Sony on Thursday (January 13) launched the new generation WF-1000XM4 series earbuds in India.
Sony WF-1000XM4 costs Rs 19,990 and is slated to go on sale later this weekend on January 16. It is touted to be the best-in-class true-wireless stereo (TWS) with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) feature. Does it really live up to the hype? Let’s check it out.
Design and build quality
The WF-1000XM4 earphones feature a smaller form factor compared to the predecessor but promise to deliver the better audio output and also last long hours. The earphones boast high-quality ear tips and fit comfortably into the ears It also comes with two pairs of earbud tips in different sizes. But for me, the ones that came pre-fitted with earphones were perfect and comfortable. I wore it several hours during the day and never felt any discomfort as such. In addition to better fit to the ears, newly designed ear tips are also good in controlling noise creeping into ears even during the ambient mode.
Also, they come with an IPX4 rating, meaning the earphones can sustain heavy sweating and even moderate rains, but we advise users once inside the home or indoors, dry it with a cloth so that there won’t be an issue with charging inside the case.
Talking of the case, as said before the earphones are smaller in this generation series, 10 per cent to be precise, over the previous iteration. So the case too, is reduced by 40 per cent. It comes with a Type-C charger port and supports fast charging too. With just five minutes of charging, earphones can offer close to 60 minutes of listening.
Furthermore, the earphones case also supports wireless charging and it can draw power from any of the Qi-based charging adaptors.
Inside, each earphone houses a newly designed 6mm driver unit with a 20% increase in magnet volume and it promises to deliver good noise-canceling capabilities.
Add to that, the increase in magnet volume and the high compliance diaphragm is said to offer enhanced performance in low frequencies and enhance noise canceling by generating a high-precision cancellation signal to the low-frequency range. We will see if this really works, in the performance segment below.
Another notable aspect of the new WF-1000XM4 is that each earphone comes with really good sensors on the top. They react quickly to the tap.
Setting up and user-interface
Sony offers the Headphones Connect app for both iPhones and Android handsets. Once it is installed, open the app and bring earphones closer to the phone and follow the instructions on the screen. For me, it took barely five minutes to open a Sony account and pair them with the mobile.
In the app, Sony offers excellent personalization features such as equalizer with preset modes including Bright, Excited, Mellow, Relaxed, Vocal, Treble Boost, Bass Boost, Speech, Manual in addition to two custom modes with the option to try your hand controlling the audio delivery to match to taste. This value-added feature definitely helps improve the user experience on earphones.
Furthermore, the app also allows users to assign functions to the top sensors on the earphones. You can assign single-tap gestures on the left or right earphones to activate ambient or turn on Active Noise cancellation. On the other earphone, you can single-tap, double-tap, and triple-tap to play/pause, jump or go back to the previous track with ease.
Performance
During the entire week of usage, I had a great time listening to the music on the Sony WF-1000XM4. The sound delivery is exceptionally good and doesn’t matter what genre of song you play. It offers an immersive experience and particularly when listening with ANC-on, it seals the ears and doesn’t allow even a little noise of the outside world to interfere while using it. I have started working from home for a week now. I had to use the earphones to block the TV noise coming from the living room and I work just a floor above; with an open staircase inside, the annoying soap opera soundtracks usually echos in the upper floor. To my good luck, WF-1000XM4 has come in really handy and has helped me block all the unwanted sound and focus on my work. It is so good, last night, I couldn’t even hear my mother calling for dinner from just ten feet downstairs and she had to call my phone to get my attention. Double thumbs up to Sony engineers.
But, I do have a word of caution for users to be wary when using ANC-on while walking or driving on roads. Set the earphones to ambient mode to listen to the horns and follow the traffic rules strictly. Given how the Covid-19 cases are rising all over the country, it is better to stay put at home and only go out for necessary work. And, maintain social distance, wear masks and respect Covid-19 safety protocols set by the government.
Coming back to the topic at hand, the new Sony earphones support Edge-AI and DSEE Extreme 2 (Digital Sound Enhancement Engine). Their job is to improve the quality of compressed digital music files in real-time. Furthermore, they are said to be capable of dynamically recognizing the instrumentation, musical genres, and individual elements of each song, such as vocals or interludes. Did they perform well? Yes, they did a fine job in those aspects.
It also supports 360 Reality Audio format to deliver an excellent immersive listening experience. I was able to experience it through some sample audio on offer on the Sony Headphones Connect app and it was amazing.
Also, another noteworthy feature is the Speak-to-chat feature; The sensors on the earphones are really good and they are capable of pausing the music automatically if I just say any word to allow me to have a conversation with a person in front of me. It is powered by Precise Voice Pickup technology with four microphones, including a beamforming microphone, bone conduction sensor, and Integrated Processor V1. They work together to sense I am talking and pause the audio immediately. And, after a few seconds of noticing no voice coming out of my mouth and the jaw bone in steady-state, the music continues.
As far as the battery life is concerned, it does live up to the hype and was able to deliver close to eight hours with ANC-on. I didn’t feel any anxiety about losing battery life in the middle of the webinars over the last week, as I was able to view the battery life of each of the earphones on the app, and also every time they go into the case, they charge up really fast. In this case, they can last additional 16 hours with ANC-on and in total, they can last for a whole day (24 hours). Without just the ambient sound mode, it can go up to 32 hours with the case in a single charge.
Also, the green light in the case indicates the earphones are fully charged and there is an orange colour indicator, which suggests the earphones are being charged.
Final thoughts
Sony WF-1000XM4 performs exceptionally well and checks all the boxes— be it brilliant audio delivery, excellent active noise cancellation, sensitive touch sensors, remarkable speak-to-chat features and it is really astonishing how these compact earphones can deliver close to eight hours with ANC-on. It may be a little early in the year to say this, but WF-1000XM4 is one of the best earphones of 2022 and with Rs 19,999 price tag, it will be really tough for any rival brand to beat this amazing product.
For now, Sony WF-1000XM4 sits right at the top of my recommended list for TWS earphones under Rs 20,000.
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