Sony WF-1000XM4 TWS Earbuds Unboxing and Review

Last June, Sony unveiled its latest True Wireless Stereo (TWS) earbuds in the critically acclaimed 1000X series - the WF-1000XM4. The Sony WF-1000XM4 promises to deliver the industry’s highest level of noise-canceling and audio quality to the next level.

Today, I was able to get my hands on one. I’d like to share my unboxing experience as well as the review of the device. So, let's deal first with the unboxing.

Unboxing the Sony WF-1000XM4

To produce lower waste, the packaging of the Sony WF-1000XM4 is plastic-free and made of Sony Original Blended Material consisting of bamboo, sugarcane, and post-consumer recycled paper.

The front portion of the packaging showed the WF-1000XM4 itself. Other details—model number, color, and other important details of the WF-1000XM4 are imprinted on the back portion of the box.

Inside the Box and Accessories

After removing the label of the packaging, you will first be greeted by the local 1-year warranty certificate for Sony headphones.

Once the lid was removed, you will see then the charging case, protected by a matte paper lining. The charging case shall contain the WF-1000XM4 earbuds.

Underneath the charging case and its cradle, is a pack full of paperwork - a reference guide in three languages, some notes in case the earbuds got soaked in water, and an access code for the free music service trial. Also on the front of the pack is a quick guide on how to use the WF-1000XM4.

After removing the information pack the following items are found underneath: Earbud tips in two sizes (S and L with M-size tips already installed by default on the earbuds) and a short USB Type-C to USB Type-A cable for the charging case.

Design and Walk Around

The charging case features a more rounded design with soft curves and the lid edge of the charging case expresses the same design language as the earbuds. The case is made of high-quality plastic with a tactile coating that provides a smooth matte texture and is not prone to fingerprint smudges.

Also, the case of the WF-1000XM4 is smaller than its predecessor, and its rounded shape is designed to be easy to carry in and out of a pocket or bag, and it is also designed to be stable when placed for wireless charging.

As for the color, the Sony WF-1000XM4 comes in two, namely: Black and Silver. My unit comes in Black color.

The front of the charging case contained the LED notification to show the current battery level, while the USB Type-C charging port was found on the back.

At the bottom is for the wireless charging, while on top is the lone Sony logo.

Inside the cylindrical shape of the microphone, a characteristic of the main body is also reflected in the inner side of the case lid, which is designed to stand out even inside the case.

Now let's take a closer look at the earbuds themselves. These premium earbuds are solidly built and come with the same tactile matte coating as the charging case. The microphones involved in the noise-canceling are highlighted with metallic copper accents.

At the top is where the earbud touch control area, tuning hole, and one of two noise-sensing microphones are found. By having two noise sensing microphones per ear – one feed-forward, and one feed-back – ambient noise is heard and analyzed to catch ambient sounds of the surroundings.

Meanwhile, the magnetic contact pins for charging, L/R indicator, wear-detection sensor, and another noise-sensing microphone can be seen at the bottom. The wear-detection sensor in each earbud can detect whether you’re wearing them and adapts playback accordingly.

For the earbuds tips, it uses a new Noise Isolation Earbuds Tips. Instead of silicone, the earbud tips are made from a unique polyurethane foam material that is soft, elastic, and gets wrinkles the more you use it. The soft memory foam of the earbud tips also maximizes the surface contact area between the earbud tip and the ear canal, thus insulating sound and reducing noise.

Pairing and Sony Headphones Connect App

The Sony WF-1000XM4 comes with Bluetooth 5.2 and uses Google’s Fast Pair technology for pairing. Google’s Fast Pair feature lets you easily locate your headphones and also lets you know when you’ve left the battery on and how much charge is left. The headphones also come with Microsoft Swift Pair, which makes it easy to connect with Windows 10 devices.

Right out of the box, the WF-1000XM4 will automatically enters pairing mode as soon as you take out the earbuds from the charging case using the usual Bluetooth pairing or by downloading the Sony Headphones Connect App for Android or iOS. When you pair a second or subsequent device, just put the earbuds into both ears, then hold your fingers to the touch sensors on both the left and right earbuds for about 5 seconds. You will hear the voice guidance say, “Bluetooth pairing”, from both earbuds.

The WF-1000XM4 can be paired with up to 8 devices. If a new device is paired after 8 devices are already paired, the registration information of the paired device with the oldest connection date is overwritten with the information for the new device.

The Sony Headphones Connect App is the software for firmware upgrade and function setting of Sony Wireless Headphones. Through this, you can quickly view the battery levels of your left and right earbuds, take advantage of 360 Reality Audio Setup, modify the headset operation and headset firmware upgrade.

The WF-1000XM4 touch sensor allows the user to activate Noise Cancellation, Ambient Sound, Quick Attention mode or simply skip, pause or play songs.

A single tap on the ambient sound control may switch between noise-canceling or ambient sound; tap and hold continuously will enable quick attention. Quick Attention mode decreases the volume instantly and lets ambient sound in, so you can listen to an announcement or say something briefly. On the playback control, a single tap will play or pause a song, double-tap for the next track, triple tap for the previous track, and long press to summon the voice assistant.

Audio Quality and Comfort

The Sony WF-1000XM4 outputs excellent audio quality. You can feel the bass very cleanly; vocals are clear and crisps, and it can also get very loud. For the call quality, Sony employs beamforming microphones that are calibrated to only pick up sounds from your mouth and bone-conduction sensors that only pick up vibrations from your voice. Call audio quality is good enough for voice calls or online meetings.

As for the comfort, the WF-1000XM4 ergonomic design is a bit tricky to wear but once I got it fit, the earbuds are comfortable to wear. It also securely fits on my ear and does not fall off even if I try shaking my head hard.

Other Features

The WF-1000XM4 comes with an Adaptive Sound Control, a smart feature that senses where you are and what you’re doing – for example, traveling, walking, or waiting – then adjusts ambient sound settings for the ideal listening experience. The Automatic Wind Noise Reduction mode on the other hand detects when it is windy and automatically suppresses it. While the Speak-to-Chat feature automatically pauses the music and lets in ambient sound so you can conduct a conversation. Once your chat is over, your music starts playing again automatically.

Other features of the WF-1000XM4 include the prioritization of Sound Quality or Stable Connection, equalizer with Clear Bass and audio profiles, Voice Assistant, and DSEE Extreme (Digital Sound Enhancement Engine) which upscales compressed digital music files in real-time. DSEE Extreme restores the high-range sound lost in compression.

Additionally, the earbuds support IPX4 water resistance rating (the charging case is not), there’s no need to worry about sweaty workouts and accidental splashing.

Battery Life and Charging

On their own, the Sony WF-1000XM4 can provide up to 8 hours of continuous playback with noise-canceling turned on, an improvement from 6 hours with the WF-1000XM3 and 12 hours with NC turned off. When used with the charging case, you can add another 16 hours of playback with a total of 24 hours using both NC and Bluetooth. Aside from music playback, the earbuds offer a talk time of up to 5.5 hours with NC turned on, and 6 hours of talk time with NC turned off.

If you’re out of juice, the WF-1000XM4 supports quick charging. With just 5 minutes of charging time, you’ll get 60 minutes of playtime. To fully charge the earbuds in the charging case, may take one and a half hours. The WF-1000XM4 also features Qi technology for wireless charging and the Sony Headphones Connect app will notify you when your charging case drops below 30%.

Sony WF-1000XM4 Specifications

• Battery Life:
• NC on - Up to 24H (8H earbuds + 16H charging case)
• NC off - Up to 36H (12H earbuds + 24H charging case)
• Wireless Charging: Yes
• Driver Unit: 6mm
• Noise Cancellation: Yes, Industry-Leading Noise Cancellation
• Ambient Sound: Yes, Ambient Sound Control, Quick Attention, Speak-to-Chat
• Water Resistance: IPX4
• Bluetooth: Version 5.2
• Sound Engine: DSEE Extreme
• Supported Codec: SBC, AAC, LDAC
• Supplied Accessories: Noise Isolation Earbuds Tips (S/M/L) / USB Type-C Cable
• Colors: Black and Silver

Price and Availability

The Sony WF-1000XM4 is priced at Php13,999 and is now available in all Sony Centres and Authorized Dealers nationwide.

Verdict

From its excellent audio quality, good noise-canceling, long battery life, and packed features the Sony WF-1000XM4 set a new benchmark for premium True Wireless Stereo (TWS) earbuds in the market today.

If you’re thinking of getting a new premium TWS earbud, I highly recommend that you buy this one. Even with its high asking price, Sony proves that the WF-1000XM4 is one of the best TWS out there that is worthy of your investment.