Sony nearly did it again. The company has dominated both over-ear and true wireless product categories for the last few years. It has a knack for creating a compelling combination of sound quality, noise cancelling performance, customization and features.

The Sony WF-1000XM4 are profoundly impressive across the board, and are arguably the best true wireless earbuds you can buy. Some rivals may outperform them in certain areas, but the all-round package is very hard to beat.

Coherent, expressive and engagingly musical sound, Exemplary control app, Splendid call quality

Battery life could be better, Noise-cancelling not quite the best out there

Astonishingly good sound; Excellent noise cancellation; Improved design; IPX4 rating; Smaller case ; Comprehensive feature set;

Is the noise cancelling the best? ; More expensive than before; Call quality suffers in noisy areas;

They might be at the premium end of the wireless earbud market in terms of price but the Sony WF-1000XM4 really do offer the most premium experience with astonishingly good sound and countless features.

Compact and comfortable; Incredible sound; Almost endless smart features;

Expensive;

The Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds are the complete package, offering first-rate sound quality, effective ANC and numerous useful features

Excellent audio quality; Smart, effective noise cancellation; Useful quality-of-life features;

No multipoint pairing; Fit can be a bit fiddly;

The Sony WF-1000XM4 are some of the very best sounding, most effective noise-cancelling Bluetooth earbuds money can buy. They still have a terrible name, but are smaller, easier to fit and more comfortable, last longer and are much more pocketable than their best-in-class predecessors.

Pros: Brilliant sound, very effective noise cancelling, good ambient sound modes, long battery life, long-term comfort, solid connectivity, full EQ, Google Assistant, Alexa, pocketable case, cross-platform app support.

Cons: Big for earbuds, expensive, can’t control everything at the same time from the gesture panel, mic can sound muffled in loud places, no extra wings to hold them in for running.

These earbuds offer truly fantastic audio performance that is yet to be bettered by any other true wireless rivals. Noise cancellation is very well executed, and the slimmed down design is both easy to wear and still packs a decent punch of battery life.

If silence is a true luxury, then perhaps the $279.99 which Sony asks for its new WF-1000XM4 active-noise cancelling earbuds isn’t, in fact, all that lavish. The company which upended ANC – and gave Bose and others sleepless nights – with headphones like the WH-1000XM3 has returned to demonstrate...

Incredibly powerful active noise cancellation, Excellent battery life, Excels at a wide array of musical styles, IPX4 and wireless charging support now added

No Bluetooth Multipoint, Voice call performance is only average

The Sony WF-1000XM4 is the wireless earbuds upgrade we’ve anticipated, with better aesthetics, sound, noise cancellation and battery life. The Sony WF-1000XM4 is a sweet upgrade that packages elite sound, noise cancellation, and awesome features into a fancy, revamped design.

Exceptional, full-bodied sound, Gorgeous redesign, Strong noise cancellation, Great battery life, Endless number of personalized features, Responsive smart controls

Call quality still underperforms, Unstable fit, No multipoint technology or NFC

In the over-the-ear headset market, the battle between noise-canceling headphones is primarily between Sony and Bose. However, in the wireless earbuds space, there are many competitors with noise-canceling capability now present even in some earbuds priced less than $100.

Stunning audio performance, Effective active noise-cancellation, Speak-to-chat option, Long battery life, Simple, reliable touch controls, Small case with wireless charging capability

Expensive