Sony·headphones
Sony WH-1000XM4
Based on 47 credible posts from Bluesky, Hacker News & YouTube. 5 filtered out as bot-like or off-topic.
Medium confidenceA solid sample; expect small shifts as more owners post. How we score
Scored November 11, 2026
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Owner reviews
Overall owner mood
Owners mostly like it, with reservations: 57% of 47 reviews are positive, 32% mixed, and only 11% negative. Praise centers on noise cancelling and price & value. The most common complaint is software & ai (3 owners). Owners are divided on sound and comfort & size. Owners with 6+ months of use are more positive (92%), which suggests it holds up well.
What owners like
Noise cancelling praised by 8 owners
“The noise cancelling function is excellent.”
Price & value praised by 6 owners (2 disagree)
“I bought them last month, totally worth it.”
Battery & charging praised by 4 owners
“They're comfy AF, work great with an aux if you forget to charge them, and have superior sound quality.”
Connectivity praised by 2 owners (1 disagree)
“For me a big difference is the newer technology in the 5's what means faster connection through bluetooth.”
What owners complain about
Software & AI raised by 3 owners
“my phone plays... Oh how fucking wonderful. My WH-1000XM4 is buggy as shit too, I had to disable power-saving (turn off if nothing is playing) because it would randomly switch off in the middle of music playback.”
Build & durability raised by 2 owners
“They are nice but I swear to god they can't handle lasting a year before an earcup breaks off the hinges and now I don't want to buy a Sony headphone ever again”
Owners are split on
- Sound 6 like it · 5 don't
- Comfort & size 4 like it · 4 don't
Worth reading the reviews on these if they matter to you.
What owners talk about
- Sound6 praise · 5 complain
- Comfort & size4 praise · 4 complain
- Price & value6 praise · 2 complain
- Noise cancelling8 praise · 0 complain
- Battery & charging4 praise · 0 complain
- Connectivity2 praise · 1 complain
- Software & AI0 praise · 3 complain
- Build & durability0 praise · 2 complain
Built from the reviews themselves — every quote links to the owner who wrote it.
Every credible owner review, most detailed first. Bots, off-topic comments, and ones that say nothing about using it are left out.
[...] The noise cancelling function is excellent. Battery life in incredible. Very comfortable earmuffs. [...] Only downside, would like the price to be a bit cheaper
I have the Sony WH-1000XM4 and they’re great! My partner did have theirs break after having them for about a year, but I’ve had my pair for two or more years and I’ve never had a problem with them. The noise cancelling is pretty good but mostly only when playing audio
I had the Sony XM4 for 3 years and had to buy me a new pair because my old ones broke on me, so I bought me a new pair but I saw the new headphones they are cool and all, but I bought the Sony's XM4 again because I love them and because of the price lol and I feel like they look more nicer than the newer models in my opinion
[...] the 4s are much less bulky looking and just a great all-rounder. [...]
My all time favorite headphones have been my Sony Wh-1000XM4 wireless. I've had mine for like 8 years now and have never had any issues! They're comfy AF, work great with an aux if you forget to charge them, and have superior sound quality. [...]
I disable auto-updates for apps on my phone. The Play Store sometimes notifies me about updates, and I ignore them. Today I hit "Update all". [...] Skimming through them, I think Sony now wants to upload titles and artist of music and videos that my phone plays... [...] My WH-1000XM4 is buggy as shit too, I had to disable power-saving (turn off if nothing is playing) because it would randomly switch off in the middle of music playback. And there's a touch gesture to enable "mute when speech is detected", which, when enabled, means when I say something in a Zoom call I can't hear anyone else anymore.. [...]
Sony WH-1000XM4 and before you get discouraged by my story know that my first reaction to this incident was "damn these are my favorite headphones", I had them for years, travelled with them, use them practically daily and they still look brand new. can't say I'm a big user of the noise cancellation or even ambient sounds or bluetooth. [...]
These include their own DAC Isn't that exactly why audiophiles - in the broadest sense, not just the golden cable types - stick with jack headphones? [...] (Disclaimer: I made peace with BT since getting the Sony WH-1000XM4 earbuds, and later WH-1000HM4 headphones. I got them originally for the noise cancelling and LDAC support, but they're good enough that I don't hear a major difference with my friend's fancy Audio Technica)
I have Sony WH-1000XM4 noise cancelling headphones, and I've attached an Antlion Modmic to it. I'm quite pleased with the mic quality and others also mention how clear and great it sounds. It can be used while charging but it uses micro-usb. Thankfully the battery seems to last a good 15-20 hours. I like the headphones to have some additional quietness and the sound quality is good. The downside is that while it charges over usb-c, it can't be used during this time. Thankfully the battery lasts like 20-30 hours for me. [...] Good mobility, just remember to charge at night :P
I own the 4' and the 5's and they have their differences but am pleased with both of them. [...] For me a big difference is the newer technology in the 5's what means faster connection through bluetooth. The 6's seem great but the difference is too small between the other ones and are really expensive.
[...] Charged them up, downloaded the Sony Connect app, updated the firmware. The noise cancelling is amazing. I have owned a pair of Bose Quiet Comfort 35 since 2017 and I have been using those almost every day and they are still going strong. But these XM4s have a much better ANC and much more relaxed sound quality. [...]
i got those as pressent from my company. Oh bro, first im presion "why audio quality is so extreemly bad like if i got hadphones from temu.." thats literaly it audio is baiscaly 100% dependant on internal equalisers, and soudn is very unnatural and bad quality so avoid this company and thank me later... sadly i have no recomendations for the moment, but analog Crossair hyperx II gaming headphones with just analog is way overperfoming those
Dude I still have the Sony MDR 1000x and they are great 😅 I only wish they had a usbc rather than the micro usb they have. I also have AirPods Max and Sonos Ace but still the Sonys are no slouch even though they are oooooooold. I recently gave them to my son and he’s enjoying them. They still look and perform like brand new.
[...] For that reason I am relegated to either my bulky but beloved Sennheiser WH1000XM4 headphones (or, even less practical: my wired planar magnetics) or... [...]
[...] For Bose, the QuietComfort Ultra are the top of the line, but the cheaper/older QuietComfort 45 and 35 are both good too. For Sony, the WH-1000XM4 is the consensus favorite, even though the XM5 is newer. I own the XM4 and the older XM3 and I prefer the XM3 because I like the way it sounds with nothing playing better. I don't know how to describe it but the "silence" of the XM4 with ANC on but nothing playing feels too artificial for me. For office use, though, I prefer the XM4 since it has bluetooth multipoint and I can use them easily with both my laptop and phone without mucking around in settings. I'm changing jobs and going from having my own office to hoteling desks, so I imagine I'll be wearing the Sony's a lot more and I'm not sure if they'll be comfortable enough for all day use. [...] I haven't tried the new AirPods with ANC, but I love the Pros. [...] I have no experience with the Max, but from what I've read they can be uncomfortable for some people.
noise-cancelling headphones + 3m earplugs might work together Sure, any closed back headphones work and cancel out noise very nicely — I tried Sony WH-1000XM4, and they weren't much more effective than a pair of much cheaper closed backs without ANC. I've been living in this combo for many years (using ear plugs 24/7 and changing them as needed, headphones on top when not sleeping), and it's been really helpful in keeping me relatively sane. If you don't care about the sound quality, just set the volume to the max so it can yell through the ear plugs, and you don't have to take them out even when listening to something.
I have Sony WH-1000XM4 noise cancelling headphones, and I've attached an Antlion Modmic to it. External mic is definitely the way to go with the XM4's, the built-in mic is awful
I have loved the Sony WH-1000XM4 cans I have had for about 4yrs now. before I became accustomed to it the noise canceling was so good it started me like something was wrong with my hearing it was so good. very good sound as well. [...]
Been using the Sony Wh-1000XM4 for the past 4 years. [...]
They are nice but I swear to god they can't handle lasting a year before an earcup breaks off the hinges and now I don't want to buy a Sony headphone ever again
I've had them three years now and they're still amazing. The girls kept stealing them so I bought them each a pair for Christmas. You can't go wrong with them.
i’ve had my sony wh-1000xm4 for 4 years and they’ve worked pretty well !! i haven’t tried other ones so i don’t have anything to compare them to :/ but i love my headphones
I bought some refurbished Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones a few years ago and they're still good as new. Only paid like $150 for them, which was much, much less than their retail price at the time.
I'm a big fan of the Sony WH-1000XM4 model. I've used mine for almost 5 years now and adore them. Highly recommend!
I have a pair of Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones, and they are so comfortable that I can wear them all day. They also get so quiet that they made me realize that I have tinnitus.
I'm curious whether Apple has addressed the tinnitus issue of its ANC technology (or some part of it). I couldn't use neither AirPods Max nor AirPods Pro (1st generation) because they were making my tinnitus noticeably worse. I have no such issues whatsoever with my Sony WH-1000XM4 and a few other ANC headphones I've used.
I use Sony WH-1000XM4 and it has a native 3.5mm jack alongside USB-C, which even works when the battery is dead. It's been pretty useful over time, especially with musical instruments or older hardware. Honestly it's a baffling decision to remove support but not exactly unprecedented from Apple.
I have a pair of Sony WH-1000XM4 and a Dell XPS with Ubuntu 22 that won't pair together. If I boot windows instead of Ubuntu it works.
Well, first of all I got a good noise cancelling headset. I got the classic SONY WH-1000XM4. [...] And I'm always looking in the options or mods to keep the sound levels of alerts or other annoying sounds low. [...]
mine has had so many issues the last couple of weeks randomly loosing sound etc
I purchase this same exact one when they first came out, but someone had stolen them so now I just went and bought me this same one, but in silver which was what I had originally wanted, but they only had the black version.
If you aadjust the EQ, you can get the desired output. I bought them last month, totally worth it.
Besides, I'm thinking about something like this, because I bought sony wh-1000xm4 (The best purchase in recent years) what do you think?? :/
[...] After a little tweaking, they sound awesome. I would recommend them to anyone who wants great sound for not a lot of money. But if you have the cash, get the XM6's for better noise cancelation and all the other stuff.
I bought these on sale on Black Friday and love them so much!
[...] I got a Sony Wh-1000xm4 headset that's been super good to me! I just got to remember to charge it. Mind telling me what your setup is like outside software side? [...]
Are they hot? I have the Sony wh-1000xm4 and they're amazing, but unfortunately, because how tightly the seal off my ears, they regularly get too warm and uncomfortable.
I use the Sony WH-1000XM4. [...] I use them basically every day. [...]
myself i use sony wh-1000xm4 over ear headphones, currently, but i've used so many. [...] obviously price / convenience of toting around, but also what precisely you need, since triggers vary. over my life i've probably sacrificed hearing for comfort of loud music, bc 1/2
[...] I have a WH-1000XM4 sitting right next to me. [...] Now Apple is selling 80 million units / year and the $300 price tag has become normal. Before that, most people had headphones that were 10 times cheaper.
I couldn't find anything from Sony confirming that these specific vulnerabilities had been patched, so i tried to reproduce the steps from the whitepaper using nRF Connect [1] with my Sony WH-1000XM4 on the latest firmware version. There was no response to the Get Build Version command, and the Read Flash command returned an error. [...] I don't have a linux box with bluetooth handy ATM so I didn't try using the race-toolkit directly. [...]
I own the XM5s. I love them but they slip on my huge head. Are the XM4s good for huge heads?
Someone on reddit [0] mentioned that they updated their device via USB and hadn't encountered any issues. If that's true, then it might actually have been the previous firmware update that silently bricked the device. Or maybe Samsung only test in a controlled lab environment without real world signal interference. [...] I have a pair of Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones, and their app constantly tells me to install the latest firmware update. After the 20th time I finally agreed - only to be met with the update instructions: I must perform the update in a place with no other bluetooth or wifi devices. Where on earth would I even have to go to find a place without there being any 2.4Ghz signal interference? [...]
[...] For example my Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones where acting a bit funny so I decided to do a software update. [...]
Gonna be doing a little bit of an audio listening experiment in the coming days. Comparing Spotify vs YouTube Music vs Deezer with lossless .flac as the control on my daily driver, which is basically my phone and a pair of Sony WH-1000XM4.
The Sony WH-1000XM4? [...]
Just checked the site. Was surprised to see my Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones on the list of devices. I hadn't turned on location tracking for it, but guess it's on the list because the control app is on my phone.
The claims, and the evidence
What the brand claims
- Industry-leading noise canceling with Dual Noise Sensor technologyOwners agreeNoise cancelling: 8 of 8 positive
- Up to 30 hours of battery lifeOwners agreeBattery & charging: 4 of 4 positive
- 10-minute quick charge for 5 hours of playbackOwners agreeBattery & charging: 4 of 4 positive
- Speak-to-Chat
- Multipoint connectionMixedConnectivity: 2 of 3 positive
- DSEE Extreme upscalingFew owner reports
- Wearing detection
- Hi-Res Audio Wireless with LDACMixedSound: 6 of 11 positive
What owners report
“I have the Sony WH-1000XM4 and they’re great! My partner did have theirs break after having them for about a year, but I’ve had my pair for two or more years and I’ve never had a problem with them. The noise cancelling is pretty good but mostly only when playing audio”
after 2 yearsView on Bluesky“I had the Sony XM4 for 3 years and had to buy me a new pair because my old ones broke on me, so I bought me a new pair but I saw the new headphones they are cool and all, but I bought the Sony's XM4 again because I love them and because of the price lol and I feel like they look more nicer than the newer models in my opinion”
after 3 yearsView on YouTube“[...] For Bose, the QuietComfort Ultra are the top of the line, but the cheaper/older QuietComfort 45 and 35 are both good too. For Sony, the WH-1000XM4 is the consensus favorite, even though the XM5 is newer. I own the XM4 and the older XM3 and I prefer the XM3 because I like the way it sounds with nothing playing better. I don't know how to describe it but the "silence" of the XM4 with ANC on but nothing playing feels too artificial for me. For office use, though, I prefer the XM4 since it has bluetooth multipoint and I can use them easily with both my laptop and phone without mucking around in settings. I'm changing jobs and going from having my own office to hoteling desks, so I imagine I'll be wearing the Sony's a lot more and I'm not sure if they'll be comfortable enough for all day use. [...] I haven't tried the new AirPods with ANC, but I love the Pros. [...] I have no experience with the Max, but from what I've read they can be uncomfortable for some people.”
“i got those as pressent from my company. Oh bro, first im presion "why audio quality is so extreemly bad like if i got hadphones from temu.." thats literaly it audio is baiscaly 100% dependant on internal equalisers, and soudn is very unnatural and bad quality so avoid this company and thank me later... sadly i have no recomendations for the moment, but analog Crossair hyperx II gaming headphones with just analog is way overperfoming those”
Common Sony WH-1000XM4 problems
Problems most owners who mention them agree on, plus ones owners are split on.
- Software & AI3 owners report thisView on Hacker News
“I have a pair of Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones, and their app constantly tells me to install the latest firmware update.”
- SoundOwners split: 5 complain, 6 happyView on YouTube
“mine has had so many issues the last couple of weeks randomly loosing sound etc”
- Comfort & sizeOwners split: 4 complain, 4 happyView on Bluesky
“over my life i've probably sacrificed hearing for comfort of loud music, bc 1/2”
- Build & durability2 owners report thisView on Hacker News
“There was no response to the Get Build Version command, and the Read Flash command returned an error.”