The Sony WH-1000XM4 noise cancelling bluetooth headphones are a couple of years old now,
and are also now officially last-gen as Sony have recently released their successor the
XM5s, but THESE are the headphones which finally changed my mind about Bluetooth audio.
So why did I hate Bluetooth audio?
Well in years gone by I used to associate bluetooth audio with bad sound quality and
constant stuttering and disconnections, pairing issues and general patchiness.
Give me a simple cable any day, I used to say, as that way you also avoid the faff of
having yet another battery to keep charged.
But Sony’s bluetooth headphones of recent years have well and truly put my concerns
to bed and changed my mind because these...
just work!
They sound fantastic, don’t suffer at all from the issues I mentioned and the battery
not only lasts a good 30 hours but will fast-charge when you need it most so just 5 minutes plugged
into the USB will give you 4 hours of use.
So these might be last-gen but there’s life in the old dog yet and Sony are still keeping
these on sale as an alternative to the newer model and considering they can currently be
found for a good hundred pounds cheaper than the new ones I’d say they might well be
the ones to go for.
I’ve owned this pair for nearly 2 years now and they’re my only pair of bluetooth
headphones so you’re getting my honest views after a good lot of use.
This isn’t going to be an in-depth, detailed comparison of all the current generation headphones
from all the top brands.
I can’t do that because I don’t have them all to compare, but I can wax lyrical for
a couple of minutes about how great these are, so please - indulge me (and click the
like button!)
So, I absolutely love these headphones for a few reasons.
Firstly, the noise cancellation is just fantastic - which is the main reason I bought them!
Back in 2020 words like “bubble” and “lockdown” had only recently started to take on new meanings
and whilst “working from home” wasn’t a new thing for me, working from home with
loud and excitable children downstairs who were off school self-isolating... was now
a thing.
The noise-cancellation is so good that when I put these on for the first time, I thought
we’d had a power cut!
I was sat at my computer, which isn’t exactly silent with the constant low hum of its fans,
and suddenly the noise just completely vanished.
So, my initial and immediate reaction to the noise cancellation was actually negative:
a second or two of “oh, great - a power cut!”
before I realised - oh, no, it’s just amazing noise cancellation!
So whether it’s my kids downstairs just being - well, kids - or if it’s noise outside
on a hot day when I want the windows open, these just let me block out the outside world
so that I can focus on what I’m doing without distractions.
They sound great if I want to listen to music through them but they’re also great if you
just want to listen to the sweet sweet sound of silence.
With the world as it is I’ve not yet had much chance to use these whilst travelling,
although I’ve got a couple of international trips later this year which I’m looking
forward to using these on.
Travel is one area where I’d say the XM4s actually excel versus the newer 5th Gen headphones
because the ear cups fold up like this to let the headphones fit into the included carry
case, meaning it’s small enough to fit in a bag without taking up too much space.
What’s more you also get a free airplane adaptor so you can use them wired with in-flight
entertainment.
You don’t get that freebie on the XM5s and the new design means the carry case is huge
by comparison.
I should mention that they’re really comfy and lightweight as well but the second biggest
thing I like about them which is a complete game changer for me and the main advantage
over the previous generation, the XM3s, is the multipoint pairing feature - and it just
works so seamlessly!
This means that I can be listening to music or any other audio from my computer, and if
a phone call then comes in on my phone, the headphones are clever enough to pause playback
on whatever I’m watching or listening to on my computer and seamlessly switch to my
phone.
I can answer the phone by tapping the side of my headphones, have a conversation and
then when the call ends they’ll switch back to my computer and resume playback.
Seamless!
You might think that walking around wearing headphones that cancel out all external noises
could make you feel isolated from the real world but that’s not the case because of
a few nifty features.
Firstly you can choose the level of noise cancellation for different scenarios and secondly
Speak to Chat means that if you just start talking, the headphones will take note, pause
your music and instantly pump the outside world into your ears from the various microphones
located on the exterior.
This works well, although it sometimes works a bit too well for me so that if I clear my
throat whilst listening to music, or start absent-mindeldly singing along, it thinks
I’m talking to someone.
You can also cup your right ear with your right hand and it’ll lower the volume and
pump in outside sound to your ears.
So, if you’re out and about and want to hear what someone’s saying to you, you can
do that - and they’ll also have a good idea what you’re doing because they’ll obviously
see you with your hand over your ear.
Another cool feature which Sony added with the Gen 4 version is a little sensor in the
left ear cup which detects when you’ve taken them off and pauses your music, playing it
again when you put them back on.
Because let’s face it, even with the best ambient sound in the world you still feel
like a bit of a plonker talking to someone whilst wearing headphones - not least because
they’ll assume you can’t hear them clearly and probably either shout at you or just privately
think you’ve got a screw loose!
So knowing that your music will be paused when you take your headphones off is really
useful as you won’t have to scramble around trying to pause it at the same time as listening
to what someone’s saying to you.
Honestly, it’s a struggle to find negatives with these headphones but if I had to moan
about something, I’d say it’s a slight shame the USB-C port is only for charging
and you can’t use it for audio, but if you want to use them as non-bluetooth headphones
with a phone that doesn’t have a headphone jack, as long as you have a USB-C headphone
adaptor you’ll be able to use the included cable.
That’s really useful for scenarios where Bluetooth might not be allowed or (unlikely
as it may be) if you’ve forgotten to charge them and want to use them as non-powered headphones
without noise cancellation.
So if you want to get some for yourself I’ll have links in the video description not just
for these but also the newer and older generations.
And if you’re looking for some more discreet noise-cancelling earbuds for times when you’d
rather not wear larger over-ear headphones, click here to watch my review of the 1MORE
ComfoBuds Pro.