60 reviews for Sony WH-1000XM4 Wireless Premium Noise Canceling Overhead Headphones with Mic for Phone-Call and Alexa Voice Control, Black WH1000XM4 Electronics

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Mike – March 8, 2024

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   Beyond anything I could have imagined…if noise distracts, buy back your productivity!

   I have used active noise canceling technology in protective ear muffs, and I have had some ear buds that were passive noise canceling, so I kind of thought I had an idea what these where going to be like. Nothing could prepare me for my first impression, and we’ll every subsequent impression.My wife does telemedicine from home, and soon we plan to add another dedicated office, but for right now we share a room. The distraction of having a constant conversation in the background has driven me to feel like a nomad – wandering from flat spot to flat spot. The laptop isn’t an issue, but the scanner, 32” monitor, keyboard, keypad, paperwork,etc…well you get the point. So I found a 17” led up in the attic…no go, for the record don’t ever get used to one size monitor than essentially try to get use to one 1/4th that size. I tried listening to music with my passive ear buds, finally I used my protective muffs that I have for mowing, shooting, anything loud and it sort of worked but those try to defeat harmful noise levels. I tried wearing earbuds playing music underneath the muffs and while that worked, my ears however felt like they had been in a vice.Well that leads me to these, while these are more costly than anything I ever have purchased for audio – other than my home theater equipment. Let me say now I’m case I am being wordy, these are worth every penny.I can be attached to both my iPhone and laptop, so I can get feedback from my computer or listen to audio and still here when I get an alert on my phone. When I wish, the head phones do not require any actual music or anything. I literally feel like I am alone in a “cone of silence” for those familiar with the old Get Smart episodes. If my wife or any other family member needs me it is easier to text me than to call out to me. While that is a little inconvenient, my ability to concentrate has increased multi-fold which has also allowed my productivity to feeling a pure joy rather than the stress of always feeling like you need to do more.These are also light, and have no issue navigating by size 8 head. The app setup for these is wild. I have done moldable ear plugs, but I never dreamed I would take a selfie and then snap shots of each ear to customize the sound. The other fascinating thing happened completely by accident, I was listening to a presentation online but needed to work on dinner. I thought I paused the pc and joined on the phone. But evidently I never stopped the pc and hearing audio I didn’t worry about anything. Well I realized that my pc was communicating with the Sony app and the app was evidently acting like a radio repeater…I was out of range of my office but set my phone out of the way where it won’t get wet, dropped or anything else. It was only when I tried to stop the presentation did I realize what had occurred. I now use this all the time and have subsequently learned to pause/play with the controls. Lastly, and this will completely give away the secret that I never read instructions…I could not figure out how to connect a phone call. I used the buttons like I do on my other Bluetooth earbuds, but that didn’t work. I felt stupid when I learned all that I had to do was tap the center of the right muff.I know this is a lot of money, and While it is rare for productivity be literally monetized unless you are on commission, I can tell you that these allow for peace in total chaos…oh, if I had these 20 years ago when our second child was colicky🙂.I normally buy black by default, grey if black isn’t available, but my wife encouraged me to try the blue. While I am color blind, I still see color, amd like the blue…my wife also likes the color which is way more important. I am starting to sense that I will be buying another pair of these for my wife because when she is charting on her EMR distractions are awful.

   3 people found this helpful

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   greyfox47 – March 8, 2024

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   One minor issue but love them just the same

   I also own a set of Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones, which I use exclusively (now) in my exercise area. I was always happy with the headphones, particularly the noise cancelling of my bike trainer and fan noise while deliverying excellent audio from a bluetooth dongle attached to a TV. The XM4s were heavily discounted at Christmas time, so I decided to get a pair for travel and other activities around the house like listening to music before falling asleep. I am pleased to say that the noise cancelling is even better than the XM3s, so I’m obviously pleased. My only grumble and it’s not enough to down rate below 5 is that my ears could use a little more room inside the cups. They are about the same, I think, as the XM3s. But… battery life and charging time are both improved as well as the ANC algorithm. Highly recommended!

3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   FaTHoM – March 8, 2024

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   What world?

   After buying the WF-10000XM4’s and losing the case (replacement is $150. I paid $225 ish for the set), I thought I’d give the WH’s a try. I got them for $228 or so, so opted to not get the XM5’s due to the price difference. I’ve only had them for barely a week, but my initial thoughts are certainly positive.Fit. Here’s the deal, I have some big ears, with 3/4″ gauges. With my gauges in, I do get some pain in my neck. I have pain issues, so this was no surprise, nor is it a fault of the design. My ears fit fairly comfortably inside the cups to help lock out sound, minus the gauges. The polypropylene(?) material is quite soft and moldable, making wearing them for an hour or more easy and comfortable.I have a kinda funny shaped head (IMO. But I’m highly critical of myself and the world), but these look really slick placed on my dome. I got black, because black goes with everything, and I don’t wear color. Look and fit much better than cans I’ve owned in the past.Noise cancelation. The ANC is good, but not great. I found the ANC on the WF’s more thorough, which is a bit odd considering they’re earbuds. However, they do form a more legit seal in the ear canal, so it could be that. There is some “hissing”, but part of that is also my tinnitus. I find that there seems to be some slight hissing even with the ANC off. It’s akin to being in a super silent room, and you hear the “hissing” from an AV system with it powered on, but with no sound. I’ve not flown with them yet (Which is a huge reason why I got these), but I assume they’ll be just fine for passenger and engine noise.Sound quality. So, I’m pre-burn in on the drivers. There is usually 100 hours or so of burn in on every new speaker/driver on the planet, and these are no different (I have not researched this in actuality. I was in AV for several years, and have some knowledge). But, so far, they sound very pleasant and accurate. I opted for an EQ setting (Excited) just to bring out certain details in the instrumental/electronic music I’m currently listening to. You can hear the trilling of the tongue on a flute, and the fingers against guitar strings. The detail is fairly rich, while maintaining a fairly neutral overall tone. The sounds seem to be reproduced fairly accurately and are fantastic for instrumenal music.For the price I paid, these are great. However, for the normal asking price of around $350, I expect the soundstage and sound field to be superior to what it is. It is evident that you are hearing music played through 2 speakers often times, instead of an amalgamation of speakers 180 degrees in front of you, or listening to a live performance where the sound comes from everywhere. Think of this as 3D sound if you will, similar to Dolby Atmos. I understand they have the real 3d audio whatever, but right out of the box, they should be fully immersive.Battery life/Bluetooth. Battery life seems to be ok with ANC on. I use ANC exclusively because I like to drown out reality while listening, especially during meditation. I suspect you could easily get 8 hours of consistent listening with ANC on before needing to recharge, which is plenty for half the flights on this side of the world (North America). What else can I say about battery life??Bluetooth connectivity is very strong and nearly instant. I can walk from my apartment to my neighbors apartment with my phone in my apartment and still have unbroken connectivity. THAT is freakin awesome.Overall, I’m very pleased with these cans, especially for the price I got them at. At the normal asking price, I’d recommend checking out the XM5’s since their so similarly priced. If you’re looking for a solid set of cans, and these are on sale, don’t mess around, just buy them. You won’t be disappointed.

   136 people found this helpful

4. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Kaladin StormblessedKaladin Stormblessed – March 8, 2024

   4.0 out of 5 stars

   Saying Goodbye to Bose…

   I’ve been pro-Bose for YEARS (QC35’s being the most recent headphones). Not necessarily for the booming bass/audio quality, but for the convenience factor (on the go, on the plane, zoom meetings, etc…), excellent battery life + amazing noise cancellation. To balance, I have a pair of Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 (though oddly designed), sound great both via Bluetooth or cabled/analog via a DragonFly, playing FLAC, etc…Well…, my QC35’s encountered the infamous always-on “feature.” Flipping the button to off will give you an audible beep that it’s being powered off, only to find that you missed 20 calls in your log that you never heard ring. If you’re under warranty, you’re golden (they’ll offer to fix or a discounted upgrade). If not, you’re forced to operate with miniature tools under a magnifying glass to bend the button contact points to maintain constant connectivity to the board. My QC35’s were months out of warranty & I was SOL… Hacked per all the DIY vids which worked well for about 6 months. Earlier this week, however, I noticed several missed calls + the Bluetooth connection active. Sure enough, the Bose were “back at it again…” Didn’t feel like hacking for another 6 month band-aid, so seriously considered picking up a pair of 700’s. My coworkers, however, (the same ones who all originally had/suggested Bose), said they switched to Sony months ago… After researching pros & cons/side-by-side comparisons, the WH-1000XM4’s seemed more & more a worthy competitor/option…Go-To Amazon of course had the WH-1000XM4’s in-stock (& $60 cheaper than the Bose!), so ordered without hesitation. Headphones arrived (packaging & product) looking very slick (nice touch w/ the rose gold accents on black. Charged for about 30 minutes, then tested audio & call quality… BLOWN AWAY… Streaming music, movies, etc… seemed lightyears beyond what I subjected myself to w/ the Bose. My QC35’s sounded flat & bass was non-existent. These headphones feel like I’m back in the mid 90’s, cruising in my lowered Accord on wire wheels, bumping my Cerwin Vegas powered from an M100 Phoenix Gold Amp w/ Boston Acoustic pro series highs/mids. Yes, “slight” exaggeration (anyone w/ 12″ Vega’s know what I’m talking about), but it DID take me back… Beyond impressed… No issues w/ audio quality as well on my Zoom’s or direct bt to my phone.So…, audio quality is OUTSTANDING… What caught me off guard, however, was the noise cancellation! I thought Bose was amazing, but Sony’s latest technology is on another level. It works so well, it’s scary… Damn near can’t hear a thing when they’re on. Without any audio at all, it’s as if you’re trapped in “soundproof vacuum purgatory,” with nothing but you & your now blaringly loud tinnitus to keep you company. When you take them off after a few hours of wearing, you (to be continued: Apparently, my family has been calling my name for the last 10 minutes. They gave up & sent my youngest upstairs to physically wave her hands in front of me @ my workstation to tell me we’re eating soon. Yes, the noise cancellation is THAT good). Ok, continuing where I left off above: When you take them off after a few hours of wearing, your ears are now hyper-sensitive to every day sounds. Birds chirping, humming of video equipment, the heater, etc… I always assumed that Bose was the leader in this technology, but Sony just knocked it out of the park…As far as cons? Very minimal & more of annoyances if anything… I use mine strictly for voice & audio (though I did install the app), so not really taking advantage of any of the advanced features. The Bose has a massive R & L inside the padding + the on/off switch is an easy queue as to which side is R or L. The Bose padding at the top of your head also appears to be a bit firmer/more comfortable. With the Sony, the buttons are camouflaged into speakers & the R & L are tiny (but color coded) markers on the inner headset. Marking is tiny, but as long as you associated Red with Right, then you’re golden. Also, after a prolonged period of time, the very top of my head was throbbing/sore. I’d have to raise the headset slightly to give the to of my skull a break. Again, these are merely minor annoyances & the pros far outweigh the cons…Can’t really say much more & for those TLDR, Sony’s WH-1000XM4 put my Bose QC35’s to shame (voice, audio & outstanding noise cancellation). Not sure how long these suckers will last, but assuming they stand the test of time, I don’t see any reason why I’d ever return to Bose…

   21 people found this helpful

5. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   TinaTina – March 8, 2024

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   Great headphones

   I was looking for a while to get new headphones, but never knew where to get them or how I would be able to pay for them. I chose the monthly plan since I’m still in high school and it’s pretty affordable and I’m pleased with the payments, I payed $65 for the first payment and then $45 for the other payments. I bought mine during sales though so I don’t know how much it would be now so take my payments with a grain of salt. Overall I would recommend it the bass is amazing and the noise canceling works well but it isn’t like full silence like you might think but it’s really good either way. So go for it if you’re thinking to buy it. ( ◠‿◠ )

6. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Greg – March 8, 2024

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   Fantastic Sound.

   I’ve had these for awhile now, and they are my favorite of all of the cans I’ve purchased. The overall sound is amazing. The Sony app pairs great with these cans, and the equilizer on the app works flawlessly. I’ve had other Sony and Bose cans…but I like this design the best. I travel a bunch, and I can fold these up and drop them in my backpack and not worry about them breaking. They are more affordable than the XM5’s and Bose Ultras…don’t think you need to spend more to get stellar sound – these are a great investment for you ears.

7. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Roy Ogasawara – March 8, 2024

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   Can’t live without

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   I have been wanting noise cancelling headphones for a hot minute. Nothing against earbuds but most don’t fit the shape of my ears well. My ears are often sore and uncomfortable really quickly. Read really great reviews about these and I must say… I absolutely can NOT live without them now. First, the aesthetic of them. They are giving that cool girl Pinterest vibe whenever I wear them. Obviously not the most important part, but it is a bonus. They are so comfortable and soft. I can wear them for hours, even though I really shouldn’t be. They also have touch controls on the right ear so you can control your music with your finger. They come in a carrying case with a charger and adapter and wire for when you go on the plane. They are Bluetooth so you can be handsfree. For the price point, these are mid range in my opinion. They aren’t the cheapest but definitely reasonable compared to the higher end ones. I am an avid Apple user and really considered their headphones. But their price tag of $500 just couldn’t be justified in my opinion. Especially since I have been known to be a little rough with my belongings. Have I scraped past a shelf with these on? Yes. But not even a smudge on them! Highly recommend. Lastly the sound quality is truly unparalleled. I still wear earbuds when I run just because they are less bulky. And I know they are not the same thing, there really is a big difference between the 2.

   3 people found this helpful

8. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   JourdanJourdan – March 8, 2024

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   “Earily” Perfect!! Pun intended.

   I received these as a Christmas gift for my music…music my boyfriend doesn’t like but with these, I can listen to it whenever I like and now, he just needs to make an appointment to speak with me. Just kidding, but seriously, the sound quality, the noise cancellation and the battery life is superb. They fit over my ears comfortably and they fold up …they’re not bulky. They even include a case for them when traveling.With other headphones, there was always a lag when listening to Duolingo (foreign language app) but with these, there is no lag whatsoever. Ils sont magnifiques!!Tanya

   One person found this helpful

9. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Epsilon Delta – March 8, 2024

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   I am impressed

   The audio quality is superb. I can say, I haven’t tried headphones that made me feel the music is so great (from my music library on iTunes). It has this 3D sound and it is great. Turning it off and the sound is a bit flat.It also comes with all the cables, neatly organized in a nice box. It is like a Virgo way of keeping track of details.The noise cancelation is a bit weak. The app says “noise cancelation” and if I max it out, it keeps the noise at max level. If I turn it to the lowest, then it cancels the most noise. So I think the label is reversed in meaning.The set up is a bit complicated. It can even analyze the shape of your ears and so forth. It is a bit complicated. I hope it has a “quick start” mode so you can listen to it and customize it later.But I am really impressed. I heard that XM5 is slightly problematic than XM4, so I didn’t buy the XM5. I think if the XM6 comes out, I will keep a close eye on it.It can use 3.5mm cable, so it in fact is good for other devices, not necessarily a bluetooth device.

   One person found this helpful

10. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    An – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Excellent sound quality and noise cancellation

    Gave these as a Christmas present and super excited to hear about how great they are. I’ve been a big Bose and Apple fan for years and I’m pretty brand loyal so this was stretching myself to trust the reviews. I’m considering getting a pair for myself now…

11. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    EliteTek ITEliteTek IT – March 8, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Comfortable and Quiet

    Scroll to the bottom for pros and cons!The amazing sound produced by these Headphones can only be matched by the perfection of the ACN(Active Noise Canceling). With dynamic control from an app on your device to to the touch controls on the earpiece, ease of use is definitely a bonus feature. Sony spared no expense in attempting to build a lightweight comfortable headset and they succeeded.I purchased these headphones for a couple different reasons. First and foremost was for a long international flight I was preparing to take, and second was for a gym alternative to my AirPods. Though I have nothing against the AirPods, I was tired of sticking things in my sweaty ears.The first thing I noticed about these Sony headphones was the Dolby Atmos surround sound clarity. I first tested them in my home with my laptop making sure the Bluetooth connection was solid and clean. I was amazed at the dynamic range of sound and the realistic sound placement while watching high action scenes. I literally felt like I could look around and see the gunmen.The second thing I noticed was the amazing quality of the ACN which can be adjusted for sound pass through in the app. While walking through the airport, my phone lost signal for a moment and i immediately feared the headphones were the issue. As I removed them from my ears I was shocked at how loud the airport was. People talking, jets whirring up to taxi, the voice over the PA had been completely shut out. I put them back on my ears again and took them off several times marveling at the difference. Now that my childlike wonder was satisfied and it was time to board my plane.While waiting for taxi I listened to the cabin taking in all sounds and soon found myself dying to drown out the noise again. I set the pass through to about half sensitivity and put them back on. After some adjustment in the app I was able to find a perfect balance of cabin announcements and my music (Shinedown, Breaking Benjamin, Morgan Whalen for reference).Ultimately over the course of the next 24 hours these headphones never left my head. I only needed to place them on to the charger after landing at the destination. Yes I was awake the whole time attempting to counteract jet lag. Conversely on the return trip I used nothing but the ACN to drown out noise and I slept comfortably(as you can on a plane) with them on the whole way home. These headphones completely stopped the drone of the engines and made for an enjoyable listening experience.The only thing that has disappointed me regarding my Sony Headphones is their functionality during active gym sessions. Though they were not excessively hot, sweat tended to make the earpieces very slick. They would slide around and even off while lying in horizontal positions such as bench press or push ups. In both sessions I wore these I found myself paying way more attention to trying to find a way to stop the slipping that I eventually took them off midway through the second session due to annoyance.Overall for lightly active people(walkers, hikers, traveling by car plane train) these headphones are a great sound at a great value. My only reason for a 4 star rating is the inability to use them functionally in the gym. (Yes I know there is nothing that claims these are for active wear)Pros:-comfort-lightweight-great battery life-ACN works wonderfully-Amazing Bluetooth range-convenient folding design makes storage easyCons:- not meant for active individuals that sweat.

    15 people found this helpful

12. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    tojesse – March 8, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Muddy default sound on Bluetooth

    I use these headphones for listening to music and gaming/voice chat.Other than this SINGLE problem, this headset is excellent:The default sound values are super muddy in the low range (~400) when using Bluetooth. Use the mobile app to change that range way down, then turn up TrueBass. You will get a sound closer to wired, which, in my opinion, is the best.You also cannot connect this to a PC wirelessly and use it as a microphone without heavily dropping in audio quality, but this is a limitation of Bluetooth.The noise cancelling is invaluable to me as I am often in environments with jets overhead or people talking or TV. The sound quality (after adjusting) is stellar. I really can’t praise it enough on this factor. Battery life is definitely around 8 hours when listening over BT, and charging times are very fast, about 20 minutes to full. Ear pads are replaceable. I’ve owned my set for 3 years now. The gesture controls are really nice when your phone is out of reach.Be careful if you sweat with this on, or live in a very humid environment. Any water can break the noise cancelling microphones, creating a loud screech. This can be fixed if you let them dry.

    2 people found this helpful

13. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Richard N. Barg – March 8, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    UPDATED: Excellent sound & Comfort, Subpar Ergonomics, Auto-Shut Off Does Not Work as Expected

    Note: this review is substantially changed. I forgot to proofed the initial review.I also own a pair of Bose QC 35s. The XM4s are definitely more comfortable and easier to wear for a longer period of time. They have less clamping and carbon pressure than the QC 35s, which really surprised me. I owned the XM-3s briefly before returning them. The XM4s, in my view, are considerably more comfortable, especially the headband which no longer exerts a downward force. The QC-35s, still being sold, seem ancient. I have also tried the somewhat polarizing Bose 700s. I’m not a fan, but concede, for phone calls, they are revolutionary in the way they use microphones to produce a clear sound even in noisy environments.The DSEE Extreme audio enhancement option does wonders for the sound, especially on audiobooks and podcasts. The rest of the app is spartan and lackluster.The XM4s device pairs very well with Bluetooth (BT) devices such as my iPhone and iPad, now simultaneously although you do lose the ability to use certain Codecs. BT on the XMS blow away the QC 35s in terms of initially connectivity, notably speed, have superior distance/range and duration of Bluetooth signal. Dropouts even next to the microwave oven, are minimal. The ability to connect two devices simultaneously to BT is a game-changer and a massive upgrade from the XM3s.The chat to talk function is useless and annoying and easy to accidentally turn on.The XM4 ssuffer from a lack of dedicated volume control dials. Car manufacturers removed this feature on their Infotainment system, notably Honda, and customers rightly pushed back. And now the volume controls dials are back. The Bose QC-35s, whatever it other shortcomings and dated design, have dedicated rocker switches that are far superior to the touchpad on the XM4s. Among other things they don’t beep when you raise or lower the volume. That beep is annoying and interferes with what you were listening to.In windy or rainy condition, the touchpad is unreliable, often activated by gusts and raindrops with unexpected results. With inclement weather and outdoors, I fall back to my trusty QC-35s.The touchpad suffers from another vice. You can easily invoke fast forward or rewind instead of the touchpad volume controls if your finger lands in the wrong place, which happens periodically by the law of averages. If you are an older adult whose hand motor skills have declined, have tremor, or Parkinson’s, by all means disable the touchpad. I find it somewhat difficult to easily orient the headphones, that is to quickly glean which is the left for the right ear cup when putting them on. Sony could have done a better job with a more conspicuous visual indicator.The phone call experience on the XM4s is superior to the Bose Q3-35s, but substantially inferior to the Bose 700s which blow away all the competition (Full disclosure – have not tested Apple’s new headphones). The active noise canceling on the XM4s seem superior to the Bose QC35s. The use of USB-C to charge the headphones is a vast improvement on Micro-USB.Sony has been, at a minimum, disingenuous, and arguably actively misleading the consumer in representing that the XM4s have auto-shut-off when that feature is enabled. In fact, auto-shut-off ONLY disables the noise canceling feature, which saves battery life, but does NOT turn off but the headphones. If you don’t remember to manually turn them off, you will invariably be greeted at some point with an inopportune “low battery” warning. Sony can and should do better. There is no reason the feature cannot work as represented.The Bose QC 35s, by contrast have a well-implemented auto-shut-off. And its very quick to manually turn them off with a rocker switch. With the XM4s, you have to hold down a button for an interminable 2-3 seconds. I simply plug in my XM4s to USB-C every night to ensure I have a charged set of headphones, How this will affect the battery life long-term is unknown.The XM4 case works, but is a bit weird. You have to do through numerous contortions to fold the headphones in such a way that they fit in the case. The cutout guides are so some helps, but overall the case on the QC-35s is simpler and allows for quickly storing them. The zipper on the Sony XM4s is of an inferior quality and often hangs, requiring you back up the zipper forward progress and start again.Thus I heartily recommend the XM4s, but with some reservations.

    3 people found this helpful

14. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Richard Mueller – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Comfortable for long flights

    Bought for long flights. Noise canceling works great. Nice features like automatic pass thru for external voice although that does come with a slight delay. Includes adaptor for airplane connectors.

15. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    peter c – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    great headphones

    i owned numerous pairs of headphones and this one is the best. it has controls built in to pause and skip songs. but no instructions from Sony in the box. I figured it out accidentally while on a trip.

16. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Betty Carlson – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Great Noise Cancel Feature

    There is an option to turn noise canceling on or if. I literally couldn’t hear anything with the feature turned on. If you are expecting a call or other situations you can hear background noise. These fit well.I purchased them to cancel out the sound of my heater and air conditioning unit which is in my single wide mobile home. It did that. However my intention also was to listen to meditation audios played on my Android mobile phone. I could not hear the spoken words clearly. The headset did not cause the issue. Without hearing aids I do not hear tv or speakers in meetings clearly. I tried using my hearing aids with the headphones and that did not solve the problem. I have returned the headset for a refund.I briefly listened to music and the sound was clear and enjoyable.My opinion is this headset is excellent. I’m no authority nor have I used a headset previously. I truly wished they met my needs.

    One person found this helpful

17. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Maddie – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Love these!

    Great headphones! I was able to buy these thanks to gift cards, but would I buy these again for the price? Probably not. Regardless, great headphones for those looking for peace and quiet. Love the sound quality and comfort.

18. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    JMF – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Superb headphones

    These sound so good. Clear, beautiful, full music and the noise canceling is superior to any others we’ve owned. Love them. Ordered more for other family members.

19. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    XD – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Best noise canceling headphones

    Bought it for my daughter who is in college. She loves this as she can study outside enjoying weather without being distracted by loud students nearby.

20. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Christian – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Works well on airplanes

    I would say these cancel out 90-95% of the noise. Some higher frequency noise is still there but not much.On airplanes it works very well. Sound quality is good, not the best I’ve heard but very good.Battery lasts about 15 hours in my estimation.These headphones are comfortable, have worn them on a 6 hour flight the whole time.I do notice if I lay my head on a pillow in the airplane even slightly, the noise canceling doesn’t work as well and that one ear gets louder.

21. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Tyson – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Cut out most of the background noise

    Bought these to take on vacation. Used on the plane and a bit on a cruise ship when laying out in public.The audio quality was great, easy to connect and figure out. The best part was the noise cancellation. Made the plane ride relatively quiet. Had a screaming child a few rows behind that would come through every once in awhile, but I can’t complain. If I had to hear it the whole way I’d have had a migraine! My wife did have to nudge me anytime they were bringing drinks/snacks around, as I could not hear her or the attendants.I did try wearing these while mowing the lawn, and ran into an issue where it kept thinking I was talking so it cut the audio off. There’s a setting to stop that in the app, and I believe it’s actually turned off by default. That’s really the only problem I had with them, which wasn’t a big deal as I just turned it off.

22. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    PixelPixel – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Comfort, noise canceling, and quality. UPDATE 13 Nov 2020

    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 wayI 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.UPDATE April 2020: been using these headphones for several months now. Running and walking are great however, the Touch Sensor Control is not ideal for me, especially when using while exercising. I find the controls/sensor unforgiving and one misstep can restart a song and or podcast, other than they continue to work very well.Used these headphones for a extended 12+ hrs flight and another 9 hour flight.. great noise canceling and sound. Hooked up directly to Qatar Qsuite entertainment system with provided cable, sound quality was excellent.

    1,127 people found this helpful

23. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    TayneTayne – March 8, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Best headphones I’ve ever owned but -1 star for several minor usability issues

    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 SIMULTANEOUSLYOne 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 NITPICKSIt 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 🙂

    379 people found this helpful

24. 

    Rated 2 out of 5

    Dennis – March 8, 2024

    2.0 out of 5 stars

    Great sound, but several issues make it a no-go for me. Sticking with my Bose QC 35 Series I

    I have owned the Bose QC 35 series I (the originals) for four years now, and just recently replaced the ear pads since they finally deteriorated. I figured after four years there has to be some serious improvements in noise cancelling technology, and since the WH-1000XM3 model got so many good reviews I figured these would be awesome. So I pre-ordered them.I pulled them out of the box and followed the very quick connect process of downloading the app and using it to pair to my phone. It downloaded a firmware update automatically while I fiddled around with some settings briefly and listened to some music. Super easy, awesome.The sound is very impressive. Punchy kick drum (I listen mostly to rock/metal) and nice bright sound. I quickly settled on a slightly customized version of the included Bright preset.But things quickly went downhill from there.After using the headphones for a bit, the touch controls became frankly annoying and easily susceptible to mistakes (I triggered track skips multiple times just by removing and putting the headphones back on). The volume adjustment is especially tedious…if you want to raise or lower the volume significantly you have to swipe it up or down a large number of times because the volume adjustment is done in small increments. With the Bose QC 35 and its dedicated buttons, you just quickly push the buttons. Simple.I spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out how to pair the headphones with my laptop, reading the guide in the app and doing some web searching, thinking it must be provided by one of the two dedicated buttons like on the Bose QE 35s. Nope. It must be done with the app. In fact, everything has to be done with the app except whatever you have the custom button configured to do, and the power. On the Bose I just have to slide the power button, and it goes into pairing mode. Simple.The above are honestly smaller issues that you could probably put up with since the sound these produce is so good. However, the deal breaker for me was when I connected them with the included wire to the controller on my Roku Ultra to enjoy some TV time after a long day. I always watch movies and TV with headphones. To my horror they produced a clearly audible hissing sound that is incredibly distracting. I turned them off and on again, disconnected and reconnected the cable. No change, still the hissing sound. My Bose don’t produce this sound. Ugh.After listening to them for a couple hours I had a slight headache and felt fatigued, almost nauseous. I know some people are affected differently by the noise cancelling technology, but I don’t get this from my Bose, even after listening to them all day.Additionally, speaking of noise cancelling, I compared my Bose QC 35s to these, and I couldn’t tell the difference between the noise cancelling. They sound the same to me. :shrug: I’m sure you could tell the difference with laboratory equipment though.All-in-all the sound these produce is really good, and the noise cancelling is great (although I can’t tell the difference from my Bose QC 35 Series I). But they have 1) lots of annoyances in the touch controls instead of dedicated buttons, 2) the fact that the app is required to do everything (including pairing) except turning them off and activating the custom button, 3) the hissing on the wired connection to my Roku Ultra, and 4) the fatiguing after listening to them.I’ll be returning them.

    1,917 people found this helpful

25. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    C. Johnson – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    As Good as Wired

    Sony nailed it with advanced Bluetooth technology that actually works. Off and on over the years I’ve checked into Bluetooth phones and bought a few only to return due to thin sound and/or dropouts. Finally found these and have owned 7 months with zero problems. Full sound for music and TV. No dropouts. Can go anywhere in the house while wearing them (super comfortable). Ergonomic storage. Rechargeable. Perfect. Ambient noise reduction is incredible.

26. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Maya – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Great

    I bought these headphones Oct 2023 and charged them the moment I got them. I wear them about max 3 hours a week for the gym. It is now Jan 30, 2024 and I still have 80% battery life. To me that is absolutely insane and I am satisfied considering the price of these headphones. The moment I put them on and play music the outside noise is no longer there. I can’t even hear the loud music in my gym with classes when I have them on. I will say if I lay my back down on the bench they fall off, but nothing that will turn me away from them. I highly recommend if you’re looking for a great pair of headphones. You will get your money worth!

27. 

    Rated 3 out of 5

    David Diskin – March 8, 2024

    3.0 out of 5 stars

    GREAT for Music — BAD for Calls, Teams, etc

    Because I do so many meetings over Teams (I’m a professional software trainer), I thought it would be time to finally invest in a really good headset. Up until now, I’d been using a $50 over-ear set by MPOW with a really nice boom mic. It was great, but it wasn’t wireless, certainly wasn’t portable, and didn’t have the audio quality I’d want when listening to music.I thought that by splurging more than $300 on a Sony product I’d get something that was beyond all of my expectations. I was almost right, but so very wrong in other ways.CASE: Let’s start here. The case is as slim as can be, very high-quality build, looks nice, feels nice, keeps everything protected. Excellent design here with one flaw: you can’t really charge the headphones while they’re snug in the case; they don’t fold up the right way.APP: To use most of the features, Sony requires you to download an app to your smartphone. That wasn’t a big deal and the app was easy to figure out. It crashed twice on me (once during the first setup, again the next day). It offered some location-based services but I declined and it never asked me again. It wanted me to sign up for a free trial of some 360° music service — not sure what that is, but I skipped it. I was disappointed that there wasn’t a PC version of the app. For example, if I needed to switch which device the headphones were connected to, I can only do that from my phone — that means my phone always has to be one of the two devices. There’s no way to control the advanced features, or the equalizer, from the PC.PAIRING: Bluetooth pairing was hit or miss, over and over again. If I were only pairing to my phone, I think it would be fine. But I wanted to also pair it to my desktop and laptop. The device supports pairing to two devices at the same time — which was great — but nearly every time I wanted to switch devices I had to literally turn off bluetooth so the headset would “let go”. Other times, upon reconnecting, the mic wouldn’t work. Once, which turned out to be the final straw for me, was when I could not get the headset to work in Teams no matter what I tried, even though it worked fine a few hours earlier. (For context: I literally train employees and other trainers on how to use Teams, so I very much know what I’m doing.)SOUND QUALITY: Let me say that the sound quality IS exceptional. I had a blast listening to all my favorite songs streaming from my phone or laptop. I really can’t understate the quality, base and treble. And the ANC (active noise cancelling) was AMAZING. I could be sitting right next to a whole house fan and not hear it. I was blown away.RANGE: Twice during the day I tried walking around while on a call. It wasn’t until I went downstairs that anyone said the quality of my voice had dropped. If I was less than 25 feet from the device, everything was great.BATTERY LIFE: After a day of use it was down to about 50% and that impressed me. Then I watched TV and ate dinner and later that evening I put on the headphones and realized that the battery dropped to 10%. I thought the system had an auto-off feature but something didn’t quite work.CHARGING: So after my surprise drop in battery, I plugged it into my desktop with a USB C cable I already had. A little light on the headset turned red. When I woke up the next morning, I was surprised to learn that the headphones were still at 10%. Apparently the USB C cable I use to charge my mouse won’t charge the headphones. I guess you need to use the cable it ships with? I’m not sure what the deal was here, but that was pretty annoying.CONTROLS: I found the touch/gesture controls to be mostly intuitive. Pro Tip: If you swipe up and hold your finger, the volume slowly increments up. Once, however, I accidentally hung up a Teams call when I was trying to adjust the volume. I love the feature that let’s me hear ambient sound by cupping my hear — super cool. Tap the power button to hear the battery level — very nice touch! However, there’s one extremely important flaw in the controls that I was shocked to discover. THERE IS NO MUTE BUTTON. The ONLY way to mute your mic during a call (Teams, phone, Zoom, etc) is to use the mute button on the desktop/phone. The headset, whose very first bullet is “clear hands-free calling”, has five built-in microphones, and a dedicated gesture to use Alexa… doesn’t have a damn mute button. Sadly, the successor to this (the 1000XM5) has the same flaw.Individually, the issues I raised wouldn’t be enough for me to return the headset or give it a low rating. But for a $350 purchase, I expect it to be able to do what it says correctly. I expect a mute button. I expect it to power off when not in use. I expect any generic USB cable to work. I expect to be able to join a meeting without fussing with bluetooth.I’d totally keep this if all I wanted it for was to listen to music.

    29 people found this helpful

28. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Robert C. – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Sony headset

    Great fit over ears and very light and comfortableReviewed in the United States on January 26, 2024Color: WhiteLove this headset. Sound is wonderful, the headset is like having your own concert built into your head. The sound is crisp and clear, the headband is light and very comfortable when wearing. You get lost in the sound and almost forget you’re wearing anything. After reading many reviews and comments and trying several earbuds from Apply and Beats, which either hurt my ears or the buds would fall out, I decided to try headsets! Best decision ever. You won’t be disappointed. The sound is like no other and noise cancelling is great. Love, love, love these, I would buy again in a heartbeat.

29. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Wcjr – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Love ’em

    There have been over 50,000 reviews for these headphones so my 1 review is meaningless. But, here goes.I am not an audiophile. I know nothing about sound quality. I know nothing about headphones. I know nothing about Active Noice Cancelling (ANC). But a pop-up ad about Sony XM5 headphones piqued my interest.I have an old cheap pair of ANC over-ear headphones that are uncomfortable over eyeglasses. Then I saw that the XM5s were comfy over eyeglasses. But, the XM5s do not fold and the carrying case is so-so.For airplane travel, the XM4s, that are foldable and comfy over eyeglasses and with rigid case, seemed more to my needs. The XM4s were on sale, so I shelled out $240 USD for a pair on Amazon.I recently used them on 5+hours of flight time on your typical way-too-noisy Boeing 737. The XM4 headphones WERE A DREAM. That is, the ANC was A DREAM. I realized that my old cheap ANC headphones were junk.At our vacation destiination I noticed my wife watching TV with my XM4s rather than her cheap headphones.On our return flight of 5+hours on the usual noisy Boeing 737, the XM4s in ANC mode were AWESOME.Two days ago, Santa gave my wife her own pair of Sony XM4 ANC headphones for Christmas.

    5 people found this helpful

30. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    C StribsC Stribs – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    1000 hr review

    Alright, So I have put alot of time into these 1000xm4s over the last three months. These headphones are fantastic! However it took me about 50-100 hours to get used to them. I’ll explain. So I have owned cheap “noise canceling” TAO Tonic $40 black friday special wireless headphones and I had good wired $200 Sennheiser 599 open ear headphones. My previous experiences with headphones were to get the most out of the audio or to cancel out noise I needed to near max out sound volume and reach deafening thresholds. After listening to these headphones I started to realize I needed to change the way I was using these headphones. First of all the app is nice. You can adjust the EQ to custom or use a preset EQ setting. I chose to turn of the speak-to-chat as it would easily pick up my voice if I was singing along or making any loud adublie sound while working out. But getting back on track I found that I could listen to music, podcasts, Netflix ect at a very low level and hear everything perfectly. I was so use to staying at a 80-90 percent volume from my previous headphones that I was at little sad that the 80-90 level on this headset didn’t sound as loud as my older headphones. Simply put these bad boys do such a great job noise canceling that you can clearly hear audio at very low levels. You may not feel alot of punchy bass with them (it’s there though) you also won’t hear any distortion even bumped to max levels. Also, these Sonys will automatically and continuously track your environment and adjust noise canceling and ambient sounds according to if your laying in bed or get up to a walk, or sitting a plane ect. They will also save you hearing as well but sadly not your bank account. If you plan to work out with them they will be a solid option. Again I haven’t heard any distortion while working out or on a treadmill, bike, or rowing machine. Since they are closed ear style they may get warm on your head. I always get a q-tip out and swipe off the sweat condensation that accumulates inside the left ear cup on the plastic ear sensor after workouts (I dont know if this is recommended). I haven’t had any issues with them slipping off my head either. The hand and swipe gestures take a little time to get used to but work well. Every now and then the swipe forward/backward and up/down to skip tracks or volume doesnt work but I feel this is user error on my part. The cover over the right headphone is a cool feature. It will easily flood ambient sound in allowing you to quickly and temporarily converse with someone or you could leave the speak to chat feature on. Additionally you receive a nice hard carrying case, charger brick, usb-C cable, and aux cord. I’ve used the aux cord quite a bit with my nintendo switch and it does a great job. Also the 1000xm4s are very forgiving if you forget to plug them in when runinng low on power. In 10mins I can quick charge them to last about10hours. I think the specs say 3 hours till 100% charge but I swear I had my headphones fully charged in about 1 hour. They are dual voltage which has been great for traveling abord. Lastly you can connect up to two Bluetooth devices which at time. Honestly I didn’t think I would even need this feature. However I found out it is very convenient for seemlesly swapping devices or getting notifications from my phone/watch while connected to my laptop or when I’m bluetooth connected to my switch. So they are a great pair of headphones but you will take a hit to bank account. I picked up a open box Amazon return which knocked off over $100 on the price and the headphones came without any issues. If you see these on a decent sale I would scoop up a pair. Also if you want more of a punchy bass type headphones I would also recommend XBN-900N which I tested out shortly and you can tell they are more focused on bass bumping. I believe they are significantly cheaper new but don’t have all of the same features.

    24 people found this helpful

31. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Michael23 – March 8, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Sony WH-1000XM4 vs. Bose 700 vs. Jabra Evolve2 65, mostly for Zoom meetings

    I was looking for headphones for work and personal usage. I did a lot of research and it was clear that there was no one model that was best at everything. So, I prioritized what I was looking for (in rough order):1) physical comfort (nothing else really matters if they’re painful to wear)2) blocking out outside noise (household noise, cars passing by, leaf blowers, etc.)3) technical ease (i.e., easily connecting to both my phone and laptop)4) microphone quality (for phone calls and Zoom)5) sound quality for music (I tested with EDM and IDM music)6) cost (I was willing to pay more for quality as long as it wasn’t outrageous)7) battery life (not really important to me as long as it gets through the workday)After a lot of reading, I narrowed it down to five:Bose 700Sony WH-1000XM4Jabra Evolve2 65Jabra 85HJabra Evolve 75And I ultimately ordered the top 3.Here’s my review:Sony WH-1000XM4:- This was the clear winner for me: most comfortable, best at blocking out outside noise, excellent music quality, and easy to use- I appreciate how it automatically adjusts the noise canceling settings based on activity (sitting still, walking, etc.), and I had no trouble connecting it to my phone and computer at the same time- The biggest downside (other than the high price) is that it was definitely the worst microphone of the three. People on the other end were able to understand me, but when I listened to recordings it definitely sounded more muffled and less clear than with the other two headphonesthough its microphone quality isn’t great- It’s probably also worth mentioning that my brother tried these on and he found them uncomfortable because he has large ears, whereas the Bose 700 felt fine for himBose 700:- This was a close runner-up: good at blocking outside noise, comfortable enough (but I felt it squeezing my head more than the Sony), and good music quality (I even preferred it to the Sony for some songs, though in general I felt like the instruments were somehow a bit further away or flat compared to the Sony)- It gave me just a little trouble to connect to phone and computer at once but it was fine once I got it set up the first time- The microphone was noticeably better than the Sony’s but still not greatJabra Evolve2 65:- Surprisingly good music quality given its purpose as more of an office headset; but, given its protruding microphone arm, I was expecting significantly better mic quality than the other two when in fact I only found it to be a little better than the Bose- Fairly comfortable, but I preferred the way that the other two completely enclosed my ears rather than just squeezing against them as the Jabra did- Setup was easy and I appreciated the USB dongle to wirelessly connect it without fiddling with BluetoothSOME TAKEAWAYS:- Ultimately, I learned that all of these have pretty bad microphones, so you’ll need to get a dedicated microphone if you really care about recording sound quality- This is of course personal preference, but I still find my Jabra Elite Sport earbuds from 2018 to be more comfortable than all of these, and they surprisingly had just as good or better microphone quality than all of these fancier larger headphones. I’m able to wear the Sony or the Bose headphones for a few hours, but my ears still feel a bit tender when I take them off- I was quite surprised that the active noise canceling was fine for me on both the Bose and the Sony. I had tried a previous Bose model years ago and experienced a lot of painful pressure on my ears, so I was quite happy to discover that I rarely experienced that here. I’m not sure if the tech has just gotten better or if I’ve acclimated somehow, but consider giving the Bose or Sony a try even if you’ve had trouble with this in the pastDECISION:I ended up choosing the Sony WH-1000XM4, which are in most ways the best headphones I’ve ever used (with important caveats below). When I started my search, my top priority was how well they worked for Zoom calls. Music quality was a secondary concern. But after spending weeks with these headphones, I’m pretty blown away by how my music sounds, like new dimensions have been opened up. I recommend them, along with the Wavelet smartphone app for AutoEq equalization tuned to these headphones specifically. However, there are two glaring flaws you should know about:1) The microphone quality really isn’t great. When I’m in Zoom meetings, I set it to use my laptop’s built-in microphone instead since it sounds better.2) It does pair well with my laptop and smartphone at once. But, there are some quirks that are extremely annoying. Whenever one of the two disconnects, a voice loudly announces, “Bluetooth device disconnected.” So, say I’m listening to music on my phone or on a phone call—if my laptop falls asleep or I turn it off, my music or call will be interrupted with that useless announcement. Even worse, whenever you answer a phone call, it disconnects momentarily from the computer, so as soon as your phone call begins it makes that loud announcement and you miss the first few seconds of your call.Yes, you heard that right: If your laptop is on and the headphones are connected to it and your smartphone (which is supposed to be one of the best features), then every time you answer the phone the first few seconds of the call will be interrupted.So that’s why it loses one star. But truly, the music quality and noise-canceling are so great that I really like them anyway and am willing to work around this limitation. I sure wish Sony would release a firmware update though allowing us to disable that voice completely!

    17 people found this helpful

32. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Savvy Consumer – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    A Huge Treat Worth the Money

    I’ve never owned high quality headphones, but when I started an office job after leaving teaching, I knew I wanted something good for conferencing on the phone and for listening to music as I worked. Also, I would use then on the airplane as full headsets are more comfortable than earbuds for me. I was moving into a new career and decided I deserved a treat.Features I love…1) Hold one hand over the right ear when noise cancellation is on, and it will deactivate for when you have to talk to someone in the room briefly. Take your hand away, and noise cancelling resumes.2) Music stops playing / pauses when you remove them and resumes when you put them back on (as long as it isn’t too long. They do shut off automatically after a certain amount of time)3) I can be hooked up to my phone and computer at the same time4) Ambient sound mode really magnifies the sound around you, which is sometimes very beneficial5) Very comfortable on the head6) Swiveling ear pieces that fold in. This is why I went with the 4 and not the 57) Noise cancellation. I’ve tried other high end headphones, and these are just as good if not better.8) Control different options by making different types of swipes or taps on the ear pieces.For my first pair of high tech headphones, I am extremely pleased. I got them at a decent price on a sale day. It was a big treat for getting this new job, and I’m so glad I did it.

    3 people found this helpful

33. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    A. Matthewson – March 8, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Audiophile Perspective

    I got the MX4’s for use when driving and in a noisy office location while doing college work. I also listen to music and audiobooks/podcasts nearly all day, and it is not uncommon for me to have a pair of cans on for 8-12 hours daily. Moving forward, my main comparison is with the Senheiser HD599 ($200) and the HiFiman HE4XX’s ($150, plus $200 for a Schitt Modi/Magni DAC and AMP setup, coming to a total of $350 for all three pieces of hardware). My use case is pretty high-volume listening therefore, and my musical tastes go from Jazz, Pop and Trap to Classical, Folk, Acoustic, and Rock. Overall, I would definitely recommend the MX4’s IF you are needing the top-end noise cancelation, as the hype surrounding the NC performance is definitely more reality than fiction. It makes my commutes and listening experience in noisy environments, including an interstate, very enjoyable and less fatiguing. I also certainly enjoy the convenience and mobility of these headphones, and the battery life has been excellent thus far. However, if you do not need the absolute best noise cancelling, or maybe don’t care so much about mobility, then I would not recommend them due chiefly for the price and audio quality compromise. I shall elaborate, first with what I like:- Comfort (though for bigger ears it may be a little less so).- Build quality is good for a headphone in this price bracket, given the tech.- Noise cancelling is honestly unbelievable, though please note these are my very first pair of NC headphones.- Decent sound for what it is, with good battery life to boot.- Cool intelligent tech, though admittedly I do not use it at all (I keep NC on at all times and do not utilize the speech recognition feature).- Mobility.- Truly some great tech thrown in here, and I can see the R&D going to work, also fairly useful app.Cons:- Price.- Sound quality is lacking when compared to setups at this price point (though I hear it is the best sound quality when comparing to other NC cans), however more on this below.- Ears can become warm after a while.- This may be just me, but I have issues with ear pressure changes throughout the day and can cause a feeling of needing to – and not being able to – “pop” my ears, which is annoying and causes long-term comfort to be an issue for long sessions, forcing me to switch back to my faithful 599’s.To elaborate, I have HiFiman x Drop HE4XX’S, with a Schitt Modi/Magni stack DAC/AMP. This entire package cost me the same exact price as the MX4’s from Sony, and the sound quality is essentially night and day difference. Sound stage, separation, and dynamic sound range is definitely noticeably worse on the MX4’s, and there is significant bleed through the bass and mids in some songs. For reference I am listening on Tidal, with Master track quality. Even on my HE4XX’s, the bass is tighter and more responsive, and, while not a bass-havy pair of cans, provides a much more accurate and tight listening experience across all ranges. This is partially due to the open back versus closed back design, but again for the price, if you do not care about being so mobile, or perhaps work from home or are a student doing much of your work and homework from a home office or fixed location like myself, I would suggest looking elsewhere. If you travel all the time and absolutely cannot live without maximum portability and noise cancelling, then the MX4’s are the way to go. The sound quality is adequate (though I still grit my teeth when considering how much these cost compared to my true audiophile headphone set ups given the sound quality), especially when compared to other closed-back designs, and again the NC is absolutely insane. Another point is that firmware updates will hopefully keep improving on the already impressive and interesting tech inside these cans.All in all, I really do like the MX4’s, but due to the price, it makes me hard to recommend to someone who cares chiefly about sound quality first, and the convenience and portability/NC factors second. If this is the case, I’d say go to something with a better sound profile, and you will likely find yourself spending less with a better musical experience, and a recommendation off the top of my head would be the EXCELLENT Senheiser HD599’s (around $200 new on Amazon). Personally, if they would have saved on some R&D and kept the voice and calling features to a minimum but dropped the price, this would be a no-brainer for everyone, but I digress. If however, you need the solid NC and are excited about the mobility and convenience and the versatility that these cans can bring, and are okay with the compromise on sound quality as well as the steep asking price, I would say you would be hard-pressed to go anywhere else than the MX4’s. I am still debating on keeping these or not, as I have been spoiled with amazing sound experiences for the past 3-5 years now, and I find it hard to take a hit to my pocketbook like this when I could get a truly awe-inspiring pair of audiophile cans to use with my current setup for the same exact price, though the MX4’s are good enough to make it a hard decision which is itself a promising sign.Tldr; Should you buy the MX4’s? It depends, but I do like them, and you need to just consider your use case when making that decision. This is a lot of money to spend on a pair of headphones, and if sound quality plays a large part in your decision, you have some serious competition to look at. Would I say I recommend the MX4’s in general? Yes.

    12 people found this helpful

34. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Angela – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    I LOVEEE

    I love THIS SO MUCH. I got it when a sale was going on and I don’t regret getting it AT ALL. My last headphones, they were okay (the audio was okay, the base was eh, and it didn’t have noise cancellation). The Sony’s have noise cancellation, ambience sound, and I love it so much. The quality is perfect and it helps keep me focused whenever I have to study or take notes for school.The only thing is that whenever I have noise cancellation on, it does hurt my head after a while but it may just be a personal matter.Other than that, I love everything about these headphones.

35. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    MyHonest2Cents – March 8, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Excellent noise canceling, everything else is ok

    In passive mode, the sound quality is all over the place, resulting in some of the worst headphones I’ve ever used in this price bracket. In active mode, it’s… decent, with boomy, mildly unclean bass; acceptable mids; and messy but listenable highs. It is very responsive to EQ past sub-bass range, though you can crank up the already boomy mid-bass if that’s your thing and it can get pretty loud. At about 70–80% volume, the amp begins to distort, and at 100% volume the distortion is highly audible and really crunches the highs and muddies the bass. There is also a noticeable frequency response and volume difference between the cups, likely due to the indentation for the sensor array inside the left cup; if you aren’t listening for it, it is still noticeable sometimes, but it fades to the background if you are using the noise canceling or are otherwise occupied.The ambient sound feature does not pick up outside sounds very clearly. If you’re using the Sony | Headphones Connect app, you can enable a “voice mode” for ambient sound that cuts out the bass and boosts vocal range with EQ, but it cannot be turned on with the toggle buttons on the headphones themselves or when connected to PC, making it tedious to enable without the automatic switching feature that tracks your location and habits to enable it when it thinks you need it. The noise canceling however is truly top of its class and easily removes 80–90% of outside noise, and you can’t hear anything else if you’re playing something. I have noticed that the DSP appears to crank up the bass, either to compensate for the harder-to-remove low-end frequencies or to trick you into thinking the noise canceling is better than it really is in that range.The ear cup touch controls work fine and I have not had any mis-inputs, though volume up/down steps are too small. You can hold down the up/down slider instead of repeatedly sliding your finger, but the repeat delay is very long and it takes forever to adjust to what you want.The headphones are fairly adjustable to different head shapes, but if you have a reeeally big head/ears or lots of hair it may be difficult. The headband padding is a bit hard but the headphones are so light you can’t feel it. The closed cups have no ventilation so your ears stay warm, and I imagine it would get sweaty in warmer weather.The headphones can fold flat and can sit around your neck comfortably. The auto-pause when it detects you remove them, and the 15 minute auto-off means you don’t ever need to bother turning them off explicitly, just take them off your head and put them down. Their ability to fold also works great for stowing them, and you can fit them into any bag. The included carry case is a bit bulkier than it probably needs to be, but it’s still small enough to fit in even a medium sized purse, and it does have room for cables and small accessories.The mic quality is pretty bad and doesn’t pick up your voice well. What it does pick up well is everything around you. You’d think Sony’s engineers could have used the ambient sound mics to dampen outside noise while focusing on your voice, but it unfortunately doesn’t do that. Call sound quality in general takes a major dive due to the protocol it uses under the hood; it halves the sample rate and sounds like a cheap dollar store headset.The battery is massive; I charged it to 90% once I received it a few days ago and have not had to charge it since with daily listening. Rtings.com got 37 hours out of one charge, far past the advertised duration.Overall all of the features work to an acceptable level, except passive mode sound quality. If you are buying these for the battery longevity, small stowable size, ease of use, and noise isolation and canceling, they’re a great package. Great for traveling. Would not recommend for even casual listening, get a good closed back pair like the Hifiman HE-R9 + Bluemini R2R wireless dongle. If you need to make important calls or want headphones for conference calls or online meetings, these will work, but it won’t be pleasant—get a dedicated conference headset.If you really insist on these for more active listening situations, do yourself a favor and get the AutoEQ preset for them as a baseline, and tweak to your ears. I also recommend a -1dB loss on the left earcup to help offset the response difference, though it’s an approximation and not perfect and differences in track volume will make this obvious. With these changes, passive mode is at least bearable.

    7 people found this helpful

36. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Sarah – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    I love them!!!

    Guys I’ve struggled with needing good headphones for a while. I always told myself that the cheap headphones are good enough that and I don’t need to buy expensive headphones. But guys, that was such a bad mindset. The cheap headphones would break easily. They’d irritate my ears. The quality of the music was bad and I could hear my surrounding. When I first put on my Sony headphones, I really felt the difference, it’s like night and day guys. These headphones look cute, they dont irritate me at all, they fit nicely on my ears (with little hoops on too!!), the noise cancelling feature is good and can be adjusted with the app, and also if you download the app you can customize how you can hear your music. Genuinely a great purchase and I hope they last for years. My friend influenced me to get them and she’s had hers for two years. One thing I must say is that they’re not tight on my head. So like they may slip a little if I move my head too much but it’s honestly not an issue. I might just keep that in mind if u have a particularly small head. Also, I got these during Black Friday for $248 but the price drops to $228 on cyber Monday so keep that in mind if your buying it around this time. I contacted Amazon to get the price difference and they were very helpful!! Overall, I’m so glad I got these headphones. I have such a load house and it’s a struggle to study for my exams or do my assignments. Now I can do them and not be distracted by my family. Also my younger sister borrows then from me for the same reason. She loves them and might get them next year once she goes to college. If you’re looking to invest in your first pair of pricy headphones these headphones will be right for you!

    2 people found this helpful

37. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Sarah Lowe – March 8, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Excellent noise cancellation, very comfortable

    These have excellent noise cancellation and I can wear them throughout my work day without any comfort issues. I have them on 8 to 12 hours a day.The sound quality is very good, as is the battery life. Also, the mic is clear for calls – they work well with my Samsung Galaxy Tablet and my S22 Phone. I watch movies, take work calls, and listen to music.I only am giving 4 stars because very occasionally (a few times a week) they will jump to another device I am connected to and I’m not a huge fan of not having buttons for the controls.

38. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    troland – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Really Good

    I have owned many pairs of headphones over the years. I use these while working out now. they aren’t too big and bulky, they sound great, and the noise cancelling is so good I can actually turn the volume down and still get a great experience while not blowing out my ears. Really good bass which was important for me listening to mostly metal. If you are thinking about it, just buy them, worth the money. Light on your head, but don’t feel cheap.

39. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Christopher Henrys – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Best noise cancellation available in a wireless package.

    When considering a new pair of wireless phones I had several factors in mind: battery life, noise cancellation, and sound quality. I work in a print room with the constant sound of large commercial printers, and my ears are somewhat sensitive, so I wanted to switch from in-ear buds (which needed recharging throughout the night) to something more effective, more comfortable and longer lasting.These Sony headphones have no match. I haven’t tried the XM5s for comparison but from much reading many prefer these anyway. The auto-pause sensor is perhaps the only gimmicky feature on headphones with marvelous battery life (noise cancellation, EQ and DSEE on for several nights without charge), clear, only somewhat bassy sound with a decent soundstage, and bass-targeting noise cancellation that reduces the constant ca-chunking of printers to a distant hair dryer several rooms away.Are they audiophile grade? No. But beyond using a wireless DAC and a good set of monitors (which Sony also make), a setup I wouldn’t use at work because I want a fully wireless setup, these are about the best you can do for a high fidelity completely wireless solution. In addition, these do have a 3.5mm jack to use them wired, albeit without the benefit of EQ (which can significantly enhance the sound). They’re also plush and very comfortable (I wear them for 6+ hours at a time) but do still warm your ears a bit.I would, and have, recommend these to friends. They aren’t the cheapest, but they’re the best I’ve seen at what they do.

    2 people found this helpful

40. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    xnpate – March 8, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Beast Headphones, solid Noise-cancelling/ beautiful sound/ Comfort.. But don’t pay full price.

    Last several months I’ve spent studying for MCAT, and as it neared the exam I needed more time away from distractions and due to the pandemic sneaking away to my local libraries wasn’t an option as I could only be there for an hour or two tops, I needed NC headphones being at home. Typically anytime I saw anything NC the WH1000 series was the way to go, as advised by the tech world and audiophiles. I had found a good deal on Airpods Pro and during Prime Day Deals found these. I was shocked to find the latest Sony headphones discounted $50 and bundled with $25 Amazon GC as well. The reason I mention Airpods is because I personally have seen many comparisons. I’ll break down as much as I can below, I don’t consider myself an audiophile.Pros:When it comes to sound and listening to music with the Sonys hands-down best thing I’ve listened to and gives like new life to music. These are built really nicely and cushioned really well up top and around the ears. Oh man boy are they lightweight!. Some heat around my ears after using them for a bit, and they press on my glasses (but they’re crappy glasses that I have problems with beforehand anyway) so they press in my ears/head.Battery: Lasts me several uses on one charge, meaning I can use them a good 4-5 days before wanting to charge them. Sometimes I can get a couple hours in and still not even lose 10% of battery life. (when compared to Airpods, no question Sonys better). When not used for a period of time they will automatically shut off so even better.Case: Nice holds your cords and headphones nicely. It’s not a hard case though so I’d be careful shoving them into tight spaces against things.While i mentioned the cables… Sony needs to make the charging cable longer it’s INCREDIBLY short.Cons:Touch controls: The lack of buttons to control Play/Pause, Volume, kind of sucks for me. At first it seems fun and intriguing. But over the course of using them, I find myself swiping and hearing the feedback that something is being activated but actually wont happen. There are moments when I’m stretching or resting my behind my head and arm knicks the touch control and pauses the music. And this is weird because the touchpad can be really sensitive like in that example, but other times wont register I’m trying to activate the controls. Volume should absolutely just be a wheel, pause/play skip features as touch I’d be okay with.Dual connection: I haven’t had much use of this, at first I had my laptop and iPhone connected. Now Idk if my problem is due to my older computer with older Bluetooth, but my sound went silent on my headphones. I haven’t connected them back to my laptop since. But I think ideally this would be great to be connected to your phone/computer and get notifications. There is a delay between activating playback from one device to the next.Mic: Friends have told me my voice sounds artificial with Sonys and prefer if I wear my Airpods to communicate if I want to use headphones.Noise-CancellingTo anyone who wants a comparison between Airpods Pro and these. If I hadn’t had Airpods Pro right before purchasing these I’d have nothing poor to say about the Sony’s NC. Airpods as they go in the ear already help with dulling sound before activating NC. The biggest issue I have in my house is the droning of my AC and Fans. Airpods make them disappear and sound like a light breeze or wind without all the mechanical droning from noise machinery. Sonys do a good job for those sounds for me, but not as well as the Airpods. HOWEVER, this is before any music or sound playing. Once you have something playing with the Sonys the world is gone and that’s about half-ish volume. I find myself speaking louder at times not even being able to realize my brother is talking right next to me. I don’t necessarily have the same effect with Airpods. And you don’t have to worry about fit.ConnectivityI’ve heard that with Android getting the XM4 connected is quick, but even with iPhone it’s simply connecting another Bluetooth device. (compared to airpods obviously the apple interface is as simple as opening your headphone case)AppPretty easy to follow interface, readily updates. If you like experimenting with equalizer settings then you’ll have fun. I’ve heard people complain it being complicated, but without messing with anything except turning off a setting that pauses audio when talking. You can leave everything as is and really not need it after the initial setup and for updates.Final thoughts if you have the money I’d go for these they’re wonderful, but I don’t think these warrant the full price TBH. The touch controls can be finicky, but if you want quality sound/NC/Comfort/Fit this is it. Anyone seeing this right during the holidays with BlackFriday/Christmas/Cyberdeals whatever; I was shocked seeing these brand new Sonys discounted to the same price as the XM3 on Amazon, I’d look for these and nab them when discounted.

    3 people found this helpful

41. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Whirlaway – March 8, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Mostly great

    UPDATE #2: After returning the first set of these headphones, I ordered another set on Prime Day and have now had a little more than a month to try them out. Based on this experience so far, I’m raising the rating from 2 to 4 stars. Trying not to jinx things, but the new unit does not have the right earcup static issue that plagued the first set (and that a not insignificant number of users have complained about). I’m not sure whether one of the firmware updates addressed the issue or whether the first set had a hardware issue of some sort, but the new set has not had the issue.I now believe the “bluetooth stopping for no reason” issue noted in my prior update is not a defect, but the speak to chat feature, which stops the playback whenever it detects a human voice. I understand the point of this feature, but Sony should calibrate it better. As it is, even when set on low sensitivity and not to focus on voice, it still stops playback at even low human voice volumes. As a practical matter, this means you can’t sing or hum along to songs without having the playback constantly cut off. I’ve wound up disabling this feature.Other than that, the new headphones have been great — super noise cancelling and music quality, decent phone call quality (maybe not best in class but more than serviceable), and day-in, day-out comfortable. The only reason I didn’t rate them at 5 stars is that this set, like the previous one, has a very high default volume, such that sometimes when you turn the headphones on, the music will start blasting out at an uncomfortably high volume. (I think that if you use another set of headphones, as I sometimes do, the XM4 will forget its last volume setting.)UPDATED: I decided to mark these down from 3 to 2 stars because, in the last few days, the bluetooth has started to act buggy. Audio files simply stop playing for no apparent reason (in some cases, my music has stopped apparently because someone else with a bluetooth device gets within about 30 feet of me, but in other cases the music stops for no apparent reason at all). At other times, there are skips or pops. While the noise cancellation is fantastic, and I’m still thinking keeping them for this reason alone, I’m now more likely to return them — $350 is just too much money for these kinds of problems.These are great headphones — outstanding in many respects — but they have some issues that, given the $350 price, do not merit a 5-star review. I was torn between 3 and 4 stars, but decided on the lower rating given the very high price for this product.PROS:1) ANC — by far, these have the most effective noise cancellation of any ANC (or other) headphones I have used, including Bose. They drown out almost all ambient noise — including close lawn mowers, leaf blowers, revving car engines, etc. — even when you’re not playing music or listening to another kind of audio file. When playing music or an audio file, you are very much in your own world. I did have an issue at the beginning where I could hear a static-like sound when ANC was on but no audio was playing. A software or firmware update pretty much, but not entirely, eliminated the issue; it’s still noticeable from time to time, but at a very low volume, lower than the older set of wired Bose ANC headphones I still have. It’s no longer an issue for me; I think that this kind of noise is a “feature” of ANC headphones.2) Comfort — by far, these are the most comfortable set of headphones I have used. The ear pieces in particular are outstanding. I bought another brand of (much less expensive) headphones right before I got these and wrote a review in which I said those were very comfortable. However, I wound up returning those because, after about a week, they became quite uncomfortable. These Sony headphones, however, have withstood the test of time, seeming to become more comfortable as time goes on. I can comfortably wear these for hours.3) Music quality — excellent, what you would expect of Sony.4) Gesture controls — the gesture controls for turning music on / off, picking up a phone call, volume and next / previous song work quite well. I had a set of Sony 900 headphones prior to these, and the gesture controls work a little better on these.CONS:1) Default volume — for some reason, these headphones, like my prior Sony 900 headphones, seem to have a high default volume and there is no way in the Sony Headphones or Sony Music Center to change them (and there is also no native iPhone setting that works, either). The result is that, all too often, music comes blasting out at an uncomfortable, probably unhealthy volume when you put the headphones on and start playing music. Beside the Sony 900, none of the other (many) headphones I have used have had this issue. I have now become accustomed to checking the iPhone’s bluetooth volume when I put the headphones on, but all too frequently when the iPhone shows a low bluetooth volume, the volume resets itself to a much higher (almost max) volume when I actually start playing an audio file. I believe the problem must be related to the fact that all the settings for these headphones are run through the Headphones app and there is no control for default volume in that app; apparently, Sony sets a near-max default volume and doesn’t allow users to change it. It’s really quite annoying, and I may wind up returning these headphones for this reason. For $350, Sony could do a lot better on this metric.2) Phone call quality — meh. Some calls are good, others not so much. Nobody on the other end has complained about call quality. However, on my end, the other person often sounds distant, low volume, in a tunnel, etc. Every other set of wireless headphones I have used with phone call capability has been at least as good as these headphones, and some have been better. I read that the MX4 is supposed to have corrected the problems of the MX3 regarding phone call quality issues but, if that’s the case, I can only imagine how bad the MX3s were.3) Making you register with Sony in order to get updates — as noted above, I needed to do a software or firmware update to get rid of the static noise when ANC is turned on. However, to get software updates, Sony requires you to register with it (provide email, etc.). It is obnoxious of Sony to require users to provide this kind of personal information that it will then market and sell, and presumably also spam you with promotions, as a precondition to getting updates to fix the bugs in its (expensive) products — particularly where Sony has a history of data breach.Bottom line, these are mostly excellent headphones, and they are exceptional with regard to the primary purposes of noise cancelling headphones. However, they do have some problems that a $350 set of headphones should not have. I’m likely to keep them, but if the default volume issue noted above does not improve, I may well return them.

    34 people found this helpful

42. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    JWH – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) works great!

    The Sony WH-1000XM4 Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) works great! Put on the headphones, turn on the power and it’s like the aircraft engines have turned off – the low rumble is just gone. Entertainment doesn’t have to be turned as loud in order to hear it clearly.The best thing about the Sony is that it can be used “wired” into airline entertainment, rather than having always to rely on finicky BlueTooth. The Sony comes with a two-prong adapter to fit the airlines two-prong plug holes, but the adapter isn’t necessary (at least on United Airliness 787 aircraft). It appeared to me the two-prong aircraft sockets were made up of 3.5mm and a 2.5mm holes. (I didn’t have a 2.5mm plug, so I can’t swear to that.) The Sony jack was 3.5mm and it worked well plugging it into the other, 3.5mm, socket – complete stereo worked. From testing at home I’d say the wired configuration provides slightly better sound than through BlueTooth, also. Wired appears to provide better power usage, too; I used it on a 17-hour flight for three movies, I think, and arrived with the power level at 80% from starting at 90%.It does require a bit of a learning curve, so I wouldn’t expect a newbie like me to pull it out of the box for the first time while on the aircraft and expect it to be satisfying. This is my first ANC device in maybe 10 years and that first experience wasn’t successful, so it took me awhile to try again. Basically, hold the power button for two seconds to turn it on, hold it for seven seconds to pair with BlueTooth. You can get by without the Sony headphones app, but without it you won’t know the battery charge level or be able to change sound profiles; I want to hear dialog better, so I have bass present, but not overwhelmingly so. Interestingly, you can pair the headphones with two devices at the same time, while other ANC earbuds just switch fast between two different connections. Both appear to work okay and allow you to listen to your cellphone music or the aircraft entertainment. Sony has short little movies that walked me through headphone settings.That’s a lot of “pro,” but there are a few “cons.” Over-ear headsets are bulky and have to be carried in already stuffed carry-on luggage. Some people don’t like the pressure of over-ear headsets on their ears. That’s about it, though, and if you’ve bought them at all then these issues don’t sneak up on you. I’ve had them for a month or so now so I can’t speak to their sturdiness or long-term reliability, but they do appear to be sturdy and the case protects them.What would I like to see improved? Not much, for over-ear ANC headsets. If I could find a set of wired ANC earbuds I’d surely try them to cut down on the bulk, but they’d have to work very well to provide the same sense of isolation I get from over-ear headsets. As things are, this Sony is definitely a “buy.”

    2 people found this helpful

43. 

    Rated 2 out of 5

    John – March 8, 2024

    2.0 out of 5 stars

    Good sound, good NC…multipoint Bluetooth FAIL!

    I’ve owned the Sony 1000XM3, H900N, and the Bose QC35 II. I couldn’t wait for the XM4 to come out because of the multipoint Bluetooth (I’ll get to that a little later). The sound is great once it’s been adjusted, and the noise cancelling in the XM4 is better than both the XM3 and the QC35 II. However, there are quite a few things that are very poorly implemented and basically unusable.Sound: A-First off the XM4, XM3, and H900N all have better and brighter sound than the QC35 II. Out of the box, the sound is a little dull and the mids / vocals are a little mushy. With the XM4, I needed to tweak it in the Headphones app using the EQ to get it to the place that I wanted it, but once it was there, it was great. A small but pleasing improvement in the XM4 is that the headphone voice announcements are at a much higher quality. The XM3 announcements are low fidelity and low bandwidth whereas the XM4 headphone voice is very crisp and hi-fi. Sony also replaced the high-pitched beep with a slightly longer but more pleasant sounding bell for feedback. However, I actually prefer the beep because it’s faster.Noise cancelling: A-When I first put on the XM4 and turned them on, I was surprised by the audible hiss from the noise cancelling. It wasn’t present with the XM3. I think this is because they have cranked up the noise cancelling in the XM4. I have air purifiers running in my house, and the XM4 does a better job of cancelling out the noise almost completely. The XM3 still has some leakage. The XM3 is just as good as the Bose in noise cancellation, and the XM4, though a little hissy and is a slightly bit better. The drawback to this is that it can feel like it’s creating a slight pressure in my head that increases over time.Multipoint Bluetooth: FThis was the feature I had been waiting for. The awesome noise cancellation and sound of the XM3, but with the ability to stream two devices at once. FAIL! I had been eagerly anticipating this and checking daily for the release of the XM4. I was so excited to get them…only to be sorely disappointed. Though the device will connect to two devices simultaneously, it actually DISCONNECTS when one of the two devices is activated. So it’s not true multipoint Bluetooth. Sony advertises that the multipoint Bluetooth is seamless. This is true if they mean you don’t have to press any buttons to disconnect from a device. However, the way it manages connections is very poor. I have to put the XM4 into pairing mode if I’ve connected to my phone in order for it to play audio from my computer. If I don’t do this, it doesn’t recognize that my computer is playing sound, and then doesn’t stream the sound. Even though it shows on my computer as connected, it doesn’t show up in my sound options as a device that I can use for audio. I have to turn them off, put them into pairing mode, and then reconnect in order to get the sound to play. If a call comes in on my phone, the headphones actually disconnect from the computer to switch to the call – and the headphone voice announces that they have disconnected, super annoying and not seamless. With the QC35 II, I could use both at the same time, with the phone being connected at the low-quality voice mode and my computer at the high quality music mode. They had 2 years to get the multipoint Bluetooth right and they totally failed. So it ends up that I have to turn the XM4 off and re-pair them just like I had to with the XM3. I’ve had to do this a number of times, and I haven’t quite figured out all the exact situations where I have to re-pair them. With the XM3, I knew if I wanted to switch devices, I would have to do it. But with the XM4, I haven’t put my finger on all of them just yet. At any rate, the switching of devices is very clunky and definitely not worth upgrading for. I have $40 headphones that implement multipoint Bluetooth better than the XM4. I’m stunned and disappointed that Sony hasn’t been able to get multipoint Bluetooth to work right.Comfort: ACompared to the XM3, the XM4 are slightly softer and a bit more comfortable right when I put them on. The XM3 are still pretty comfortable, but the earpads are definitely firmer and a little tighter.Controls: BI totally prefer the actual buttons on the QC35 II to the touch controls. Sometimes if I want to change the volume and I slide my finger at a slightly off-angle, it will skip tracks instead. It’s a small annoyance. On the plus side, the physical buttons do make a fairly audible click that travels through the headphone, whereas the touch controls are a little quieter.In-call: DOne thing the Bose QC35 II does is that when I’m on a call, it knows to automatically turn on ambient sound mode so I can hear myself talking. Neither the XM3 nor the XM4 figured out that this is a useful and great feature, so they don’t do it. If I want it, I have to press the button to switch to it, listen to the announcement, and then it comes on. Then when I’m done, I have to press the button and wait for it to go into NC off, ambient sound off, and then press the button again and wait for the announcement that the NC is once again activated. Super slow and awkward and unusable. So instead, I pull one of the earcups off my ear so I can hear myself speak. When I first was using the Sony’s for calls, I was finding that my voice was tired and my throat sore at the end of the day. Someone told me that I talked really loud when I was on the phone. I didn’t even know this because the headphones do a really great job of keeping outside sound out, so I was talking at a level so I could hear myself when I was wearing them. I asked Sony support about this, and the headphones just don’t do this. Fail.Auto-mute: FSony created a feature where the headphones will automatically mute the audio source if it detects that you’re talking. Nice in concept – terrible in practice. I just turned it off and left it off. If I’m listening to music and sneeze or make a noise, the headphones will interrupt what I’m listening to and mute it for the amount of time I’ve specified in the app – 15 seconds is the shortest amount of time. So I have to wait for it to unmute so that I can continue listening. What’s even more annoying is when I’m using the auxiliary cable in wired mode – again, this is because the multipoint Bluetooth implementation is such a pain and sucks, if I’m on a video conference and I have the headphones on to use the noise cancelling, if I talk, it mutes the audio stream for 15 seconds so I can’t hear what anyone in the conference is saying. So I then have to turn the headphones off in order to interact with the conference in any meaningful way.Miscellaneous:I don’t understand why Sony doesn’t just include a headphone cable with a microphone. With all the video-conferencing I do, and the terrible multipoint Bluetooth implementation, I end up using the auxiliary headphone cable a lot. It’s much faster and convenient for me to switch the plug from my computer to my phone rather than dealing with the horrible Bluetooth switching. The auxiliary cable Sony provides doesn’t have a microphone, so I have to hold my phone close to my mouth if I’m using the cable. I ended up buying an auxiliary cable with a microphone and some playback controls on it and it works great. Here’s another really poorly thought-out thing: upon pairing the new XM4 with the app, it gives me the opportunity to give feedback on the headphones. This is only upon the initial startup of the headphones. How on earth can I give meaningful feedback about the headphones on my first use? It took me to Sony’s site to do the survey, and I decided I would complete it later, only to discover that it had timed out, and now I’m not able to provide feedback through that mechanism.Conclusion:All the hype about multipoint Bluetooth is a big letdown with the real product. If that’s the reason you’re thinking about upgrading, don’t do it. The rest of it is pretty similar to the XM3. Some nice little features added, but nothing earth shattering. The new features on paper were everything that I wanted that was missing from the XM3. In practice, the XM4 implementation of these things just did not hit the mark. I soooo wanted to love these headphones, so that I could stop looking for headphones. As it stands, they totally weren’t worth the upgrade and I will most likely be sending these back. Sadly, they are not as advertised.

    32 people found this helpful

44. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Amazon Customer – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Very Good Headphones

    These headphones have very good sound quality and feel well made. They arrived in nice packaging, and the carrying case they come with is decently compact and also good quality. I’ve had them for 1.5 years now, and after daily, extensive use, they are still doing fine. I may have to replace the ear pads in the next year, but that’s an easy process and only around $20 for replacement parts. I got these on sale, and I recommend anyone interested wait for a prime or sale day for them to go on sale for like $200. They charge very quickly and last me a good couple days of all-day use on a full charge, even after 1.5 years. I’m not one to go into the equalizer and change stuff, so the basic sound settings sound great to me. The noise cancelling is good on transit and in the office. On transit or airplanes, it’s also nice that you can hold your hand to the right ear, and it will enhance any announcements while quieting the music, so you don’t have to actually remove the headphones. Noise cancelling in general doesn’t do much for talking sounds, but the ear pads cup the ear and head nicely so you can’t hear talking much either.One thing I wish they could change is the feedback beep the headphones make whenever you interact with the touch pad on the right ear. I get some people might appreciate it, but I spent a while when I first got the headphones trying to figure out how to turn it off. I got used to it after a month or so, but I had hoped for a bit more customizability. Tap to pause, a quiet beep, tap to play, another beep. Kind of unnecessary in my opinion.

45. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Janel MHJanel MH – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    I love these headphones! The best!!!!!

    So let’s get the cons out of the way: pricey, but worth it!If hooking up Bluetooth headphones through a Bluetooth transmitter (for me I use one for my tv that doesn’t have Bluetooth), have to not download headphone app and make sure your phone doesn’t hook up to it via phone Bluetooth and you need to “forget this device” on your phone.For me I am not going to use these with my iPhone, so I deleted the app and did as above so my phone wouldn’t detect it, otherwise it’s hard to get it to connect to the transmitter. I don’t need the app that Sony suggests to download anyway because that is just for ambient and sound control/extras. More convenient if you do use headphones with your phone.Any more cons? I can think of any!Pros: a lot! I love these. I previously purchased cheap Bluetooth headphones from Amazon but wish I have got these sooner. The cheaper ones are ok but the ear pads hurt my ears after wearing them after an hour or two.I’ve only used these Sony headphones a couple times but after an hour my ears don’t hurt! The earpads are comfortable and fit over my ears well.As I said before, it’s easy to connect via Bluetooth transmitter(or whatever blue tooth you are hiking up to) after I deleted the app, if I want to watch tv.It’s hard to tell in the instructions with no words(I guess a con) but I looked it up in you tube, and while the headphones are on, press and hold (the on/off button)until the voice lady says Bluetooth pairing. This is a good tip because I didn’t get that right away. And then it connected!Was easy to reconnect as well using it another day.I can also listen to my tv and have the noise cancelling on and the same time! It’s great! I don’t even hear any traffic from outside or if someone has their subwoofer on in their car! It’s a game changer and a life saver.The noise cancelling is great in general also. And can be turned off if needed by pressing the button over the on/off button. Can also be switched to ambient sound.Overall these are the best headphones I’ve had. And totally forgot how good Sony was. I know back in the day I had a Walkman and cd Walkman and they were the bras knees. The Sony brand has always been good. They are still the best for electronics in my opinion.Another con I just thought of is the changes cord could be longer.Pro: comes with a nice fabric case and plug if if you want it wired an adapter for airplanes, etc.

    6 people found this helpful

46. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    T. Apuzzo – March 8, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Good, but be aware of quirks and limitations

    UPDATE 11/11/20: With the release of firmware 2.0.7 these have become usable for conference calls on Windows 10. The issue with initial syllables getting cut-off appears to be fixed and overall I have reports when using Skype and Zoom from my co-workers is that I now sound as good as (or maybe even a bit better than) other co-workers using Bose NC 700 headphones. According to Sony’s release notes this firmware update is only supposed to address connection stability on Windows. I have increased my rating to 4 stars.UPDATE 10/30/20: No update from Sony on the microphone issue. My co-worker have asked that I use a different microphone as the microphone audio is quite poor. I’m outside the Amazon return window, but am currently working with Sony to hopefully get these at least exchanged if not returned.UPDATE: After a week, I am getting many complaints from people on the other end of my conference calls. Zoom / WebEx / etc. This is a serious issue that impacts me on a daily basis. I have put a case into Sony support and hoping they release a new firmware soon to fix the call quality.Below is my “evergreen” review which I will update whenever I have revised my opinion of these phones due to either new experiences or updated firmware, etc.Compared to my 2 year old Sony WH-H900N:Pros:+ More equalization options, including the ability to use the EQ with LDAC codec.+ Stronger ANC, particularly high-pitched whines and voices are significantly more attenuated by the XM4. Airplane or fan noise is not hugely different. Overall the ANC on the XM4 is superior.+ True multipoint connectivity allows you to connect the XM4 to two different devices simultaneously. Both AD2P and HSP profiles can be simultaneously connected to 2 different devices. The H900N can independently connect their AD2P and HSP profiles to two different devices which can allow music to be played on a PC while using a phone for voice calls, but it is tricky to connect/disconnect the correct profiles each time you power cycle the headphones. The XM4 are much improved on this front, although the priority switching is a bit dodgy in my opinion and takes a few seconds to detect and switch devices, so it’s easy to miss notifications or other brief sounds when multiply connected.+ The XM4 are better for making calls in noisy environments, although the overall quality is mediocre at best. Any halfway decent gaming headset or office headset will do a better job of capturing just your voice. I tested versus my Sennheiser G4ME One wired headset.+ (slightly) more compact travel case since the earcups both swivel and fold whereas the H900N only fold+ XM4 allows you to mix in a variable amount of ambient sound whereas the H900N has only 1 setting for ambient sound+ The WH-1000XM4 while improved, are still poor in windy situations, even when put into “wind” mode, which does help. I haven’t had a chance to compare the XM4 on a voice call in windy environments. The H900N are unusable in wind for phone calls, I have to switch to the handset.Cons:- The WH-1000XM4 have significantly less Bluetooth 4.0 range, I get crackling and break-up within 3 meters where the WH-H900N easily reach 10 meters. This is a big deal when working from home. With the H900N I could make a phone call from the kitchen with my computer in the office and be pretty confident that I could still speak and hear everything. With the XM4 I can’t leave my office without huge glitching. EDIT: I swapped out my BT4.0 adapter to a BT5.0 adapter on my desktop and with this, I can get ~20 meter range with my XM4, still not quite as good as the H900N gets with BT4, but acceptable for my uses.- Overall, WH-1000XM4 do not sound much better, in fact at default factory settings, the midrange is a bit muffled and bass response bloated versus older headphones, tweaking Clear Bass setting to -2 helps- The WH-1000XM4 ANC presents a low-level background hiss and a sucking sensation on the ears- The WH-1000XM4 do not support Qualcomm aptx codecs- The WH-1000XM4 have worse microphone quality when used in quiet environments.- Hold-hand-to-right-earcup-to-speak actually works better on the older headphones as Sony apparently wants you to use the deeply problematic speak-to-chat automatic feature insteadEqual:* Battery life is roughly the same, with ~24 hours for the older headphones versus ~30 hours for the newer* Bluetooth pairing is similarly slow on both headphones* Both support LDAC codec for high bitrate sound (although when in 2-device mode LDAC cannot be used)* Overall weight and comfort is similar, with the XM4 being a bit lighter* Ear heat is a problem with both headphones, slightly cooler on the XM4* Neither headphone can use the microphone when listening via wired connection, come on Sony!* Neither headphone can be used as a USB headset (even though the phones are recognized by Windows 10, they do not show up as an audio device)* Touch controls are essentially identical, in fact the H900N are actually a bit more responsive although perhaps I’ll get used to the XM4Personal Preference:* The style of the older headphones is a bit nicer in my opinion, and they are available in more colors* The newer XM4 use USB-C charging versus micro-usb for the older headphones. This should be a pro for the XM4 but the XM4 won’t charge on any of my USB-C PD chargers, so I have to either plug them into a port on my computer or find an old low-power phone charger to charge them. The H900N are less finicky about what charger they will accept.* The “silver” XM4 is really a grayish-beige which is pretty ugly, I wish I’d have bought boring basic black.Overall I am disappointed that these are not a bigger upgrade over my 3 year old headphones. I knew from various reviews that the H900N sounded better than the 1000XM, and 1000XM2, with reviews being a bit equivocal on the XM3. I was expecting the XM4 to blow the H900N away, but really they are barely better except for multipoint and ANC.

    16 people found this helpful

47. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Reviews by Andy – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Unparalleled Excellence – Sony WH-1000XM4 Wireless Headphones

    The Sony WH-1000XM4 Wireless Premium Noise Canceling Overhead Headphones have truly set the bar high for audio enthusiasts. From the moment I put them on, I was immersed in an audio experience that can only be described as exceptional.The noise-canceling feature is, without a doubt, the star of the show. It effortlessly eliminates ambient sounds, creating a tranquil audio oasis. Whether I’m in a busy cafe, on a plane, or working in a bustling environment, the noise cancellation on these headphones is nothing short of superb.Bluetooth connectivity range is another standout feature. I can move around my space without worrying about signal drop or distortion. The seamless connection enhances the overall user experience and adds to the convenience of these headphones.The sound quality is where the Sony WH-1000XM4 truly shines. The depth and clarity of the audio are unmatched. From crisp highs to deep bass, every note is delivered with precision. Whether listening to music, watching movies, or taking calls, the sound quality is consistently outstanding.The integration of a microphone for phone calls and Alexa voice control adds another layer of functionality to these headphones. The mic delivers clear voice transmission, making phone conversations a breeze, and the hands-free Alexa control is a convenient touch for those who value smart device integration.The build quality is excellent, providing a comfortable fit for extended wear. The ear cups are plush, and the headband is adjustable, ensuring a customized and comfortable fit for any user.In conclusion, the Sony WH-1000XM4 Wireless Premium Noise Canceling Overhead Headphones are simply awesome. They exceed expectations in every aspect – from noise cancellation to sound quality and overall user experience. If you’re in the market for top-tier wireless headphones, this purchase is a no-brainer. I am genuinely thrilled with this investment and highly recommend these headphones to anyone who values audio excellence.

    3 people found this helpful

48. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    RTW1979 – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    An Immersive Sonic Oasis: Sony WH-1000XM4, The Epitome of Wireless Premium Noise Canceling

    The Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones are an absolute game-changer! As an avid music lover and tech enthusiast, I am constantly on the hunt for the perfect audio experience. These headphones have left me awe-inspired with their exceptional sound quality, impeccable noise cancellation, and luxurious comfort. It’s no wonder they have earned their rightful place as the leading headphones in the market.Let’s start with the audio quality. Sony has truly outdone themselves with the WH-1000XM4. The soundstage is incredibly immersive, allowing each instrument and vocal to shine through with remarkable clarity. The headphones deliver a balanced and precise audio reproduction, ensuring every note and beat is reproduced with stunning accuracy. Whether it’s the delicate strumming of an acoustic guitar or the thunderous bass of an EDM track, these headphones handle it all effortlessly, offering an unparalleled auditory experience.The noise cancellation technology on the WH-1000XM4 is nothing short of magical. Sony’s proprietary HD Noise Canceling Processor QN1 is a marvel. It seamlessly blocks out external noise, immersing you in a world of pure music bliss. Whether you’re commuting on a noisy train, working in a bustling cafe, or simply seeking solace in a quiet environment, these headphones create an oasis of tranquility. The adaptive noise cancellation feature intelligently adjusts the level of suppression based on your surroundings, ensuring you remain undisturbed and focused on the music.Comfort is key, and Sony has nailed it with the WH-1000XM4. The plush ear cups and the ergonomic design provide a snug fit that can be worn for hours without any discomfort. The headband is adjustable and well-padded, further enhancing the overall comfort. Additionally, the headphones are surprisingly lightweight, making them perfect for long listening sessions or extended travels. Sony has truly prioritized user comfort and wearability, allowing you to enjoy your favorite tunes without any distractions.The WH-1000XM4 headphones are equipped with an array of smart features that elevate the overall experience. The touch-sensitive controls on the ear cups are intuitive and responsive, allowing you to adjust volume, skip tracks, and answer calls with a simple tap or swipe. The built-in voice assistant compatibility enables you to manage tasks effortlessly, simply using your voice. The battery life is outstanding, offering up to 30 hours of uninterrupted playtime, ensuring you never have to worry about running out of power on the go.Sony’s attention to detail extends to the design of these headphones as well. The sleek and minimalist aesthetics exude a sense of sophistication and elegance. The folding mechanism allows for easy portability, and the included carrying case ensures your headphones are protected when not in use. It’s evident that Sony has poured meticulous craftsmanship into every aspect of the WH-1000XM4, resulting in a visually stunning and premium product.In conclusion, the Sony WH-1000XM4 Wireless Premium Noise Canceling Overhead Headphones are a true masterpiece. From the breathtaking sound quality and unrivaled noise cancellation to the remarkable comfort and smart features, these headphones have set a new standard for audio excellence. If you’re a discerning music lover or someone who values an immersive and tailored listening experience, investing in the WH-1000XM4 is an absolute no-brainer. Prepare to be captivated by the audio prowess of these headphones. Sony has truly outdone themselves, and I wholeheartedly give them a resounding five-star rating!Furthermore, as someone who has had the privilege of experiencing the first, second, and third generations of the Sony WH-1000XM headphones, I can confidently say that each iteration has improved upon its predecessor, making them akin to a fine wine that only gets better with age.Sony’s commitment to innovation and their willingness to continuously refine their flagship headphones is truly commendable. With each new generation, they have addressed any minor shortcomings and introduced groundbreaking enhancements that elevate the listening experience to new heights.From the original WH-1000XM to the WH-1000XM3, and now to the WH-1000XM4, Sony has consistently pushed the boundaries of audio technology. They have refined the sound signature, perfected the noise cancellation capabilities, and fine-tuned the overall user experience. It’s a testament to Sony’s dedication to delivering the best possible audio performance.The fact that each new iteration builds upon the strengths of its predecessors speaks volumes about Sony’s commitment to continuous improvement. They have managed to take an already exceptional product and refine it, creating a headphone series that is truly unrivaled in its class.In conclusion, as someone who has witnessed the evolution of the Sony WH-1000XM headphones from their inception, I am thrilled to see how they have evolved into the remarkable WH-1000XM4. These headphones are a testament to Sony’s relentless pursuit of perfection and their ability to create a product that transcends expectations. The WH-1000XM series is a shining example of how a product can improve over time, just like a fine wine that only gets better with age.

    82 people found this helpful

49. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Jin – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Lasted 3.5 years with constant use, now buying a 2nd pair

    I bought my first pair in Sept 2020 and now finally after 3.5 years they have stopped working sufficiently which I’m pretty sad about but honestly, I used my pair heavily, I’m talking constant use, sometimes I even slept in them when I forgot earplugs. So these easily saw 8+ hours a day of use majority of the time with multiple take on and offs. I also was not super careful with them, I hardly ever used the case they came in and just shoved them into my backpack to travel to and from work.I am sensitive to noise so I often put these on just for the noise cancellation, but the music sounds great on them too!If you’re wondering how they broke, here’s how:Initially the right hinge broke May 2023 (so after almost 3 years of rough use). I replaced this hinge myself using a 3rd party vendor to send the part and replacing it myself. It’s a pretty easy fix.Then, the left hinge broke in Oct/Nov 2023. Again, I replaced using 3rd party.Now, in January 2024, for some reason the noise cancellation in the left ear cup has stopped working, it produces a whining noise and it’s getting louder/more annoying. It’s possible that while fixing the hinge I may have messed something up so it could be my own fault, but the headphones were also unusable without the hinge.When I don’t have noise cancelling on, it sounds fine. But unfortunately for me, their noise cancelling is primarily the reason I got fancy headphones in the first place and my productivity without them has already plummeted.And from reading the reviews of the xm5’s, I decided to go with the xm4 again. I figure 3.5 years of rough use makes these a worthwhile purchase for me again, especially since I already know how they fit and sound.

    3 people found this helpful

50. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Anthony – March 8, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Solid Headphones

    Worth the purchase when it was on sale. I am no audiophile but my music sounded great and better than my regular headphones/earbuds. Downloading the headphones app to let me adjust the sound profile helped a lot. No problems connecting to my devices and I like the feel of the headphones. The noise cancellation isn’t perfect but it does enough for me when traveling – I took it overseas for a month long trip along with other flights and I am very pleased with its performance and battery.Small problems:- ANC would blow up and the speaker would “pop” when the plane was taking off. I presume the engine from the plane is too loud for ANC so I had to disable ANC just during that part, but it was easy to do with the quick action button.- the pressure equalizer during ANC sometimes makes the pressure too strong and there is no option to manage it. It feels uncomfortable and may make me slightly dizzy sometimes. I definitely have gotten more used to it but it could be something worth noting.

51. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    b – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Better Than XM5

    **Disclaimer: I bought mine used like new through AmazonI originally purchased the Sony XM5 because they were soooo highly rated in every article I read. I returned the XM5, got the XM4 and am so much happier. I’ll compare the XM4 to the XM5, Apple AirPods Max, and Bose QuietComfort 45 – just to help anyone choosing between them.**Noise Cancellation (4.5/5): the noise cancellation on the XM4 is crazy, almost comparable to the Apple AirPods Max. I gave the XM4 a 4.5 because I still think the Apple AirPods Max have the best noise cancellation, but the Sony XM4 is very close. I also like the fact that you can turn noise cancelling on/off with a button – which is a feature not available with the Bose QuietComfort 45. The noise cancellation is much better than the XM5 and less finicky. An issue with the XM5 is that the noise cancelling would just randomly turn on/off. Like if I paused a video for a little too long, the noise cancellation would just turn off Overall, I wouldn’t say I it blocks out all sound, but it’s close. I can hear the sound of people talking and music, but it’s quieter and I can’t make out the words. I definitely can’t have a conversation with them on. Also, the XM4 will pick up on when you’re talking to people and turn the noise cancelling off for you – but it does make a little announcement when it does that may be annoying or disruptive.**Sound Quality (4/5): the sound quality is great. Way better than the XM5, not as great as the Apple AirPods Max. I think the Apple headphones are just a little crisper. I think it’s cool that you can turn 360 sound on, but tbh I never really use it (XM5 also has this feature). The sound is clear, and I haven’t experienced any malfunctions/issues with the noise. When I had the XM5, they would just randomly sound muffled (like I was underwater) and, when that wasn’t happening, the sound quality was mediocre.**Comfort (5/5): the XM4s are REALLY comfy. I wear glasses with plastic frames and a lot of headphones just don’t work and are really uncomfy. The Apple AirPods Max were really uncomfortable with my glasses. Obviously, an easy solution is to just wear contacts, but I hate wearing my contacts for long periods of time – especially, when I study/do work. The XM5 were also pretty comfortable, but wouldn’t stay fixed when I adjusted them – they would slip and I would need to readjust them a lot. The XM4 completely cover my ear and the ear pads are soft. They don’t squeeze my head the way other headphones do and they don’t hurt any part of my ear. I will say that the headband part that rests on top of my head does kind of hurt my head after wearing them for almost 10 hours. Also, I have TMJ so sometimes wearing the headphones does cause my TMJ to flare up and I’ll switch to earbuds. But, I think overall these are the most comfortable headphones I have tried.**Product Quality (3.5/5): let’s be honest, they’re plastic and they feel plastic. They don’t feel like super high quality, but let me tell you that they feel way better quality than the XM5 – those felt like a barbie toy. I think the XM4 are sturdy and pretty durable. The Apple AirPods Max are also plastic, but do feel a little more high quality – but also, nothing spectacular.**Aesthetic (3.5/5): If the aesthetic is important to you, I would say they look fine. They’re a little bulky, but not terrible. Not as sleek as some others, but they don’t look ridiculous. If you’re really against a bulky look, then they may not be a great aesthetic match for you. I was worried they would be really clunky, but after getting them and wearing them for a bit, I really don’t think they look bad.**Connectivity (4/5): I only have Apple devices (iPhone, MacBook, etc.) and I think the connectivity is great with these products! When I got the XM5, they had so many connection issues. I wasn’t able to connect them to my laptop, they wouldn’t stay connected to my devices – it was a mess. I was really worried I would have the same issues with the XM4, but I have had no problems so far. I will say it was a little odd to have have to download the Sony Connect app and manage the headphone through that platform, but it’s user friendly and it’s kind of nice to have a control for them (it’s almost like a remote).**Battery Life (5/5): The battery life is insane. I’ve had them for 8 days and have not charged them yet – they still have about 40% charge left. They will turn off automatically to save battery life if you don’t use them for a certain amount of time, which I personally like.OVERALL (4.5/5): I think the XM4 are great headphones for a better price than the Apple AirPods Max. The Bose are apparently really similar, but I’ve never personally tried them. The XM4 is MUCH better than the XM5 in terms of quality and price. They’re comfy, great noise cancellation and sound quality, and have great battery life.

    503 people found this helpful

52. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    moo – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    SONY WH-1000XM4… BEST HEADPHONES EVER

    I am coming from a set of Bose QC15 and Sony MDR-7506 and wow!! Hats off to Sony for their MKIV headphones.Sony WH-1000XM4 has incredible sound and features!The active noice cancelling works GREAT!!! I put my head next to the wall AC unit and can barely hear a thing.Compared to my QC15, the Sony is so much better at ANC you’d think the Bose were turned off. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved my QC15 on a daily basis for over ten years but comparing these are like night and day.Music from Sony WH-1000XM4 sounds rich and full in a way that I’ve only heard at a movie theatre and the Bose QC15 and MDR-7506 are no schlubs; I’m used to decent headphones. The custom EQ that you can set and upload to the Sony WH-1000XM4 using their proprietary app is everything. Very intuitive and easy to use and you don’t even NEED the app if you just want to use them out of the box and not futz with settings, it can pair like any normal bluetooth device by holding down the power button; however, the app does everything automatically.Compared to AirPods Pro, the ability to tune every feature versus just on/off makes me feel like I have a quality high-end device versus a kind of generic one. Not to get off topic, but I returned the AirPods Pro; they are nice but not for the money. I felt that AirPods Pro FUNCTIONED very very well (Good ANC, brilliant pairing, can use either left, or right, or both, and the auto on/off/pause/play works like a charm) but I thought that they missed the mark on sound quality, comfort, and battery life just enough that I didn’t feel that they were worth $200+.Spoiler Alert, I went with Bose QC Earbuds but that’s another story.Getting back on topic…The Sony WH-1000XM4 are worth every cent. I scored mine on Prime Day and got a great deal on them!!They’re worth MSRP… but try for less. I got them for $75 off MSRP Oct 14, 2020 and they did free next day delivery.There’s my obligatory plug, where’s my gift card?Oh, right. It was in the box with my headphones, duh. lol. (they gave me a gift card for Prime Day)The thing that surprised me the MOST about the Sony WH-1000XM4 are how well they perform as a headset. Whatever gadgetry they’ve packed in these is pretty magical. When on a phone call or FaceTime, the headset WHILE KEEPING ANC ACTIVE, makes it so I can hear myself speak and therefore am not shouting while on the phone like I typically am. WHILE ANC IS STILL WORKING. Magical.The auto I/O/Play/Pause feature when you remove them from your head is very nice too.Very happy about multipoint bluetooth. I have it set to work with my iPhone and Sony X950H TV and it’s seamless.I was actually waiting for them to upgrade to having this and is why I didn’t go for the MKIII. Glad I waited.The case is nice and holds all of the accessories plus a few more tiny ones that I had for other travel things. The case fits perfectly in my laptop bag (Brenthaven Elliot Deluxe) and does not make it any bulkier or bulgy. The case is actually smaller than the one for my QC15 because the Sony WH-1000XM4 fold up! Bonus!!USB-C charging instead of Micro-USB is superb, I am very much enjoying the rapid charge feature and since I plan on having these for a long time, the port is a sturdy one that will take many many many plugging/unpluggings.Battery life seems to function as advertised, although I haven’t timed it for 30 hours, I just charge it at the end of the night. If I forget to, no worries, it’s charged enough for the day by the time I am done getting ready to go.All in all, very happy with the Sony WH-1000XM4. Five stars!

    92 people found this helpful

53. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    BradleyBradley – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Truly a Worthy Successor to the WH1000xm3!

    Honestly, there was a part of me that was worried that these headphones would not be the best pair to own after the issues that I experienced with the prior generation of them: the WH1000xm3. The main issue that I had? The build quality: the plastic around the headband snapped due to a flimsy connection, resulting in me having to tape both headbands together so that the headphones don’t fall apart on me. I tried several alternate brands to see if they would work, but they never came close to giving me the same level of satisfaction while wearing them as the WH1000xm3 did, even with the taped headband taken into account. So I decided that the best replacement for a Sony headphone was another Sony headphone, and I invested in the M4, which succeeded the M3 last year (as of this writing).My initial thoughts were as follows: the headphones were a definite improvement upon the originals, retaining what I liked most about the original headphones (largely the overall comfort) while also improving the headphones in other small ways (especially in regards to the special features-the M4 are way more feature-packed than the M3 were, incorporating many elements that are being found on most other headphones these days). My favorite thing that was fixed, however, was the sound quality. You see, the original sounded amazing, and honestly sounded better overall than the likes of Bose and Sennheiser, which I have tested as potential replacements for the Sony headphones. And that is despite the fact that the headphones have a relatively small 40mm driver inside, instead of a more traditional 50mm driver. However, the one minor issue I had with the M3 was that the low frequencies were heightened a bit more than I would have liked, making songs sound a bit bass-heavy even when the EQ was turned off (the only way I was able to fix this was by setting the EQ to ‘bright’, which isn’t ideal since the EQ does degrade the battery life). With the M4, Sony improves this by tuning down the low ends, resulting in the headphones having a very flat frequency response, which in turn results in every song having a much wider sound stage than the M3 did (and almost making them sound as good as the various open-back headphones I have tried, including the Sennheiser 650, which is my personal favorite open-back headphone).In terms of the special features, I think they were implemented quite well in these headphones. The noise cancelling is exceptional, much like it was on the M3, and the transparency mode is somehow even better than it was on the prior generation headphone, sounding a lot more natural and less tinny overall. The auto activation of transparency mode during conversations is fantastic, and enables me to talk to people naturally without ever having to remove the headphones from my ear. This also means that I don’t have to awkwardly tap my hand on the earcup with the M4, either. The DSEE Extreme audio enhancer really helps to make music sound a lot more full, even when using devices that don’t support the LDAC wireless standard. It isn’t as good as listening to lossless files wired, mind you, but it is still an amazing feature that helps to take advantage of the flat sound stage and frequency response of the headphone drivers.Now, this isn’t to say that these headphones don’t have issues, mind you. The auto-pause when removing the headphones from your ears is very much a gimmick, and doesn’t always pause the song (and may even resume the music before you have a chance to place the headphones back on your ear). Since the headphones use a light sensor to tell if you are wearing your headphones or not, it means even a simple shadow can cause the headphones to think that they are back on your ears and restart music playback. It is quite obnoxious, and it is best left out. Another, more minor issue is the touch controls. While I personally have no issue with them, I know that there are many people that don’t like them whatsoever. So I will just make a note that they are still here, and they work in much the same way as they did on the M3. Finally, I should mention that the flat soundstage, while amazing for my listening experience, may not be for everyone. Bassheads in particular would likely prefer extra pronunciation on the lower ranges. And while they will never be quite as bass-heavy as the Skullcandy or Beats line, the EQ can still bring the bass levels up quite a bit, using a ‘clear bass’ slider that reminds me of the slider on the Skullcandy Skullcrushers: raising the bass without causing distortion.Overall, the headphones turned out to be quite an exceptional pair, especially when it comes to listening to music during commutes. The great noise cancelling, beautiful audio, and fantastic transparency mode definitely make these headphones a winner in my book. And the app only helps to improve the flexibility of the headphones, allowing for many different features to be unlocked. And while these headphones certainly have some issues (no pair of headphones are perfect, after all), I think the benefits more than outweigh the issues for me, and put these at the top of my list of best closed-back headphones that I have worn. Hopefully Sony will continue to make amazing headphones like these in the ears to come.

    117 people found this helpful

54. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Daniel Meadows – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Best Bluetooth Headphones I’ve had so far…

    I have purchased and used a variety of wireless, over-ear style headphones over the years, but the Sony WH-1000XM4 (XM4’s from here on), have provided a great experience so far! For simplicity’s sake, I will only directly mention the other Sony pair I currently own, the XB900N.Note:This review is after one full (out of the box) charge. They lasted almost exactly three days after fairly heavy use. Material used during this period varied from heavy rock to classical, audiobooks, and videos from YouTube. Sections in the review are in CAPS for organization, not emphasis.The Positive:+ SOUND is phenomenal on these. Out of the box, they were almost on par with other sets I had set equalizer preferences for. Once the equalizer profiles were created for the XM4’s, the music started sounding better than it ever has before through Bluetooth. These clearly favor a warm sound, and shine best when paired with bass heavy tracks, but all of my library has gotten some noticeable benefit from the XM4’s.Sound is different for everyone, but these seem better out of the box than most I’ve tried, and custom profiles are easy to create with the Sony app.+ CONNECTIVITY was extremely easy. I had already installed the Sony companion app for headphones from the XB pair I had used before. I have not had any dropped connections so far.+ BUILD QUALITY feels like a pretty big step up from the XB900N’s. Sturdy cans and a very soft headband are a nice combination. I’ve only had the XM4’s for three days but I feel they will hold up fairly well. Considering I’ve had the XB pair for over a year with no noticeable degradation, I have high expectations here. The XM4’s come with a great travel case too.The Neutral (still positive to me):1. CHARGING CORD is short. I like it because it is now the easiest charging cord to identify out of all the ones I currently use. The cord it is packaged with limits flexibility for charging locations, but is also perfectly functional for my needs.2. ANC (Active Noise Cancelling) function is good, almost too good. I have used these headphones a lot since I received them three days ago, and the first thing I noticed when I put them on- the ANC was overwhelming. I became somewhat queasy as soon as I turned them on. Once I opened the app I noticed there was a calibration tool for ANC. Once I went through that process, I no longer felt discomfort when using this feature. YMMV, but these block out most noise in my home, to the point it’s just music or the book I’m listening to. I’m still getting used to how strong the ANC actually is.3. BATTERY LIFE was pretty good, but may have been somewhat under 100% out of the box, despite the headphones declaring a full charge when activated. I did not time my usage, but I probably got around 18 to 20 hours on the initial charge. Some settings for music quality and DSEE (sound enhancement for some content) will lower battery life according to Sony’s companion app. It advised against using my settings for the best battery life experience. I appreciated but also ignored this advice. I know I won’t be getting the full battery life from it, but it sounds so good! I’m leaving this detail under neutral to see if I get the same- or better – performance from a true 100% charge. Edit: lasted about the same, maybe one additional hour. Still good for daily, heavy use.4. TOUCH CONTROLS are a big debate among users of Bluetooth headphones. I happen to like how responsive these are, but I’ve also really liked some other headphones out there that had good old fashioned dials and buttons. I don’t know which I prefer over the other, but the touch controls for the XM4’s are not bad.The Negatives:- These get pretty warm. Ultimately, it isn’t an issue to me because I wear glasses and they are still comfortable, just warm after longer sessions.Overall:The best Bluetooth headphones I’ve come across! Definitely worth the price on sale. The XM4’s do not disappoint and provide truly top-tier ANC functionality. My new favorite headphones for music and audiobooks on the go.Thank you for reading my review!Hopefully the XM4’s are finished recharging by now.Have a great day!

    38 people found this helpful

55. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    D. Forst – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Excellent sound and ANC

    I love these headphones. The battery lasts for ages, the sound is fantastic, they’re comfortable for extended duration, the ANC is good, and the case is sturdy and as compact as it can be. If you can catch them on sale for $230 or so like I did, it’s a steal and you will not be disappointed.The two minor gripes I have would be that the ANC doesn’t work very well for higher frequencies like speech and that when ANC is active, it can cause some ear pressure and minor vertigo-like discomfort if you’re sensitive to it. It sounds like ANC in general doesn’t work super well for speech and higher frequencies so I don’t think that’s specific to these headphones. And same for the discomfort. However when I compare to my AirPods Pro, which fit directly into my ear canal since they’re buds and not cans, I get better passive noise cancellation for higher frequencies and no pressure issues with the AirPods Pro.Neither of these issues take away from the otherwise stellar experience of these headphones. I love them for travel and work or even just to listen to music when I’m alone at home. While I don’t have experience with the Bose QuietComfort these are often compared against, I can say with confidence that I am 100% satisfied with these and do not feel the need to try any others in the near future.

    One person found this helpful

56. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Christopher J. Giannelli – March 8, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Great Sound and Comfort, But Some Reliability Issues

    I recently purchased my second pair of these noise-canceling headphones, and I’ve had enough time to thoroughly evaluate their performance. Here’s my take on them:Pros:Comfort: They’re incredibly comfortable, even during long listening sessions.Appearance: The black design is sleek and aesthetically pleasing.Build Quality: These headphones feel high quality and durable, built to last.Noise Cancellation: The noise cancellation is nothing short of spectacular. It effectively blocks out background noise, allowing for an immersive listening experience.Multi-Device Connectivity: Being able to connect to two devices simultaneously is a game-changer. It’s a convenience that sets these headphones apart from others I’ve owned.Sound Quality: The audio and music sound quality is exceptional, with rich bass and clear treble that make for an awesome listening experience.Cons:High-Pitched Squealing: My first pair occasionally emitted a high-pitched squealing noise. It was so severe that I had to power them off. Unfortunately, the issue sometimes persisted even after turning them back on, leading me to purchase a second pair.Connectivity Issues: After about a year, my new pair began to experience connectivity problems, suddenly stopping audio playback. The only workaround is to power them off and back on, which is quite frustrating and happens all too often.Not ideal for working out: When doing horizontal exercises, like push ups, bench press, rows, etc. these tend to fall off because of the weight. If you’re upright however, these are great. Although I’m not sure how the sweat effects them over time, hopefully that won’t damage them?Overall:Despite the drawbacks, I genuinely love these headphones. They offer superior comfort, sound quality, and the unique ability to connect to two devices at once. However, I’ve encountered reliability issues with both pairs I’ve owned, from the distressing squealing noise in the first pair to connectivity problems in the second. While I would still recommend them for their outstanding features and performance, I do hope the manufacturer addresses these reliability issues in future models.

    3 people found this helpful

57. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    s – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    My review is effectively these should be xm 3.1 not 4 build but good otherwise.

    about the same as the xm3. the pairing aspect is nice and was my reason to upgrade. I couldn’t take all the paring issues anymore, and having more control in my phone to move between all my computers was appreciated.The app does only pair to 2 devices, but it keeps a memory or list of the devices you have paired to (it is not easy to find this information online). I should probably make some youtube video. Having this management aspect makes these so much more usable. They should back-port this to xm3 as well even if only one device at a time software control is so helpful. I”m in software and have to switch computers and phones a lot.Otherwise, i the anc is superior to xm3, mildly so. For me the reason to upgrade is if you want excellent multiparing. Frankly it seems to just work better. Even single paring for me was always dicey on the xm3 there are some devices it just wouldn’t pair with. Not the case with these. The sound and anc aren’t really reasons to upgrade. they all sound fantastic.The lacking issue is still build quality. they look nice, but the qc 25/35 which i also own use metal in the hinges and i am certain will last longer from a build standpoint. I ‘ve pretty much taken the xm3 apart, they are all plastic, and you better be careful. That said these are so easy to work on. I have opened up my xm3’s replaced the battery and pads and they are still going strong at almost 3 years now. I upgraded because i literally use these every day, i actually sleep in them and the multiparing was wearing on me. Given how much they are used it was worth it for me.As long as these sony continue to make great anc headphones, and keep them serviceable i’ll continue to go sony. The tipping point is the sound vs bose. Don’t get me wrong bose gets a really bad rep in my opinion. They are not bad in any way and still have better build quality and calls. sure they are a bluetooth headphone. I have high end stuff too they don’t have that kind of detail. But you know what. These are the headphones i used. I don’t especially like being tethered to a computer. Anyway with bose the sound just isn’t as fun. For me when you using headpones with small speakers, you to tune warm unlike large receiver speakers. I could even say if your a bit older losing your ability to detect highs maybe then bose makes sense, or your tastes are more for a flat neutral. the sound bose is good. However that’s isn’t me at all if i want that i’ll have a chat with my wife. I don’t want boomy but i do want a warm sound that’s exciting. these are the best sounding bluetooth headphones with ANC i ‘ve heard and they are plenty good enough for me. I will pretty much continue to live in my xm4 now at my desk and when i am out use my xm3s. By the way i picked these on verizon for some insane deal. They were like 250 already. I’d wait for black friday. i was going to, but then that came up. 350’s a lot for this build quality, but if you haven’t used these and are on the fence amazon is good because of the return policy if you don’t like them. I really do think this is one of those rare great products, and i have had so much use out of my xm3. the pause /turn off when take off is also wonderful. I had that on my plantronics and am glad they added that here. The speak to chat feature is also nice. I like the low sensitivity mode.I have ultimately decided good anc is so worth it. I have way lower stress. Just the other day i was working at home, and there is all this construction going on i didn’t even notice it, and i could see how stressed out my wife was. I also have kids and dogs, I put these things on and I am like a bachelor. I use them everywhere card, yard worksconcentration, sleep. It’s just fantastic technology. Even if your working out and you are on some loud exercise equipment you can use these and save your ears and hear the tv. They aren’t waterproof, but i just put on a fan when i am working out to prevent sweating and that works great. I am also glad they aren’t water proof so i can easily replace the battery for 15 dollars. It has a freaking plug and doesn’t even need to be soldered. xm4 is the same. Get these. 🙂

    11 people found this helpful

58. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Ryan – March 8, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    The best noise cancelling money can buy

    I recently moved into an apartment in the heart of my city and I love it, but this being the heart *and* the entertainment district, it’s…lively. Thumping club music, loud drunk tourists, revving cars, you name it. I’m also down the road from a busy fire station. And across the street there’s daily construction on a skyscraper and even though I’m quite high up, well, so is the construction. I can handle city noise, but I also work from home and sometimes I need peace and quiet to focus. As anyone who’s worn earplugs knows, you can only wear them so much before your ears physically can’t take it anymore. So I went in search of the best noise cancelling headphones I could find and came across these. I didn’t even hesitate before throwing down the $350, desperate for relief. I was optimistic but wasn’t sure that they would be able to cope with all the loud, abrupt noises of my environment.These headphones have blown my expectations out of the water. I’m writing this review as they’re pouring concrete at the construction site (for those who don’t know, it sounds like a cannon going off every 30 seconds) and I can’t. Hear. Anything. Construction crews hammering away at metal poles? Barely hear it. Sirens on the street below me? Barely hear it. Loud party music? Can’t hear it. And that’s without playing any music, just having the headphones on in silence. If I play any music at all the environmental noise is 100% gone.In my case I find the noise cancelling power of these headphones easily worth the full MSRP. But the rest of the features are fantastic too. The sound quality is solid; I’m not an audiophile though and don’t have much to compare it too so I won’t comment any more on that. The battery life is phenomenal. I use these for hours every day and have to charge them maybe once a week, and they charge very fast. They’re very comfortable to wear and can easily stay on for hours.The smartphone app that controls these headphones (which you’ll need, I’ll get to that in a minute) lets you select from a number of profiles, including custom ones, which make these great for listening to different genres. The app also lets you control the aggressiveness of the active noise cancellation; I usually leave it on max (for obvious reasons) but when it’s quieter I like to let in more ambient noise.The headphones also let you pair to two different devices simultaneously which is extremely useful while working. I have these paired to my work computer and phone, so I can listen to music and take calls on my phone, while also being able to hop onto calls at work the very next second. Incredibly convenient. Also convenient is the long range on these headphones; I can leave my computer and phone on one end of my 1000+ sqft apartment and walk to the other and still be connected. Another convenience is that you don’t have to pause music when you need to take these off. Just take them off and they pause whatever you’re listening to. Put them back on and it starts right back off from where you stopped. That said, this can be annoying when I just need to itch my ear and the pause kicks in, causing my work computer to open up its music app. Worth it though.A couple of other small negatives are that the built in touch controls on the headphone are awful and unintuitive, so as I mentioned above you absolutely need the smartphone app. And having these on, even if I’m not playing anything, drains my phone’s battery much faster than normal (though this may be an issue with all bluetooth devices). These issues are too minor for me to detract a star though.So, to sum it up, if you’re looking for a great pair of headphones, these are it. If you’re looking for the best pair of noise cancelling headphones money can buy, these are it.

    6 people found this helpful

59. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    TechPicky – March 8, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Excellent noise cancelling, bluetooth range, sound very good, comfortable, horrible user controls

    A disclaimer: I received this product as part of Amazon’s Vine program. While I didn’t pay for the item, the review is totally my personal, unbiased review. Neither Amazon, nor the vendor has influenced this review in any way.ProsExcellent noise cancellingVery good sound quality for all Bluetooth profiles (Listening to music, phone/video calls)Battery lifeExcellent Bluetooth rangeAutomatic voice detection to pause music and enter transparency modeConsTouch controls are simply awful!Dual Bluetooth device supportConstant beeps and noise cancelling turned off especially with “Detection of Actions” enabledVoice detection for stopping music and going into a transparency mode responds to almost any sound you make. A large breath, grunt, anything will trigger this feature.Rubs on the “helix” outer part of the ear on the left earSomewhat complex set up processOverall these are really excellent Bluetooth headphones. The noise cancellation is absolutely excellent. This is probably the best noise-cancelling headphone available. The Bluetooth range is also exceptional. Audio quality for music is also very good, and I expect most people will find them to be excellent. Phone/video call audio is also good receiving, and acceptable for the microphone. They have long battery life and charge quickly. They are relatively comfortable as well. The touch user controls are simply dreadful. There are many other features with a range of benefit.Comfort:They seem comfortable, and the ear pads are soft and plush. However after several hours the outside of my ears start to hurt from rubbing on the insides of the headphones (the area called helix on top of the ear rubs on the inside of the left ear around optical sensor area.) If at sometime we resume taking long international flights this could be an even larger issue.They are still comfortable though when wearing them with glasses. They ear pads are pliant enough to continue to make a good seal without painfully pushing them into your head.Bluetooth, Pairing, Multiple devices:These support 2 Bluetooth devices to be connected simultaneously. The Bose QC35 has had this feature for some time. I initially paired my iPhone X with the headphones. I then added a MacBook Pro from within the Connect app. I was then able to play music from the MacBook. I went back to the iPhone and tried to play something. It didn’t immediately play. In fact, it is rather finicky. Sometimes starting something with audio on the iPhone will cause audio to switch. Mostly it doesn’t if something is playing already on one device. Stopping the audio, waiting, and then starting the audio on the phone is a bit more reliable. Even if the source on one device is paused and not playing it may not switch back.This is a bit problematic though since the iPhone still thinks it is connected to a Bluetooth headphone, so the audio is still routed to the Sony WH-1000MX4, but isn’t played – so it goes no where. This works far more seamlessly on the Bose QC35. I actually found myself disabling this feature half the time.While the WH-1000MX4 does have voice announcements, it doesn’t speak the name of the device. It will say “Bluetooth device 1 connected,” whereas the Bose QC35 will speak “Joe’s iPhone.” Even more confusing is that device 1 and device 2 doesn’t always refer to the same device. Sometimes my iPhone is device 1 and other times it is device 2. The only way to really know is to go into the app where it will identify the device associated with device 1 and device 2.I added a 3rd Bluetooth device, again from the app. This works, but will disconnect one of the 2 already connected devices. It works pretty much like most Bluetooth devices. You disconnect at least one of the currently connected devices and then connect the new device. You can have multiple devices paired, but a maximum of 2 devices currently connected. You can see the list of devices within the Connect app.Bluetooth range is excellent. It would easily stay connected when going from one area of a reasonably large house to another. The range exceeds any other Bluetooth headphones.Sound Quality:Sound quality has to be the most subjective area to evaluate, yet one of the most important. Most people will find these really very good to excellent. For most these may well be the best sounding headphones they have ever had. Those more critical may find a few areas where they lack, but still they are excellent for noise cancelling headphones. Sound quality is probably one of the best aspects of these headphones.The sound quality when listening to high quality content was very enjoyable. Overall they are fairly well balanced, albeit a bit heavy on the low end, but not boomy or with obvious peaks in the response. More so they sound “warm.” The bass is noticeable, and quite deep. You will clearly hear the thump of a drum, but still somewhat tight. The deep bass on some of the Billie Eilish tracks is impressive. The bass is not so excessive though that it drowns out mid or high frequencies. Music sounds good with individual instruments clearly identified. Male and female vocals sound good and natural.The deep warm bass works well for movies and similar entertainment. These will likely work quite well for watching airplane entertainment. High frequencies are clear, and more smooth than harsh. They are balanced overall with a bit more low frequency emphasis that shifts the balance a bit.The iPhone app does have equalization settings, so it is possible to adjust to your personal preferences. I reviewed these set at flat, default setting.If one is going to compare these to audiophile headphones they will clearly notice differences. They will not replace examples of the best open or closed back audiophile headphones. They simply lack the detail, imaging and placement that those headphones present when paired with a quality DAC and headphone amplifier. That really isn’t a fair comparison though as these are noise cancelling Bluetooth headphones and they do a great job at that.I did listen through both Bluetooth with the AAC codec and wired with a quality external DAC while listening to high resolution content streamed from Tidal through a Master Quality Authenticated DAC. They do sound better with the same content played through a wired DAC than Bluetooth. The difference wasn’t as much was expected. Sony did a good job with Bluetooth. I also tried listening to them with the power off, as plain wired headphones. They didn’t sound that different, which is rather a good thing. The same experiment with Bose QC35s will have a totally different sound. Bose relies extensively on equalization to get their otherwise somewhat poor sounding headphones to sound good. Sony starts out with decent sounding drivers.I have not tried using the LDAC hi-resolution Bluetooth codec yet. This isn’t as easy as it would seem to use on either iOS or MacOS. You can’t simply use a high-resolution source to use it. You need to download and install the Sony Music Center app, then load the high-resolution content into that app to play. I’m not sure how to get it to work with a Mac at all. The better codec should sound better. To be fair, at least part of the problem is Apple in this case.I did try the DSEE Extreme feature. This supposedly improves the sound quality of low bit rate compressed content. I listened to some low bit rate MP3 files, and some standard streaming services, such as Amazon Prime music. It sounded different, I’m not sure I would say it sounded better. At least what I noticed was a boost in high frequencies. It made some of the squashed high frequency details more noticeable, but they still sounded highly compressed, and to some extent the compression artifacts became more noticeable. This may well be a personal choice, and likely varies over content, level of compression, and codecs used. The bottom line is that you really need to start with quality content.The 360 Reality Audio was a disappointment. I tried playing a variety of tracks in 360 Reality Audio on Tidal. I did this using the Tidal app on both iPhone and a Mac. I did link the Tidal app with the Sony app as part of the initial setup. I did notice a wider sound stage. It wasn’t like demos in a movie theater for Dolby Atmos or anything that dramatic. There was some front/rear placement depth. It was interesting to play with for a while. What I found though is that it just sounded strange. I played some of the same tracks on Tidal HiFi or MQA and to me they sounded much better, much more musical. Call me a purist, audiophile, or whatever, but I found the highly processed audio more annoying than enjoyable. It doesn’t replace the stereo imaging or placement that superb headphones can present as described above. Honestly overall these sound good enough without these audio tricks. Perhaps if there were some movie encoded with 360 Audio it would be better to enjoy special effects and less about musicality. It seems more of a gimmick than musical. By far the best quality was the same song in Master Quality on Tidal with an external DAC and the 3.5mm wired cable.Phone callsThe audio quality on phone and video calls has been excellent on the receiving side and is about as good as Bluetooth HFP profile gets. it is excellent for conversations. With the excellent noise cancellation these are excellent for long video calls. They will likely continue to be great for those forced to endure a noisy open office environment, or need to make phone calls in a noisy area such as an airport or train station.Phone call microphone:Overall I’ve had only a few complaints from those that I’ve in meetings or on calls with. Most people said I sounded fine. I was on one phone call with my iPhone and the person had difficulty understanding me and could hear me fine when I switched to the iPhone. They said I sounded “far away.” On a video call I had some people refer to the sound as “bubbly.” After switching to AirPod Pros and the sound improved.They seem to isolate ambient noise reasonably well, although I haven’t had extreme cases to try during working from home due to COVID-19. This is one area where Bose QC35 were awful. I don’t know if they match AirPod Pro for microphone beam forming, but so far they seem fine. These work for phone and video calls, but aren’t great.Noise cancellationThese are fantastic at noise cancellation. I haven’t been on an airplane with them, the real test, but these seem significantly better than the already excellent Bose QC35. At least around the house they block out the low frequency sounds that noise-cancelling headphones are best at. Around the house even a Ninja blender was mostly attenuated while I was on a conference call. My neighbor’s air conditioner that still can be heard with the Bose QC35 and AirPod Pros is completely gone with these. I was even using a really loud flooring saw and used these. I did still hear the saw, but not very loud, and I could still enjoy music while sawing flooring! Family talking is mostly gone during conference calls and entirely when playing music. I expect that these would be great in an open office environment or an airplane. Bose QC35 were the best I had used prior to these, and the Bose don’t work nearly as well, especially for voice. They have much better noise cancellation than Apple Air Pod Pro buds too. If your main reason for looking for headphones is noise cancellation, these are what you buy.One annoyance I had with the Bose QC35 headphones is if I wore glasses the sidepieces would create an acoustic leak and let some noise in. They still work, but especially on an airplane you would hear more air noise. I haven’t tried them on an airplane yet due to covid, but so far I don’t notice nearly as much difference as I did with the Bose with glasses.Battery:Sony claims 20 hours of battery life without defining what mode. Other headphones sometimes have decreased battery life with HFP (phone calls). These definitely exceed the rated battery life. With the first charge they lasted almost a week of varied use. I used them for a multi-day virtual conference, and other meetings (combination of HFP and A2DP) for over 14 hours, and they still had 60% charge. Sony doesn’t specify any longer battery life with the wired cable. On the Bose I would plug the cable in when I would go to sleep on international flights, and Bose quoted 40 hours like that, so 20 hours isn’t fantastic. It is more than enough though. It will get you through the longest flight plus some other use. Almost any other use it should be more than enough. I used them over 10 hours straight one day and they were still around 70% charged.Charging:These charge with a USB-C connector. They come with a very short (about 6”) USB-A to C cable but no power supply. They charge relatively quickly (less than an hour from 20%, but I didn’t time it). You will need around a 10W power supply to get the fastest charging. I monitored the charge current from 20% capacity. They started at 0.44A or roughly 2.2W, which seemed reasonable for headphones. Then they jumped to 1.32A or about 6.66W, then to the maximum I saw was 1.8A or about 9 W! It is surprising that Sony pushed that much power into a headphone! The actually battery capacity has to be pretty large, so it apparently does use quite a bit of power. In most cases this is of no issue, they charge up quick. It can be an issue is if you are stuck trying to charge them in an airport or airplane port. They will also suck a lot out of a battery pack.User interface:This is the worst aspect of these headphones. The touch controls are simply dreadful, almost unusable. Simple buttons would have been much better. Even with practice it is almost impossible to master the gestures to go forward, backward, start/stop, and change the volume. Either it doesn’t register the touch, or it does the wrong thing. You try and turn the volume down and track changes. To be fair, they do have a volume control. The Air Pods Pro don’t and that is really annoying. Even with practice controls don’t work right.Some guidance: to change the volume, especially lower it, swipe down on the right ear as if you are petting it. Just swiping as if using a smartphone touch screen won’t work right. Swipe down from above the top just like petting it, and then it might change the volume. Changing tracks is even harder, and only seems to happen when trying to change the volume. Hitting the start stop button doesn’t seem to work, except of course when you try to adjust the headphone on your head and then it stops what you were listening to, and would likely hang up a call – be careful of that. I end up using controls on my phone or computer most times. Simple buttons would have been SO much better.Voice assistant:Setting up Alexa is not all that easy. Assuming the headphones are already set for Alexa, you already have the Alexa app installed and set up, and the headphones are already paired to the phone you still need to add the WH1000MX4 to Alexa. This takes going to the Alexa app, and adding the device. It will then want to pair with Bluetooth. I put the WH1000MX4 into pairing mode by using the almost hidden mode of holding the power button (rather than the app). It then showed it failed to connect, but it actually seemed to pair on the second attempt. If you were successful you will have a second pairing of the device as LE_-WH1000XM4, for a second Bluetooth Low Energy pairing.Then Alexa did work hands free (if enabled in the Alexa app). You could just say Alexa and it worked. You could ask Alexa what ever you normally would. It seemed to actually work better than the Echo Auto that also relies on the app. The response audio always has the first syllable of cut off though. This works fine for querying Alexa, or invoking Alexa content. It does NOT work for controlling other functions on the phone, even changing the volume. Telling Alexa to play won’t resume what was playing on the phone, it will resume what the Alexa app used last it seems. This may be iPhone limitations, but I will likely switch to Siri and see if that works better. It would be great if you could have all of them and just invoke the desired one with the appropriate wake word (Alexa, Hey Siri, OK Google). I haven’t tried other voice assistants with these yet.The automatic speak to chat feature is both great and annoying. At least with the sensitivity set to automatic it will detect voice quite well and stop the content you may be listening to, and allow ambient sound to be heard. This, when desired is far more convenient than Air Pods Pro where you have to hold be button for a few seconds to go into transparency mode. While you still can’t hear what someone says to you, at least when you reply to them, it immediately lets you hear them, and doesn’t take the seconds the Air Pods do. With AirPods you also need 2 actions to stop music and enter transparency mode. This mostly works. In the automatic mode it doesn’t need to actually be voice that triggers it. Anything like a grunt, large breath, anything it seems will trigger it. The slightest grunt or sound and they stopped the music and went into ambient mode. There is a low sensitivity mode that I haven’t tried yet. You will find this feature to be a love/hate relationship after a while. Even with the “Focus on Voice” feature enabled this still seems to be overly sensitive.Another feature is adaptive sound control. This is supposed to optimize the sound based on location, and detection of actions. This is likely useful when changing between an office, train station, etc. I haven’t evaluated that during a pandemic.As for automatic detection of actions, that can be very annoying. It was fine when sitting in one place. Initially I didn’t know why EVERY time I bent down the headphones would beep and go out of noise cancelling mode. Then resume playing normally. This is apparently the notification for detection of actions. This can be disabled in the app. If someone were to use these headphones in a gym or exercising this would be annoying as well. (Note: These are NOT sport headphones!) AppThe app is essential to setting up, using, adjusting, and updating the headphones. Sony even uses the app for pairing with the iPhone, which is unusual. The app allows configuring the many options available, equalization and more. You also use the app to optimize the headphones for the shape of your ears by taking a picture of your head and both ears. I went through the whole process.There are a lot of options in the app, and the layout is OK. It can be a bit confusing.The app does provide a lot of control and information. It shows battery level, and the current codec in use. This last part I really like, Apple typically doesn’t show these details. Many options can beyond simply being enabled or disabled from the app can also be further controlled.Case, accessoriesA nice rigid fabric coated and lined travel case is provided. It is similar in size to the Bose QC35. It appears that it would protect the headphones and hold up well with travel.A 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable is included. This allows using the headphones with a wired source, such as an airplane entertainment system. The cable does not have a microphone or controls and will not control and iPhone, iPad, or Mac or support calling. It is only a 3-conductor plug for stereo listening.While the Bose QC35 headphones come with an equivalent cable, the Bose QC25 cable, or the Amazon Basics alternative cable can be purchased that does allow using the QC35 for phone calls, and wired remote.Also included is a short USB-A to USB-C charge cable, no charger, and the old 2-pin airplane adapter.

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60. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Jason Brannock – March 8, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Very Solid For Out-of-Office

    I left a lengthy review of the Jabra Evolve2 85 (E285) vs Bose Quiet Comfort 35 II (QC35II) vs Bose Noise Cancelling 700 (B700) vs Sony WH-1000XM4 (SX4) (in order of when I received them) for the E285. Since that review is out there, I’ll reduce this one only to E285 and SX4.Microphone and PlaybackThe E285 was notably better than the SX4, as evidenced by my recordings while drumming. It’s neck and neck as far as clarity of voice goes.Akin to the E285, the SX4 are quite good as far as pick-up goes. But unfortunately, they were a little too good (or simply worse at distinguishing background noise). A co-worker and I had a Zoom meeting with ourselves in the same closet (to maximize productivity), switching between the headsets. Whoever had the E285 could hear themselves through the headset. At first, I thought it was because of the function where you hear yourself through the headset. But alas, upon one of us leaving the room, the echo went away. This meant the SX4 was picking up the other’s voice! The main killer of the SX4 is that you have no way to mute yourself from the headset. As a pair of headphones to be used in the office, this is crucial. You never know when someone may decide to butt in your closet (or office, for most people) and shout “HHHHEEEYYYY!!”. In contrast, the E285 offers two ways to protect yourself from such intrusions – by raising the boom arm or by pressing the button on the boom arm, leaving you to look down simply in resignation at said co-worker without having disrupted the meeting. The one drawback with the E285 is that sometimes the first word or two don’t quite make it through, so you may develop a stutter of your introduction. “I’m Jason – oh – I’M JASON – oh you can hear me now? I’m Jason”. Good news is, you shan’t be soon forgotten. Despite this, it’s more favorable than not being able to mute myself, though I can understand disagreement with this point. Win for E285. Runner up is SX4.Audio Output – DISCLAIMER – I’m not an audiophileBoth associated apps come with decent equalizers (unlike Bose). Honestly, it was difficult to tell the difference between the E285 and SX4. I think the amount of bass you get is comparable, however I think the SX4 is capable of producing an ever-so-slightly louder sound. Win for SX4. Runner up is E285.BrandJabra: doesn’t require my location. Instead, it lets me know if I desire to give it my location, it will use it to locate my headphones. No, but thank you for giving me an actual choice!Sony: same as Jabra, though with a caveat. The SX4 offers more utility when given Location permission, which will be addressed later on. They were not pertinent to me, however, so my location remains an enigma for Sony and Jabra (and Bose). Tie between E285 and SX4.ANCWhen playing on a drumpad, the E285 did a noticeably better job than the other headsets. It sounds like the pad is being muffled (which is what I’m looking for), whereas the others don’t quite succeed. The E285 does a better job with impact noises (or maybe it’s just higher frequencies) than the other headsets, though the SX4 is perfectly satisfactory.In addition, the hear-through function of the E285 is awesome. It almost makes it sound like you’re not wearing them (tested at maximum hear-through). The SX4 has essentially the same feature, with an added “Focus on voice” option. I couldn’t tell a difference when that was on/off. Besides that, the SX4 didn’t do as good a job at allowing sound through as the E285. Win for E285. Runner up is SX4.ConnectivityThe E285 and SX4 have longer ranges than the QC35II. The E285, most of the time, reconnects automatically when coming back into range. Unfortunately, I don’t remember specifics about the SX4. SX4 and E285 have a 3.5 mm jack. Why doesn’t the B700? Because it sucks.Double-connection to my PC (independent of range): E285 is easier because it’s just plug-and-play, no downloads or “connecting”. The QC35II and SX4 are only Bluetooth, so you have to do the standard “add device”, etc. One annoying thing about the SX4 is you have to use the app to establish a Bluetooth connection to another device. Not a big deal, but for comparison’s sake, the E285 is better. An added feature of the Jabra is Jabra Direct, a software you can download to better manage your Jabra. It gives you a few more options and is worth using, in this writer’s humble opinion.Response time: The SX4 is the fastest, though we’re talking minute (not 60 seconds) differences. The E285 is on the cusp of being slow enough to be annoying, but not quite. The E285 and SX4 have the cool feature of pausing media when the headphones are removed from your skull. Again, the E285 feel lack-luster in comparison because they take approximately 4 M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-I seconds to pause, whereas the SX4 is half that time. For the E285, I’ve noticed the ear detection only works properly when playing music from your phone and not the PC. When using it with the PC, if I remove the headphones, the music will pause as it should. But it doesn’t resume when I put them back on. If I pause the music with the button, then remove the headset, it resumes. Again, cool feature, but needs work, especially when using it with the PC. So SX4 is better about ear detection (presumably because it’s laser-assisted).App connectivity: some issues with E285. Some issues with SX4. LOTS of issues with B700 (Bose Music). Unfortunately, apps are prone to some bugs every now and then. I can’t say which of the two (Sony/Jabra) had more, so neither bothered me much. Winner is SX4 (better media response time). Runner up is E285.Voice AssistantThe E285 and SX4 worked exactly as expected. No setup or anything, I just pushed the button and my assistant came up. The caveat for the E285 is you have to pull down the boom arm to use the feature (you can still press the action button with the boom arm up and have the assistant prompt, but because the arm is up, the microphone is off so it’s pointless). Tie between E285 and SX4.ControlsOn the E285, the buttons take up little surface area and are rather flat. Muting is done with the E285 by simply raising or lowering the boom mic. In contrast, the SX4 doesn’t have any way to mute yourself.After just a little use of the “touchless” controls (B700 and SX4), I can see their usefulness. It’s certainly easier to play/pause music and use the Voice Assistant (which is no easier to actually setup because Bose sucks). Changing volume is annoying because every click up/down requires an extra swipe. As debilitating as this is, one would not likely be changing by a bunch of increments at a time. After more use of the touchless controls, I much prefer the them over the physical ones. Win for SX4. Runner up is E285.Comfort and StyleComfort is pretty much a tie between E285 and SX4. I’ve worn both for hours and hours without any issue. But I prefer the style of the SX4 – it just feels more premium. Winner is SX4. Runner up is E285.ExtraThe E285 has the hear-through feature, which I really like because I use ANC only when there are sounds I actively don’t want to listen to, like from mine or my roommate’s drumming, running water, laundry, phone call, or pooping with the fan on. Other than those times, I want some awareness of my surroundings because there’s nothing more frustrating than trying to get the attention of someone with headphones on (especially at work). In addition, the E285 and SX4 have ear detection (discussed previously). The E285 has a great way of handling multiple calls with its huge button on the right cuff. You can switch between two phone calls by putting one on hold and accept/end/reject calls using it. This is RARELY used, but it’s cool.IssuesThere’s some variability with functionality of the Google Assistant with the E285. At the very least, the action button on the arm activates the assistant. But sometimes the input for said assistant is on the phone rather than the arm. Most of the time it works as expected. I think the additional connection to the PC adds complexity that needs to be vetted out for seamless functionality for the E285.Final verdict, best to worst: E285, SX4 (killer – no mute function, worse hear-through), QC35II (killers – older BT connection, worse audio, poor ANC). Literally wouldn’t buy B700.UPDATE: It’s been several weeks since I returned all but the Jabra Evolve2 85 (I use it 3-10 hours every single day) and my final rating is four stars, same as the SX4. When the E285 works, it’s great. But it doesn’t work all the time, unfortunately. I can’t say the same for the SX4 since it was ultimately returned. I ended up choosing the E285 over the SX4 because it has an edge when it comes to office use, for one main reason – you can’t mute yourself on the SX4. But if muting yourself directly from your headset isn’t important to you and you’re not typically in a noisy environment during calls, then I would honestly recommend the Sony WH-1000XM4.

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