Sony WH-1000XM4 Review: Still the King of UK Cans?

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Let’s be honest. In the fast-moving world of tech, a pair of headphones launched back in 2020 should be ancient history. They should be gathering dust on a forgotten shelf, replaced by newer, shinier models with more buzzwords. And yet, here we are, and people are still talking about, searching for, and buying the Sony WH-1000XM4.

Why? Because they’re a bit of a modern classic.

Think of them like the original Mini Cooper of the headphone world. When they first appeared, they completely changed the game. They took what their predecessors did well and polished it to a near-perfect shine, setting a new standard for noise-cancelling headphones. They became the go-to recommendation for anyone who wanted to block out the world, whether on a packed Northern Line train, a noisy open-plan office, or just trying to find a bit of peace at home.

But now, their successor—the WH-1000XM5—is well-established, and rivals from Bose and Sennheiser have released their own contenders. So, the big question is: are the XM4s still a smart buy today? Are they a canny bargain, or just past their prime?

This isn’t just another review listing technical specs. This is the definitive guide for anyone in the UK considering the XM4s. We’ll dive deep into every aspect, from how they feel on a long train journey to how their noise-cancelling handles the chatter of a busy Costa. By the end, you’ll know for certain if these are the right headphones for you.

Unboxing and First Impressions: What’s in the Case?

Opening a new piece of tech is part of the fun, isn’t it? Sony does a decent job here. The box is compact and eco-friendly, made from recycled paper with no plastic in sight, which is a nice touch.

Inside, you don’t find the headphones straight away. You’re greeted by a smart, sturdy fabric carrying case. It’s tough enough to get knocked about in a backpack without you worrying. Unzip it, and there they are: the XM4s, neatly folded up.

Alongside the headphones, you get the essentials:

• A short USB-C charging cable. It’s very short, mind you, so you might end up using your phone’s charger.
• A 3.5mm audio cable for plugging into things that don’t have Bluetooth, like an older laptop or an in-flight entertainment system.
• An aeroplane adapter. A small thing, but incredibly useful if you’re a frequent flyer.

The first impression is one of quality and thoughtfulness. You get everything you need, and the case feels premium. It tells you that these are a serious bit of kit, built for people on the move.

Design and Comfort: Built for the British Commute

Picking up the XM4s, you’ll notice how light they are. At just 254 grams, they don’t feel heavy at all. The design is understated and mature; you won’t find any flashy logos or bright colours here. They mostly come in black or silver, looking sleek and professional.

The Look and Feel

The headphones are made from a high-quality, soft-touch plastic. It doesn’t feel cheap or creaky. The earcups are padded with plush, comfy memory foam covered in a faux leather material. They’re large and oval-shaped, designed to fit completely over your ears rather than sitting on them.

The headband is flexible and has a good amount of padding on the underside. You can adjust it easily to get the right fit. One of the best things about the design is that the earcups swivel and fold flat, which is why they fit so snugly into their case. This makes them far more portable than some rivals (we’re looking at you, XM5s).

Wearing Them for Hours

This is where the XM4s truly shine. They are supremely comfortable.

I’ve worn these for an entire workday, on a stuffy four-hour cross-country train, and for long walks, and I’ve almost forgotten they were there. The clamping force—how tightly they press against your head—is just right. It’s secure enough that they don’t slide off if you move your head quickly, but not so tight that they give you a headache.

The soft earpads create a great seal around your ears, which is important for noise cancellation, but they’re also breathable enough that your ears don’t get too hot and sweaty. For anyone who spends hours commuting or needs to concentrate in a noisy environment, this all-day comfort is a massive selling point.

The Sound of Silence: Just How Good is the Noise-Cancelling?

Let’s get to the main event. The reason most people buy these headphones is for the Active Noise Cancellation (ANC). And the short answer is: it’s still absolutely brilliant.

How Does It Work? (The Simple Version)

Imagine you’re by the sea, and a wave comes towards the shore. Now imagine you could create a perfect ‘anti-wave’ that’s the exact opposite. If they met, they would cancel each other out, leaving the water flat.

That’s basically what these headphones do with sound.

Tiny microphones on the outside of the earcups listen to the noise around you—the low rumble of a bus engine, the hum of an air conditioner, the general drone of an office. A clever little chip inside, which Sony calls the QN1 processor, instantly creates an opposite ‘anti-noise’ sound wave. The headphones play this anti-noise into your ears, and it cancels out the real noise from the outside world. The result is an incredible, almost magical, sense of quiet.

Real-World Performance: From the Tube to the Office

In practice, the XM4s are fantastic at blocking out low, constant sounds.

• On public transport: The deep rumble of a train or the engine drone on a bus almost completely disappears. It makes a miserable commute so much more peaceful. You can listen to your podcast or music at a much lower, safer volume.
• In a café: They do a great job of cutting out the background hum of the coffee machine and air conditioning. They also do a surprisingly good job of muffling the chatter of people around you, turning it into a distant murmur.
• In the office: The constant hum of computers and ventilation vanishes. They won’t completely block out a colleague talking right next to you, but they reduce it enough that it’s no longer distracting.

While newer models like the XM5s might be a tiny bit better at cutting out higher-pitched, sudden noises, the XM4s are still in the top tier. For the price you can get them for now, the level of silence they provide is simply outstanding.

Sound Quality: The Heart of the Matter

Blocking out noise is great, but what about the sound you actually want to hear? Thankfully, the XM4s sound fantastic right out of the box.

The Default Sony Sound: Warm and Bassy

Sony headphones have a reputation for a certain type of sound, and the XM4s fit that mould. The sound is warm, rich, and full-bodied, with a noticeable emphasis on the bass.

This doesn’t mean the bass is muddy or overwhelming. It’s punchy and exciting, which makes genres like pop, hip-hop, and electronic music sound incredibly fun and energetic. Listening to a track like Massive Attack’s “Teardrop,” the deep bass line has real weight and presence without drowning out the delicate vocals and piano.

The midrange, where vocals and most instruments live, is clear and detailed. The treble—the high notes like cymbals—is crisp without being harsh or tiring to listen to. It’s a very pleasing, easy-going sound that most people will love.

Audiophiles—people who demand perfect, flat, neutral sound—might find the bass a bit too boosted. But for the average listener, it’s a brilliant tuning. And if you don’t like it, you can easily change it in the app (more on that later).

The Secret Sauce: LDAC and DSEE Extreme Explained

Sony has a couple of clever bits of tech inside the XM4s that help them sound even better.

LDAC is like streaming music in high definition. Standard Bluetooth squashes your music files down to send them wirelessly, and some quality is lost. If you have a compatible phone (most Android phones do, but iPhones don’t) and listen to high-quality music from services like Tidal or Amazon Music HD, LDAC allows the headphones to receive much more detail. The difference is noticeable—music sounds clearer, more open, and more detailed.

DSEE Extreme is for when you’re listening to lower-quality music, like on Spotify or YouTube. It uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to cleverly guess what bits of the music were lost when it was compressed. It’s like an audio version of those TV shows where they restore old paintings. It analyses the song in real-time and adds back some of the lost detail, especially in the high notes. It’s a subtle effect, but it genuinely makes compressed music sound a bit richer and less flat.

How Do They Handle Different Music?

• Pop/Electronic: Absolutely superb. The punchy bass and exciting sound bring this music to life.
• Rock/Indie: They handle distorted guitars and complex tracks well, with good separation between instruments. You can easily pick out the bassline from the drums and vocals.
• Classical/Acoustic: They perform well, but this is where the boosted bass can sometimes feel a bit unnatural. A quick tweak in the app’s equaliser to lower the bass a touch can make classical music sound much more balanced and natural.

The Smart Stuff: Are These Features Gimmicks or Game-Changers?

The XM4s are packed with clever features that are meant to make your life easier. Some are incredibly useful; others you might turn off immediately.

Speak-to-Chat

This is a clever one. If you turn this feature on, the headphones will automatically detect when you start talking. The music will pause, and the headphones will let in ambient sound so you can have a conversation without taking them off. When you stop talking, the music starts again after a few seconds.

Is it useful? Sometimes. It works brilliantly if you need to quickly order a coffee or ask a train guard a question. However, it also activates if you cough, hum along to a song, or laugh. This can get annoying, so many people (myself included) leave it turned off and use Quick Attention Mode instead.

Quick Attention Mode

This is simple and brilliant. If you need to hear what’s going on around you, you just cover the right earcup with your hand. The music volume instantly drops, and the ambient sound is piped in. It’s perfect for listening to station announcements or hearing a colleague call your name. Take your hand away, and you’re back in your bubble. I use this feature all the time.

Wear Detection

A sensor inside the left earcup knows when you’re wearing the headphones. Take them off, and your music automatically pauses. Put them back on, and it resumes. It works perfectly and is great for saving battery and not losing your place in a podcast.

The Command Centre: The Sony Headphones Connect App

To get the most out of the XM4s, you need to download the free Sony Headphones Connect app on your phone. This is where you can control everything.

The app is powerful, if a little cluttered. Here are the most important things you can do:

• Adjust the Noise-Cancelling: You can tweak the level of ANC or switch to an Ambient Sound mode, which lets you decide how much of the outside world you want to hear. There’s even a setting that can learn your frequent locations (like home, work, the gym) and automatically switch to your preferred settings.
• Use the Equaliser (EQ): This is the best bit. If you don’t like the bass-heavy default sound, you can change it! There are lots of presets (like ‘Bright’ or ‘Vocals’), or you can create and save your own custom settings. You can easily dial the bass down or boost the vocals to get the perfect sound for your ears.
• Customise the Controls: There’s a button on the left earcup that you can customise. You can set it to control the ANC, or to activate your phone’s voice assistant (Google Assistant or Alexa).
• Turn Smart Features On/Off: This is where you can disable Speak-to-Chat if it’s driving you mad.

The app is essential. Without it, you’re only getting half the experience.

“Can You Hear Me Now?”: A Word on Call Quality

If the XM4s have an Achilles’ heel, this is it. The microphone quality for phone calls is… fine. It’s not terrible, but it’s not great either.

In a quiet room, people will hear you perfectly clearly. But as soon as you step outside onto a busy street or a windy platform, the microphones tend to pick up a lot of that background noise. People on the other end of the line will often complain that they can hear the wind or the traffic more than they can hear you.

Sony made huge improvements in this area with the XM5s. If you spend all day on important work calls, the XM4s might not be the best choice. But for the occasional chat with friends or family, they’re perfectly adequate.

Battery Life and Charging: Going the Distance

The battery life on the XM4s is excellent. Sony claims 30 hours of playback with noise-cancelling turned on, and that’s pretty much exactly what you get. With ANC off, that stretches to 38 hours.

This is more than enough to last you for a full week of commuting, or for the longest international flight. You rarely have to worry about them dying on you.

When you do run out of battery, they charge via USB-C, the same as most modern phones and laptops. They also have a quick-charge feature: just 10 minutes of charging will give you a massive 5 hours of playback. It’s incredibly convenient if you’ve forgotten to charge them before heading out.

Connectivity: Finally, Multipoint!

The XM4s use Bluetooth 5.0, and the connection is rock-solid. But the killer feature they added, which was missing from older models, is multipoint connection.

This means you can connect the headphones to two devices at the same time. For example, you can have them connected to your laptop for a video call and your phone for music. If a call comes in on your phone, the headphones will automatically switch over. When the call ends, they’ll switch back to the audio from your laptop.

It seems like a small thing, but it makes them so much easier to live with if you juggle multiple devices. It works seamlessly and is a huge quality-of-life improvement.

The Big Showdown: XM4s vs. The Rivals

So, how do the XM4s stack up against the competition today?

Sony XM4 vs. Sony XM5: The New Kid on the Block

The newer XM5s have a completely different design. They look more modern, but they don’t fold down, so their case is much bigger and less portable. The XM5s have slightly better noise-cancelling (especially for voices) and much-improved microphone quality for calls. However, many people argue that the XM4s are more comfortable and that the sound quality is very similar. Given that the XM4s are now significantly cheaper, they offer much better value for money unless you absolutely need the best call quality.

Sony XM4 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra: The Old Grudge Match

Bose is Sony’s biggest rival. The Bose QC Ultra headphones have what many consider to be the “gold standard” of noise-cancelling—it might be a fraction better at creating total silence. They also have a different sound signature, which is a bit more neutral and balanced than the bassy Sony sound. However, the XM4s have better battery life and more smart features. The choice often comes down to personal preference in sound and comfort.

Sony XM4 vs. Sennheiser Momentum 4: The Audiophile’s Choice

The Sennheiser Momentum 4s are another strong contender. They boast an incredible 60-hour battery life, which is double that of the Sonys. Many audiophiles also prefer their more detailed and balanced sound quality. However, Sony’s noise-cancelling is generally considered to be more powerful and effective than Sennheiser’s.

So, Should You Actually Buy the Sony WH-1000XM4?

After all that, we come back to the main question. And the answer is a resounding yes, for the right person.

Who They’re Perfect For

• The Value Hunter: You can now find the XM4s for a fantastic price, often heavily discounted. You are getting 90% of the performance of the very latest top-tier headphones for a fraction of the cost. The value for money is off the charts.
• The Commuter and Traveller: Their combination of brilliant noise-cancelling, all-day comfort, long battery life, and a compact folding design makes them the perfect travel companion.
• The Student or Office Worker: If you need to create a quiet bubble to study or concentrate in a noisy environment, these are an investment in your productivity and sanity.
• The Everyday Music Lover: If you want great-sounding, feature-packed headphones that make your music sound fun and exciting, you will not be disappointed.

Who Should Look Elsewhere

• The “Latest and Greatest” Seeker: If you simply must have the absolute best performance and newest tech, you should probably look at the Sony XM5s or the latest from Bose.
• The Road Warrior on Constant Calls: If crystal-clear call quality is your number one priority, the XM4s’ microphone performance might let you down. The XM5s are a much better choice for this.
• The Pure Audiophile: If your priority is perfectly neutral, uncoloured sound for critical listening, you might prefer headphones from brands like Sennheiser or Beyerdynamic.

The Final Verdict: A Modern Classic for a Reason

The Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones are no longer the undisputed champion of the noise-cancelling world. Newer models have edged them out in certain areas. But that doesn’t matter.

What they are now is arguably the smartest purchase in premium audio. They offer a phenomenal package of top-tier noise cancellation, engaging sound quality, supreme comfort, and a host of genuinely useful features. The fact that you can now get all of this for a price far lower than the latest flagship models makes them an absolute bargain.

They hit the sweet spot where price and performance meet. They are a mature, reliable, and brilliant piece of kit that still punches well above its weight. They aren’t just good for the money; they are simply great. If you fit the profile, don’t hesitate. You’ll be chuffed.

Final Score: 9/10

Pro Tips for New XM4 Owners

• Take the time to set up the app: Customise the EQ to your liking and explore the features. It makes a huge difference.
• Use the audio cable for flights: Don’t rely on Bluetooth for in-flight entertainment; the included cable and adapter are your best friends.
• Assign Google Assistant/Alexa to the custom button: It’s more useful than the default ANC control, which you can manage from the app.
• Update the firmware: When you first connect to the app, it will likely prompt you to update the headphones’ software. Always do this, as it often includes performance improvements.

Further Reading

For those who want to dive even deeper into the technical details or see how the XM4s compare in scientific tests, here are some highly respected resources:

• What Hi-Fi?: A leading UK-based authority on audio equipment, their reviews are thorough and trusted.
• TechRadar: A great source for comprehensive reviews on all kinds of consumer technology.
• RTINGS.com: If you love data, their in-depth, lab-based testing provides incredibly detailed measurements on everything from sound frequency response to noise isolation.
• The Guardian’s Tech Section: Often provides excellent long-read reviews with a focus on real-world use.