Customer Ratings & Reviews

Software update ruined them(noise cancelation and mic quality is fine.

After having these for a year (06/2021 purchase), they were great... at first. They connect to my iPhone and Apple computers (mac book pro and mac mini) no problem. I bought, in 05/2022, a R10 Alienware Ryzen edition gaming computer and they simply won't connect to this computer. I bought this computer for work and the headphones won't connect... AT ALL. Dell tells me it's Sony's issue and Sony tells me it's Dell's issue and now I'm out $350 without any way to sell them or return them. DO NOT BUY THESE (or the new MX5). They simply don't connect to PCs and are worthless.

Works great for my workout wish it was little tight tho as it falls off sometime due to heavy sweating, which I guess is my body issues lol

I have been using the WH-1000X4s for under a year and the right hinge cracked. I called customer service for a repair, but couldn't due to "cosmetic damage" to the item. Multiple people have reported the same issue, however, Sony does not want to be liable for the defect in their product

One of the primary reasons for buying these headphones was to use with my Yamaha RX-VA4 via Bluetooth. They do not work and instead give a stutter sound. I am able to connect with the Sony XM3 and several other bluetooth headsets. I have called Sony and they keep on saying it is a problem with the RX-V4A but I read that other people online have the same problem with the XM3 when they try to connect with the RX-V4A. Very disappointed. Unfortunately, I had to travel at the time and was not able to test the headphones until I came back and was not able to return. Really stinks.

Nice headphones, but a little expensive for what they are.

They work well but confusing to set up and to hook up the Bluetooth portion

I am not too pleased with this unit, First off the one off switch is terrible, it is difficult to tell what position it is in and the delay before sounds comes makes one think it is off, but the time one get back to the switch which has not indicator to tell if it is on or off Terrible .

I didn't like them they would turn off your music as soon as you made a noise

I have read so many reviews on how great these headphones are and I was not impressed. The music sounds so far away and I have changed the eq. The noise canceling are ok but I have the bose q45 and I actually think it is much better. These are not bad headphones but I do think they were over hyped. The battery is pretty good along with portability.

I absolutely loved these but now after 13 months my $350 headphones wont charge or turn on. Reached out to sony and they wouldnt do anything since they only cover for a year. Best buy wouldnt so anything either. For this i do not recommend. These worked great for work calls all day but now I'm stuck. Terrible customer service from Sony

This is the second time I have bought this family of Sony headphones from Best Buy and they were both expensive disappoints with an extremely short return window. It will never happen again. I used them all of of 2 days and they powered off by themselves while in use every single time. Additionally, my headphones had touch marks on them which leads me to think they sold used headphones as new because I did not buy open box headphones. Additionally, the sound quality does not translate to the price because they sound extremely muddy.

Not for Teams Meetings. I should’ve listened to other reviewers but I found an article from Sony where they explain how to set it up to work with teams and it worked for a while so I was happy. Then one day it stopped. I ended one meeting fine and then when next meeting started I couldn’t hear anyone. People can hear me but I can’t hear them. I can hear sounds (music or computer messages) but no microphone audio from teams. IT tried several changes, updates, uninstalling and reinstalling teams, unpairing and re-pairing headset. Nothing works. So now I I’ve wasted my money on a comfortable but useless headset

Yes this product was trash. The first month the noise canceling was great. Soon after the problems all came along I purchased this product in March and I had to get it replaced by June. If you workout I highly recommend you do NOT get this product because you will spend most of your time adjusting it on your head . The quality of the product slipped drastically after the first month of use. After speaking with song about getting a replacement with another item of lesser cost I was told NO. I was willing to lose money for a replacement earbuds instead of the headphones. This item is not worth your hard earned money consider other options. Sony’s customer service is awful as well so of your having an issue expect to wait 1-2 hours on hold . And no I’m not exaggerating.

Not great for connecting to TV to watch anything bad breakup and crackling

I am unable to use these headphones for any calls. I’m told by all that it sounds like I’m talking underwater and muffled. ANC drops and reconnects which is annoying. I did expected much better from Sony

I’ve been fortunate to be able to use the XM3 wireless earbuds for awhile and I really, really like those... but after awhile my ear canals just can’t take having anything else stuck inside of them. Unfortunately for me, I also wear glasses and must have sensitive ears or a weird head, because for the life of me I have the hardest time finding on-ear or over the ear headphones that I consider comfortable enough to wear for an hour plus of listening. But I think these are winners in that regards. As soon as I put them on I knew they were in a different class from anything else I’ve tried. That’s not to say that I don’t notice they’re there - I do and I’m still searching for that elusive perfect position. But between adjusting the headband and tilting each individual ear cup I can always find a way to improve the feel if my ears/head start to get a little fatigued. Anyway, if you’re reading this you probably just want to know how they sound and how they work. In a word: awesome. It’s not too dissimilar from the XM3 buds, but I’d describe it as a fuller sound overall. You can punch the bass by quite a lot using the Connect app, if you’re into that. More notably, the noise cancelling on these things is just immediately, almost overwhelmingly impressive. Even if you’re not listening to anything! They just straight up block out the outside world. Again, this is all fully adjustable in the app and there are a couple new features here that the XM3 buds don’t have that to me, at least, are huge improvements. First and foremost: you can connect to two devices via Bluetooth simultaneously. That sounds simple, but it’s a definite inconvenience when it’s not there. I bounce back and forth between my phone and an iPad Pro frequently and this just eliminates the hassle of trying to realize which one I’m paired with. So, so much easier. Second thing is that I’m really digging the speak to chat function. You have to turn it on in the app, but it works as advertised and is something I’ve already used a number of times. If you have kids in the house it’s a godsend. As soon as you start talking, the music stops automatically and it tunes in your surroundings. Boom. Why isn’t this available on every pair of BT headphones? Really, it’s great. As is being able to customize the “Custom” (clever name) button. I have it set to activate the Google assistant and personally find that really very useful. Your mileage may vary. I believe you can do the same with Alexa if you’re a big Amazon fan. What else? Phone calls sound nice and clean. I’ve been told my voice sounded fine by the person I called. Cool. I have the all black version and they look awesome, though I do like some of the other colors. They’re big, for sure. You’re gonna look like an air traffic controller to a degree, but that just seems to be the style at the moment. I don’t find it obnoxious and they fold up nicely into a case that is very lice and seemingly well made. Oh and it comes with a wired standard headphone jack cable! Wow. This will making listening on an older laptop and my stereo quite easy if you don’t want to mess with pairing. Charges via USB-C, which yes please. Really not sure what I’d change here. I’m sure they’ll keep trying to improve comfort and sound and that’s always welcome. But if you’re spending this much on headphones I suspect you won’t be disappointed by these, unless you are the type to spend way more on audio equipment and then you’re probably not a fan of BT audio anyway.

Outdated design and bad connection to Apple devices

As a current owner of the previous generation model WH-1000XM3 (to be referred to as XM3 from here on), I was excited to give Sony’s latest generation active noise cancelling headphones a try. The XM3 were already great on its own. So I was curious if there’s anything new in this iteration. Much of what made the XM3 such a popular hit was in its design choice. It’s light, comfortable, sounds great, and has great noise cancellation. All that is the same in the new XM4, with a few new things or improvements. You still get the same comfortable and lightweight design so it doesn’t weigh down on your head. The clamping force is perfect. The earpads are probably even softer than before. But if you never wore or used the XM3, then all of this will be new to you. So… Sony’s design on the XM4 is one of the best out there. The earpads are soft and uses a leatherette material for better noise isolation. When going for noise cancellation, this material is the better choice. The headband cushion is also soft to alleviate the weight of the headphones. The headphone features NFC on the left side which is used to make pairing easy and painless, especially for Android users. More companies need to include this with their audio gears so we can make pairing to our phones simpler. A custom button can now be set to one of several functions defined by the companion app. Inside the left ear cup is a proximity sensor, new in the XM4. As you may have guessed, it’s used to pause music playback when you take the headphones off and resume once you put it back on. I think this feature can be a hit or miss depending on how you use it. There are times when I simply move the right ear cup off my ear to hear/listen in, all while still having the headphone on my head. Adjusting to maximize the proximity sensor use will take a bit of getting used to. The right ear cup has touch controls for playback and volume. But like the previous generation, there is no texture to this and it makes using the touch controls tricky. It’s one of the things that I wish Sony would actually address and improve upon. Having a texture would assist users to better utilize the touch controls. And lastly, at the bottom of the right ear cup is the USB Type-C charging port. I wish more companies would adopt Type-C for their charging port, as it makes plugging in very easy. The headphones come packed with its own carrying case. It houses a headphone wire for when you want to connect the headphone using a 3.5mm jack. There’s even an airplane audio adapter which is a nice bonus while on a long flight. And lastly, the dreaded USB cable. Like other Sony audio products I’ve used, the included USB cable is the most hated aspect of it. Its length is a meager 6 inches long, which is pitifully short and is not for everyday people. The fact that Sony bothered to include a cable in the first place of this length only says Sony doesn’t care of its length as long as a cable is included. Sony should either include a cable that is at least 3 feet long or not bother to pack in a cable at all. To me, this is a big deduction in the overall score. Sound quality for the XM4 is mostly the same from the previous generation XM3. It sounds great and has a good balance of all the frequency ranges. While there’s also the 360 Reality Audio, the feature is limited to a few music streaming services, none of which I am currently using or subscribed to. The majority of people who are likely to be using this headphone are likely not going to use the feature as well. For the noise cancellation, it is one of the best, if not the best, in the market. While technically there are improvements on the noise cancelling for this generation, I have not heard any difference. Perhaps it’s because I’m not exposed to any of the audio frequencies that it now cancels out. As for call audio quality, I have to go through word of mouth opinions and descriptions. My voice came out clear and with music blaring in the background, it seems like it’s mostly cancelled out by ANC. I have attempted to do a local recording to hear this for myself. But I cannot seem to reproduce the result as seen in a YouTube review of this headphone nor do I know how to set it up for that. Overall, I really like this headphone. For urban commuters who take public transportation or do frequent travelling (if there is such a thing in 2020), this is a must have. In cooler weather, they’re great for passing time while on the train or bus. In warmer weather, that could change since the earpads are made of leatherette material. At MSRP, you’re paying a lot to have one of the best, if not the best, sound and noise cancellation. But if that’s too much, you can alternatively look at the XM3 since it should be discounted now. The only thing that prevents this from getting a perfect 5 star score is the included USB cable. It's an atrocity to include a 6 inch cable for the sake of checking off a checkbox. Mark my words, Sony. If you dare include a short cable in the next generation and I get the chance to review it, I will downgrade the overall score even more. The Good: Comfortable, lightweight, best ANC, great sound The Bad: touch controls have no texture to assist usage, USB cable The Ugly: the feel of wearing this during a hot summer after 20 minutes, that USB cable Verdict: Buy it, forego meals to save up money if you have to; instant noodle lunches are always good.

got these for my sister for christmas, she was so happy with them. i got to try them too and it is worth it’s cost.