Two years have passed since the arrival of the WF-1000XM3, the True Wireless headphones that consolidated Sony as one of the best hearing aid manufacturers on the market, and put on the table what from my point of view is the strongest rival for Apple in this type of product.
While the WF-1000XM3 surprised by their sound quality and noise cancellation, they also had many areas of opportunity that were highlighted with the arrival of the AirPods Pro. Fortunately those details were polished in their entirety by the Japanese team, and the WF-1000XM4 are now the True Wireless headphones to be beaten by Apple and the rest of the manufacturers.
Design: The execution we needed
One of my complaints with the past generation was the size of the earbuds and the charging case. Fortunately, the WF-1000XM4 now have a much smaller case that is even smaller than the AirPods Pro (but a little thicker), so you can put it in your pants bag without suffering.
The case only has the USB-C port on the back and the front LED light that indicates the battery level and charge status.
The headphones also received a nice redesign, as instead of being elongated, they are now rounder. In fact, the design allows its weight to be distributed much better due to the fact that the thickest part where the battery, processor and microphones are housed is in the upper part of the headset, so that weight is supported by the shell and antehelix of the pavilion. handset. The rest is supported with the antitragus.
As always, rubber bands are important so that the fit is optimal and the headphones are not moving or slipping out of the ear. This generation has polyurethane foam earplugs that are similar to memory foam, that is, they fit “intelligently” into your hearing cavity to improve passive noise cancellation and fit perfectly in each ear.
Even so, the headphones are still a bit larger compared to other models on the market, but I am happy to say that this does not affect comfort during long hours of use.
Sound: It was already difficult to make them sound better, but they succeeded
The last generation had already surprised locals and strangers with its acoustic quality, and although it seems that the best True Wireless headphones have reached their peak of quality, the WF-1000XM4 do it even better.
Of course, this improvement is not as marked between the WF-1000XM3 and the WF-1000XM4, but it is there and sometimes it is easier to distinguish it depending on the song you are listening to.
The highs and mids are still remarkable, with a very sharp definition that gives a lot of “acoustic color” to the music. In the case of the bass, the WF-1000XM3 already did it well, offering a very marked punch with the bass that rarely became distorted, but when the volume was very high it was noticeable.
This new model includes a 6mm driver unit that in Sony’s words offers a richer bass range with less distortion. In my case I can say that Sony does not lie, because this new Driver also allows to reach a higher volume (specifically 20%) and even so the bass is not distorted (or at least I have not noticed it in my tests) as if it happened with some songs on the WF-1000XM3.
Another important improvement is HiFi audio. It is probably the feature that they will use the least, but considering that they are premium headphones it was an obligation to include this feature, especially considering that little by little more manufacturers (less Apple) have in their True Wireless the possibility of listening to music without loss by wireless connection.
This is achieved thanks to the LDAC codec, which allows a data transfer of up to 990 kbps, enough to listen to music without loss. The problem is that our phone must also be compatible with this codec (there are very few) and the audio format must also be “lossless” or CD quality in order to enjoy the whole experience.
What is maintained is DSEE technology, which through AI (Artificial Intelligence) improves compressed audio files, to offer a better acoustic experience. If you listen to streaming music many times you will not notice the difference between DSEE activated and deactivated, especially with tracks from recent years, but it is a feature that the most demanding will appreciate.
Noise Cancellation: Nobody Does It Better
Active noise cancellation is the icing on the cake for the WF-100XM4. Again, it was already difficult to improve the work of the WF-1000XM3, but they succeeded.
As with the acoustic section, the active noise cancellation is not much better, but it is one step further.
First of all, I think part of this good result is because passive cancellation is better. Remember the polyurethane foam earplugs? They are responsible for improving noise cancellation, although these headphones feature a V1 processor that improves the QN1e’s active noise cancellation.
In environments with very loud noise such as trucks, a rain with hail or the classic noise of the city, the noise is very little perceived (without music), but once you put on a song, podcast or start watching a movie, the noise from the outside is imperceptible.
Making amends for the mistakes of the past
Although the sound and noise cancellation improved, what I liked the most about the WF-1000XM4 is that several of the problems that in my case I suffered with the WF-1000XM3 are over.
The first one has to do with water resistance, a feature that did not exist in the previous generation. Sony did not recommend using the previous models for exercise, in fact, in my case many times the earphone fell out of the ear due to sudden movements, so I had to constantly adjust it despite having the correct earplugs.
The design change solved the previous problem, however, with the WF-1000XM4 you can exercise without fear because they are already IPX4 certified, which means that in exercises with intense sweat you will not damage them, and if you go running low the rain will not have any problem either.
The autonomy of the previous model was already outstanding, and this new V1 processor has come to improve it. Playback is approximately 8 hours with noise cancellation active, although it can reach almost 12 hours on headphones if you disable ANC.
The charging case offers another 16 hours, obviously a smaller case sacrificed some of its battery size, but in the end I think it was the best decision. Regarding the autonomy without ANC, Sony says that up to 36 hours of playback can be achieved (headphones + case); At the time of writing this review I have been around for 29 hours of use and still have about 30% battery in the case.
The best news is that wireless charging is also released, which was the great absent in the WF-1000XM3, so they can be charged with any charging base that offers compatibility with the Qi standard.
The quality of the calls also improved slightly, in fact, it seems to me that now they are a little step above the AirPods Pro, which from my point of view were the True Wireless that I have tested with the best voice quality in calls.
Its best advance is that the voice is now a little clearer, in fact, the company manages to amplify it in environments with a lot of noise, so the person you call will be able to hear you without any problem during any call.
Another cool feature is “Talk over chat” that came with the WH-1000XM4. This feature allows ambient noise to be activated when you speak so you can hear what other people are saying without having to change the noise control mode with the touch panel on the headphones or from the app.
What I like about this feature is that you can customize it to decide how long it keeps the ambient noise going after you speak. If you suddenly want to go back to ambient noise cancellation, just press the touch panel to continue playing your music.
From the app you can also control the equalization settings and activate the smart assistant on your phone, or link your account with Alexa and Google Assistant.
In the case of these last two assistants, you can activate them by voice to control the home automation of your home, set a reminder or make a call only with your voice. This function can be done without problem on both Android and iOS.
Another thing that I really liked is that from the app you can also do a scan to see if the plugs you selected are the ideal ones for your ears. This allows passive and active noise cancellation to improve. In addition, it will be of great help so that the grip is much better.
Rating: 9.5, it’s the True Wireless headphones to beat
Sony’s new headphones are very good, outperforming their rivals in almost every area.
The only buts that can be put is that there is no multipoint connectivity via Bluetooth and its compatibility with atmospheric sound is limited to streaming services such as Deezer or TIDAL, they are not compatible with Apple Music (for now).
It is true that they are still larger headphones than many others on the market, but I insist that this does not affect the ergonomics, although if you do not like to see the headphones protrude too much from your ear, then this could bother you a bit.
In my case I have the model in bone color, and I must say that both the case and the headphones get dirty very easily, so perhaps this situation is much less perceived with the model in black, although without a doubt the bone color They are the ones that look the most beautiful.
The WF-1000XM4 cost 5,999 MXN. They are not cheap, but they are premium range headphones, so from my point of view their cost is justified based on their functions, audio quality, noise cancellation and comfort.