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Sony·headphones

Sony WH-1000XM4

Marketing claims66
Community reality83

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

57% positive (27)32% mixed (15)11% negative (5)

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.

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”

Read all 47 owner reviews

Common Sony WH-1000XM4 problems

Problems most owners who mention them agree on, plus ones owners are split on.

  • Software & AI3 owners report this

    “I have a pair of Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones, and their app constantly tells me to install the latest firmware update.”

    View on Hacker News
  • SoundOwners split: 5 complain, 6 happy

    “mine has had so many issues the last couple of weeks randomly loosing sound etc”

    View on YouTube
  • Comfort & sizeOwners split: 4 complain, 4 happy

    “over my life i've probably sacrificed hearing for comfort of loud music, bc 1/2”

    View on Bluesky
  • Build & durability2 owners report this

    “There was no response to the Get Build Version command, and the Read Flash command returned an error.”

    View on Hacker News

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