Second Chance Sony WH-1000XM4 Black

What if you as Sony have already made the best noise canceling headphones on the market with the WH-1000MX3. Then you could sit back and wait for the answer from the competition. But not Sony. They recently released the Sony WH-1000MX4. Are these headphones the best invention since the sliced bread, or can the competition breathe easy? And what if that competition comes from Sony's own stable.

But first an introduction. Noise reduction is not new, there have been headphones for years that actively filter out the background noise in order to work undisturbed. So is Sony. They have already released 3 W(ireless)H(eadphones) of the 1000 series. While the WH-1000MX1 and MX2 were already good attempts, with the WH-1000MX3 they had caught up with the competition and, according to many, even surpassed it in the field of noise canceling. But the 3rd iteration of these headphones still had a number of areas for improvement. And Sony has tackled that.

Multipoint Bluetooth Pairing
The headphones are now possible with the Sony WH-1000MX to be connected to multiple devices. Listen to your favorite music or watch your videos on your laptop. But record that telephone conversation on your smartphone in 1 action. The Sony switches between 2 devices without a hitch.

wear detection
There is a sensor in the left ear cup that detects whether you take off the headphones. The music then stops immediately. When you put the headphones back on, they automatically start playing again. This works fine. But I would have liked to see the sensor in both ear cups. Sometimes I listen with one ear uncovered. If I only cover the left ear, the music continues to play. If you only cover the right ear, it will stop. This function can be turned off in the very extensive app that Sony offers with the headphones.

More comfortable wearing comfort
The headphones have larger and thicker ear pads. This makes the headphones fall better over the ears. The headband is also a bit tighter, so that the headphones sit tighter on the head.

The superior sound quality.
The sound is just a little better. The bass is clearly present. Music sounds super tight and spoken text, for example from a Podcast, is easy to understand. If you want to adjust the default sound setting, you can find all kinds of presets in the Sony App (available for iOS and Android). You can also play with the Equalizer yourself to adjust it completely to your own taste.

What has remained?
Touch Control.
The Touch controls on the right earcup are intuitive. Swipe forward to select the next track, backward to listen to the track again. Swipe up to increase the volume and down to decrease it. Tap the earcup once to start or pause the music and place your hand on the earcup to start a conversation.

Bluetooth range
You can quietly walk away from your device. The range is very good, even through 2 floors of concrete, the headphones continue to play music without disruption. Remember where your phone is!

noise canceling
What do you say? Precisely. The Sony WH-1000MX4 filters out noise so well that you can really dream away to the sounds of your favorite music. Don't dream too far away with people around. I've been shocked a few times because someone tapped me on my shoulder.

The Sony comes with a case to store the headphones, a 3.5mm audio cable (for those phones that still have a 3.5mm jack, and an airplane adapter (you'll just need it).

What I miss most of the reviews is that this headset is ideal for video calling with Microsoft teams, Zoom or Google Hangouts. The microphone sounds clear and you are in the middle of the conversation because you can hear everything without annoying noise (for example, the neighbors who are mowing the lawn). The only drawback is that you also hear yourself less, so there is a chance that you will scream.

In short, the WH-1000MX4 is the best Bluetooth Noise Canceling Headphone out right now. But as mentioned, the Sony WH-1000MX3 is its biggest competitor. Want Multipoint Bluetooth and Best Noise Canceling. Then the WH-1000MX4 is your choice. Don't mind switching with your device every now and then or have you connected the headphones to 1 device? Then you can consider the cheaper WH-1000MX4. You will have a lot of fun with both headphones.

Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) is very good, nothing to complain about. And also convenient operation via the app, but also the touch options.

However, I often received complaints from people about my sound during conversations, both via telephone and video conference calls. This was such that I send them back. If you just want to listen to music and use ANC, great thing. But really not good enough for calling.