance the user experience. Sony | 360 Spatial Sound Personalizer is an app that personalises your sound experience when connected to a BRAVIA XR TV. At present, it’s only available through 360 by Deezer, nugs.net and TIDAL and I tested it using the latter’s 360 Reality Audio playlist. Individual aspects of songs sound like they’re coming from different positions around your head but the technology works far better on certain songs than others.HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN1, Bluetooth Audio SoC and a dual noise sensor let you listen without distractions

WH-1000XM4 | Help Guide | Connecting to a paired - Sony WH-1000XM4 | Help Guide | Connecting to a paired - Sony

While the Sony WH-1000XM4 didn’t get a boost in battery life compared to their predecessors, you're getting a substantial 30 hours with noise cancelling turned on and around 38 hours with noise cancelling turned off. The Sony WH-1000XM4 were announced on August 6, 2020 and while they come from Sony's flagship line, they are no longer Sony’s top-tier go to proposition simply because they've now got a younger XM5 sibling. These over-ear cans sit above the mid-range Sony WH-CH710N and true wireless Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds. At first, that number somewhat disappointed us – how could a product not improve battery life year-on-year? But then it dawned on us that now the headphones have speech detection, a new SoC and algorithm, plus new sensors, too. The fact that it remained the same in spite of adding a host of new features is actually kind of impressive. Putting the bass to the test by jumping over to Bjork’s Army of Me, you can hear the can’s masterful management of bass frequencies, with the arpeggiated bass line walking through the song as the machine-like snare snaps through. They may be pricey but they’re worth every penny: put simply, the Sony WH-1000XM4 are the best over-ear wireless headphones on the market. Sony WH-1000XM4 review: What you need to know

Specifications

Sony’s HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN1 isn’t just good at drowning out the outside world though; it’s also extremely smart. When you first put the WH-1000XM4 on, you’ll need to optimise the noise-cancelling via the Sony Headphones app. The headphones detect the shape and size of your head, your hairstyle, whether you wear glasses and the surrounding air pressure to calibrate a noise-cancelling profile tailored to you.

Sony WH-1000XM4 review: The best ANC headphones just got Sony WH-1000XM4 review: The best ANC headphones just got

Next, you have to navigate to the Bluetooth settings on your device. Search for WH-1000XM4 in the list. As of March 2020. Ambient noise reduction according to research by Sony Corp., measured using JEITA-compliant guidelines for headband style wireless noise cancelling headphones.Read on for our full Sony WH-1000XM4 review, with everything you need to know about the best noise-cancelling headphones you can buy today.

WH-1000XM4 Wireless Premium Noise Canceling Headphones | Blue

These noise-cancelling modes are intelligent, too – with your permission, the WH-1000XM4 headphones can learn where you are using geo-location access, and apply your preferred level of noise-cancellation or ambient sound passthrough depending on where you are. So, at home you may prefer a fully cancelled noise mode, while in the office you may want voices to come through. At 254g, the Sony WH-1000XM4 are a mere one gram lighter than the WH-1000XM3, but that weight is distributed more thoughtfully. The plastic earcup housing has been slimmed down in favour of adding additional padding to the pleather lining the inside of the cups, while the headband padding is slightly thinner. The section connecting the headband to the earcups has been shortened too, resulting in a fit that is better contoured to your head.

What Bluetooth codecs does the Sony WH-1000XM4 support?

To pair a second device, it’s a similar process—except the headphones won’t automatically enter pairing mode when you turn them on since they’re already paired to another device. To pair to a second device: It felt as though Britney Spears was in the room with me as she worked through the provocative “Toxic”, while the intro to “Sexual Healing” had me looking over my shoulder as Marvin Gaye’s whispers for me to “get up, get up, get up, get up” and “wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up” darted between my left and right ears. *NSYNC’s “It’s Gonna Be Me” was less impactful, however, and my listening experience wasn’t all that different from when I listened to the regular version. Connecting the headset to both a music player and a smartphone / mobile phone (multipoint connection) Sony’s using the same 40mm drivers in the WH-1000XM4 as it had in the WH-1000XM3, so tonally and in terms of mix, there’s not much to separate the WH-1000XM4 from the WH-1000XM3 headphones that preceded them. It’s a warm and balanced sound that does well to offer a wide soundstage when required and detail that can pierce through a powerful bass performance.