Sony continues to serve up some of the finest noise-cancelling headphones on the market – the WH-1000XM4s will be tough to beat

Dynamic; detail-rich sound; Sensational sense of timing; Lightweight; comfy and clever

No IP rating; No aptX support

The Sony WH-1000XM4 deliver excellent noise-cancellation and surprising sound quality all in a lightweight, comfortable design. While they don't look significantly different from their predecessors, a number of new features including multipoint pairing, DSEE Extreme upscaling, conversational...

Improved noise-cancellation; DSEE Extreme audio upscaling; Multipoint pairing; Auto-play/pause and conversation awareness

Imperceptible design changes; Not water-resistant; Call quality still isn’t perfect; Singing can pause the music

Sony's terrific WH-1000XM4 headphones combine top-notch noise cancellation with audiophile-friendly sound quality.

Excellent audio performance with rich bass and detailed highs; Top-tier noise cancellation with in-app adjustments; Customizable EQ; Simple; responsive on-ear controls; Comfortable fit

Expensive; Cable lacks inline remote

Simply the best all-round noise-cancelling headphones you can buy

Speak-to-Chat works well (and stops you singing); Noise cancellation even better than before; Wear detection a much-needed addition; They sound fantastic with any genre

Expensive; Samey design might put people off upgrading

There isn’t a lot of new features on the WH-1000XM4, but that’s because it is already very good. For existing WH-1000XM3 owners, there is little reason to upgrade, more so when the design is almost identical, providing little freshness to the new purchase.

One of the best active noise-cancelling implementations on headphones in the market; New feature "Speak-to-Chat" works magically well; Ability to custom EQ and save in the headphones; Excellent smartphone app features

Relatively marginal improvements that might not matter to many; Overall plastic design lacks the premium outlook; No aptX audio codec; although SBC did not fare poorly; Ambient sound not as open sounding

“Same price, even better features. Sony's WH-1000XM4 are what perfect looks like.”

Very comfortable; Excellent sound quality; Excellent noise canceling; Very good call quality; Very good battery life; Bluetooth multi-device pairing; Handy; customizable features

No aptX or aptX HD

Sony released its superb WH-1000XM3 noise-canceling headphones in 2018, and they still frequently top lists for the best noise-canceling headphones you can buy. But competitors haven’t been sitting idle: Bose’s Noise Canceling Headphones 700 are neck and neck with Sony for noise cancellation and...

Sony’s best noise-canceling capabilities yet; Improved voice quality; Support for two simultaneous Bluetooth connections

USB-C port cannot be used for audio; No significant design changes after two years; Cold-weather improvements are unproven

Our first impressions of hands-on time with Sony's new WH-1000XM4 hheadphones....

If you have the money and want a top-tier pair of headphones for modern life, the Sony WH-1000XM4 are the way to go. The combination of high quality Bluetooth codecs, great sound, improved noise cancelling, good battery life, and smart features like autopause and Bluetooth multipoint makes these the...

Great noise cancelling; Great sound quality; Bluetooth multipoint is super convenient; Multiple Bluetooth codecs supported (SBC; AAC; LDAC); Bluetooth 5.0; Battery life is great; Comfortable and has hinges for folding; Auto-pauses when you take them off

Price is still expensive; Double-tap to pause didn't always work; Slightly less comfortable than the WH-1000XM3; Battery life is down from the previous version; Custom button controls either the Assistant OR noise cancelling

To improve upon what were considered to be the best noise-cancelling headphones seemed like a tricky task, but the WH-1000XM4 do exactly that, making the XM3 feel slightly dated in doing so. They sound better, noise-cancelling is excellent and they're one of most comfortable headphones to wear.

Superb audio; Great noise cancellation; Comfortable fit; lightweight design; Useful smart features

No aptX/aptX-HD