Отзывы о Наушники Sony WH-1000XM4

This is almost the same as XM3, sounding everything is great but it has issues that made me prefer XM3 over this.

First, I didn't try the real 3D included. It's only works with other service like Tidal which has monthly charges. I really don't like they listed this as feature but it wasn't clear you have to pay those service later.

Second, battery life is horrible! It only lasted 6-8 hrs per charge. Upon research, people suggested to leave "DSEE Extreme" off which seems to drain battery life unexpectedly. XM3 has similar feature but I don't remember that has huge impact on battery life.

Until they fix the battery issue, I would suggest you to try similar Bose headphones instead.

Download Sony Headphone Connect App, open box, turn on headphones (bottom of left headphone on/off switch), using Sony Connect App, connect and paired new headphones.
- My headphones were 100% charged out of box.
- Many features in Sony Connect App, matter of your preference and use. I do think the app is solid and useful for my use of these headphones.
- My headphones firmware updated automatically -be patient, process took several minutes. Initial impression; very comfortable, really good noise canceling and sound quality.
- Voice clarity on both ends is outstanding.
- Easily connected two iPhones, my experience switching between them was seamless.
- Used ear profile in-app feature to analyze my ear shape for 360 Reality Audio setup.
- Able to connect to MacBook Pro (2020 version) directly via Bluetooth with no issues.

UPDATE: >30 hours of iPhone X, 8, and Bluetooth MacBook Pro connection.
- The phone call quality is awesome (you can hear
- No video lag/latency on FT and Zoom calls.
- I have found the connection at times can be a bit cumbersome when having two devices connected and receiving calls, it might be a setting or how I am picking up the call --directly from the phone or double-tapping on the headset.
- Great noise suppression to the wind, outside city/road-noise, etc... No reported issues with other people on calls with me. Always told call quality was very crisp and clear... my experience, much better than Apple Airpod Pro for suppression of noise for callers on the other end.
- I have also now used these headphones for Bluetooth connection to Nvidia Shield connected to my TV for over 16 hrs. Easy direct connection directly from Nvidia Bluetooth Settings. TV and Movie surround sound is great, you can hear the slightest sounds.

Bose 700 vs. Sony WH-1000XM4
- Seamless connection - prefer SONY
- Comfort - prefer Sony
- Headphone sound controls - prefer Bose. Sony touch control works ok but the Bose increase/decrease volume seems to work better on Sony
- Noise-canceling for me, both performed in a similar way
- Call quality, for me, both performed in a similar way

I Will continue to test and use Bose but the feel of the headset on my head is not as comfortable as Sony.

UPDATE: Running 7.3 Update
- Not sure if related but the initial bluetooth connection and subsequent connections are problematic;
- I have had to reconnect several times via the app and my phone needs to be very close to the headset;
- Once I am connected it has worked but I have had to repeat the process a few times now;
- Additionally, after significant use, the touch controls are a nice feature but not ideal under some circumstances. For example, if you have a hoodie on, jacket with hood, etc... touch control is sensitive and fabric, cord, ect... will effect the touch controls.
- I am running iphone X with latest iOS, should be receiving iphone 12 Pro this eve and will update with any new comments.

Well, I wanted to like this so bad. I needed to upgrade a 5 year old pair of Bose QC35s I loved dearly and have put through hell and back. I didn't love the design of the Bose 700s and wanted more modern ANC features than the QC35ii, so I chose these after plenty of research. First of all, the sound is way better, though unsurprisingly no where close to my open back Sennheisers. Still much much better than my original QC35s. Noise canceling was surprisingly uninspiring, it really didn't strike me as any better than what my 5 year old pair can manage, though the ambient settings were nice.

Unfortunately, I HATED the ear cup design. So much so that I actually ended up deciding to exchange these for a pair of the QC35ii's because at least I know those will be very comfortable. I have a fairly small ears, and my ears touched the inside of the headphones. The foam inside the ear cups really isn't all that smooth or comfortable, and would definitely catch on my earrings over a lifetime of frequent use. This also caused my ears to get very warm even when wearing these for only a short period while sitting in a cool room. I can't imagine how they'd feel outside on a hot day. And lastly, and least significantly, the faux leather on the ear pieces is definitely less comfortable than the Bose. This wouldn't be a deal breaker for me on it's own, but with everything else, these really aren't headphones I'd be able to wear regularly, much less for the amount of time I'll be wearing these.

I'd definitely recommend these for those less sensitive to ear comfort or wanting something primarily for short travel rather than day to day wear, but otherwise not so much...

Noise cancellation and audio quality exceeded my expectations. If you can afford it, buy it. If you can not afford it, find a part time job so you can buy it.

I receive both a S-brand Bud+ and the Sony XM4 on the same day.
In short, the Bud+ is garbage, no bass, average mid and high.
The Sony XM4 is a must buy if your budget allows for it.
Highly recommended.

1. If you like to listen to music around 70% volume and texts come through, it's very loud. Sounds like 150% and the only way to turn it down according to google and Sony is to turn down the sound. That would mean listen to music at lower volume. Why can't there be separate way to control notifications?

2. "Ambient Sound" mode is always on by default. It's very annoying because I never use it. So you have to open the app, sometimes the app takes 7 seconds to open sometimes 2 seconds. Flip a page. Toggle ambient sound off.

3. The google assistant can tell you "you have an email, or a text from Mr.X". Useless to me because in order for it to read the email subject or the text message, you have to use your hands on it like a babies toy. I can't understand why there is no setting to allow it to read it out without requiring the press of a button. I know I have an email because of unique sound notification. I know who the text is from because custom notification for each person. To me this feature is very useless. It's double the notification and I can't turn it off in the Sony app. I have to turn it off in the google settings.

4. If you are using blue-tooth and you want to plug in the cable, remember to turn off the headphones or else the battery gets drained. Sony says this is not suppose to happen, but it has happened. I sometimes plug in the cable and forget to turn them off.

5.Ambient sound seriously needs improvements. That Sony commercial about walking outdoors and hearing the traffic around you is total BS. If there is a small wind outside, you will hear so much wind you will go insane trying to use the ambient sound. The option menu gives you level 1 to 20, I can't go beyond level 3. Either a dead cat or better software is needed.

6. There is a feature that will pause the music when it hears you speak... if someone doesn't speak for 3 seconds, max 5 seconds, the music should return in my opinion. It's actually set to 15 seconds and no way to change it. So when you say anything, the music will pause 15 seconds before playing.

7. The same size speakers are disappointing. I was hoping for more bass that can be felt.

Sony says they appreciate my feedback and will work on updates. I decline to keep these because it's not worth the price.

So I was stuck between last year's M3 and the Bose 700. I saw these were coming out and wasn't sure. I did more research and was leaning towards the 700's to save money. I am primarily using these for WFH (music/calls) and the mic on the 700's is said to be amazing. As I researched I googled around and found that Bose has been having weeks of software issues and didn't want to get into that. I almost pre-ordered the M4's but decided to sleep on it because it didn't make a difference being in a queue. Finally one day, I found a YouTube video on the M4 and all my concerns were already addressed. I was sold.

Yesterday (Aug 18th) these arrived at my door and I was on calls ALL DAY. They were perfect. Today, I get to enjoy music and silence –– HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

As a diagnosed Autistic Person (Aspergers) I gave these headphones a 5 Star review because even though they have some faults I do think they serve their purpose.
These headphones are great for basic use like travel and at home / at work use. I personally use them to drown out the noise from a very noisy daycare I live next door to, or if i've had a long day of Sensory Processing and I'm drained and can't cope with background noises or volume control of other people's voices any more. I definitely recommend them for people who are ASD or with Sensory Processing issues. I enjoy wearing them when i'm working too as they help me concentrate on my tasks without having my attention diverted by auditory distractions.

The things that aren't the greatest about them -
* I do not recommend them for exercise such as Running. They are very sensitive and even when i go outside I turn down all noise canceling sensors on the app, just to stay quiet at the lowest level.
* The Speak to Chat function is cool, but can be annoying when you just clear your throat and it activates. The headphones are so sensitive that sometimes when I try to return back to Noise Canceling it switches off the function all together.
* Volume adjustment is not the greatest either. Having to slide your finger up and down one little bit at a time makes the whole function extremely slow. The skip or go back swipe function is cool but again, it's so sensitive that if you swipe accidentally or a little off angle it feels that.
* I also don't really like the material they are made of. Be sure to give them a wipe every day as the material easily gathers natural occurring oils form your skin and hair.
* It has this cool all surrounding music function, but you can't get that unless you purchase a specific music app for it. Spotify doesn't support that sadly.
* It's great that it can pair with 2 devices at a time, but sometimes that causes one device's volume to not work and I have to switch off the other device and start all over again with pairing.
* For some reason it constantly switches on itunes every time i connect it to my computer.

But as I said, I do love to wear them a lot and they help me out immensely, especially around the house, everyday tasks and with concentration.

I hope that with future products these things will be adjusted, but for now we're so lucky to have such cool technology.

As of about three years ago, I was an earbuds guy. The wireless over-hear headphones I had tried previously never could approximate the kind of audio immersion you get when you wedge little speakers directly into your ear canals. I never found over-hear headphone noise cancellation to work that well - often, turning it on would create more noise than it cancelled, compromising audio quality and, well, just sucking generally. Not to mention the inconsistent and typically non-intuitive affordances for powering on/off, pairing, and controlling playback on these things.

But then I picked up a pair of Sony's WH-H900N noise cancelling wireless headphones. I basically fell in love with them on day one and used the heck out of them over the past 3 years. So, now I'm an over-ear headphones guy. Specifically, THIS line of over-ear headphones that Sony is putting out.

I still love my H900Ns. But we all know that in tech a lot can change in 3 years time. In fact, I was about to upgrade to the WH-1000XM3s a few months ago but held off after learning about the imminent release of the M4s. So I waited. Then I pre-ordered. Yesterday, I received them.

I've now had about 24 hours to toy around with them and I'm already prepared to say that these are clearly the best headphones I've ever owned. Which is to say: They're everything I love about my WH-900Ns, but better:

- They're noticeably lighter, and based on about 5 hours of use I'm convinced they're more comfortable to wear
- Sound quality is significantly better. I didn't actually expect this amount of improvement, but it's definitely noticeable at both low and high end. Separation of layers is particularly amazing: vocals shine with total clarity, heavy bass tracks shake and vibrate my skull without any noticeable distortion; high-hats and snares are crisp and clear. Very happy with this so far, which i should mention is just using the default settings with songs downloaded from Spotify. I'm looking forward to optimizing further with custom equalizer settings in the sound connect app.
- Small thing but the semi-hardshell case with dedicated accessory storage (pictured) is really nice to have (900Ns just came with a bag...)
- Clarity of phone calls - both input and output (i.e., the mic works well) - is excellent. This is key as I plan to use these to listen to music and take meetings while WFH for the foreseeable future. The 900Ns were also very good in this regard, but the ability to connect to both my work computer and my mobile device simultaneously will really help me out during the work week.

CONNECTING TO TWO DEVICES SIMULTANEOUSLY

One of the issues is figuring out how to connect to these things to two devices at the same time. Given that this is a new and much-anticipated feature, I would have thought Sony would have thought to make it crystal clear to new users how to actually do this. Maybe I missed it, but I couldn't find instructions for how to do this. Here are the steps I discovered through trial and error that allowed me to simultaneously connect to both my iPhone and Mac Mini:

1. You may have to enable the feature from within the Headphones mobile app. For me, it was disabled. See photo I uploaded showing the relevant part of the application.
2. You need to first pair the headphones to each device separately before it is possible to connect to them simultaneously. As far as I can tell, there is no way to put the headphones in pairing mode when they're connected to a device.
3. Then, when the headphones are connected to one of the devices, you should be able to connect your second device to the headphones using the second device's bluetooth preferences.
4. If the second device successfully connects, you'll hear a voice notification through the headphones: "Bluetooth device 2 connected". You'll also see two devices listed under the "Status" tab of the Headphones Connect application.

Not a big deal, but seems silly that something like the above wasn't just in Sony's own documentation.

OTHER MINOR GRIEVANCES AND NITPICKS

It seems that the only way to get the most out of these is to use them with your Android or iOS device. This is because a lot of functionality - such as the ability to customize sound - is only available on iOS/Android devices with the Sony Headphones Connect application. The iOS app is decidedly intended for use on iPhones - it only runs in portrait orientation, making it a pain to use on my iPad (which I almost always use in landscape orientation). But the worst thing about this is that I can't customize anything when listening on a MacOS device, which these days is a lot of the time. Fortunately, these sound excellent even with the default settings - just wish the capabilities of these headphones wasn't dependent on which device I was using them with.

Final minor grievance (for now) is this adaptive sound control feature that Sony got me to try out. It requires location sharing and by default fires annoying and surprisingly frequent notifications on my iPhone about how it's apparently adapting to my ambient environment. I figured out how to mute the notifications but still need to figure out how to shut the feature off entirely, which I frankly have had enough of. My advice is to opt out of this feature when you first set your headphones up. Very disruptive with totally unclear benefits.

FINAL WORD (FOR NOW)

Again, best headphones I've ever owned, and I'm very happy with my purchase. But the minor issues I describe above, combined with the high cost of these things, were enough to knock a star off my rating. Buyer beware :)

UPDATE 1/28/21: After a month and a half, I'm still very pleased with this purchase. Music sounds great and the battery life is amazing. I stand by my complaints, though. And I wound up disabling Speak to Chat functionality as it would sometimes pick up stray noise and pause music, like when washing dishes. Doubling tapping the right earphone is more than adequate if I need to pause. Also, I've been told by others that I sound very quiet on cell phone calls, but haven't it myself. Finally, Bluetooth with my Mac can sometimes be fussy, but I blame that on the abomination that is the Bluetooth protocol and Apple's poor Bluetooth stack.

UPDATE: I've managed extensive testing of the ANC with my 8-year-old twins and their near constant screaming has been reduced to a slight buzzing. Bonus sixth star!

I'm not an audiophile. My listening source are FLACs via a MacBook Pro. Also, my review solely covers the wireless mode. Qualifiers disclosed, these are without question the best wireless headphones I've used.

Over the past week, I've thrown numerous genres at them, spanning Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Anthrax, Rammstein, Beck, Big Boi, Run DMC, Prodigy to Aimee Mann (signaling much?) and the phones have acquitted themselves quite well. The bass is crisp and not distorted even at loud volumes and the highs maintain without becoming grating. The build-in equalizer is good and can dramatically alter the color of the sound to suit your taste. The Noise Canceling is a dream and has clever options, like adjustable ambient sound control, which is easy to cycle through.

The lifestyle features like remove to pause, Quick Attention and ASC are quite nifty. I haven't found the touch controls to be annoying like many others, though you do need to be precise and I've given up trying to control the volume with it and instead use the app, but track skip and tap to play/pause are easy. Speaking of the app, it's not the most straightforward thing, but it has been rock solid on Android and gives you tremendous customization options. I've only done a few calls with headphones, and while the call quality was fine, I don't have enough experience with that aspect to fairly comment.

While it doesn't come with a charger, it does include a ridiculously short USB-C charging cable and an adequate 3.5mm audio cable, which all fit nicely within a compact carrying case. Speaking of charging, the phones will easily last more than a day of serious use and it recharges quickly.

Of course, it's not all flowers and sunshine. They are closed-ear headphones, so they will warm your ears after a few hours. The touch controls are novel and take a bit of getting used to, but work pretty reliably (barring volume control). The Speak to Chat functionality is brilliant, but maddeningly fussy. I'm hopeful that the combination of more tuning by me and future firmware updates from Sony will make it a killer feature and if not, it can be disabled from within the app.

A couple of decades ago, Sony was the benchmark in consumer audio before sliding into also-ran mediocrity. These headphones are a refreshing reminder of that excellent past and I recommend them with minimal reservation.

Sony WH-1000XM4 Wireless Industry Leading Noise Canceling Overhead Headphones with Mic for phone.

PROS :
1) Best noise cancelling on the current market Period in all frequencies.
2) Sound quality incredibly balanced & adjustable with the App to individual taste
3) Exceptionally comfortable, only beaten by the Bose 35s
4) Excellent connectivity stable connection with 2 devices at once
5) 30 hours battery life

CONS:
1) No AptX LL. This is a reason for me to send them back since I watch movies with head phones. In this day & age we need low latency to watch video content.
This is unforgivable since Sony was notified in their previous version the WH-1000XM3 it was a must.
2) Wind turns the ambient sound feature on & off. This is beyond annoying. Thank goodness it can be turned off
3) If it's windy one can hear wind in a phone conversation. This is not a problem with the Bose 700s
4) The ears will get quite warm if the headphones are worn for long periods.
5) I'm still not a fan of the swipe controls. They can be glitchy. For instance when trying to turn volume up or down, sometimes it pauses the music & other times it switches to the next track.

Overall Sony has improved the WH-1000XM4 from the previous generation but it could be better, much better with a few tweaks & recommendations above to become the ultimate noise cancelling bluetooth headphones on the market.

****EDIT**** I had to send the unit back because the automatic quick attention mode where human voices turn the music off went hay wire. Every sound started to turn the unit off. It didn't matter in the app if that feature was on or off, it kept doing it. This is a major flaw in the design. I DO NOT RECOMMEND this model. It's frustrating beyond belief....Now I star

After reading several online articles on the best wireless ANC headphones in the $300-400 range, I chose three to try out:

- Sony WH-1000XM4
- Master & Dynamic MW65
- Bowers & Wilkins PX7

The Sony pair arrived first and my initial thought was that although they had plenty of cool bells & whistles (touch sensitive volume control, automatic pause when removing them from your head) and the ANC was very effective, they sounded surprisingly flat. Even after trying various EQ settings within the Sony app and on my iPhone, the sound was decent but just not good enough for a $350 pair of headphones. And the most important thing to me with headphones is sound quality. I couldn't help but wonder why these headphones had such great reviews on sound quality when to my ears they just sound dull. All bass and mid, very little clarity of treble. To me, it seems the majority of the money for this pair went into the fancy features and not to the sound quality.

Next came the Master & Dynamic MW65 -- a newer company based out of NYC I hadn't heard of until this week. Besides the absolutely stunning design (not the most important thing to me honestly) I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY by the full, rich sound and crystal clear quality of the audio -- especially on the high end. An absolutely beautiful, well balanced, natural sound -- unlike the Sony's. Bass and midrange are important of course, and these have plenty of low end punch, but if you're like me and you want a precise, clear, open treble (so you can really hear all those delicate cymbals and high hats), then these will delight you. To be fair, they do not have many of the fancy features of other headphones in this price range (and they don't come with an app, which is fine by me), and the ANC isn't quite as effective as the Sony's. But a more subtle ANC is also what keeps the music sounding so great. They're also the only pair of the three that didn't come with a hard case (the case is soft), so to protect these I'm going to spend another $25 on a case. They're worth it. I only wish these were super soft over-ear phones instead of on-ear phones. The earpad leather is very soft and they are definitely comfortable (even to a man with big ears like mine), but I feel after hours of usage an over-ear set would be more comfortable.

Finally the Bowers & Wilkins PX7 arrived. I had high hopes for these because of their reviews, and the reputation of B&W for many years running. So I was as surprised as I could possibly be when I put them on and they sounded as flat and dull as the Sony's. In fact, after an A-B comparison they sounded nearly identical to the Sony's. Plus, the B&W app was buggy and terrible, and didn't even include EQ. (I used the iPhone settings to adjust EQ instead, but it still didn't help the B&Ws much.)

Master & Dynamic was the clear winner of the three, no contest. It amazes me that the Sony and B&W headphones have plenty of glowing reviews from people who rave about the sound quality. All I can think of is everyone's preferences are different, but most likely the people who popped them on and enjoyed them didn't actually do A-B comparisons with other brands. It was when I compared the Master & Dynamics with the others that I really noticed what the other two pair were missing.

Just got my new XM4 yesterday. Did a full charge and downloaded the app. The sound isn't as good as I had hoped. I'm comparing then to my Bose QC 35. The controls are very awkward but I guess I need some time to adjust. The part I don't like is the technology aspect of these headphones. There are several settings to go thru to establish the proper noise cancelling, including location and sending pics of your ears to Sony. Of course I didn't upload any pics, and after lots of quirks, I turned off location. There is a setting that auto mutes the headphone when you speak, so if you intend to sing along with your music, it mutes. You can't even clear your throat or sneeze, otherwise it mutes. How annoying.. bottom line I turned all the technology off which makes them regular headphones. The sound is great when playing music, but call quality is mediocre compared to Bose. In the app, you can change the equilizer presets a however, several are identical which is dumb. You can set a custom EQ setting. I'm considering returning them, but I will give a few more days for me to adjust and see if it gets better.

One solid point I forgot to mention. The new Sonys have Bluetooth 5.0 where as Bose QC35 have 4.1 or 4.2 (depending on when you bought them). The Bose connection is not very stable. The receiving antenna is on the right side of Bose QC, and if my phone were on my left hip, it cuts it or jitters. The Sony's are absolutely solid, and with 5.0, you can literally walk around the house without your phone and it hasn't stuttered once.

Update 8/25/2020: After a couple more hours tinkering with them, the voice assist is horrible, and the worst part, the headphones do NOT announce caller. (Bose do).. I haven't found a solid way to reject a call and it isn't in the help section. While the controls take practice, most of the time I try adjusting the volume, but change the track instead. I definitely prefer the buttons on the Bose as its really easy and intuitive.

Update 11/15/20: these headphone controls are getting worse. I can no longer control volume. I used to think it was just when my hands were moist from being on treadmill. Add off this morning, I washed and dried my hands and still no volume control. This reinforces my previous review of preferring actual buttons. These headphones were a $400 mistake

Update 1/4/21: I cannot reach Sony for warranty. I've reached out to Amazon 2 months ago and still no reply. These are a useless paperweight. Do not buy these if you value quality.

I was very excited about this new product and was finally willing to spend money since I now work from home. They are incredibly comfortable, sound quality is incredible but the microphones are horrible and call quality is non-existent. I was unable to use it for office calls. People said I sound robotic, like I was in a box or I had to speak up. Noise cancellation did nothing for ambient noise at any level. It picked up my dogs outside, the tv in the background and even my wife. It’s unacceptable for a product in this price range. I really don’t understand the rave reviews on this. If you are using them solely for music I completely agree but nothing else. I switched to the bose 700’s and it’s night and day for call quality and noise cancellation. Everyone says I am extremely clear now and they cannot hear anything in the background at all. Sound is good but nowhere near the punchy bass and ambient sound the Sony headphones have. I really tried to love my xm4‘s but could not justify not being able to also use them for work. Note: I did update them to latest firmware and tested every knob and feature in the app. Nothing changed what I was experiencing.

definitely better audio-hi-fi than xm3 -- more openness and definition.

note: to pair with my walkman wm1a i set up bluetooth pairing on walkman, BUT, as with xm3, i have to turn off the headphones first and restart them by PUSHING POWER ON, AND HOLDING IT PRESSED FOR 7 SECONDS. devices then connect.

Owned the WH1000xm4 for a week. Thought the sound was great for a noise cancelling headphone, however if you don’t care for noise cancelling you can get better sounding bluetooth headphones for an even lower price, from Hifiman, Grado to name a few. I bought the Bose 700 a few days later. Sound quality is close between the two. The Bose sounded warm and neutral while Sony sounded a little lean and neutral. With the Bose you are sitting a little closer to the performer because voices sound closer to you, with Sony you are sitting a few rows back with a little wider soundstage. I would say Sony has a little better bass impact compared to the Bose. For a noise cancelling headphone at this price range I would give both a 9/10 in sound quality. However, compared to my $1700 Sennheiser HD800S, both would get a 5.5/10 if the HD800S was a 10. These are not audiophile headphones but sound good enough for non-critical listening.

Both are very comfortable, Sony is cushier, while Bose has a little firmer foam around the ears. Because the Sony is cushy with more surface area contact, your ears can feel warmer, good if you live in a cold area I guess. With this one I prefer the Bose.

Sony has more functionality with its phone app. However, Sony’s AI algorithm DSEE which is supposed to enhance compressed audio cause some loss in audio fidelity. Overall better with it off, at least with my ears. Music untouched and played as close to neutral as possible is best. Sony has a built in Noise Canceling Optimizer which made no audible difference to my ears. These are probably unfinished functionality pushed by the marketing department. I’m not sure. Before I bought this headphone, I was reading a review from Soundguys website where they tested battery life. Anyway, these got just below 20 hrs, not 30. So on par with other brands.

I would have kept the Sony, was happy with it. However, it wasn’t compatible with my Samsung TV(2019 model). Searched online and a few people have the same issue. Noticeable audio lag, and loss of sync between audio and video. With a firmware update from Sony, this will probably be fixed in the future, but I didn’t want to take a chance, especially considering the price of the headphone. So anyway, bought the Bose 700, now zero issues with my tv. Sound quality is identical, build quality and choice of materials is just as good. Final Rating. Sound Quality 9, Build quality 9, Noise Cancellation 9, Comfort 8.5.

I spent both a live chat session and SIX phone calls with Sony customer support trying to get these to work properly, to no avail. This is one of the most disappointing purchases I've made recently. Arguably the biggest selling point of the XM4 over the XM3 headphones is the multi-device connection feature, which supposedly lets you switch automatically between two devices. Without this feature, you may as well buy the XM3 headphones for $100-$150 less. It doesn't work when paired with MacBook Pro and iPhone. I've tried everything — restoring the headphones to default settings, deleting and reinstalling the app, deregistering and re-registering the headphones from both devices — nothing works. Search the Sony subreddit and you'll find a bunch of posts with the exact same problem when using a Mac and iPhone with this feature. The headphones will not switch connection to the second device. Both my MacBook and iPhone are running the latest versions of their respective OS. The MacBook is a 16" model from 2016 and the iPhone is an XS.

It seems completely nuts to me that Sony didn't detect this issue before putting these on the market. After six support phone calls and a live chat session, Sony did not offer to replace my unit. They told me the problem was with my computer and if I would like to return the headphones, I could. It would be one thing if the headphones had a compatibility warning that says "Does not work with MacBook Pros" or something, but there is no such warning. So if you use a Mac and an iPhone and you're thinking about getting these, please realize you may find yourself spending many futile hours trying to get this feature to work. If you don't care about that feature, I'm sure they're a great buy. The sound quality is great and the noise cancelling is excellent. Just pick up a pair of XM3 headphones instead and save yourself a chunk of cash.

Positives:

I do believe these headphones have incredible noise cancelling technology. They manage to make virtually every low-pitched sound (train engines, washing machines, etc.) non-existent and seriously reduce the sound of high-pitched sounds like talking, loud typing, clapping, etc. I'm a bit familiar with what's behind ANC and I can see both the internal and external microphones on the unit. Having ANC tech that adapts to both is what adds to a lot of the cost in high-end ANC headphones. These are certainly state of the art in that respect.

I expected the audio quality to be more amazing. It really is no better than the iPhone's included headphones or even the very cheap (but highly rated) Panasonic earbuds. However, adding ANC to playing sound is a tradeoff. Other, cheaper ANC headphones are far worse and wind up fighting with the music instead of letting you enjoy it. It could be that Sony is simply balancing ANC with sound quality and it can't get better than it is.

30 hours of battery life is awesome. It's literally 10 times more than AirPods. The low battery life of Apple's devices is why I avoided them.

Negatives:

These headphones are big and clumsy. As light and padded they are, they are still large, uncomfortable to wear for more than an hour, and take up a lot of space in a backpack. This isn't really Sony's fault; all over-ear headphones are going to take up X amount of volume because of the size and location of human ears. But due their size and weight, I am finding myself more and more often just using my cheap wired earbuds, even when the Sonys are sitting right there on my desk and ready to go. Do I choose ANC and excellent sound, but pain and discomfort? Or good enough sound, no ANC, wires that don't let me walk around, but no pain? I think you can understand the dilemma.

The gesture-based controls are nearly useless. I have heard from others that they don't work outdoors on very cold days, but that's not my issue. I only used the headphones in a climate controlled house. The touch controls are simply cumbersome to use. Either they will not trigger when I want them to, so I have to try it several times before they work. They also trigger when I don't want them to, such as when I pull up the top of my hoodie, move them aside to redistribute the pressure pain caused by the pads, or raise my arms to stretch. I would really prefer physical buttons, or even a way to turn off the sensor.

The headphones cannot be used while charging. They cannot be turned on while plugged in, and if turned on when plugging in the power cable, they immediately turn off. This is surprising behavior considering that Sony located the power port on the right side facing down, where it is most conveniently hanging while plugged in and being worn. After all, if you were on an airplane and just wanted silence, but were running low on battery, wouldn't you want to plug it in so that you continue to have silence for the duration of your trip? My iPhone and Macbook pro continue to operate while plugged in and charging, as does another pair of noise-cancelling (corded) earbuds I use. I can't think of any charging device that does not do this, so I don't understand how this could have been missed.

Another annoyance is that when paired with a MacOS laptop, every time they activate after turning on, MacOS will automatically launch the Music app and begin playing the first song. By "activate," this could mean moving aside the left headphone to speak with someone, then putting it right back on. The Mac will start playing music even when something else is playing sound, such as VLC playing a movie. There seems to be no reliable way to turn this off and it's incredibly annoying.

After nearly 20 years of Bluetooth technology development, I really expected something simple like headphones to be a smoother experience. Remember when you could just plug in the headphones to your phone when you take a call? Pairing these Sonys is a huge time-consuming headache. Just switching between my Mac and iPhone is a chore. It takes a long time to re-pair the headphones to a different device, even if you were hooked up to them earlier. If a call comes in, I need a good 30 seconds or longer before it the sound is established. I have missed calls because of this. To the caller, it sounds like I don't know how to use a phone. Yes, the headphones do work with a phone, and the other side hears me well. But due to this pairing delay, I just use the corded earbuds and not the Sonys.

To paraphrase Chase Jarvis, your best headphones are the ones you have with you... and start working as soon as you put them on, let you answer calls right away, don't interfere with your listening enjoyment, don't cause your head to hurt, etc. By that measure, $10 cabled earbuds are my best headphones, and these Sony headphones are down at the bottom of the list. Low tech easily wins over a kitchen sink of advanced features.

I have one of the oldest versions of these headphones. As I am a wage slave there was no justification for splurging on a headphone of this price range when I bought this. I do not recall the thought process that went into the initial purchase decision. (I suspect no thought went into it. But let's not dwell on the mistakes of the past impede us...)

I am a product of the western education; as a result, I am a nihilist. As such, life has very little to offer other than sex, food and displaying superiority over my fellow men with the hope of getting more of the former two.

Last week, as I was feeling especially oppressed by the thoughts of existentialist angst, I felt a sudden urge of something missing in my life, perhaps goaded by the Prime Day Sale on Amazon. So I decided to buy a newer (nay, the newest) version of the headphones, compounding my earlier folly.

I, like many before me, made the assumption that if something is newer it ought to be better. I have found that this headphone shows no distinct superiority over it's predecessors excepting being shinier and more expensive. In fact, my older version of the headphone is better in terms of built quality and response time.

If you are a like me: That is, a fool who hasn't got $300 to waste but in possession of the earlier version of these headphones. I urge you not buy this since it is in no way better than the earlier headphones.

Goodbye dear public.

“You! Hypocrite lecteur! – mon semblable, -mon frère!”

I bought the Sony XM4 headphones to replace an older set of Sony studio monitors based primarily on the reviews on-line. I wanted great sound, and noise cancellation. These headphones do not disappoint.

I use my headphones to listen to lps (at the moment) with a good audio source (Technics 1210GR/Blue Point2). I've listened to many different music types, and I like the fact that the sound is balanced and warm. If I listened to more rock I might want a stronger bass presentation, but I tend towards jazz and classical and I prefer accuracy and balance.

I'm using a low end Sony stereo receiver and the sound over paired Bluetooth connections is not as dynamic and strong as a direct plug connection. In my office I run a fan, and this set takes the fan out of the background. Just great. Reviews suggest the Bose high end is equally good for noise cancellation.

This is an enclosed over the ears headset. The pads fit snugly, but not tight. I wear my MX4 for hours a day listening to music and I never feel uncomfortable. I have an average sized head. Thankfully the folding headset of earlier Sony set is not in this model.

Bluetooth pairing is to two devices, and you can switch using a phone app from one to the other. Switching is a little funky, but not bad. If you are pairing to a single device such as an iPhone, then this is trouble free. The app lets you modify the sound profile of the headset.

This model comes with a dynamic sound format using music services that I have not sampled.

The MX4 has excellent battery life and would be a good headset to travel with. It's got features that are particularly useful when paired to a phone. Touch the earpiece to talk through, remove touch and sound resumes. Swipes up/down/left right for vol and track control. The sound of my phone calls (10XMax) is excellent.

The MX4 is a near audiophile headset with many features for phone users. Based on sound quality, quietness, build quality, and features this headset cannot be beat in its price point. It is a great piece of kit.

The headphones sound good. The poor design of the app is the problem.

Nothing works without the app. If you want to make the volume go up, you have to find the app, find the place where the volume is and adjust it. Then, when you want to play something else, you have to close or hide the app, and then select something else to play. But if you don't like the volume setting for the new piece, you have to find and turn on the Sony app again. I found that I needed to hold my phone in my hand all the time.

Then there is the problem of the frequent beeping while listening to a work. I keep on thinking there is someone trying to reach me, but it is just the Sony app interrupting the sound every few seconds with a beep. How annoying!

There is an instruction page the size of a newspaper without words. You know the kind, full of pictures, but no words. It is trying to convey how to use the headphones. The problem is that the headphones haven't read the instructions. Maybe the instructions are only for apple devices. My headphones don't know how they are supposed to operate, such as fast forward. They can pause the playback with a double tap on the right earpiece. However, a subsequent double tap on the earpiece doesn't get the playback to resume.

I am using an android phone and VLC for playback. If your experience is different, it may be our setups are different.

I've owned a lot of headphones over the years; most of them wired, without any noise cancellation. I think ANC is a great innovation, though, and my first pair of noise canceling headphones were the Sony MDR10RNC's back in 2015. These didn't sound all that great, but I only bought them for use on airplanes, and they looked and felt really nice. That combined with the noise canceling made up for the lack of sound quality. I actually loved these headphones for what they were, which was a way for me to feel less fatigued after a very long flight, while also allowing me to enjoy the on-board IFE.

Fast forward to today, and I've just spent $350 on a new pair of Sony wireless noise canceling headphones. With five more years of R&D under Sony's belt, a much higher price tag than I paid for my MDR10's (they were about $140) and great reviews around the net, I had high expectations. For this kind of money, I expected not just a set of cans I could use on a plane but some everyday hi-fi headphones for music too. Unfortunately, they just don't sound very good, even with noise canceling off. I've tried them wired, wireless, on and off (you can use them turned off when wired), with noise canceling on and off, and using both AAC and LDAC codecs. The problem seems to be the headphone drivers, which is fundamental to the hardware.

I probably should have known better. These are mass market headphones, and even at fairly high prices like this, people today don't seem to be looking for accurate sound reproduction; they're looking for a lot of bass. These have that; I wish I'd seen this before buying but headphones.com (no affiliation!) tested their frequency response and found a "v-shaped" curve that emphasizes bass and to a certain extent treble. Unfortunately, the mid-range is where most of the music is, so really good-sounding mid-range and flat frequency response is the sign of a good headphone. These do have a cell phone app where you can set a custom EQ, and I did that. Unfortunately, the mid-range reproduction in these headphones just isn't very good - it sounds tinny and harsh, so the flatter you make the frequency response, the worse it sounds. These just aren't very good headphones in terms of sound quality, and I expected a lot better for $350.

In fact, I also own a pair of Cowin E7 Pro's, which are $60 Chinese wireless ANC headphones, and they sound almost as good as these. I had bought those literally the day before a flight because I found out I wasn't going to be able to plug in my headphones to an IFE system, and they were cheap enough to be an impulse buy. But they're totally fine for that price; they don't sound great but they're not absolutely awful either, they also have a ton of bass and their noise cancellation is adequate. For almost six times the price, I would expect these Sonys to sound a lot better, and they just don't. I was trying to upgrade and I'm not sure I really have.

As for the active noise canceling itself, yes, it's pretty good. My MDR10's noise canceling was pretty good too, five years ago. So are the Cowin's. Maybe I'm just more picky in terms of sound quality than noise canceling, but I feel like every ANC headphone cancels noise pretty well, though not perfectly - these are still tuned mostly for jet engines, and you're still going to hear stuff in higher registers. The WH-1000XM4's do have a slight hiss in ANC mode that means you probably won't want to use ANC at home. I noticed this right away and tested my other headphones to see if they did the same thing, since I hadn't noticed it before. And they do, but the frequency of the hiss on the 1000XM4's is a bit higher. It's not louder, just higher, so that's probably why I immediately noticed it.

Lastly, I am not a fan of the build quality of these, especially compared to my MDR10's - which, again, are also Sony ANC headphones and were much cheaper. The MDR10's look and feel premium, even today. The 1000XM4's look and feel like cheap headphones. They're all black plastic and just don't have the premium look or feel that I'd expect from a $350 set of headphones. They also seem to have a higher clamping force that makes them a little uncomfortable after an hour or two of listening. It's not noticeable at first but becomes noticeable pretty quickly.

If these cost $150, I'd say they were worth it. I do not think they are for $350.

I am seriously considering returning mine.

I like this product as a vacation pair of headphones. They have good noise cancelling, are pretty comfortable, and hold a good charge. They're nice on a plane, in an airport, in a hotel room. The sound quality and depth is really great, the bass reproduction feels very nice, and I enjoy music on these headphones.

Less good is the general feature set. The touch controls are a disaster, and the auto-on/off feature when you take the headphones on and off is a complete pain. I wish there was an option in the app when you first connect to enable or disable this feature set. This makes these headphones totally useless for day-to-day usage in the time of Covid. Sometimes I need to take one ear off to hear the environment around me, which may or may not cause music to start playing in the middle of a meeting. The auto-off feature is great for battery saving when you're on vacation, but in a work environment; it means that the headphones frequently don't re-connect quickly when jumping on a meeting, which is embarrassing. These headphones are okay for a few hours of usage, but after 4-5 hours, they start to get uncomfortable, which, given I'm on work calls all day means they aren't good for work usage again.

The online reviews that laud these headphones aren't wrong - the sound quality and noise cancellation is excellent; but those paper cut features that just annoy you are the death of these headphones, and so for that reason, at this price point, they get just 2 stars and I find myself going back to my older Bose headphones 90% of the time, to a point that I may just buy a new pair of Bose to replace the Sonys.

I really want to like these. 5/5, the noise cancellation works great. 5/5, the calls seem good. 4/5, the volume control is pretty easy albeit a little hokey. 3/5, they're somewhat comfortable for my big head but start to hurt after 30 minutes. 5/5, the battery life seems long lasting. 0/5, the two device control is awful. One device control works well. They easily connect to my iPhone X. For the 2nd device, when I connect to my Mac, however, the main audio stays with my Mac, and I cannot switch back to the iPhone. Certainly, the Sony audio app gives an indication that the headphones attempt to switch back to the iPhone, as the primary device, and then the headphones immediately switch back to my Mac, even with every audio and video app shutdown on my Mac. In fact, the only way I can switch back to my iPhone is to disconnect the Bluetooth from my Mac. I imagine Sony can fix this with a firmware update which brings me to the next issue, firmware upgrades. Soon after pairing my iPhone to the headphones in the app--the initial pairing in the app failed until I forced the issue in the iPhone Bluetooth settings, by the way--the app attempted to update the headphone firmware. When this happened, it stopped at 2%. Much later, after switching between apps, returning to the Sony app, I saw the firmware update process stopped. It was only when I checked the version, did I see that the firmware update works. I would avoid purchasing these until Sony works out the kinks with some firmware upgrades.

I've had three pairs of ANC headphones now, two MPOW brand, and these.

The active noise cancelling on these are good, but they cannot deal with wind noise despite having a setting for it; you will hear buffeting and grating sounds created by these in windy scenarios. They aren't the best for bumpy vehicles as there are "pressure waves" as best as I can describe that actually hurt my ears and I have to turn the noise cancellation function down, even after "optimization." The MPOW doesn't offer the same level of cancellation but also doesn't have these issues.

The call quality is crap, frankly. Any sort of background noise will be transmitted as clearly as your voice. Like the road or engine noise of a car, for instance. Or wind. Honestly, the MPOW isn't far behind this in call quality, it cancels out more noises but sounds more muffled in the process.

They haven't been able to pair with either of my Windows 10 PCs, but pair perfectly fine with my phone. To be fair the MPOW struggles here too, but at least they show up in the bluetooth list.

There is an audible hissing noise when using the included audio cord and no audio playing on the device which doesn't seem to be irritating at first but after an hour or so it becomes quite distracting to the point where I'd rather not wear them. Like constant radio static playing in the room next to you.

It comes with the smallest USB-C charging cable I've ever seen and for the price range that's pretty unacceptable, the MPOW's came with a cable twice as long.

The audio quality is decent but it isn't WORLDS better than the MPOW Deep Bass ANC headset, it's clearer and crisper but seem to perform similarly when ANC is active.

Build quality isn't much better than the cheapo MPOWs either, to my surprise.

Honestly, these are a rip off. They're maybe 10-15% better than the cheaper alternatives for 10x the price.