The tips are made of a polyurethane foam which conforms to your ear canal to block out more sound and achieve a tight seal. The buds need to be twisted into place to achieve a secure fit, but once they’re in, they stayed locked into place for me. You won’t want to take them out in a downpour or completely submerge them, but they’re entirely more functional for active users than the XM3s.Įven though they’re on the larger side, I found the earbuds to fit securely and comfortably in my ears thanks to longer nozzles and Sony’s new Noise Isolation ear tips. The earbuds are now IPX4 rated, which means they’ll stand up to splashes and a little moisture. Thankfully, if you do take them out for a run, you won’t have to worry about sweat or a little rain. The touch controls are mostly reliable but I did find myself having to tap multiple times if I was a little off center on my first try. Unfortunately, it’s one or the other which is disappointing and frustrating if you want to control your tracks and adjust volume when out for a run. The right bud controls media, calls, and summons your virtual assistant or can be swapped to control volume using the app. By default, the left earbud controls your current sound mode – Ambient Sound, Noise Canceling, Off – and holding it temporarily activates the microphones for quick conversations. Apart from being smaller, the case now also supports wireless Qi charging if you’d rather avoid the USB Type-C connection.Ĭontrolling the buds is easy thanks to intuitive touch controls. If you do run short, five minutes in the charging case returns an hour of listening. Most ANC earbuds need a recharge after 4-5 hours, but with the XM4s I was able to go full workdays before throwing them back in the case. The case, which is 40% smaller and more pocketable than the XM3’s case, is good for two full recharges bringing total battery life to 24 hours with ANC on. Turn ANC off and that jumps to 12 hours per charge. Sony quotes battery life of 8 hours with ANC enabled and I found that to be spot on. The other benefit of the processor is its energy efficiency, which translates into better battery life. Even without high-res audio, the XM4s sound remarkably good and have the kind of big, rich sound typically reserved for headphones. They lack supporting high-res codecs like AptX HD, however, so you’ll want to check to make sure your device supports LDAC to make the most out of them. That makes them an especially good fit for Android users but will leave Apple fans out in the cold. They also support Sony’s high-resolution Bluetooth codec, LDAC, which offers enhanced sound quality with far higher audio bandwidth than typical, compressed Bluetooth. They’re rich in bass and detail in the mids and highs and have a vocal-forward sound that’s great for music and movies alike. Sony has equipped these headphones to deliver exceptionally good sound with a pair of 6mm drivers tuned for mainstream appeal. If ANC is one half of the equation, sound quality is the other. I haven’t been able to try every noise canceling bud on the market, of course, but against the flagship true wireless buds from Samsung, Sennheiser, Apple, Jabra, and 1More, the XM4s block more sound and deliver on their promise of industry-leading noise cancellation. The processor interprets ambient noise picked up from two microphones, one feed-forward and one feed-backward, and applies an improved algorithm to perform its cancellation. The XM4s use Sony’s new V1 integrated processor for its noise canceling duties, which the company claims are the most effective in the true wireless market according to internal testing. The XM4s are still a bit bulky for my taste and protrude more than my Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro, but the trade-off in sound quality and noise canceling is well worth the added size. Bronze accents appear on the front edge of each earpiece, bringing it in line with the styling of the over-ear XM4s, and provide a nice contact point for adjustment without triggering the touch controls. The core of each earbud is now a normal circle but the shells are contoured to fit the inner folds of the ear. The XM4s leave the oblong, bluetooth earpiece look in the rearview mirror and instead utilize a much more modern, stylish design. Even at the time of their release, the WF-1000XM3s were bulky and didn’t look particularly sleek. Sony has officially caught up with the times.
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