Отзывы о Наушники Sony WH-1000XM4

I'm really conflicted with these. The noise cancellation is miles better than my QC 35 and airpods pro, and the sound quality is pretty good too. But these headphones creak to no end at the four points which connect the headband to the earcups. At first I thought it was a defective model so I got a replacement and tried to be as gingerly as possible but it started creaking again. I did some research on the XM3 and it seems these were an issue for those too. If you don't move your head at all it's fine but any movement of the head or jaw causes these creaking noises at those hinges. I really want to keep these because the noise cancellation is that good but when the headphones themselves cause distracting noises I don't know that I can justify these for $350. Maybe $250 for the XM3's and I can put up with the creaking noises but at this price point it's very difficult.

Other complaints are fairly minor. Basically all the "features" that are advertised (not sure how many of them were also in the XM3's) are pretty gimmicky. The whole "put one hand over the right ear cup when ordering a coffee"? Just slide the ear cup back and avoid looking like a goof. 19 levels of noise cancellation? I bought these for the max so cancel out the distractions in the back. The ambient sound noise works I guess but the microphones pick up wind noises too much and the headphones shifting around the head when walking make it more difficult to use - airpods pro transparency mode does this a lot better. The whole speak to put your headphones into ambient sound mode temporarily is super annoying. The only useful feature is the two connections, which is new to the XM4's. I personally don't like the pause music when lifting up the left ear cup because if I'm on a call and I lift it up to scratch my ear (which you will do a lot because your ear touches the inside walls of the headphones) and I put it back, my spotify will suddenly start ploying music again. Again, not a huge deal since the noise cancellation is that good. If only the headphones didn't creak so much, it would be well worth the $350. I'll use it for another two weeks to see if there is a "break in" period and the headphones stop creaking but if they don't, I'll have to make a tough choice on whether to keep them or return them.

Pros:

- ANC is as good if not tad better than Bose

Cons:

- Horrible audio sync issues to the point where it’s not useable when I watch Netflix or Prime on my MacBook. I have to refresh the page several times a day to fix the sync issue

- Bad call quality. I have a ceiling fan in my home office and I swear this amplifies the wind noise to the point where it is distracting during my zoom calls

Overall, I’m disappointed with this purchase. I’ll be returning it. I find my Bose 700s to be far superior

I bought a paid of the WH-1000XM4's and Bose NC 700's trying to decide which one was better. I prefer the Sony headphones in terms of customization and sound. However, I will be returning these due to the headband and ear cups. The headband puts a lot of pressure on the crown of my head, no matter how I adjust it, causing pain and headaches if wearing for more than an hour or so. Regarding the ear cups, they are very shallow and I can feel my ears touching the inner portion of the headphones. This puts pressure on my ears, so that after a couple hours it becomes uncomfortable as well.

For some reason, the Bose NC 700's do not have these pressure issues for me. I cannot say it will be the same for everyone, but I will be going with the 700's specifically for this reason.

I had the Bose 35 1st gen & they did fantastic in sound, noise cancelling, & comfort. But the Sony XM4 knocks the Bose 35 out of the park!! The sound is so much better with a punchier bass, mids & trebles are clean. No matter the volume the music sounds outstanding. Plus the extra features these have like covering the right ear cuff so you can hear the other person talk comes in handy on so many levels, taking off the headphone automatically stops the music & the customizable equalizer should please most of the people on their personable taste on music sounds. The touch control on the right ear cuff is very easy to use, using the swiping motions for volume & changing songs & tap to pause or play. I love the color black with the rose pink accent. Go get these over Bose, you won't be disappointed at all!!

The noise cancelling doesn't create the same pressure feel as my QC35v1, but that's the only thing that's an improvement. The ear cups are shallow, so there is constantly pressure on my ears which hurts after a few hours of use. The touch control is slow, cluncky, or unresponsive. The features are more hastle than helpful (if you talk it cuts out all input audio for 30s , even if you're on a call...). Everytime you get a notification google chimes in to remind you that it can read them... You can turn all the "features" off and I would recommend it. The dual bluetooth connection is difficult to set up compared to my bose, and constantly dropped one of the devices. The thing that really pushed me to return my set was the call quality. Out of the three sets of headphones I own, these are the only ones that people can't hear my voice even when in a quiet room.

I've been using the Bose Quite Comfort II for the past 3 years, and really like them. The only down side was poor Bluetooth reception at anything more than a few feet of separation between the headphones and sound source. Using the Bose headphones to listen to my Sony TV (from 8 feet away) was a pleasure, unless you turn your head (cutouts and loss of sound-sync)...making them pretty much worthless for that application.

I looked at the newer Bose and the Sony XM3 headphones as an upgrade, but decided to pass, as they were both tethered to Bluetooth 4, with the same reception issues as earlier Bose models.

I was so happy to see that the new Sony XM4 is Bluetooth 5 enabled. I've been using them for about a week, and can verify that Bluetooth reception at a distance of 50 feet or more from the sound source, and through walls, is excellent...no loss of sync, no cutouts and crystal clear reception in all rooms of my home, which is what I've been wanting all along.

I was trying to find a more comfortable headphone than my Sony WH-1000XM2 and was looking at Bose QC 35 II and recently released Sony XM4. Below are the pros and cons of each,

XM2:
Pros - Great bass with the best low end rumble, accurate sound/timbre especially in percussion instruments, ~25hr battery life, excellent noise cancellation, no wear in pads after two years of usage
Cons - Fatigue after 4-5 hrs, gets a bit too warm, a tad heavy, pads have become a bit slim though no wear

XM4:
Pros - Same as XM2, better sound stage, a bit lighter, didn't get as warm and seems a bit more comfortable than XM2
Cons - Low end bass/rumble not as good as XM2, ear cups seem a bit smaller and likely impacting the sound stage, headband shorter and less adjustable than XM2

QC 35 II:
Pros - Best comfort, best in class sound stage/instrument separation
Cons - Sound accuracy/timbre of instruments not as good as the Sony's, especially noticeable in percussion instruments, Bose seems to process/highlight vocals and they don't sound natural, ear pads lifetime not great and start to fall apart in 1-2 years of 5 days/week usage

I ended up returning both the QC 35 II and XM4 as the QC 35 II lacked the proper sound reproduction though it had better comfort and the XM4 was not that big of an upgrade in terms of comfort or sound compared to XM2. Just bought a new set of ear pads for the XM2 and planning to hold out for another year or two.

These have a wonderful full ranged and warm sound. Noise cancellation is excellent, but the audio isolation by itself is so good that you really don't need noise cancellation turned on until you are in a truly noisy environment.

These are the most comfortable headphones I have ever bought! I experienced no fatigue from wearing them for more than an hour. If you wear glasses, you don't have to take them off. Many headphones pads are so firm, that it feels like the eyeglass stems are being pressed into your head. Not so with this set of cans. The cups fully surround the ears and don't press heavily on the ears themselves.

The cons.....I was shocked that for a premium set of headphones, that the charging cable was only 8 inches long. This can create logistical issues depending on how close your available USB charging port is and if there is space to safely set them down while charging. There is no excuse to at least offer a 3 foot cable pack in for a premium product such as this. The fast charger disappointingly is sold separately.

The sound application is a tad complicated with many options and could be better organized. The graphic equalizer is rather limited in the number of frequency bands offered. There are five sliders at 400hz,1khz, 2.5khz, 6.3khz and 16khz. I really don't understand why it stops at 400hz on the low end. Would be nice to have a few more bands starting around 50-60hz. There is a bass enhancement option with 10 steps in either direction, but am not sure what frequency range that controls. Still, there is plenty of bass for those who crave it. Tried to update the firmware, but the instructions on how to do that are not clear. This feature should be as simple as a button to check for updates and apply.

I went back and forth between buying these or the Bose 700 and settled on the Sony after reading numerous reviews. I don't regret it. For listening to music or TV, these headphones are amazing. The sound is full and rich and the noise cancellation is superb; I put them on and the ambient noises in my room -- the aquarium filters, the HVAC -- just disappear. It's almost eerie. I would be giving them 5+ stars if not for the microphone. :(

I was hoping for a one-stop solution for both music and meetings (mostly Teams) but this, alone, isn't it. The mic is pretty awful. No matter how much I speak up, my voice breaks up. Ugh. I solved the problem by using the 'phones as the speakers and using the mic from my web cam, but that's less than an ideal situation since it means I can't get up and move around while talking in a meeting.

I can't say I wasn't warned. Some reviews mentioned that the mic was meh at best but others said it was fine and a couple of recordings posted with reviews sounded okay. I guess there is no way that headphones without the little boom can pick up your voice as well as those that have it, and I may end up either just going back to the comparably cheap Plantronics I was using for meetings (though I'll miss the ANC) or getting a clip-on BT microphone to use with these.

It's a little disappointing but the incredible ANC and the music sound quality still warrant the four stars. If Sony can figure out how to fix the mic problem in the next version, it would truly be the perfect pair of headphones in this price range.

So, a lot of people complained about the headphones pausing for voice etc.. there's an app you can download where you can turn off auto pausing, auto turn off, and you can even turn off the noise cancelling. I personally can't handle the noise cancelling aspect, as it hurts my ears and gives me weird head pressure.. so I'm super happy I can turn that off.

My headphones lasted about 3 days, listening about 4-6 hours per day. The headphones only take about 30 minutes to charge as well.
They are suuuuuper comfortable.

I am a smaller person, and a big issue I have with most headphones is they're way too big for my head, so I can't lean my head back onto the bed or couch with them on.
Not with these! I can lean my head back FINALLY, and I barely feel like I'm wearing them.

I had beats before this, and they hurt my ears and my head because they were so weirdly shaped and tight. Like my ears would literally fall asleep. I seriously don't even notice I'm wearing them. No tightness, no pressure, no ears falling asleep.

The case they come with is high quality, and it comes with an aux cord in case you want to listen that way!

The sound cancelling is... Amazing. Literally no sound got through. I thought my husband was messing with me and just mouthing words at me, but no.. he was speaking quite loudly.

Highly, highly recommend. Probably my favorite out of all the ones I've tried.. and I've tried about 7 just this past year.
Splurge and get them, you will not regret it.

First, the pros: Compared to my Bose QC35-II that i've had for 2 years, the sound quality is amazing. The bose can't even compete with these for sound quality. Also, noise cancellation is far better than my Bose headphones. I can't even tell if a cars engine is running or not with these, amazing.

But, here are the CONS that made them unbearable to me:
1. When you disconnect the included 3.5mm aux cord, they SHUT OFF! This is unacceptable because I use the 3.5mm cord a lot, and I need to quickly unplug it and answer phone calls for business. With my Bose headphones, this is no problem, I unplug the aux cable and it automatically answers the phone call.. perfect. With the Sony's, the headphones shut off... this is a major design flaw in my opinion. To turn them back on takes about 30 seconds, by then the phone has stopped ringing. DEALBREAKER.

2. While moving, especially driving, for the first 10 minutes there is a lot of clicking and popping sounds, I think its something to do with the internal compass... if you google "sony wh-1000xm4 clicking noise" you will find 100s of websites and videos talking about this problem. The popping is simply too annoying to go through every time I put them on and move.

I had to send them back, but I would still recommend to anyone who doesn't use the 3.5mm aux cable, and you might get lucky and get a unit that doesn't pop and click every time.

I got 4 Bose QC35II until today I gpt this XM4 because of the multiple devices connection simultaneously, so here are my input:
PROS
1. The Base is on another level. Be careful as it can hurt your ear if it is high level.
2. The noise cancellation is almost perfect, I can say much better than my Boses.
3. The App is awesome, has more features than Bose App. And crashes less than Bose App. (But the information loads slowly, yet my internet is quick enough)
4. Speak to Chat is great, but I don't know how to stop it except by using the app. I tried several gestures but fail always.
5. The adapting Sound program to adapt the headphones to my needs from the app is also fascinating 👍🏼
6. The Battery seems to br long enough, with the 30hrs.

CONS:
1. Let me put the Ambient sound as cons as when I move from a room to another one, all my sounds changes drastically and immediately. May be there is a way to turn thay one off?
2. If you are used with Bose, you will feel your ears squizzed on wearing them. I prefer my ears inside not squizzed. I seems not very good on a long time wearing as Bose.
3. The VOLUME, it's BAD, very BAD. You have to repeat them several times with a lot of mistakes leading to wrong actions. Until I decide finally to rather change it from my Phone or mt MacBook.
4. May be they designed it wrong? But removing the Headphones from your head and putting them back to the case is very annoying: You have to flio the Headphones first before you fold it and store it in the case.

I hope this feedback will improve the next generation of Sony. But for now, all the negatives are not discouraging me. I love the headphones and I paid it on my own.

I've owned the Sony 1000XM3, H900N, and the Bose QC35 II. I couldn't wait for the XM4 to come out because of the multipoint Bluetooth (I'll get to that a little later). The sound is great once it's been adjusted, and the noise cancelling in the XM4 is better than both the XM3 and the QC35 II. However, there are quite a few things that are very poorly implemented and basically unusable.

Sound: A-
First off the XM4, XM3, and H900N all have better and brighter sound than the QC35 II. Out of the box, the sound is a little dull and the mids / vocals are a little mushy. With the XM4, I needed to tweak it in the Headphones app using the EQ to get it to the place that I wanted it, but once it was there, it was great. A small but pleasing improvement in the XM4 is that the headphone voice announcements are at a much higher quality. The XM3 announcements are low fidelity and low bandwidth whereas the XM4 headphone voice is very crisp and hi-fi. Sony also replaced the high-pitched beep with a slightly longer but more pleasant sounding bell for feedback. However, I actually prefer the beep because it's faster.

Noise cancelling: A-
When I first put on the XM4 and turned them on, I was surprised by the audible hiss from the noise cancelling. It wasn't present with the XM3. I think this is because they have cranked up the noise cancelling in the XM4. I have air purifiers running in my house, and the XM4 does a better job of cancelling out the noise almost completely. The XM3 still has some leakage. The XM3 is just as good as the Bose in noise cancellation, and the XM4, though a little hissy and is a slightly bit better. The drawback to this is that it can feel like it's creating a slight pressure in my head that increases over time.

Multipoint Bluetooth: F
This was the feature I had been waiting for. The awesome noise cancellation and sound of the XM3, but with the ability to stream two devices at once. FAIL! I had been eagerly anticipating this and checking daily for the release of the XM4. I was so excited to get them...only to be sorely disappointed. Though the device will connect to two devices simultaneously, it actually DISCONNECTS when one of the two devices is activated. So it's not true multipoint Bluetooth. Sony advertises that the multipoint Bluetooth is seamless. This is true if they mean you don't have to press any buttons to disconnect from a device. However, the way it manages connections is very poor. I have to put the XM4 into pairing mode if I've connected to my phone in order for it to play audio from my computer. If I don't do this, it doesn't recognize that my computer is playing sound, and then doesn't stream the sound. Even though it shows on my computer as connected, it doesn't show up in my sound options as a device that I can use for audio. I have to turn them off, put them into pairing mode, and then reconnect in order to get the sound to play. If a call comes in on my phone, the headphones actually disconnect from the computer to switch to the call - and the headphone voice announces that they have disconnected, super annoying and not seamless. With the QC35 II, I could use both at the same time, with the phone being connected at the low-quality voice mode and my computer at the high quality music mode. They had 2 years to get the multipoint Bluetooth right and they totally failed. So it ends up that I have to turn the XM4 off and re-pair them just like I had to with the XM3. I've had to do this a number of times, and I haven't quite figured out all the exact situations where I have to re-pair them. With the XM3, I knew if I wanted to switch devices, I would have to do it. But with the XM4, I haven't put my finger on all of them just yet. At any rate, the switching of devices is very clunky and definitely not worth upgrading for. I have $40 headphones that implement multipoint Bluetooth better than the XM4. I'm stunned and disappointed that Sony hasn't been able to get multipoint Bluetooth to work right.

Comfort: A
Compared to the XM3, the XM4 are slightly softer and a bit more comfortable right when I put them on. The XM3 are still pretty comfortable, but the earpads are definitely firmer and a little tighter.

Controls: B
I totally prefer the actual buttons on the QC35 II to the touch controls. Sometimes if I want to change the volume and I slide my finger at a slightly off-angle, it will skip tracks instead. It's a small annoyance. On the plus side, the physical buttons do make a fairly audible click that travels through the headphone, whereas the touch controls are a little quieter.

In-call: D
One thing the Bose QC35 II does is that when I'm on a call, it knows to automatically turn on ambient sound mode so I can hear myself talking. Neither the XM3 nor the XM4 figured out that this is a useful and great feature, so they don't do it. If I want it, I have to press the button to switch to it, listen to the announcement, and then it comes on. Then when I'm done, I have to press the button and wait for it to go into NC off, ambient sound off, and then press the button again and wait for the announcement that the NC is once again activated. Super slow and awkward and unusable. So instead, I pull one of the earcups off my ear so I can hear myself speak. When I first was using the Sony's for calls, I was finding that my voice was tired and my throat sore at the end of the day. Someone told me that I talked really loud when I was on the phone. I didn't even know this because the headphones do a really great job of keeping outside sound out, so I was talking at a level so I could hear myself when I was wearing them. I asked Sony support about this, and the headphones just don't do this. Fail.

Auto-mute: F
Sony created a feature where the headphones will automatically mute the audio source if it detects that you're talking. Nice in concept - terrible in practice. I just turned it off and left it off. If I'm listening to music and sneeze or make a noise, the headphones will interrupt what I'm listening to and mute it for the amount of time I've specified in the app - 15 seconds is the shortest amount of time. So I have to wait for it to unmute so that I can continue listening. What's even more annoying is when I'm using the auxiliary cable in wired mode - again, this is because the multipoint Bluetooth implementation is such a pain and sucks, if I'm on a video conference and I have the headphones on to use the noise cancelling, if I talk, it mutes the audio stream for 15 seconds so I can't hear what anyone in the conference is saying. So I then have to turn the headphones off in order to interact with the conference in any meaningful way.

Miscellaneous:
I don't understand why Sony doesn't just include a headphone cable with a microphone. With all the video-conferencing I do, and the terrible multipoint Bluetooth implementation, I end up using the auxiliary headphone cable a lot. It's much faster and convenient for me to switch the plug from my computer to my phone rather than dealing with the horrible Bluetooth switching. The auxiliary cable Sony provides doesn't have a microphone, so I have to hold my phone close to my mouth if I'm using the cable. I ended up buying an auxiliary cable with a microphone and some playback controls on it and it works great. Here's another really poorly thought-out thing: upon pairing the new XM4 with the app, it gives me the opportunity to give feedback on the headphones. This is only upon the initial startup of the headphones. How on earth can I give meaningful feedback about the headphones on my first use? It took me to Sony's site to do the survey, and I decided I would complete it later, only to discover that it had timed out, and now I'm not able to provide feedback through that mechanism.

Conclusion:
All the hype about multipoint Bluetooth is a big letdown with the real product. If that's the reason you're thinking about upgrading, don't do it. The rest of it is pretty similar to the XM3. Some nice little features added, but nothing earth shattering. The new features on paper were everything that I wanted that was missing from the XM3. In practice, the XM4 implementation of these things just did not hit the mark. I soooo wanted to love these headphones, so that I could stop looking for headphones. As it stands, they totally weren't worth the upgrade and I will most likely be sending these back. Sadly, they are not as advertised.

I upgraded to the XM4s after giving my treasured XM3s away to a family member, so I can comfortably compare the two.

As with the XM3s, the noise cancellation is fantastic. The sound quality is classic Sony and if you like that sound (rich, colorful and comfortably bass forward), they're fantastic. The comfort level is fantastic.

The addition of pairing to 2 devices, and the "on ear" sensor are quite good, and have been helpful.

But.

Paired to a television for watching video (YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, etc.) there is a severe, progressive lag between audio and video. This is 100% not present with the XM3s, and severely damages the overall experience. If you pause (double-tap) and unpause the audio while the video continues to play, it resynchronizes and begins the process of slowly-but-surely going out of sync again. Expect to pause and unpause 3 or 4 times for a 30-minute show, or twice that for an hour.

I can't stress this enough: none of this was a problem with the XM3s.

I decided to keep my XM4s, but I regret it. The added features are not worth the severe loss of performance when watching video.

Unless Sony somehow pushes an update to fix these, don't buy them.

Get the XM3s if you can find them.

Great headset, Just as awesome as the WH1000XM3s, but the color is definitely not silver.

My biggest gripes:

- The color isn't silver (oh, and there isn't a white option)
- The mic appears to be on at all times. This is actually a firmware issue, the later firmware versions on the XM3s act exactly the same, this makes it appear that the headset has weaker noise canceling when it does not)
- The XM3s actually have a somewhat defective headband. There are pressure points on the headband that will lead to it breaking after a certain period of time. After some testing I can confirm this isn't resolved by the XM4s. Note that this type of damage isn't covered under warranty. Many of us have fought with Sony to the point of switching to Bose, Apple, etc. If your headset band snaps, good luck.
- The quality is too low for the price. I actually don't have any issue with the sound quality, but my XM3s didn't last all that long...
- Customer service sucks. Customer service has an attitude of 'it's your fault, and it's up to you to prove to us that we are wrong'. I helped with a review for a major review site, kept my identity under cover, and I was treated like absolute garbage.

I just upgraded to the Xm4 from the xm3, they kept they same great sound of the xm3, they’re more comfortable than the xm3, the two devices connection is a major plus since now you only have to press one button at the app to switch devices, speak to chat is awesome and if you don’t like it you can always turn it off, noice cancellation is still awesome. I bought my Xm3 two years ago, if you are like me, then get these, you won’t regret it, the two devices connection is really convenient.

If you want the very best quality, activate LDAC (Android or high-end DAP users). Sony's own app will tell you if LDAC is activated when you play music.

If you use Android, don’t forget selecting WH-1000XM4’ Bluetooth connection and then settings, and then activating Codec: LDAC High Quality. (No, you don’t have to do the “developers mode" absurd advice found on the internet, any phone today select LDAC automatically when available, and even if you try the “developers mode", the phone will not recognize the LDAC unless you manually activate it from the Bluetooth’s individual connection).

If you use lossy music, maybe DSEE is a solution. Any low-resolution music (itunes, Spotify, Pandora…) will not take advantage of LDAC and perhaps will benefit with DSEE. On the other hand, if you listen Amazon Music HD or Qobuz (Tidal uses MQA, so will not play Hi Fi here), please try, to really impress yourself, to deactivate DSEE and ambient sound or noise cancelling: it will be difficult to believe this sound over Bluetooth!
When you go back to noise cancelling, try activating DSEE to see if it clouds detail or enhances your music (sometimes, from classical to modern genres this and the equalizer are essential).
Sony knows their stuff. From the best headphones they produce (MDR-Z1R) to high-end DAP's and DAC's, and industry leading Music Studios. However, the legendary MDR7506 studio reference headphones are really cheap, just to show you that great quality of sound is achievable without charging thousands of dollars.
Don't forget that in some cases the new headphones' diaphragms take a little time to have optimal movement, you will find headphones that sound better after the first hours of utilization.

Pros: beautiful headphones, above average sound. Class leader in noise canceling. Ability to connect simultaneously to 2 devices is huge. Watch the any number of rave YouTube reviews.

Cons: call quality is below average when compared to earbuds such as Airpods Pro. Most importantly for me, the headphones get hot and uncomfortable after wearing for more than 5 minutes. For longer listening or studying sessions, this is a deal-breaker for me. Will return.

I really love these headphones - the sound quality is superb and largely neutral, the noise canceling works well, they're comfortable, charge fast, and have great battery life.

Unfortunately, I will be returning them due to a known defect in which the Active Noise Canceling produces a constant wind-like noise in one earcup. Information about this defect can be found on both Sony's forum and Reddit page, and has existed in some cases since the XM2 series yet still persists even in this model.

I really love these headphones, but the noise is too intermittent to troubleshoot but frequent and loud enough to be annoying, especially at this price point.

The noise reduction on this is spooky good. It takes a little time to learn all the features (I recommend a youtube video or two, as the manual is tedious.) The cup to hear ambient sounds feature is genius, and being able to connect to multiple devices simultaneously is wonderful.

The one disappointment is the mics as used for video conferencing. I had hoped to use this to replace my Plantronics headset with boom mic. It works okay for this but not nearly as good as a boom headset. I thought a 5-mic array would be killer for Zoom/Team calls. Others say I sound digital/tinny on it. But I'm not returning it for this.

Comfort is only 7/10. I find them to be a slight bit tight on my big head, but I'm comparing them to my Kokoon headphones which are the most comfortable headphones in the world. They're a bit tight and the earpads a bit stiff I guess. My standards are high here.

These are great headphones but sometimes all the features with ambient sound are annoying.
These headphones are made by Sony but they are too new for the Playstation 4 to recognize therefore you have to plug them into the controller for them to work. I also have a QLED tv thats only like 5 years old and they don't recognize the headphones either. If you plug the headphones into the controller they lose the ability to control the ambient sound settings so if i say 1 word the noise canceling goes away assuming you're going to have a full conversation. So everytime I answer someone a simple yes or no I have to push the button to get the sound to play again which gets tedious after awhile.
I had the Bose Quiet Comfort II headphones before the XM4s and I miss the simplicity of having some physical volume up or down buttons ..especially since the XM4s touch controls go away when you plug the headphones into the PS4 controller.
Other than that if I'm using the headphones with my phone its nice to have the touch control options back.
The sound quality and noise cancelling are top notch ..so it gets 4/5 ..i just hope they are compatible with PS5 because plugging them into the controller sucks.

I love Sony's headphones and the XM2s have lasted me for years. I decided to upgrade with the XM4 and it was well worth it at first. The noise-cancellation, battery life, multi-point BT, etc. all are superb. The best in class. These are the best headphones on the market for the price given the technology.

But then I heard a maddening CREAKING NOISE in the headband and left ear cup.

The headphones creak when you move your head, open your mouth, or take a step. It must be the plastic mold not being a perfect fit. This is not a tech issue or a firmware problem. It can be heard regardless if the headphones are turned on. I hope Sony fixes this and my defective headphones are an outlier. I'm a loyal Sony customer and hope they fix this defect on the XM5s.

The WH1000XM3's were already incredible but this model still improves the previous design.

For context, I use these headphones primarily for commuting on a train daily and also for weekends to game on my PS4.

In between the WH1000XM3 and WH1000XM4 I used a budget noise cancelling wireless headphone set since I had to wait for my claim on my XM3's (which were refurbished and lasted me 2 years with daily use). The budget ones are garbage and the price difference is worth it! It's expensive but you definitely get your money's worth!

The ear cups are narrower to make more room for your ears and it improves the noise cancellation. It also does not impact the comfort of the headphones at all. The noise cancellation algorithm has also been improved as well! The sound is still crystal clear and the bass is amazing!

I use these in the mornings to remove the loud ambient noise of the trains so I can sleep while I have music lightly playing. I still can hear announcements lightly but it's not as jarring as it would be without them so I'm able to stay asleep for the most part (I am a light sleeper).

In the evenings I use these at a moderate to high level and I can absolutely not hear any of the other loud an obnoxious passengers which unfortunately come with commuting on the train. As a matter of a fact two people got into a loud argument behind me on the train and I did not notice until I saw security running by me to resolve the situation!! incredible!! haha.

I also use this as a wired headset that I connect to my PS4 controller to came in the weekends. The sound is also amazing and it's not low like it was when I used other gaming headsets. The headphones cannot not be used as a mic'ed headset but I rarely play online with others and if I do I have chat muted so don't need it.

These are my second pair of Sony Noise cancelling headphones and I will never change brands.

For summary, I don’t think this device deserves $350. I am not angry with SONY but a bit unimpressed. MX4 is not far away from MX3. If you are an average consumer like me, an $130 AirPods or $150 another NC headphones will be a similar experience. I am still debating if I want to keep MX4 or return it. It’s just not good enough.

Well, here we go.

Since I was 5 I’ve had tons of Sony products. I remember trying to put a cassette into my father’s old Walkman with my tiny hands. Then when I was old enough to hold a controller we got a Sony PlayStation 1. It was amazing to play Crash Bandicoot, Tekken, Rayman and so much more! Then I had a Sony DVD player that I used for decades. There is a big SONY music player that my dad had from the ’80s and it still works well…

Why I opened this review with my past is because I’ve always had amazing experiences with Sony. Now when I watched some reviews on YouTube, MX4 looked really appealing with new NC technology, pairing with two devices, approximate sensor, enchanted touch sensor, thicker padding, etc.

But the reality is a bit different, which I’ll explain it furthermore.

I want to start with things that make me want to return the MX4:

1. Touch sensor is unreliable. When I want to quickly reduce the volume, it skips like 5 songs and I’m not even exaggerating. Volume control is off-grade.

2. In the Sony app, there is no option that says “turn off the NC”. Instead of that it says “Ambient Sound Control” ?? I’m not really a tech ignorant, but it was a bit weird for me to not being able to turn NC off/on easily.

3. When NC is on it produces white noise. Maybe it’s how it works on this new tech but I didn’t like it. I have SENNHEISER HD 4.5 NC headphones that I bought 2 years ago. When I turn on NC on those headphones I never hear any kind of noise.

4. Again with NC, with SENNHEISER it doesn’t give me dizziness, but somehow with SONY, NC makes me dizzy.

5. Turning on MX4 takes you 2 seconds, starting to listening music is like 10 seconds with connecting and starting to playing music, this may sound like a first world problem but why turning on a headphone is not just a click? Or even when you pick up your device from the case and put it on your head won’t make turn it on? Is it really a hard feature to put on headphones that costs $350?

6. I also use Apple AirPods on a daily basis, I paid $130. It’s lighter and more portable. Gives almost the same quality of sound. You can work-out with AirPods, they won’t slide off of your head. I found myself using them more than a new pair of MX4. I also consider the environment that I live is not being really loud, and I don’t fly often, so I believe cutting edge NC tech is not what I was looking for -I guess-. So paying new headphones $350 and not getting something new, disappointed me.

7. This is a SONY product right. You’d expect it to work with PlayStation 4, but guess what? No, it does not! PS says it doesn’t support MX4. Like a JOKE.

8. I know if SONY makes a product, it will stay for decades. But when you want to change the ear cups, you can’t. They are not changeable. Wow. So after you use your MX4 for couple years I guess you’ll just buy another MX5 because your ear cups wore off.

9. USB-C cable that comes with MX4 is REALLY short, it’s not a deal-breaker but c’mon, $350.

10. If I'm outside and I'm on the phone, It gives a bit of wind noise to the other party and the person on the other side says you sound like you are away from the mic. So the phone call quality is not really good. -for a device that you pay $350-

11. Hover your hand to talk or speak to stop the music is just useless features. If I wanna talk or hear my surroundings, I just take headphones off my head.

And of course, give the devil it’s due:

1. Pairing with 2 devices works well. I’ve tried it and it’s pretty handy.

2. Proximity sensor works most of the time. 4 out of 5 times.

3. Battery life is amazing. I don’t think there is much to say to that. Just so good.

4. Bluetooth works well too, I’ve never experienced any connectivity issues.

5. MX4’s case is sleek and has a charger brick designed for airplanes. That’s thought well.