Computer Shopper - UK (2021-01)

ISSUE395|COMPUTER SHOPPER|JANUARY2021

SONY WH-1000XM4

★★★★★

£350•From http://www.amazon.co.uk

VERDICT

Improved audio,more effective noise
cancellation and smart new features put
the WH-1000XM4 on top

OVER-EARHEADPHONES

HEADPHONES SUBTYPEOver-ear•PLUG TYPE3.5mm

(optional)•WEIGHT254g•CABLELENGTH1m•

WARRANTYOneyearRTB•DETAILSwww.sony.co.uk•

PART CODEWH1000XM4B.CE7

SPECIFICATIONS

HOWDOYOUimproveonthebestpairofANC
headphonesreleasedinthelastfewyears?Inthe
case of the WH-1000XM4, theybuild on 2018’s
exceptional WH-1000XM3 (Shopper375) with
even better sound quality and noise cancellation
–not to mention afew new features.
In design terms they’re almostidentical,
which also means they’re just as comfortable.
The main change is that the WH-1000XM3’s
ANC buttoncan now be customised within
the Sony Headphones app, forabit of extra
flexibility with thecontrols.
On thatsubject, touchcontrols makeareturn
from thelast generation and remain ashining
example of how to implement themsuccessfully.
Doubling-tapping the outer surface of the right
earcup plays or pauses your audio, while holding
your fingertothe touchsensor fortwo seconds
engages yourvoice assistant of choice.Google
Assistant, Alexa and Siri are all supported.

ONE FORTWO

Still, it’s theWH-1000XM4’sfreshly added
featuresthat really make thedifference. Twoof
these aremultipoint pairing andweardetection:
the WH-1000XM4are now capable of pairing
with two devices simultaneously,whilewear
detectionregisters when you take the
headphones off and automaticallypauses your
audio, resuming onceyou’ve putthembackon
your head. DespiteSony being alittlelatetothe
party, wear detection beingafairlycommon
feature on rival headhpones, it’s executed well.
Speak-to-Chatisanother newinclusion, and
one we foundparticularly useful. When active,it
automaticallypausesyouraudioand lets in
ambient sound as soon as you start speaking.
Sony’s PreciseVoice Pickup technology uses five
microphones to recognise andreact to your
voice,and the system works veryeffectively.The
mics are sensitive enoughtoconsistentlypick up
your voice when speakingataveragevolume, but
aren’t over-tunedtothe point where thefeature
is triggered by others speaking nearby.
The Sony WH-1000XM3 werebest-in-class
when it cametonoise cancellation, but these
new headphones areeven betteratregulating
outside noise. The WH-1000XM4’s QN1
processor is extremelysmart, too: it cancreatea
personalisedprofile, taking intoaccount things
such as theshape of yourhead andwhetheryou
wear glasses, andwill adjust the intensityofANC
on the fly.Ifyou have GPS location access enabled
on yourconnected phone,the WH-1000XM4
caneven build up alist of your most frequented
spotsover time and automatically switch to the

profilebest suited forwhere youare.It’san

incredibly brainy set of headphones.

Best of all, theaudio qualitydelivered by

the WH-1000XM4’s 40mmdynamicdriversis

nothingshortofsuperb. No matterwhat genre of

music we threwatthem,theyhandled everything

with aplomb: vocals, bass,treble and mid-range

are allhandled equally impressively.

There’s no longer support forthe aptX or aptX

HD Bluetooth codecs, which is alittle surprising,

but we neverfeltthat much worse off in their

absence.Those with devices capable of

supporting Sony’s LDAC codec (primarily Android

phone and tablet users running Android8or

later)can take advantage of higher-quality

wireless streaming but, again,don’t worry too

much if youdon’t fall into thisbracket:the

WH-1000XM4sound fantastic regardless.

SURROUNDINGAREA

In the box,you’ll get an invitation to trialSony’s

360Reality Audio,whichpromises an immersive

listening experiencecreated using spatial audio

technology.Atpresent, it’s only available

through 360byDeezer,nugs.netand Tidal, and

we tested it using the latter’s360 RealityAudio

playlist. Individual aspects of songssound as

though they’recoming from different positions

around your head,but we felt the technology

worked farbetter on certain songs than others,

and given the limited availability of optimised

tracks, the technology probably isn’t going to

take over the world any time soon.

However, the headphones themselves are

superlative.Bycombiningsupreme comfort,

beautifully expressive audio and the smartest,

mosteffectivenoise cancelling going, the

WH-1000XM4are the ANCheadphones to beat.

AndyWhite