Sony WH-1000XM4 discussion and reviews
Sep 5, 2020 at 9:16 PM Post #181 of 634
I have the XB900’s as my wireless noise cancelling headphones. I was stirred by the XM4’s as the 900’s noise cancelling is a bit meh.

I tried the XM4’s and XM3’s in store over a few days with my own device and music. Pretty sure I know what to pin down these days in sound.

Gotta say if you listened to the XM3’s at home and a ‘friend’ swapped to the XM4’s while you went to make a coffee. You wouldn’t even know or spit out said coffee on return.

Needless to say I now have the XM3’s at discount. As far as future proof. Bluetooth plays music sounds good. End of story.
I found XB900 to be generally mediocre all around.
 
Sep 7, 2020 at 3:54 AM Post #183 of 634
Looks like Bass hasn't really changed, but they raised the upper-mids. It's much greater V-shaped now from being warm side with too elevated bass-boost. I think I would prefer a response that has the upper frequencies of XM3 with lower shelved bass. Also, the measurements show the ANC not improved, and maybe slight worse with XM4. I have no interest in XM4 now. Besides, it seems that they didn't even improve the mic (much like NC700) and just boosted the upper-mids. They didn't do really much to it. If you'll have XM3 already, just EQ it, no need for XM4.

XM3


XM4

This is interesting. 2,5 weeks ago I saying that xm3 and xm4 sounding very similar, then one person replying: "So when people say they sound "close to the same", I should find out what they're smoking, 'cause that's some good stuff!"

This person insisting the sound is very different and very better with xm4.
 
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Sep 7, 2020 at 3:55 AM Post #184 of 634
Sorry, is a double post.
 
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Sep 7, 2020 at 5:50 PM Post #185 of 634
Jumping back into this thread to qualify some of my earlier criticism. I actually bought a PXC 550 II to compare with the XM4 based on some YT reviews stating the 550 II was uber-comfortable with spacious ear pads. Well, so much for relying on YT for buying decisions: the 550 pads were way smaller than the XM4, and not at all more comfortable - the edges of the pads were basically hanging onto the outside of my ear. I literally tried them on twice and put them right back in the box.

I gave some more time to the XM4 and, in comparison, can’t really fault it any more for not being as comfortable as, say, a Senn, Beyer, or AKG open back - they’re noise cancellers after all, so you have to trade a bit of comfort. Given the phenomenal noise cancelling and excellent sound quality, I’ve decided to keep them, since I don’t see anything in the market competing right now.

Anyway: just throwing that out there because I don’t want to negatively influence someone’s purchasing decision with my previous comments - these aren’t the ear killers I made ‘em out to be.
 
Sep 9, 2020 at 3:27 AM Post #186 of 634
I'm trying to look for a solution to connecting these to my laptop to listen to music and play some games with. By default, windows only supports SBC, so I was wondering if I should get a usb transceiver like the btr3 to connect using LDAC or get a DAP (Like the AP80 pro or Hiby R3 pro) and use it as a USB DAC to conenct these headphones with.

Also, would a DAP make much difference between using it with my Note 10+?
 
Sep 9, 2020 at 9:49 AM Post #187 of 634
I'm trying to look for a solution to connecting these to my laptop to listen to music and play some games with. By default, windows only supports SBC, so I was wondering if I should get a usb transceiver like the btr3 to connect using LDAC or get a DAP (Like the AP80 pro or Hiby R3 pro) and use it as a USB DAC to conenct these headphones with.

Also, would a DAP make much difference between using it with my Note 10+?

If you want to use the XM4 as both headphones and Mic while gaming, the audio codec drops to the lowest quality format of SBC when the mic is active. Acceptable for voice calls but absolutely useless for gaming audio.
 
Sep 9, 2020 at 10:01 AM Post #188 of 634
Actually I have a separate mic if I need to chat so my priority is audio. I was recently looking at the r3 pro or the ap80 pro which is around my budget. Or there is a demo r5 at the store also at the price range
 
Sep 12, 2020 at 11:49 AM Post #191 of 634
Ignoring all the computational and noise-cancelling features of these headphones, how do they sound when just plugged into a laptop, or portable DAC? Where would you place them in the general hierarchy of headphones that are just basic headphones? All the reviews talk about the very clever tech, but I can't find anything that just talks about sound quality for music playback, so I'm just left presuming that if they're $350, and you account for all the cost of the noise-cancelling, Bluetooth, and microphones, you're left with a $50-75 equivalent set of headphones.
 
Sep 13, 2020 at 2:07 PM Post #192 of 634
Ignoring all the computational and noise-cancelling features of these headphones, how do they sound when just plugged into a laptop, or portable DAC? Where would you place them in the general hierarchy of headphones that are just basic headphones? All the reviews talk about the very clever tech, but I can't find anything that just talks about sound quality for music playback, so I'm just left presuming that if they're $350, and you account for all the cost of the noise-cancelling, Bluetooth, and microphones, you're left with a $50-75 equivalent set of headphones.

Bluetooth you mean? I don’t know if anyone would cable tie them. :wink:

Given that the audiophiles are a very small percentage and that these, the XM3’s, QC35ii’s and heck even the Beats studio 3’s are the general choices for the other 98% of the listeners. They have to review good sound not just be great at blocking sound. The YouTube reviewers that review these will test many sets for outright sound and place these high.

I have had them all or tried what I haven’t had. Sure my open back Sennheiser’s have detail but I’m a struggling ‘audiophile‘. I like bass. I’d go as far as to say the human race is genetically tuned to low frequencies. I sometimes use my XM3’s then immediately swap to the Senns. It’s like the fun button off on your hifi. Remember the 90’s hifi‘s had a loudness button. Like that’s off. Plus when your tunes are bopping in the background you don’t strain your head to listen to hear everything at once and the furthest reaching symbol tap. You read, browse and switch off.


So do they sound good even tho they are full of tech? TLDR?

YES!
 
Sep 13, 2020 at 2:39 PM Post #193 of 634
Bluetooth you mean? I don’t know if anyone would cable tie them. :wink:

Given that the audiophiles are a very small percentage and that these, the XM3’s, QC35ii’s and heck even the Beats studio 3’s are the general choices for the other 98% of the listeners. They have to review good sound not just be great at blocking sound. The YouTube reviewers that review these will test many sets for outright sound and place these high.

I have had them all or tried what I haven’t had. Sure my open back Sennheiser’s have detail but I’m a struggling ‘audiophile‘. I like bass. I’d go as far as to say the human race is genetically tuned to low frequencies. I sometimes use my XM3’s then immediately swap to the Senns. It’s like the fun button off on your hifi. Remember the 90’s hifi‘s had a loudness button. Like that’s off. Plus when your tunes are bopping in the background you don’t strain your head to listen to hear everything at once and the furthest reaching symbol tap. You read, browse and switch off.


So do they sound good even tho they are full of tech? TLDR?

YES!
Thanks, that's helpful. I did mean cable connected though. On the specifications it says the frequency response is 4-40kHz, but 20-20/40kHz via Bluetooth. So it seems to go lower when not on Bluetooth. So I was wondering what they'd sound like if I plugged them into the Dragonfly Cobalt. I'm the same as you; I like bass and this bit between 4Hz and 20Hz is bass, so it did make me wonder.

Anyway, I'm currently at a bit of a loss with what to buy next and was thinking of just giving up and getting these. The high-tech features are actually a convenience I could use right now, but I tried some Jabra Elite 85h's and they didn't cut it at all for just basic sound quality. My last headphones were Fostex TH-X00's and I currently have U12t IEM's, so I'm noticing when stuff doesn't sound that great any more.

EDIT: just saw the headphones.com review on the previous page, which answers all my questions.
 
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Sep 19, 2020 at 9:04 AM Post #195 of 634
Bluetooth you mean? I don’t know if anyone would cable tie them. :wink:

Given that the audiophiles are a very small percentage and that these, the XM3’s, QC35ii’s and heck even the Beats studio 3’s are the general choices for the other 98% of the listeners. They have to review good sound not just be great at blocking sound. The YouTube reviewers that review these will test many sets for outright sound and place these high.

I have had them all or tried what I haven’t had. Sure my open back Sennheiser’s have detail but I’m a struggling ‘audiophile‘. I like bass. I’d go as far as to say the human race is genetically tuned to low frequencies. I sometimes use my XM3’s then immediately swap to the Senns. It’s like the fun button off on your hifi. Remember the 90’s hifi‘s had a loudness button. Like that’s off. Plus when your tunes are bopping in the background you don’t strain your head to listen to hear everything at once and the furthest reaching symbol tap. You read, browse and switch off.


So do they sound good even tho they are full of tech? TLDR?

YES!
I think the issue is getting quality bass with audiphile can is much more expensive. The bass on cans like XM4 is pretty bad compared to some of the audiophile headphones with greater bass quantity.

I agree with you that majority of people want practicality and pricing. ANC is very practical and these headphones are priced as 'high-end' for majority of the population. Majority would't have reference of qualitatice differences to really know.
 

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