Sony WF-1000XM4 Earphones Boast Better ANC, Better Battery, LDAC Support & More

Well, one of the most leaked earbuds recently has finally been announced by Sony, and we’re definitely all excited to take a closer look at the WF-1000XM4 when we can. In the meantime though, here are the specs as announced by the company.

Credit: Sony

There’s a new Integrated Processor V1 inside that’s supposed to offer even better active noise cancellation performance and audio quality. Each earbud comes with two microphones, one feed-forward and one feed-back, to effectively analyse and cancel out environmental sounds. Additionally, there’s a new bone conduction sensor in the earbuds that are supposed to make the user’s voice even clearer by picking up vibrations when the user is speaking.

The earbuds also support Sony’s LDAC codec for high-res streaming from phones and audio players, which was something that was missing from the WF-1000XM3. There’s also DSEE Extreme for audio upscaling.

Credit: Sony

A great new feature from the WH-1000XM4 headphones, the Speak-to-Chat feature, makes its way to the WF-1000XM4, and it’s actually pretty useful. If you think it’s too slow though, there’s a Quick Attention feature where you can hold a finger to the left earbud to let in ambient sound and lower the volume.

Battery life is much improved, with Sony claiming 8 hours with ANC on and 12 hours with ANC off. Comparing it to the WF-1000XM3’s 6 hours with ANC on and 8 hours with ANC off, the WF-1000XM4 is definitely a welcome upgrade. There’s also fast charging here, with 5 mins charging providing 60 mins of playback. Wireless charging is also available here, which is a nice touch.

There’s IPX4 water resistance so you have a bit more peace of mind if you’re planning on using these for exercise. There was no IP rating on the WF-1000XM3, so that’s another improvement.

Credit: Sony

The earbuds come in black or silver, and retail at US$279.99 or S$379. The Sony WF-1000XM4 is available for purchase today on Sony US’s website and for preorder on Singapore’s website with general availability starting on 24 June.