Sony WH-1000XM4 Wireless Industry Leading Noise Canceling Overhead Headphones, Black, One Size (WH1000XM4/B)

I currently own about 30 headphones of various brands and types. I have tried many Bluetooth headphones and own the Bose QC35 II and Bowers and Wilkins PX. I bought both the Sony WH-1000x MKI & MKII but returned them after weighing the shortcomings vs the cost, my main complaints being comfort and sound (the ANC was always good). My portable-everyday-beat-them-up headphones were the Bose QC 35 II. I liked them primarily for the comfort and ANC. The sound on the Bose can best be described as adequate but generally lifeless. Always in search of something better I read a couple of “First Look” articles about the Sony WH-MX1000M3 and decided to pull the plug on the first day that they were available on Amazon. When I received the Sony’s I was pleased to see that the case was similar to the Bose QC 35, a little bigger but shaped well enough to fit comfortably in my backpack. When I removed the headphones and put them on my head I realized immediately that these would be as comfortable as the Bose. Good job Sony.

After charging for a couple of hours I paired them to my phone and went to my headphone test playlist on Spotify. My main complaint with the previous Sony model’s sound was that they had very little soundstage (defined as perceived distance between your ears and the music) and little definition (defined as the clarity and separation of the various instruments in a piece of music). The M3 sounded better than the previous Sony’s and better than the Bose, but the highs appeared to be quite subdued and overwhelmed by the bass. This was disappointing.
But, Sony has a phone app that allows for EQ so I go download the app. Frustration. The app did not recognize the MK3. Patience. I figure that Sony has not updated the app yet. So I wait a day and see that the Sony app has automatically updated on my phone. I open and hurray! It is recognizing the MK3 now. Now I can play with EQ: -1 on 400 Hz. +1 on 1K. +2 on 2.5K. +3 on 6K. +4 on 16K and “Clear Bass” remains at 0. Play music and now were talking! I’m not going to say that these sound nearly as good as most of my wired headphones, but for everyday-on-the-go-beat-them-up-with-ANC these are exciting. They blow the Bose away. The Bowers and Wilkins PX which weigh about three times more than the Sony’s have decent BT sound when the ANC is off but the sound changes considerably and not for the better when you apply one of three ANC modes. They PX is OK for about an hour of no ANC listening while sitting at home, but after that my ears and the top of my head hurt.

The noise cancellation of the Sony is a generation ahead of Bose. There, I said it. Most reviewers crown the Bose as the best ANC you can get. Well, Sony has just showed Bose that they are the new big boy on the block. I did some A/B comparisons with both headphones and realized that the Sony not only cancels steady noise like jet engines or the sound of the air conditioning intake in my condo, but it does a great job of virtually eliminating all other sounds, including television voices and even other people, as my wife can attest to when she had to stand in front of me and wave her hands to get my attention because I could not hear her talking (so, if you want to block out your wife’s talking… LOL!). And this is without even messing with the settings in the app. Others reviewer here have not had the same experience, stating that it does not cancel voices. I frankly did not expect it to cancel voices, but I must say that the Sony comes as close as anything I have ever not heard.

So, if you want very comfortable headphones with the best sound and Active Noise Cancelling that you can expect with wireless Bluetooth in 2018 get these. They will not sound as good as wired closed back or open back headphones, but “you can’t always get what you want”, “nothing is perfect”, and “everybody is different”.

In addition to the Sony WH-1000XM3 during this review period I used:
Bose QC 35 II
Bowers & Wilkins PX
Bang and Olufsen H6 (wired)
Sennheiser HD650 (wired)
AKG 7KXX (wired)
Spotify
Flac files on phone and desktop computer

UPDATE 2018-09-21: I did experience an issue with phone calls where people at the other end were hearing an echo of their voice. I tested the headphones with three different phones and the problem occurred with all three. So I replaced them through Amazon. I am glad to say that the new pair does not have the issue. After some tests with phone calls I will say that Sony still needs to do some work on the call quality at the other end of the call (the call sounds fine in the Sony itself). In this regard, the Bose QC 35 is better. I think the call quality is really with the sound processing that Sony has implemented and not the hardware. Hopefully this will be improved in future firmware upgrades. Another minor con that the Bose handles better is the support for multiple BT sources. But this is a minor annoyance and I only use the Sony’s for my phone anyway, so I am not constantly switching sources. Small price to pay for better ANC and musical sound.

Let me start by saying that I love virtually everything about these headphones. The sound is fantastic: rich, full, and just a tad extra on the bass (which I enjoy). They’re also nearly (though not quite) as comfortable as my QC 35 II. The style and functionality also speak for themselves.
HOWEVER, all that is overshadowed (which is saying a lot) by the horrible microphone these things have. I make calls quite often with headphones on and every time I use the WH1000XM3’s, I invariably get complaints from the person on the other line (which I’ve never had before using my QC 35 II’s). The last person I called actually said the ambient noise was “murdering their ears”. So, I’m quite disappointed that such a top-end set of headphones can’t get such a basic thing right. I have headphones under $50 that perform far better for calls.

In short, unless the mic is fixed soon, I won’t be keeping these. Which, I might add, is very annoying as I love literally everything else about these…

Update sept 26

Got the replacement set and they sound do much better than the first ones I recieved. This kind of issues is unheard of from a product that costs 30k not gonna lie. Seriosuly? A defective pair of headphones ? Unexpected sony !

Update- sept-25

So I was using these like.usual when I started hearing a shrill noise from the right side earcup! Tried it with multiple devices , persistsnt shrill noise with noise cancelion and no music( my room’s fan was off ) . Replacing for a new pair . Will update

I’m not a “audiophile” but I’ve tested and heard many headphones/earphones in search of the “perfect” pair of cans for me. Perfect is a subjective term and will vary from person to person.

I bought these becasue of all the hype with the xm3’s and as a customer the “next” version would obviously be better right ?

So, come delivery day. I ooened these, set them up, updated the firmware and started listening . These sound , ok. For something that costs 30k, these sound average at best. The noice cancelling is good but I need to test it more , possibly on an airplane ( whenever that happens )

When something is this expensive you automatically have some expectations from it right ? It has to perform at the 30k level ( I hope the reader is getting what I’m trying to say) .

The software features are great , the build feels premium, the connection is strong.

P.S if you intend to use the multipoint function you will loose audio quality . LDAC uses two lanes ( max for bluetooth 5.0) and when you use multipoint it switches to SBC ( 1 lane ) so expect quality loss. Windows doesn’t support LDAC so you will loose significant quality when connected to a pc.

I’ll update the review after the burn in period . I won’t be returning these since these are just too damn comfortable but doesn’t justify the 30k price tag it demands for the sound quality I’m getting as of 20 sept.

If you are looking for noise cancelation at its best, don’t look elsewhere and buy this immediately.

Of all the comments that have been said about being not enough this, not able to do that, I think they are all untrue or either an unlucky manufacturing defect. Launch products are not perfect from the start, it’s bound to happen. The only thing I do not use are the microphones for making calls, so you can check online and see for yourself about that aspect.

Let’s break this down in points. (TLDR at the bottom)

Comfort/Ergonomics:

Without a doubt the most comfortable headphones I ever wore. People seem to complain that it’s not as comfortable as the XM3s, I say it’s pretty dang comfortable considering that I wore this thing for more than 5 hours straight and had no neck pain or itching whatsoever.

The weight of these headphones is so light that when the box came in, I thought I had been scammed and the headphones weren’t in the box. 250 ish grams is really light (0.55 pounds) for headphones.

The ears are big enough, the line of the muffs doesn’t overlap too much towards the neck and the cushion material adapts really well to your head, both on the top of the frame and on the ear muffs.

Sound/frequency response:

I have been mixing/mastering for multiple years on flat studio monitors. Out of all the headphones that I have or I have tried, these are the closest of being pretty much flat, once you cut 3-4 dB from the 400 Hz fader (pretty sure it’s an octave bandwidth, or a little more, so it covers at least from 282 Hz to 566 Hz when you adjust it) on the equalizer in Sony’s Headphones app.

I have attached the frequency response curve as an image in this review.

The bass is not overwhelming, (although if it’s your style, it delivers with the clear bass knob, which probably covers 250 Hz and below), the highs are not too sharp and there’s no spike in the high mids (2500-5000 Hz) or in the high end (above 5000 Hz).

The only problem is the low mids at around 400 Hz, which thank god they have a fader for that frequency. No matter what brand you choose, low mids are ALWAYS a problem in headphones. By the way, sound separation is excellent once I made that adjustment. Thank Sony for giving you the option!

The frequency response when using Bluetooth is between 15 Hz to 17 040 Hz. Beyond that, it starts to wane off. I have up to 19.1 kHz in my right ear and 18.3-18.4 kHz in my left ear, so it’s not on my side. Considering that my phone has a terrible audio output (it cuts at 15 kHz), it’s an upgrade for me.

Also, considering on how many people listen to their music too loud for the last 25 years, I would be highly surprised that people that claim the high end isn’t well defined actually know what they are talking about, and most probably don’t notice the difference. Same thing with audio CODECS disappearing from the XM3 (the XM4 has 3 and the XM3 had 5), above 256 kbps at variable rate and 320 kbps at constant bit rate, you don’t notice anything if the conversion was done right. Above those values, me and my friend call this “Placebo Quality”. Compression and brickwalled mixes affect the quality perception GREATLY.

Search NPR sound quality test online. It proves my point.

So in conclusion, if the song you are listening sounds like garbage, it’s because it was mixed/mastered like garbage (probably mixed nowadays because they brickwall often at this stage). These are hands down the best headphones I ever tried. Period. Including my Sennheisers that I used for multiple years.

Noise cancelation:

I was highly surprised at not only the sensation on your eardrum being pushed in not being super apparent compared to other models, which are quite frankly unbearable in the long run, but also the capabilities of phase canceling of these headphones (the actual term of canceling out waveforms is called phase canceling, noise canceling is a marketing term for people not familiar with audio, since the majority of people don’t know what is phase).

Transients (such as impacts) are impossible to isolate because they are too fast to sample and to invert the phase to create cancelation. Steady noises are the only ones that allow the headphones to sample them and invert them, because there’s a processing delay. Stop hitting a table like someone I know was doing to test headphones, it’s worthless.

The amount that is being canceled out is out of this world compared to previous generations that I have tried. I can’t wait to try them on a plane. High end will remain because it’s the most difficult part of the waveform to cancel, since it’s the most precise and the one that takes up the most information in a signal. I was standing next to a washing machine during its max spin cycle, could barely hear it with audio of people talking in my headphones. Without playback, you hear the high end when you’re right in front of it. As soon as you close the door, it pretty much vanishes.

If you have noisy neighbors or live in an apartment, buy this thing! You won’t regret it.

Battery life: Outlasts my cell phone by a hundred years. In 2 hours of use, not even 10% used. Specs are believable.

In conclusion, buy this thing if you are looking for noise canceling!

TLDR:
-Super comfortable
-Amazing in sound
-Amazing in noise canceling and battery life matching specs