Customer Ratings & Reviews

Very easy to use and has plenty of great features for any headphone user out there. Great for travel!!

PLEASE BEWARE (I've had two of these): These headphones CAN stop working randomly. I've had two pairs of these and BOTH have stopped working after a year. BOTH pairs will not turn on, BOTH pairs will not charge, and BOTH pairs only work when the headphone jack is plugged into a computer (no ANC and the buttons do not work). This isn't just a problem I've experienced, you can find PAGES of people just like me on Reddit and other sites who love these headphones but have been let down. I've tried hard resetting and every "fix" imaginable. The best part is that Sony knows about the issue and DOES NOT CARE. If you buy these, you'll love them when they work and be very upset when the times comes for them to glitch out. A VERY EXPENSIVE paper weight. Also, I baby these headphones. They are always in their case and both pairs do not even have a scratch on them—they look brand new.

## Design The Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones are somewhat large, but the ear-cups are well padded and are very comfortable to wear for hours on end. The headband portion also has plenty of padding so that the headphones rest comfortably on the top of your head. The ear-cups do a good job of creating a loose seal around your ears, so much so that I definitely get the "ear sweats" which is common with many over-the-ear headphones. The headphones come a hard travel case with a soft fabric exterior. Storing the headphones requires completely retracting the headband (I would prefer if you could leave it at the size that fits my head). A helpful diagram is included inside the case that shows you how to fold the headphones so they fit properly. ## Performance The sound quality on the Sony WH-1000XM4 is incredible and is definitely up there with the Bose QuietComfort 35 II headphones. Highs and mids come through crystal clear and the bass is plentiful. The Sony WH-1000XM4 also has something called "Edge-AI" where it tries to enhance compressed music (such as a low quality Pandora stream). It's hard to gauge it's effectiveness as I couldn't find a way to turn the feature on and off, but it is likely another contributing factor to the awesome sound quality. Call quality also appears to work very well on the WH-1000XM4. The microphones seem to pick up my voice well while filtering out some of the background sounds around me (but it still picks up some things like typing on a keyboard). The noise cancellation feature is also top-notch. It not only filters out general "hums" such as an air conditioner running, but it also does a good job of filtering out people talking and even other music sources near you. It does have it limits: it won't completely filter out a blaring stereo next to you or completely eliminate the sound of your riding mower. However, it does a good enough job that you can listen to your music or podcast at a comfortable listening level without needing to crank up the volume to overcome the outside world. The level of noise cancellation can also be adjust in the Sony Headphones app and there are a lot of cool features associated with it that I'll detail in the next section. ## Features - Speak-to-Chat: This is probably my favorite feature of these headphones. It seems like whenever I'm at work, I no sooner put on my headphones than someone walks up with a question. With the WH-1000XM4, as soon as I start talking, the headphones react, turning off the noise cancellation feature, lowering the volume of my music, and relaying the voice of the person talking to me. After 30 seconds (this is adjustable in the app) when I finished speaking, the noise cancellation turns backs on and the volume of music is brought back up. You can also double-tap the right ear-cup when you're finished speaking to resume your music. - Quick listen: If you need to catch an announcement, for example, you can cup your hand over the right ear-cup's touch sensor to turn off the noise cancellation feature temporarily. - Adaptive Sound Control: Another cool feature that lowers the Active Noise Cancellation feature whenever the headphones detect that you've started walking. This lets in some of the outside sounds by lowering the level of noise cancellation so you're more aware of what is happening around you. If you frequently move, it can get a bit annoying as the headphones will play a short tone whenever the mode changes. - Touch controls: The touch controls on the right ear-cup are intuitive: swiping your finger up and down on the ear-cup adjusts the volume and swiping left and right changes the track. Double-tapping the center pauses and plays your music. - Wearing detection: A sensor in the left ear-cup can detect when you remove the headphones, automatically pausing your music. Music resumes when you put the headphones back on. - Dual pairing: With many of us working from home, this feature is great as it allows you to pair the headphones with your phone and your computer at the same time. Therefore, I can listen to music from my phone, but automatically switch over to my computer to listen to a webinar. It looks like there are a few kinks to work out with this feature as I found that it did not always switch automatically, or would sometimes take awhile to change from one source to the next. - Background firmware updates: I had a pair of truly wireless Sony headphones that required me to babysit them for a good 30-40 minutes while the firmware update file transferred and then installed, however they were unusable while that happened. A launch-day firmware update was available for the WH-1000XM4 and it seemed to transfer from my phone to the headphones in the background while I was listening to music. I received a notification when it was ready to install, and after a quick reboot, the headphones were updated. This was a much better experience! ## Battery Life The Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones can last up to 30 hours when using Bluetooth with the noise cancellation feature enabled. The headphones are recharged with a USB-C cable (yay, no Micro USB!) and if you're in a hurry, a 10 minute charge can net you up to 5 hours of listening time. ## Summary Overall, the Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones are a solid alternative to the Bose QuietComfort 35 II headphones and offer some some great features (such as speak-to-chat) not found on the QuietComfort headphones. Long battery life, wearing detection and dual Bluetooth connections round out an impressive feature set on a pair of headphones with awesome noise cancellation and sound quality.

Very nice headphones, great service from the Snellville Best Buy team!

I highly recommend these earbuds especially for the price.

Im super pleased with these. They arent the best, but i am happy with them. They hold up to my kids beating them against the wall lol

These headphone have been great for me since i’m in college

These headphones are great! The noise cancelling works very well and the sound quality is incredible. I’ve been wanting these for a while and was really happy when I got them on sale. The setup was also very simple

As much as I’m aware that there are newer and more updated versions of this headset, these still blow me away.

It lives up to the hype. Highly recommended for music buffs

I was debating for a minute because of the price.... but totally worth it Love the color

I was in love with these headphones until the hinge on my right headphone broke while i was literally just standing and putting them over my ears. It rendered the right side pretty much useless. They come with a warranty, I called as this is definitely a faulty design/piece and they classified it as “cosmetic/physical damage” so i’m stuck with repair costs after spending almost $400 on these. save yourself the money/stress and go with Bose pair since Sony is refusing responsibility. there are threads of countless people who have had this issue so it’s a manufacturing problem.

This is the best headphone i had have own it i love my sony produc

I could just as well throw the rest of my headphone collection away now that “The Killer” (JLL’s nickname) has arrived. The Sony WH-1000XM4 is the newest flagship of Sony’s wireless, active-noise-canceling headphone line-up. I have read many complimentary things about Sony’s noise reduction technology and have been eager to try one of their high-end examples (I have a lesser model that I use when mowing the lawn). It turns out that the ANC is just one part of the package for this over-the-ear headphone. Probably the number one feature of these cans (I feel like an early ‘70s hipster using this term, but it is a requirement in headphone reviews) for me is the control interface. My-oh-my, the simplicity and elegance of how this works is just so awesome! And it works well! On the right side ear cup, swipe up or down to incrementally adjust the volume, swipe forward to skip to the next track, swipe back to go back to the beginning of the track, and double-tap to pause or play (or answer and hang up a phone call). This means there are only two traditional, “hard” buttons to use and they are on the left ear cup. One controls power on/off and the other is a “Custom” button that can be programmed via the mobile app to operate “Ambient Sound Control”, “Google Assistant”, or “Amazon Alexa”. I did not see an option for “Siri”, but on the box, small print states that the Voice Assist Function is compatible with Siri. The sound reproduction of high quality music source material is on par with my wired headphones that sold for twice the price of these - enough said. I did notice some variations between the music stored on my iPhone in the phone’s native “Music” app and the same song when streamed via the Deezer app, and the Deezer version sounded noticeably better as the high-hat cymbal was present. Using the DSEE Extreme feature on the song stored on the phone did nothing to restore the lost musical information in that file. The DSEE feature is supposed to use Artificial Intelligence technology to accurately upscale compressed music - I’m not sure how missing information in compressed files are supposed to be recreated, but maybe the type of compression used plays a role in how well this feature works. The “Headphones Connect” app that Sony has developed offers a mind boggling variety of features, customization, and options for tailoring the 1000XM4 to your exact needs. Once you get used to some of the features these headphones have, you will most definitely miss them in other company’s products. If having your music pause when you remove the headphones (and resume when you put them back on) isn’t cool enough, they can also be set to automatically pause when you start talking to someone, and the noise cancellation also shuts off so you can hear their reply (Sony calls this “Speak to Chat”). The only thing that would have been better is if the external microphones would pick up their voice and play it through the drivers in the phones. The design of this headphone is elegantly simple, while fit and finish are superb. The exterior is monochromic in color with a tiny splash of the two rose-gold colored “SONY” logos - very understated. The materials are not metal and leather, and I’m sure this allows Sony to spend the money on the performance of the product, but none-the-less they have a high quality feel to them. I had the opportunity to compare the XM4 against three other over-the-ear, active-noise-canceling headphones, and I used my gas-powered lawn mower as a noise source. My findings are subjective as I don’t have the equipment to make accurate measurements. The most disappointing ones were my low-end Sonys and a set of $500 “premium brand” headphones that try to make up their shortcomings on style alone. The XM4 narrowly edged out a set from the other big name in ANC headphones by a small margin in my non-scientific test. Besides sound signature, comfort is the other big subjective characteristic of headphones, but in my opinion these are the most comfortable ones I have ever used for extended periods of time. The ear pads are much softer and more cushioned than my headphones that have leather covered ear pads. The included charging cable plugs into a USB-C port on the right ear cup, so no more squinting to see which way the connector is to be inserted. But…this cable is only 8 inches long - probably not an issue since you can get 5 hours of playback time when charging the battery for only 10 minutes. The included case is sufficiently sturdy to offer proper protection - other manufacturers that include a drawstring bag take note, you look cheap. There is also a cord with 3.5mm mini-phone plugs on the ends and an airplane adapter included in the box, but no AC adapter for charging. The XM4 gives outstanding volume from a computer or phone - way more volume than I get from my Air Pods, which is nice. As a side note to this, there is a statement in the instructions that reads “because the headphones achieve a tight seal over the ears, forcibly pressing them against your ears or quickly pulling them off can result in eardrum damage”. I did not attempt to check the validity of this statement, but I mention it for those who do not thoroughly read instructions. Also of note for those who are out and about while wearing headphones, these are not waterproof. Taking into account other products in the marketplace, I think the Sony WH-1000XM4 is an excellent value for the price and has outstanding performance that should not disappoint anyone.

My main purpose was to use it for my office meetings and have a good NC headphones for travel and it checks both boxes for me. So far no issues

Not what I thought it was my research that didn’t play out. Noise canceling on my end but as for the other person they heard my loud call center

Excellent they definitely do what they are supposed to do. Got them for black Friday and I would definitely recommend.

Excellent product. Sony rocks as always. Noise cancellation is far superior than anything else out in the market

After having this product for less than a year, the hinge on one of the ear cuffs broke as I was folding it as it was designed to fold. I contacted Sony customer support regarding a warranty, and they don't cover poor craftsmanship on their part for their products falling apart. These were good headphones, but as a word of caution, spend your money on sturdier products, and also with companies that will cover design flaw issues as part of their warranty.

Ok, I"m gonna cut to the chase at the very beginning of this review. If you are in the market for a pair over over-ear headphones, buy these Sony XM4's. For the price range, these are the best it gets. Let me start out by saying that I have a minor hearing issue in my right ear. Because of that and just my overall preference, I have always used earbud style headphones. I've owned both generations of the regular Airpods and I also have the Airpod Pros, as well. Before wireless, my go to were the Klipsch buds. However, here lately, I've been having issues with the outer edge of my ear canal getting irritated and dry feeling. This did not start until I began regular use of my Airpod Pros - must be the silicon or the way they fit. I can't quite figure it out, as I've tried all three tips and I'm back to using the default Mediums. This has gotten me to looking into over-the-ear headphones here lately. My first pair I purchased was the fairly new Razer Opus and I have to say, those are amazing. But after reading and hearing about the "legacy" of the Sony XM3 headphones (I've done a LOT of research on them)...I wanted the new XM4's as soon as I heard about 'em. So, I got them. I initially wanted the black, but wound up getting the Platinum Silver instead. To be honest, I kinda wish I'd gotten the black - but the Silver is slowly growing on me. I call it "Playstation Grey", as it resembles the color of the original PS1 system. Once I realized that, I accepted the color more, lol. But that's just the color - not sure how well the Silver will hold up over time, but the sound is where it's at. The first thing I want to say is that these puppies are the most comfortable thing I have every placed on my head. I work from home and I can wear these 4-6 hours with ZERO problems. None. Nada. Zilch. After a while, I totally forget I have them on. They can get a little "warm" if wearing for a greater number of hours, especially if you keep your house on the warmer side (yes, we are demons who keep the regular house temp at about 73-74 in the Summer, haha). Outside if this, they're PERFECT. Ok, sound. Like I said, I do have a small hearing disability in my right ear. I've tried wireless over-ears before in the past by a few other brands and just found the overall volume to be...lacking. The only way to improve it was to connect the wired cable, which I thought was silly and surprisingly, this seems to be the case with a lot of Bluetooth over-ear headphones. Not these. These have a digital amp build into them and in the music I have listened to, I keep my phone volume (iPhone 11 Pro Max) at about halfway and it's perfectly loud for me there. I go a tad higher when I really wanna jam out. NO complaints on the audio side here. There is an equalizer within the Sony Headphones app, as well and it works wonderfully. Next up, lets talk about the various features. As I mentioned above, the Sony Headphones app is the central hub for everything you do with these and it was super easy to set up. I immediately paired the headphones and the first thing it did was a firmware update. After that, it gives you a brief tutorial and you're on your way. One thing I love about these Sony's is, much like my Razer Opus cans, when you take them off and set them down or put on your neck, it auto-pauses your audio. This is an amazing feature and I'm so happy Sony implemented this into this XM4's. There is a Noise Cancellation button (an "optimizer" on the headphones themselves. You can press and hold the button to customize that. You can also set this within the app. The speak-to-chat function is pretty good, too. When you talk to someone, your headphones detect this and temporarily pauses the music and lets in ambient sounds to you can conversate. This is great in theory, but if you work from home or are home a lot and you have animals...which you talk to...lol - well, this may get annoying. I turned this feature off since I don't really have a need to use it for it's intended purpose. Finally, there is a multi-device connection option you can enable so you can connect your headphones to both your iPad and iPhone (for example). With this, you can listen to audio on say, your iPad and then take a call from your iPhone. However, I did have it happen a few times where there was a delay in switching over to the phone for the call and it wound up being kind of a hassle. I disabled this one as well because I mostly just use one device anyway. I don't remember the details, but I think there is something else that you lose by enabling this feature... The touch panel is great and I've not had any issues there, either. I've heard that the XM3's had issues with function in that department in cold weather. The XM4's are supposedly improved in this area, but I did not get to test that, as it's Summer where I live. There is also a quick charging feature. By default, these headphones have about a 30 hour battery life. Out of the box, they were at 100% and to be honestly, I've still not had to charge them yet. However, Sony says 10 minutes of charging time nets you about 5 hours of playback. That's insane! So, as you can see - these cans are pretty much loaded and I consider these to be the BEST Noise Cancelling headphones on the market, with second best being my Airpod Pros. If you're in the market for a pair of headphones, just go ahead and get these. Don't wait for anything else to come out (like the rumored Airpod Studios)...these are gonna be the cans to beat and likely, the top rated headphones for 2020 and at least the next few years. I will even go so far as saying this - I love these SO MUCH, I'm almost tempted to get the black pair as well. So yeah, that should say something. 5 stars, well deserved. It doesn't get any better than this. Buy it now.