The WH-1000XM4C is supposed to be an improved version of the original WH-1000XM4, packing the same 40mm drivers, and now with Bluetooth 6 and the new 10-band equalizer. But when I was testing it during my live stream, a few things jumped out. First, although it still seems very durable during my flex test, the material of the plastic seems to be different from the OG WH-1000XM4, and it does feel a bit cheaper.
It doesn’t support NFC either so the NFC logo is gone, battery life is rated as up to 27 hours instead of the previous 30 due to the new user-replaceable batteries, and the most interesting thing I discovered is that it does not support both LDAC codec while using multipoint. If you need to use LDAC, multipoint pairing has to be switched off. In fact that was how the WH-1000XM3 from 2018 used to work! So at least in terms of features, the XM4C is not a decisive upgrade to me. It’s better in some areas, but not all.
That being said, its sound quality is an upgrade, and I’m going to talk more about that, as well as how they compare to the current flagship, the XM6, so buckle up!
Microphone Quality
Its microphone pickup is exactly the same as the OG XM4, which means in noisy conditions, it doesn’t reduce background noise much. In contrast, the current gen Sonys do a pretty decent job of noise reduction and voice filtering compared to the XM4C.
👉🏻 Listen to the ANC quality samples
Active Noise Cancelling
As for its active noise canceling, listening to recordings of its noise canceling compared to the OG WH-1000XM4, there seems to be quite an improvement which is surprising. I seriously thought that it’ll just be comparable, but the WH-1000XM4C seems to block more noise passively, as well as actively canceling more noise in the mid and upper frequencies, which makes them overall more quiet.
Goes to show that in spite of it having the same QN1 chip as the OG WH-1000XM4, the algorithm was brought up to speed with today’s standards.
👉🏻 Listen to the ANC quality samples
Its noise canceling is also more effective compared to the CH730N which I reviewed recently, and it’s not as effective as the WH-1000XM6 or the ColleXion, especially against noise in the upper mids to high frequencies.
👉🏻 Listen to the ANC comparison
Transparency Mode
As for its transparency mode, that’s one area which doesn’t seem to beat the OG WH-1000XM4. Its passthrough is usable for quick awareness, but it still feels quite dark, and it isn’t able to pick up and amplify voices very well, so my own voice feels blocked when I’m speaking, which can make face to face conversations feel very unnatural.
It is better than the Ch730n’s, but it’s definitely not as clear or transparent as the WH-1000XM6 or ColleXion. Well, you can activate voice passthrough mode to amplify voices and make conversations feel more natural, but it’s going to darken the ambience even more.
Sound Quality
Its sound quality out of the box, with its default settings, sounds great. It’s got the same 40mm drivers as the OG WH-1000XM4, but it sounds very different. It’s a smoother sound, less bloat in the bass and lower mids, less sibilance in the upper mids and highs, and the soundstage feels more relaxed.
Vocals sound heavy and rich, and overall it’s a very enjoyable sound. That being said, just like the WH-1000XM6, out of the box it does require EQ-ing to sound clean and punchy, otherwise it’s going to sound a little messy in the soundstage and boxy in the vocals listening to high BPM tracks.
You can find my settings for the WH-1000XM4C on my Instagram. Compared to the ColleXion, the ColleXion does sound better because it feels a bit more sculpted, airy and resolving, and the bass is also more tactile and textured. But I also like that WH-1000XM4C’s flatter, more relaxed tuning.
Also, it feels like the WH-1000XM4C has the widest and most enveloping soundstage among all the current-gen Sonys.
👉🏻 Listen to the sound quality samples
Comfort
As for comfort, it’s super comfortable. A somewhat firm, but gentle clamp, with nice cushioning on the head. Definitely more comfortable than the newer WH-1000XM6 and ColleXion since it doesn’t clamp against the jaw. That being said, for people with larger ears, the earcups aren’t that spacious so your ears are going to press against the driver units.
Battery Life
Its battery life is surprisingly shorter than expected. After 3 hours of listening on my iPhone at 50% volume with noise canceling, DSEE Extreme and multipoint, it dropped about 20%. That works out to about 15 hours tops for the full battery, but I think it’s because I turned on DSEE Extreme and Multipoint which does affect listening time.
Bluetooth Connectivity
For Bluetooth connectivity, yes it’s got Bluetooth 6, but somehow it feels like a downgrade because as I said, it does not do LDAC and multipoint at the same time. And even with multipoint, somehow the switching isn’t that seamless. When I’m connected to my Windows PC and my iPhone, sometimes the switching doesn’t work even when I’ve stopped playing audio on one device. Hopefully this issue isn’t a hardware thing, and can be resolved through a firmware update.
Conclusion
The WH-1000XM4C is really meant to appeal to WH-1000XM4 owners who are looking for “fresh” WH-1000XM4s to replace the old and beat up ones they currently have, maybe because they didn’t like the design of the WH-1000XM6, or maybe they have trust issues because of the WH-1000XM5’s reputation for the headband being fragile. If so, I can see the WH-1000XM4C being very compelling since in some areas, it is indeed an upgrade over the OG WH-1000XM4.
In other areas, not so much, and there are even some downgrades we talked about, but I do think as a whole, the WH-1000XM4C is worth checking out for the sound quality and its classic design. But do you think so? Let me know in the comments.
âś…Check latest price:
Sony WH-1000XM4C - https://link.amazon/B055rFyVV
Sony WH-1000XM6 - https://amzn.to/4n6OcuL
Sony 1000X The ColleXion - https://amzn.to/4vLVmYE
Sony WH-CH730N - https://amzn.to/4BzgCEW
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