Price: Rs 19,990
Rating: 4/5
It’s been more than five quarters since we got our hands on the Sony WF-1000XM3 TWS headphones, which have impressed everyone. It’s time to make way for its successor, which promises improvements on all fronts. While I was expecting it here around Diwali, it has finally reached our shores this year; better late than never. Let’s meet the Sony WF-1000XM4 Noise Canceling True Wireless (TWS) earbuds and take a look at the improvements they bring to the table in the premium personal audio segment.
Sony WF-1000XM4 TWS Headphones: Build, Design and Features (8/10)
The design has changed drastically since the XM3, and while the XM4 buds don’t look generic, they do look more normal.
The design has changed drastically since the XM3, and while the XM4 buds don’t look generic, they do look more normal. Although these buds are 10% smaller than their predecessors, they’re still pretty chunky. Build quality is solid with a smooth matte finish and significant touch zones on the back of the buds. The charging case is significantly smaller here; 40 percent smaller than the XM3, to be exact, the company says, and weighs almost half.
You get two color variants of the Sony WF-1000XM4 – black and grey, and we received the latter for review. The black looks a little better in my opinion, but I’m from Bruce Wayne’s “Does in Comes in Black” design school, so make up your own mind. They have a silver ring around the mic ports, which breaks up the design monotony in a good way. The charging case is finished in the exact shade of gray and features a USB-C charging port on the back and a multi-colored charge status LED on the front.
Despite the larger footprint, the earbuds pack a 6mm driver and each weigh less than 7.5 grams. The larger earbud shells here are likely necessitated by the amount of advanced circuitry they contain, starting with the V1 processor Sony. It not only takes care of active noise cancellation (ANC), but also supports LDAC codecs via Bluetooth 5.2 with a maximum throughput of up to 990 Kbps. These earphones also support AAC and SBC codecs in case the source device is not LDAC compatible.
The earbuds are touch-sensitive, allowing you to perform a handful of tasks with single, double, and triple tap gestures. Features can be reconfigured using Sony’s Headphones Connect app. Unlike its predecessor, the XM4 has ingress protection with a modest IPX4 rating for the buds making them sweat resistant. You should also be able to survive the odd splash or two, but don’t push your luck. You get wear-detection sensors to pause the sound when you remove the buds from your ear and resume when you put them back on.
The earbuds are touch-sensitive, allowing you to perform a handful of tasks with single, double, and triple tap gestures.
Sony WF-1000XM4 TWS Headphones: Comfort (7.5/10)
Despite their relatively larger size, the earbuds fit the ears fairly well and you don’t feel any discomfort. However, they tend to stick out a bit from the ears. The bundled foam ear tips provide good passive noise isolation. While the seal is pretty good, the fit isn’t the most reassuring, especially if you’re wearing it for a jog. They constantly feel like they might pop out of your ear, but to their credit, they didn’t.
You get three pairs of earbuds in a bundle, including the pre-installed medium-sized earbuds. Spend a few minutes choosing the right size as it will help with better noise cancellation. You can also use the companion app to determine the right size for you.
Sony WF-1000XM4 TWS Headphones: Performance (9/10)
Let’s start with the radio range. The connection stays strong for just over 10 meters with a clear line of sight between the buds and the source device, and up to 6 meters even with a concrete wall in between. That’s an impressive range considering I used it with LDAC codecs, where sound quality was a priority. Pairing the XM4 with another device can be a little tricky if you don’t read the manual. They just won’t show up in the list of devices unless you touch and hold both buds for a few seconds to put them into pairing mode.
The Sony WF-1000XM4 supports three listening modes – Noise Cancellation On, Ambient Sounds On and Normal Mode (ANC/Ambient Sounds Off). You can choose two or all three from the Headphones Connect app. You can switch between them with a single tap on the left earbud. The amount of ambient noise you want them to let in can also be fine-tuned via the app, along with access to other audio settings like equalizer, DSEE Extreme Audio upscaling and 360 Reality Audio setup.
You get three pairs of earbuds in a bundle, including the pre-installed medium-sized earbuds. Spend a few minutes choosing the right size as it will help with better noise cancellation.
The app also lets you program the touch controls, but just like the XM3, the options are available in sets and you can’t select individual functions for each gesture. For example, if you select playback controls for the right earbud, a single touch is assigned to play/pause, double-tap for the next track, and triple-tap for the previous track. You can’t change that. That leaves you with a choice of volume control or ANC toggle for the left bud, but not both. I was hoping Sony would have changed that by now, but alas!
Time to talk about the sound quality. The Sony WF-1000XM4 is loud enough for most things at 60 to 70 percent volume. The audio output from the WF-1000XM3 was some of the best I’ve heard from TWS earbuds, and if anything, the WF-1000XM4 takes the audio quality up a notch. The sound signature is not perfectly neutral, and in fact there is a clear tendency towards lower frequencies, resulting in a pleasantly warm sound. But the bass isn’t overdone to the point of drowning out other frequencies, particularly the mids. But there’s plenty of punch in the sub-bass, which is quite fun.
The mids are reproduced very well with clear vocals and good instrument separation. The highs are sharp with plenty of sparkle, but perfectly tempered to avoid sounding hissing, and overall sonic detail is excellent. There’s very little to complain about in the imaging department, and the soundstage is as wide as TWS buds get. Most popular music genres sound good on the Sony WF-1000XM4 and as such it is bound to appeal to a wider audience but with deeper pockets. I used the LDAC codec throughout the course of testing.
Active noise cancellation was excellent on the Sony WF-1000XM3 and continues to be just as good, if not better, on the XM4. It remains arguably the best ANC I’ve experienced on TWS headphones. It reduces many ambient noises, such as the hum of a ceiling fan or the hum of traffic outside, and lets you enjoy your music in peace. Ambient mode is super effective here when you need to be aware of your surroundings (when crossing the street or listening to announcements) or have a quick conversation with someone in the room without taking the buds off. Sound quality remains equally solid in all three modes.
Sony claims a battery life of 8 hours for the buds on a full charge and 24 hours total with the charging case.
Sony WF-1000XM4 TWS Headphones: Call Quality (7/10)
The call quality of the WF-1000XM4 is more than decent, but not outstanding. Indoors you will hardly have a problem. The person on the line was clearly audible and I was heard with sufficient clarity by the other person as well. But when you step outside, the mics pick up some ambient noise that the person on the line has been complaining about on and off. I expected a little more here as it is a premium product.
Sony WF-1000XM4 TWS Headphones: Battery Life (8/10)
Sony claims a battery life of 8 hours for the buds on a full charge and 24 hours total with the charging case. During my testing, I got just under seven hours out of them, with ANC on more than half the time. The case can charge these buds two more times, making the total battery backup last over 20 hours, which is pretty good. In general, I’d rate 20 hours as decent or above average, but given that I was using the LDAC codec the whole time, and also making liberal use of ANC, 20 hours is quite an achievement here.
The battery status of each earbud as well as the charging case is visible in the companion app and also alerts you when the case’s charge falls below 30 percent. It takes around 90 minutes to fully charge the earbuds and case with a standard USB-C charger. Sony also claims that 5 minutes of charging can give you about an hour of music playback; a handy feature. The case also supports Qi wireless charging.
The connection stays strong for just over 10 meters with a clear line of sight between the buds and the source device, and up to six meters even with a concrete wall in between.
Sony WF-1000XM4 TWS headphones: price and verdict
The Sony WF-1000XM4 TWS earphones can be purchased for Rs 19,990 with a one-year warranty; exactly the same price that the XM3 was launched for. Yes, it’s pricey as you’d expect, but the performance definitely beats anything we’ve seen south of Rs 20,000 and offer arguably the best active noise cancellation among TWS headphones available in India. Add to that support for LDAC codecs, a good companion app, and impressive battery life.
The XM4 isn’t necessarily “one product that does it all”. Its design may not appeal to fashionistas, or its performance to purists looking for a neutral sound signature. But the sound quality is impressive with a warm and detailed output that will appeal to a wide audience, and even better than the Apple Airpods Pro.
Call quality needs some improvement, especially in noisy outdoor environments, and the ability to assign specific functions to touch gestures would be nice. And yes, the price will be a deterrent to many. But when it comes to pure sound quality and ANC, the Sony WF-1000XM4 is hard to beat.
Read all Latest news, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and entertainment news Here. follow us on facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
This article was previously published on Source link
