After three generations proving that they are the best at making noise canceling headphones , Sony is back with the WH-1000XM4 . But if the previous version were already practically perfect headphones, what does this new model have? That is exactly what I am going to tell you in this analysis.
Identical design to 1000XM3
It is difficult to differentiate them . If you intend to compare one generation with another, you are going to find a surprise, and it is that it costs a lot to differentiate them. Aesthetically they are very similar, and the only perceptible changes are found in the NFC logo , the color of the Sony logo … little else. However, we only have to put them on to begin to see, or feel, the first changes.
More comfortable than ever
And this new generation is extremely comfortable . The 1000XM3 were already very comfortable, but after several hours of use the ear could end up hurting. Now, the M4s have decided to use a slightly softer pad, and this translates into a much more pleasant and delicate grip. They have taken care of details as minimal as the orientation of the inner seam , which is now much more hidden and does not give an opportunity to touch your ear.
The big news
- Proximity sensor: It is basically the element that allows me to quickly differentiate some M3 from these M4 . This sensor is responsible for detecting when you have the headphones on and when not. Or rather , when you take them off . And it is that if you are listening to music and you remove them, the music stops. And if you put them back on, the music will play again.
- Speak to chat : forget about making the gesture of putting your hand to your ear . This gesture has served so far to deactivate noise cancellation and to be able to speak or listen to the outside without having to remove the headphones. Well, now you won’t even need that. The M4s will be able to recognize your voice , at which point it will deactivate noise cancellation and let ambient noise through.
By default, this deactivation lasts 30 seconds , so if you do not speak again, the cancellation will be activated again after that time. But we can modify it, being able to choose between times of 15 seconds or leave it permanently deactivated until we manually activate it again. We can also define the voice recognition sensitivity in high or low sensitivity mode, something that while I have kept it in automatic mode has worked perfectly.
I tried coughing, and the headphones kept canceling the noise. I have spoken, and the cancellation has been deactivated. The problem is that there is no difference between speaking or singing, so if you like to sing while listening to music, you better deactivate this mode, or else you will pause the song continuously.
Another problem I have found is that, having a playback paused, after speaking, the headphones have restarted that playback, so there is no exact control of when to resume the audio.
Legacy hardware
It has the same 40mm drivers as the previous generation, however, a new DSEE Extreme engine has been introduced that improves the conversion of digital files more optimally than the M3 did. This is what Sony says, but in practice you are going to need highly trained ears to detect the differences.
Another novelty that Sony wants to implement as a revolutionary technology is 360 Audio . It works, the sound is richer in nuances and allows us to enjoy projections from different points, being able to identify many instruments, but its availability is limited to very few services. We will find Deezer and Tidal, but there is Spotify, which I think is the service par excellence that everyone uses. 360 Audio is surprising, but there is very little content available, and at the moment it does not seem that it is what sets the trend in audio.
A perfect product
In short, we are facing the perfection of a round product. At the level of audio quality and noise cancellation, the changes are subtle, but everything related to comfort has taken an important leap. By this I mean that if you already have a 1000XM3, the change will probably not be too much for you, unless you are looking specifically at the new smart features that have been included. The improvement in sound quality and noise cancellation is hardly noticeable, but all this serves to once again show that we are dealing with the best headphones on the market.
And that as always has to be paid, so don’t be surprised to see its 380 euro label. The recommendation? If your budget is a little tight, now is the best time to get a 1000XM3, but if you can afford this new generation, you will win in everything.