Sony WH-1000XM4 Review (noise cancelling headphone)

[starfly]

Anyone running the 3 or 4 on android should really try wavelet with the auto eq profile and then tweak to suit.
These things are great for non-critical listening.

Thanks for the tip. This is great!

 

[sulfuriq]

I've paired the XM-4 with Lotoo PAW S1 using the cable supplied, it sounds pretty good. Did not even turn on the XM4, Wonder if using the Balanced Cable for this Sony XM4 will do any difference?

 

[Freeway]

I found the touch controls pretty frustrating and mostly useless. Prefer buttons.
Supposedly the bass is tuned down vs the XM-3.
First impression of sound was 'erratic'. Haven't really used since.
Bought for wife, now working from home, because of comfort reviews. She will probably start using when traveling.
I am new to Bluetooth headphones and really digging it. Enjoy Bowers & Wilkins PX7.

 

[mkawa]

Touch control is inconsistent and yah, not something to rely on. You sometimes have to reboot the hps multiple times just to get them to activate.

i would describe the sound as “perfectly fine” with wavelet and autoeq, and suitable for tv and movies without. That said, most of the time I am listening via aac anyway, so perfectly fine is actually perfectly fine.

love the anc. Before this I only believed in iem for isolation, but it is amazing the crap these things have filtered out. They have been doing construction next door for the last 7+ months and sometimes the only way I can concentrate is to put these on with no audio playing. I can often feel the entire apartment shake without hearing the heavy machinery, quality stuff there

 

[ngs428]

For Equalizer APO users:

For more info, see List of Amir's Headphone PEQ filters.

Hello,
The settings you listed are for if the headphone is in Active mode. Amir also had a list of settings for when it is in passive mode. What is the preamp for passive mode?

 

[Jimbob54]

Hello,
The settings you listed are for if the headphone is in Active mode. Amir also had a list of settings for when it is in passive mode. What is the preamp for passive mode?

Roughly the same as the highest eq peak, so around 8dB. Keep adding another half dB if it clips.

 

[StevenEleven]

I’ve had these for a couple months or so. Really super-enjoying these with some adjustments to the built in graphic EQ app (with NR on), however limiting it might be, streaming from my iPad.

At default settings the bass is too much for me and the treble is a little dull.

My Sony headphone app settings are: “clear bass” -6, 400 hz -2 db, 1 kHz flat, 2.5 kHz +1 db, 6.3 kHz +1 db, 16 kHz +1 db. With these settings I find these fabulous, I‘ve nothing left to complain about. This is by ear, subjective, old man ears, YMMV, & etc.

 

[JJB70]

Something important when evaluating anything is the use case. In non-COVID times I spent a lot of time traveling. I had an earlier iteration of these and didn't buy them for SQ but because they were reasonably light, were very portable with a decent case, had a long battery life and excellent ANC. As long as they sound decent I suspect those other things matter more for many people buying ANC headphones. Sony and Bose both seem to know what their market wants from ANC headphones, though others are also very good. That said I switched to Etymotic ER4SR IEMs as their passive sound isolation is remarkable, they're even more portable and don't have a battery. And when at home orin a hotel room they reconcile what I want when on an aircraft or train with superb sound quality in a normal listening environment better than ANC types. But that's just me.

 

[Gamer]

Thank you for this write-up, much appreciated. I've been using these for +8 hours a day, if only I'd known about these EQ options before! Sounds great. Few thoughts though: Active NC mode is the only one I use. Other ones are kinda useless, passive almost feels the same as other closed headphones I use.

It does work the best with consistent noise, especially within certain frequency ranges. But I find it also works with non repetitive noise, such as my upstairs neighbours stomping around. Quite frankly, they make living here bearable. Most of the time it eliminates the sound, and otherwise it sounds like a distant sound.

These do seem marketed / designed around travel though, even though I think working from home is an excellent use case too. Not sure why the microphone eg does not work when using wired. Battery life is amazing when wired though. I do wish the build quality and comfort was better, my cheap gaming headsets are much more comfortable.

I guess a high-end version of these headphones with the same NC technology would be too niche..

 

[Galke6]

I have the WH1000XM2 and I want another ANC headphones, but seeing this review I don't know this model worth it
Any recommendations? I'm considering the 45 but seeing the BT codecs I think the 35 II still better

 

[Oukkidoukki]

I listened xm4 and some other bt headphones couple of days ago and conclusion was that this tech is not there yet. Cap for wired stuff with amp is quite large. I can pay 40€ for light ones and go for a run and it does it job, but 350€ for what they did, I don’t think so.

 

[Persik]

I am new to ANC Wireless headphones, what is the optimal method to apply EQ when streaming from iPhone to XM4?

Also, any way to use EQ streaming from Denon X3700h to XM4?

 

[ngs428]

I am new to ANC Wireless headphones, what is the optimal method to apply EQ when streaming from iPhone to XM4?

Also, any way to use EQ streaming from Denon X3700h to XM4?

The only way I know to EQ via the iPhone is via the “Sony Headphones Connect” app. Not a PEQ by any means but it gets the job done. I want to say I use the bright profile and clear bass at +1.

Not sure on your 2nd question. I have a couple denon avrs but never stream from them.

 

[Bow_Wazoo]

What would the EQ settings look like,
if I wanted to use the Sony Headphones Connect App to reach Harman target?

 

[fieldcar]

What would the EQ settings look like,
if I wanted to use the Sony Headphones Connect App to reach Harman target?

To keep LDAC, I use wavelet to fix the tuning on the xm3's. It's based on the oratory1990 autoEQ correction to the Harman target.

 

[Bow_Wazoo]

In the meantime I've seen that Oratory has settings for a parametric EQ. I die i will use Androids EQ

 

[ngs428]

Wavelet would be great if it was for iPhone too. Us iPhone users are stuck with the Sony Headphones Connect app to get any sort of EQ.

If there are other ways, please let me know.

 

[Persik]

Can it handle hi-res stream from Apple Music?

 

[Jimbob54]

Can it handle hi-res stream from Apple Music?

Depends what you play the music on. Its LDAC so it can go up to roughly lossless/ CD quality if the device you have the player on supports LDAC. Which I dont believe apple devices do, but Android does.

EDIT- no Bluetooth can handle actual Hi Res (above 48 khz sample rate and 24 bit or more bit depth)- some can do roughly lossless.

You will still be able to play the files- bit they will be downsampled as part of the Bluetooth transmission.

 

[King3567]

I use these all day for work zoom sessions, and when not in calls then with my phone to listen to podcasts. I think they’re awesome for those purposes. Might occasionally listen to music on them once I’m forced back into the office pretty soon here, but overall, I think these are a slam dunk purchase if you need some of the many positive features offered by these headphones and also something that sounds pretty ok.