Hi, I'm Dr. Derek - audiologist, audio engineer, and musician with Pro Fit Hearing.com bringing
you the best insight in today's latest hearing aids, headphones, and audio technology to
improve your life. If you have concerns about your hearing, always consult with your
local physician or audiologist.
Today, I’m talking about the Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones or XM4 wireless headphones. For
the latest pricing, check out the link in the description below. I recently purchased
these headphones, and I’m excited to try them out.
When you first open the box, you’ll see the Easy Setup guide with instructions on
how to download the app and connect the headphones to your device. The Sony headphones connect
app is available for both Apple and Android.
Included in the box is the carrying case for your Sony XM4s. There's a pouch on the back
and zipper along the side. Inside the carrying case you’ll find the headphones, 3.5 mm
audio cable, flight audio adaptor, and USB-C charger.
The headphones Swivel and fold so you can easily store them in the carrying case when
you’re not using them. The plastic construction is lightweight and comfortable enough for
extended wear.
The left ear cup has two physical buttons. The lower button is used for power on/off
as well as Bluetooth pairing. The upper button controls the ambient and noise reduction modes.
All other adjustments like volume, play, pause, skip forward/backward, or start/end a phone
call are done with the touch controls on the right ear cup. The headphones will also
automatically pause your music when you remove them and start playing again when you put
them back on. The proximity sensor in the left ear cup and the acceleration sensors
in each ear cup provide this functionality.
Now, let’s talk about the features.
First, the Sony XM4s are great at noise cancellation. Adaptive Noise Cancelling (or ANC) is made
possible using the HD noise cancelling processor QN1. Microphones on each ear cup listen to
the environmental sounds around you and adjust the signal over 700 times a second to provide
the best noise cancellation.
You also have ambient mode. This turns on the microphones on the headphones so that
sound in your environment is audible. Ambient mode lets you hear what’s going on around
you while you're also listening to music.
Listen to Ambient Sound (or Quick Attention Mode) allows you to manually enable ambient
mode by holding your hand on the right ear cup. The music volume will decrease so that
you can hear the sounds going on around you in your environment. As soon as you release
your hand from the ear cup, the music will return to normal volume.
The Speak to Chat feature pauses your music and enables ambient mode when you start speaking.
The music will resume playing 30 seconds after you’re done talking. It can also be enabled
manually.
The Sony XM4s can reproduce sound frequencies from 4 Hz to 40,000 Hz when using the included
audio cable or 20 Hz to 40,000 Hz when you're using Bluetooth.
Bluetooth 5.0 is available. The Sony Xm4 support SBC, AAC, and LDAC Bluetooth audio codecs.
You also have DSEE Extreme which uses artificial technology AI to upscale compressed audio in order
to provide additional high frequency fidelity in your music. 360 Reality Audio is also available
with premium music streaming services like Tidal. This provides a surround sound audio
experience for compatible music files.
The headphone’s internal battery will provide 30 hours of battery life with the noise cancellation
active. You can get 5 hours of charge after 10 minutes of charging while a full charge
takes approximately 3 hours.
The Sony XM4 headphones support voice assistants like Google assistant, Alexa, and Siri.
Multi-point connection lets you pair your headphones to two Bluetooth devices at a time.
This allows you to switch between two sources of audio quickly. So, you could listen to
music from your laptop and then switch to your phone when you get a phone call.
The NC Optimizer or noise cancellation optimizer adapts the headphone’s noise cancellation
by how it fits on your head. It takes into consideration things that can impact the fit
like your hair and glasses. It also accounts for pressure changes within an airplane.
Now, if you’re enjoying this video so far and you want more content like this, please let
me know by hitting the like button. Also, if there’s certain headphones or earbuds
that you want to know more about, let me know in the comments below.
OK, so now I’ll share the pros and cons of the XM4 headphones. First for the pros:
The noise cancellation is excellent, so if you’re on an airplane or in a public place
like a coffee shop for example, these headphones will help reduce the ambient noise level so
that you can focus on your music or work.
These headphones are light and comfortable for extended wear and they fit snuggly against
my head. The secure fit of the ear cups also provides a level of sound attenuation in addition
to the noise cancellation feature.
The sound quality is also great and offers plenty of bass response. You can control this
even further with the sound equalization feature within the app.
These headphones pause music when you remove them, so you can easily resume listening from
where you left off. Also, if you want to speak to someone while you're wearing the
headphones, you can use the Quick Attention mode which turns on the ambient sound. Just
hold your hand against the right ear cup to activate and remove your hand to go back to
noise cancellation.
Whenever you push the physical buttons on the left ear cup, you get a voice notification
so you know which mode you’re in. A quick press of the power button gives you a voice
indication of your remaining battery life.
These headphones also automatically turn off after 15 minutes when you’re not wearing
them. So, you’re covered just in case you forget to shut them off.
The touch controls on the right ear cup for volume, skips, or play/pause are very convenient
and easy to use. Also, the app gives you even more control over the headphones if you’d
like to use it.
The wireless range is approximately 30ft line of sight, so you can easily walk around your
home and still listen to your Bluetooth device. If you want to listen to a device that doesn't
have Bluetooth, you can use the included audio cable. This audio cable plugs into the bottom
and it's 3.5 mm on both ends which makes it easy if you want to purchase a longer cable.
One of the surprising pros about these headphones is that they still sound great when the battery's
dead. You won't have access to things like ambient mode and noise cancellation, but you
can still get great audio when you're using the included audio cable.
OK, so let’s talk about some of the cons of the Sony XM4s.
They have a plastic construction which is typical for Bluetooth headphones, but I’d
like to see a more premium build.
The power button is press and hold to power on/off. It’s a small con, but I still prefer
to have an on/off switch like my Bose QC35s.
Something I noticed is that the microphones in ambient mode distort when there's loud
sounds in my environment. This may not be something you’d notice at all unless you're
around loud sounds. I was using my headphones to listen to music while I was in ambient
mode and also playing my saxophone and I noticed the sound of my instrument was distorted.
The voice notifications when you press the noise cancellation or ambient noise button
can cause you to miss whatever you’re listening to.
Also, headphones like this can be bit hot on your ears while you're wearing them outside
while you're walking or being active.
Speak to chat works great for quick conversations when you're wearing your headphones, however
this setting may not be desirable when it's set to automatically engage. I was listening
to some music and I started singing and this setting caused the music to pause when
I didn’t want it to.
Overall, the pros definitely outweigh the cons. This is my first pair of Bluetooth headphones
from Sony, and I’m very pleased with the sound quality and the easy of use. I definitely
recommend the Sony XM4s to anyone who wants premium, noise cancelling Bluetooth headphones.
Additional features are available within the app as well as with software updates so that
your headphones can have the best sound quality. So what is it about these headphones that
excites you the most? Let me know in the comments below. Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed
this video. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you in the next video.