The best headphones for 2021. SONY WH-1000XM4

Sony WH-1000XM4 Review: Almost perfect

A much-anticipated new version of Sony's large audio-canceling mobile phone finally arrived, and it made a small improvement in the already high-quality product.

Sony WH-1000XM4

$ 278 AMAZON

$ 348 E-CRUTCHFIELD

$ 278 FOR THE BEST

AS

Excellent and high quality audio cancellation

Slight luxury

Enhanced voice calling

Two have two devices at the same time

New Chat Talking Mode

Enhanced Bluetooth system

Good battery life

DON'T LIKE

It's expensive

It looks almost identical to the previous model

When the Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones came in 2018, they were the first audio canceling headphones that really gave Bose’s QuietComfort models a run for their money. Now, Sony’s next model has arrived. And like any other beautiful Hollywood poetry poem, the much-anticipated WH-1000XM4 is an equally familiar and satisfying piece, with little confusion thrown in between.

As we review this at the beginning of the year 2020, a time trial of comparisons with products has already come to an end. Thus, we give it to the Choice of the editors.

If you anticipate major changes and improvements, you will be less inclined. But if you think the 1000XM3 is very good, which I have done, and I need to fix its minor flaws, you would be very happy that Sony has made further improvements in talking about the smaller (though not all) gripes users have. The short and short term is what may have been the best audio cancellation cell phone in the last two years. How much? That's what this review means.

Outwardly, little has changed. Like the WH-1000XM3, the WH-1000XM4 comes in the same shades of black and silver (black case has a slight color variation) and carries a list price of $ 350 (£ 330, OR $ 499). Available for pre-order now and shipped in mid-August. If you look closely, there are some subtle changes designed to make the headphones fit properly. The ears of the ears are always slightly larger - the inside of the oval is slightly wider, and the padding is also soft. In addition, some of the cuts are charged from the top of the head.

All these small changes should reduce the pressure on your head and ears. I found them a little more comfortable wearing long listening time. Oh, and they weigh less than XM3 (254 grams, or 8.96 ounces). We did not experience much weight loss when we went from XM2 to XM3, but Sony did not add a sensor - more than that in a minute - and we were able to extract a gram.

There are no changes to the buttons, at least in their placement. The former NC / Ambient button is now labeled "custom." From the app (for iOS and Android), you can now set the button to do what it did before: switch between audio cancellation and display mode that allows audio to come in from the outside world. Or you can configure it for other tasks, such as using Amazon's Alexa or Google Assistant. Also, if you hold it for a few seconds, the headphones go into measurement mode to get the shape of your head and to wear glasses. It enhances the headphones according to the reading. (IXM3 did the same.)

Major changes are internal. You see. Inside the left ear is a sensor that detects when you are holding headphones and automatically stops the sound when you remove them. It does not appear to adversely affect battery life; in fact, it should help save battery life. Like the XM3, it's still about 30 hours with wireless and audio cancellation - it's great for canceling wireless headset standards. And you get juice that costs five hours from just 10 minutes of USB-C charging.

Now the hidden things. There is a new Bluetooth system on the chip that has a lot of processing power. The headset still uses Sony's QN1 chip found in the XM3, but Sony has developed its own sound cancellation algorithms and digital signal processing to slightly improve audio and audio cancellation. Both were already prominent on XM3 and are now a better touch.

The Sonys had even pulled Bose away with the cancellation of the audio and apparently continued a bit with the release of the XM3. (Bose has made a slight improvement with its excellent Noise-Canceling 700 Headphone, which came out later.) Audio cancellation of headphones for both companies is quite effective, but in my limited test with the Sony WH-1000XM4 (I never flew in a plane with it), it seems to be much better at raising ambient sound than XM3. This model seems to be the pinnacle of sound cancellation, but I'll have to do a lot of testing to say that for sure. (Note that some people are sensitive to active sound cancellation, which can cause a feeling of pressure in your ears and make you feel stressed.)

Like your predecessors, you can choose the number of audio cancellations or participate in the dynamic sound cancellation of an aircraft depending on your location. I don't like dynamic audio cancellation, because when it changes the way your music pauses and you get a little thunderous sound on the headphones to let you know you've been converted. That would be a small thing.

Overall, development is a subtle development rather than a game changer. The headset does a little better job of converting streaming music from services like Spotify to high-quality streaming, according to Sony. The IXM4 is better at continuous heights, it can add back to lost information when faced with compressed streaming sound. Sony refers to this technology as DSEE, which represents the Digital Audio Development Engine, and says it aims to "improve the audio quality of compressed audio files in retrieval