Sony has introduced its latest wireless earbuds, the WF-1000XM4 featuring up to 24 hours of battery life and active noise cancellation. The wireless earbuds are a successor to the company’s popular WF1000XM3 earbuds.
Look beyond the naming scheme, and you’ll realize that Sony’s latest earbuds are packed with some excellent features. The company is also some bold claims with the WF1000XM4 earbuds, including offering the “industry’s highest level of noise canceling yet.”
Improved Sound in a Smaller Package
Sony is debuting its new integrated V1 processor with the WF1000XM4 earbuds. Coupled with the two noise sensing microphones on each earbud, the WF-1000XM4 can offer an unparallel level of noise cancellation.
The wireless earbuds can automatically cut down on the wind noise when listening to music. There’s also a new 6mm driver with a 20 percent bigger magnet volume to offer better music quality, especially in the lower frequencies.
Sony has redesigned the WF1000XM4 to make them better fit in one’s ear. It has reduced the overall volume of the earbuds by 10 percent and that of the carrying case by 40 percent.
The bundled earbud tips are made from a unique polyurethane foam material that will offer better insulation and fit over a longer period of time. The earbuds also IPX4 splash and sweat-proof. They also feature touch controls that can be used to activate ANC, Quick Attention mode, and control music playback.
Sony is bringing its Speak-to-chat technology from its excellent WH-1000XM4 headphones to the WF-1000XM4 earbuds. As the name indicates, the earbuds will automatically detect when you are talking to someone and pause the music playback. When you stop talking, the earbuds will automatically resume music playback.
There’s the Quick Attention mode, which you can activate by placing your finger over the left earbud. This will decrease the music playback volume and let the ambient sound in so you can listen to the person talking to you.
The Sony WF1000XM4 are the world’s first wireless earbuds to feature LDAC codec support. This should allow the earbuds to carry a larger amount of data over Bluetooth, thereby leading to better audio quality.
What’s impressive is that despite the improved ANC and music quality, Sony claims a battery life of up to 8 hours on a single charge from the earbuds. This can be further extended to an additional 16 hours with the bundled carrying case.
There’s also Quick Charge support, so a 5-minute charge will be enough to provide an additional 60 minutes of music playback. The carrying case supports Qi wireless charging, though there’s also a USB-C port for faster charging.
Built-In Google Assistant and Alexa
The Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds feature built-in Google Assistant and Alexa integration. This means you’ll be able to trigger Google Assistant or Alexa by just saying “Hey Google” or “Alexa.”
For easy pairing, the earbuds support Fast Pair, so you will be able to pair it with your Android device with just a single tap. The earbuds also support Microsoft Swift Pair for easy pairing with Windows 10 devices.
Sony WF-1000XM4 Price and Availability
The Sony WF-1000XM4 retail for $279.99 in the US. They are available in black or silver through Amazon, Best Buy, and other retailers.