Sony WH-1000XM4: Legendary Japanese headphones

It’s easy to forget that it wasn’t that long ago that the noise-cancelling headphone market was completely dominated by Bose. Not so anymore. Now every audio brand capable of harnessing the technology is in on the act, and there’s no pair more in demand than the Sony WH-1000XM3s (pictured below).

Their popularity is understandable: the WH-1000XM3 headphones are so good that they won awards from What Hi-Fi? Awards since their launch in 2018. These are still great headphones for now, but with competitors like Sennheiser and B&W also cutting out slices of the premium noise-cancelling headphone pie, it’s inevitable that Sony will release a new version very soon – and we can’t wait to see what they will do with them.

Sony WH-1000XM4 release date
It looks like Sony will officially announce the release of the WH-1000XM4 headphones at IFA this September, since it was at this event that all previous versions – MDR-1000X, WH-1000XM2 and WH-1000XM3 were presented. Following the previous model, the new version should be available to order almost as soon as it is announced.

If it were anything like a bet, we’d bet money on Sony’s IFA press conference taking place on Friday, September 4, 2020, as well as the WH-1000XM4 headphones being announced on stage.

We’d also bet the Sony WH-1000XM4 to cost $349, since that’s what each of the previous three pairs in the series cost at launch.

Of course, it’s possible that the WH-1000XM4 will be announced at a special event (MWC is no longer an option) before IFA 2020 and that they will cost much more or less than $349, but Sony’s exceptional consistency with the series so far gives us plenty of confidence in our predictions .

But are we even right in assuming that the Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones will be called ‘WH-1000XM4’? We believe so. Not only did each model in the series follow a format in which ‘M’ is short for ‘Mark’ and the number representing the entry in the series (so ‘M4’ is ‘Mark 4’), in the FCC file dug up The Verge in January, there is an identification code ‘AK8WH1000XM4’.

This makes it extremely likely that the model number will be ‘WH-1000XM4’, although it is possible that Sony could reduce it to fine print and use a catchier name in their marketing. However, we think this is unlikely

⚙ Sony WH-1000XM4 Specifications:

So what can you expect from the Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones in terms of specifications and features? Unfortunately, there haven’t been any rumors or leaks to shed any light so far, so we’re reserving speculation based on Sony’s recent model and general industry trends.

These will, of course, be full-size, wireless headphones with active noise reduction. We expect Sony to continue to offer several different noise-canceling modes, as well as allowing the user to customize the amount of noise-cancellation using a companion app.

We expect the noise canceling technology to be even better than before simply because that’s the direction things are moving and increased competition will push Sony to push things further and further. We may find that one of the focus points is the noise-canceling microphones used to pick up your voice while talking on the phone, making your voice clearer to the person on the other end.

Apple’s AirPods Pro earbuds also feature new noise-canceling technology that launched last year. Microphones located on the outside work with microphones located on the inside to analyze and help eliminate any noise that passes through the physical barrier of the headphones. They also listen to how the music behaves in their ears.

AirPods Pros analyze this information and adapt to it at a speed of 200 times per second. While we don’t necessarily expect Sony to go that far, this kind of real-time analysis and tuning seems to be happening in the industry and will likely make its way to the WH-1000XM4 headphones in some form.

What really sets the WH-1000XM3 headphones apart from the competition is the sound quality, which goes beyond the switch to analog amplification. Sony has worked tirelessly to create a chip that combines noise cancellation, a DAC, and an analog amplifier in a form small and light enough to fit into a pair of headphones. With the QN1 chip, she coped with this task.

Could we see the second generation of this chip with the WH-1000XM4 headphones? Perhaps called ‘QN2’? Seems likely to us. Sony must be careful here, though, as the WH-1000XM3 are exceptionally balanced in their delivery, combining a bit of the warmth and richness of analog style with a fair amount of digital detail. We wouldn’t want the WH-1000XM4 to go too far anyway.

The WH-1000XM3 uses Bluetooth 4.2 with support for advanced aptX, aptX HD and LDAC formats. We expect the WH-1000XM4 headphones to go further and offer Bluetooth 5.0, likely with support for aptX Adaptive, which offers improved audio quality with lower latency.