- So it's been almost two years
since Sony released the excellent WF-1000XM3 earbuds,
which had the best noise cancellation
and sound quality of any true wireless earbuds at that time.
But a lot has happened since.
At the top end,
We've seen products like the AirPods Pro
and Bose's QuietComfort earbuds.
And you can get a perfectly fine set
of noise canceling earbuds for cheaper than ever before.
But now, Sony's back.
And let me tell you,
it was worth the wait.
The new WF-1000XM4 earbuds,
we've still got these terrible names,
cost $279, which is a lot of money.
But if you're willing to part with it,
you'll get the most impressive noise cancellation
I've ever heard in earbuds like these,
even better sound quality,
longer battery life, I know.
This time, they finally got water and sweat resistance.
(case clicking)
(upbeat music)
So the new earbuds are 10% smaller
than the 1000XM3s.
And they come in the usual Sony colors of black
with rose gold accents
or a light gray option instead.
But the case is where the real downsizing has happened.
It's 40% smaller than before.
And you can feel that difference
when it's inside your pocket.
There's only one LED on the outside now, though,
which means there are no lights
on the earbuds themselves to tell you how their charge is.
But I guess,
that's the trade-off for a more compact design.
But I actually want to start off with the ear tips.
This isn't something we often focus on,
but Sony has come up with these stellar tips
that feel like a mix of silicone and foam
that sealed into my ears just perfectly.
I guess that's why they're called
the Noise Isolation Ear Tips.
Sony is so confident in them
that these new tips are now all you get
and only in three sizes
I would've liked to have seen more fit options
for this much money,
but the large pair were right on for me.
The 1000XM4s never so much as budged,
even though I took them on runs or for a hike outside.
And since they're now rated IPX4
for water and sweat resistance,
you can work out while you wear them,
or wear them in the rain and be confident
that they'll survive,
just be careful to keep the case dry.
Those snug ear tips combined
with Sony's new V1 processor lead
to the best noise cancellation I've ever experienced
with a true wireless earbuds so far.
Step aside, Bose.
I'm not exaggerating when I say
that it's now almost as good
as Sony's over-ear 1000XM4 headphones.
And those have the advantage
of literally covering your entire ears.
Working outside my local coffee shop
on a busy Brooklyn street,
everything around me just went poof.
And the clatter of subway cars was quieter with these
in my ears than with the AirPods or Bose's earbuds.
Becca took the Sonys on a flight
and they passed the plane test with flying colors.
It's wildly good stuff
and a real technical achievement on Sony's part.
There's an ambient sound mode
you can activate with the tap of the left earbud
to hear what's happening around you.
And Sony still has its old trick
where you can hold down on the earbud
to temporarily lower the volume of your music
and boost ambient sound at the same time.
(chill music)
The 1000XM4s also get the Speak-to-Chat feature
of the latest Sony headphones.
When this setting's turned on,
the earbuds automatically pause
and activate transparency mode
if they detect you speaking.
If you talk to yourself,
even semi-regularly,
you should probably just leave this off.
Now, let's talk sound quality.
Sony tells me that it tunes it's earbuds
and headphones based on what genres
of music are popular at the time.
And so while the 1000XM4s sound mostly similar
to the 1000XM3s,
there's this added layer of richer bass
than there was before.
You still get that superb sound signature
that's just playing better than the AirPods Pro.
And I prefer Sony's tuning to other high-end earbuds,
like the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2s.
It's easy just to get lost in your tunes
with these earbuds.
For the first time on it's earbuds,
Sony's also now supporting LDAC,
so you can stream lossless audio from Amazon Music HD,
and soon Spotify and Apple Music.
And it'll come through at a higher quality on the buds.
It's not quite CD quality.
You see LDAC tops out around 900 kilobits per second.
And it gets a little unstable
if you set it at that maximum quality.
So I usually stick with the middle setting.
Is there any real difference though?
Maybe I'm buying in a snake oil.
But to me, these lossless tracks do feel
like they've got more depth and clarity to them.
Either way, you can only get LDAC on Android.
And the 1000XM4s still sound just as good,
when you listen to AAC files on an iPhone.
And then, there's the battery life,
which is one of the more impressive things
Sony's pulled off.
The 1000XM4 buds get eight hours of playback
with noise canceling on,
which crushes Apple, and Bose,
and Jabra, and Amazon, Samsung,
and well, pretty much everybody else.
They all hover around five hours,
and Sony just tacked on three more.
That's progress.
Battery life extends to 12 hours
if you don't need noise canceling on.
The case has enough juice for two full recharges.
So we're talking 24 hours in noise-canceling mode
and 36 hours if you leave it disabled.
As we all start traveling again more often,
these numbers really set Sony apart
and help justify that $279 price.
And the carrying case charges both wirelessly
and over USB-C.
As for voice calls,
the 1000XM4s use both beamforming mics
and bone conduction sensors
that Sony claims help the earbuds know
when you're speaking and when you're not.
To hear how that comes across in practice,
let's turn it over to Becca.
- Rolling, rolling, rolling.
Did someone say mic test?
First up, we have the Galaxy Buds Pro.
They were $200 when they were released,
and they were known for their windshield technology.
So you could have clear calls even in windy conditions.
Okay, next up is the AirPods Pro.
They have been the gold standard
for a very long time when it comes to mic quality.
And quite frankly,
I'm getting tired of saying that line.
Okay, now, we have Sony's WH-1000XM4s,
which I agree with Chris is a horrible name,
but they have bone-conduction sensors
and beamforming mics.
How do they sound?
Okay, and this one's a bit of a wildcard buds.
These are the Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pros.
I really dig these headphones
and they're only $130.
They have really good active noise cancellation.
So just want to throw them into the mix.
♪ Run the sink ♪
Y'all love this test.
I don't know why.
I was more a fan of the wind test
that we did for the Galaxy Buds Pro.
But sink test is back by popular demand.
The sink test runs the sink
while I'm using the mics
so that you can see how they sound
with a lot of background noise.
Is it canceling it out?
Is it bringing it in?
See, thing about the water test is
that I feel like I'm wasting loads of water.
And I usually collect it and water my plants with it,
but I don't need to water any of my plants right now.
So, and that was in background noise.
So these $130 buds hold up to the other? Bummer.
While you could hear me with these Sonys,
it all just seemed kinda muffled.
And with the sink running,
it did take out that sound,
but I wouldn't say they have great mic quality overall.
You might blame it on the fact
that they don't have a stem like the AirPod Pros
or the Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pros.
But the Galaxy Buds Pro also don't have stems,
and they have pretty good mics.
I guess better luck next time.
- So as you just heard,
these are not flawless earbuds.
And there are a few other frustrations
you should be aware of.
First, they can only pair to one device at a time.
And look, I don't understand how it's 2021
and only Jabra has figured out how
to support multipoint Bluetooth on earbuds.
Sony knows how to make this happen on its headphones,
but you don't get the same convenience here.
At $280, that's a hard thing to see Sony leave out.
So I have hit some bugs with my reviewing it so far.
The earbuds have crashed a couple of times
playing the kind of sound you hear
when a video game freezes.
And sometimes, only one earbud will pair
to my phone at a time.
So I've got to drop them both back in at the case
to get everything sorted out again.
Neither issue's been that frequent,
and Sony usually does a pretty good job
of fixing these early bugs with firmware updates.
Here's my takeaway.
Sony's WF-1000XM4 earbuds are the best noise canceling set
you can get today.
By combining its latest hardware
with those fantastic ear tips,
Sony has beaten Bose for the noise cancellation crown.
And these are up there with the very best-sounding,
true wireless earbuds you can buy.
They can outlast the competition in battery life
and now come with reassuring water and sweat resistance.
There's no need to spend this much money for a good set
of noise canceling earbuds.
But if you do,
you'll get a top-notch experience in exchange.
Sony is back at the top of the mountain.
The only question now is for how long.
- [Becca] Spooky scary, spooky scary.
- [Chris] You should find a subway grate
and do it over there.
- [Becca] Oh my God.
I couldn't watch.