When the team at Sony introduced their first pair of 1000X headphones, they were competing in a market overwhelmed by big brands like Bang & Olufsen and Bose.

Proprietary audio technology for great sound, AI enhancements to compressed music, Adaptive sound control, Smart listening for convenience, and wearing detection, 30-hour battery life with 10-minute quick charge, Multi-device pairing, App connectivity, Touch controls are easy to use, Amazon Alexa...

Not many upgrades from the previous, No waterproofing, No APTX support

The Sony WH-1000XM4 are simply brilliant, possibly the best premium headphones on the market right now. Offering excellent sound quality, a host of useful and well-implemented smart features, and being very comfortable to wear as well, frankly you’ll struggle to find any headphones that beat these.

The Sony WH-1000XM4 over-ear headphones combine fantastic sound quality, great battery life, and class-leading active noise cancellation to create one of the best pairs of headphones on the market.

The world of noise-canceling headphones is getting increasingly competitive. While the likes of Apple have started releasing their own models, companies like Sony and Bose continue to refine and develop their headphones.

Sony has refreshed its flagship wireless headphones this year, though you will be forgiven if you mistake the XM4s for a rehash of the XM3. Taking a “don’t fix it unless it’s broken” approach, Sony didn’t set out to fully remake the headphones.

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;

You can pick up the Sony WH-1000XM4 for a lovely discount this Black Friday

The WH-1000XM4 are the fourth entry in Sony’s series of over-ear headphones and connect to your phone, tablet or laptop via Bluetooth

Improved audio, more effective noise cancellation and smart new features make the Sony WH-1000XM4 the over-ear headphones to beat

Class-leading noise cancellation; Supremely comfortable; Excellent audio quality;

Lack water resistance; Microphone quality could be better;

Improved audio, more effective noise cancellation and smart new features make the Sony WH-1000XM4 the over-ear headphones to beat

Class-leading noise cancellation; Supremely comfortable; Excellent audio quality;

Lack water resistance; Microphone quality could be better;