JULY 2021 T3 77Sony WF- 1000 XM 4attempting acallin unhelpful
conditionslike wind, the feed-forward
mics automatically mute.
As well as voice control, thereare
touch-sensitive padson each earbud.
Youcan attribute specific controls to
them using Sony’s outstanding
Headphonesapp and the app also has
some veryworthwhile EQ adjustment
incorporated too.
e app is also where you
photograph yourears – no, really– so
the WF-1000XM4 canoptimise those
streaming apps that offer spatial audio.
e app isstable, logicaland useful.
Music to our ears
As far asout-and-out sound quality
goes, the WF- 100 0XM4 areexcellent.
Leave the EQ adjustments wellalone
and they are a poised, balanced and
entirely believable listen. With some
hi-resaudio content playing, they give
appropriate prominence to each area
of the frequency range.
Bass is substantial, but textured,
detailed and straight-edged too. e
midrangeis equallyinformation-rich,
with hawkish attention paid to
transients and a whole stack of
definition contributing toan articulate
presentation. And at the top-end,
there’s allthe bite and cruncha
recording needs – but it’s as well-
controlled as therest of the frequency
information, and consequently doesn’t
get hard, evenat considerable volume.
ey also createa large and
well-defined soundstage. Rhythmic
expression is eloquent, and they can
handleeven the trickiest, most
lop-sided tempos without any
meaningful alarms.
ey’reprettyadept where
dynamics areconcerned, too.Shifting
between ‘full-on’ and ‘virtuallysilent’
and back again isachieved instantly.
e trickier, lower-level harmonic
dynamics that are present in
recordings of, say,a solo piano are also
given real expression.
e noise-cancelling onthe
WF- 100 0XM4 makes decentinroads
into external sound, and managesto
do so without leaving anyimpression
of counter-signal or noisebeneath the
music – but, likeeveryother pair of
in-ear headphones, they must bowto
the noise-cancelling of Bose’s
extraordinary QuietComfort Earbuds.
With ANC switched on, they’re
good for around eight hours ofbatterylife. ere are a couple more full
charges held in the charging case –so
you’ll get an all-intotal of around 24
hours. Compare that to most of their
high-profile rivals and you’llnotice it’s
really verygood, even if it’snot quite
thebest around.
ese are superbtrue wireless
earbuds. e batterylife, sound
quality and noise-cancelling are all
perhaps just shortof being the very
best you canget. However,the XM4
offer a better all-round experience
than the slightly better sounding
Grado and Bowers buds,and while the
QuietComfort Earbudsmay have them
beaten for noise-cancelling,Sony’s
buds sound a fair bitbetter than Bose’s
overall. is is thecomplete package.Everypart feels
robust and is made
from high-quality
materialsBOWERS & WILKINSPI7
In a world of thousands of
true wireless earbuds, the
Bowers & Wilkins PI7 are
some of the very best. They
have exceptional sound:
you’ll hear music exactly as
it was meant to be heard.
Truly phenomenal.
£349, bowerswilkins.com
CAMBRIDGE AUDIO
MELOMANIA 1+
Balk at paying over £250 on
earbuds? These are for you.
Where they excel for their
price is in their sound, which
is uniformly excellent. Their
nine-hour battery life is also
up there with the very best.
£119.95, cambridgeaudio.comTHE ALTERNATIVESWE’RE IMPRESSED Coherent,
expressiveand engagingly
musical;exemplary control app;
splendid call quality.
WE’D IMPROVE Battery life
could be better; noise-cancelling
could be better, too
THE LAST WORDProfoundly
impressive, these are arguably the
best truewireless buds you can
buy.Rivals may outperformthem
in certain areas,but the all-round
package is very hard to beat.VERDICTFind the best deals for the WF-
1000 XM4 at: bit.ly/t3snfxm4