Sony WH-1000XM4 Review | Bose Killer Just Got Better!

VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION

Today's review is of the new Sony Bluetooth headphones. The catchy titled WH-1000XM4. And you want to hear this review because these are a massive bose killer. They're probably the best noise canceling headphones on the market right now. If you don't know who I am, if you're new here, I'm Streaky. I've been a professional audio engineer for the past 25 years working on super high-level stuff. And I'm here to give you honest reviews with some trained ears on all the time, audio related gadgets that are on the market. So today's are the new Sony headphones. Now this looks lovely. They're straight out of this really nice case that they come in. In there you get some, a nice little cable that you can plug straight in. You get a little USB-C charger, so they're, USB-C charging and you get the air plane kind of two Jack plug thing in there. All snazzily put together into this nice little hard, hard shell, and somewhere to put your passport in the back, I guess. Because a lot of people use these on airplanes because they are noise canceling.

So the noise canceling facilities on these are amazing. They've got so many features. There's like a little app that you download, which is really good. And there's loads of detailed noise reduction profiles that you can have. And it will also switch to different profiles as you speak. And as you do different things. So the look of these are, they're like a matte finish. They come in black, as well as this kind of gray pewter thing. They've got a lot of gold and not many buttons, which is nice. So they're really slick looking headphones. There’re two buttons, basically an on, and then a custom profile. Then you've got the bottom, the USB-C charging point, which I believe charges for about 30 hours of playtime. Massive, super quick charging as well, which is great. So there's no buttons to be pushing and prodding and then nothing to go wrong.

They are is basically swipe features. So you swipe up and down for volume and forwards and backwards for a track back and forwards. So really swish design, they're not cheap. They're about 350, but you are getting a lot of headphone for your money there. They are pretty robust. I don't think they're going to break very quickly. They're really, well-made. Lovely, soft headband. These ear cups are really soft leather. I think they’re leather, not sure. So how do they feel? Well, they feel great. They are the most comfortable headphones. They just sit around your ear. There's also this really random thing in the app. I haven't looked into it in a lot of detail, but it takes your picture of your ear to work out your settings for your ear.

I don't know how that works. You'd have to get deep into the tech for that. But the thing I did like is there's like this sort of there's this like infrared bit inside. If you can see that. So as you take them on and off, they just know to stop the player. They notice they notice that you've got them off your head. So that's a nice feature. I really liked that. Now there is some settings for the EQ. Let's talk about the sound because obviously that's my specialty. So the sound and their basic setting, I really liked them. They did sound fairly flat, but what I did tend to do, they have these little custom settings that you can select within the app. And what I did is I did a basic smiley curve. What we call it in audio, where you put a little bit on the top, little bit on the bottom, there's a bit more there. With the EQ, you make it go like that.

And what that does is it gives it a nice little bass crank up and a little bit in the top. And so it goes nice and bright, but also has a nice kick. And that works really well with these. But flat out the box, even just in the standard setting, you can't really go wrong. They've got a really nice tight bass sound. They're not too bright. If you start putting a little bit more top on the EQ, they do start getting a little bit tizzy. So I didn't like that too much. So you don't go too high on the top end. So they do tizz out a bit. But I did like the overall sound. I thought it was really good, especially for Bluetooth headphones. They are tight. They are clear, the stereo image so that where everything is spread across, the sound kind of is, is wide enough. It's not too narrow. So all the sounds aren't congested.

It sounds nice and open. So you do get a nice open sound. And like I say, it's not an over-the-top bass sound. It's not sort of beats where it's like really bassy sound. It's a really nice, clear sound, but also with the noise canceling as well on there, plus the EQ really tight. Good sounding headphone. Really nice. It teams up with my title app on my phone, which works really well. So I can play HD tracks straight to it. These are definitely your go-to Bluetooth headphones. I don't think you can go wrong with these. In black, I need them in black really. But they look good in black and in this gray color. So with the noise cancellation on, you could literally fall asleep with them on. You can't hear a thing.

Perfect if you're on an airplane. Definitely better than the Bose, especially with all the little selections you can do. I can't actually hear myself speak now. So it's quite weird. So I'm going to have to take them off. So if you're looking for something that is alternative to the Bose, these kill them all around big times. Check them out. They are the new Sony WH-1000XM4.