I have been using these industry leading headphones by Sony, colour Midnight Blue, and trust me i find them worth every penny spent. Yes, i agree these headphones are highly expensive, some may say you can purchase Apple Airpods, Boss, Sennheiser, and other audio equipment options, but trust me nothing beats these bad boys.
I am not a tech reviewer, but since being a musician, a music connoisseur myself and a huge fanatic of accessories such as headphones, earphones and smart gadgets, i can tell, these headphones are a revolution to the sound industry. I'll be quoting every pros and cons that i've personally come across and might help a few of you who decide to purchase this beauty.
Pros:
1. Active Noise Cancellation (ANC): Let's talk about people who love listening to their music without any external interference while working, walking, running, working out, during a flight, or any other mode where they'd use them, ANC is a boon. Switch to ANC, you'll have the minimum of the minimum noise entering your ears. Only sounds close to you can reach at a very low level, else wise, you won't feel a thing in your ear. Be prepared for some bashing from your parents when they scream your name on top of their voices, and you've got that ANC kicked in.
2. 3 Ambience Sound Control (ASC) ON: Apart from the ANC, there are two more features that these bad boys offer. ASC when active gives you a chance to listen to your surroundings at a certain level where you can be aware of people speaking, birds chirping, children hauling in the park, and other sounds. This feature enables one to understand the surrounding noises and doesn't feel isolated.
3. Ambience Sound Control (ASC) OFF: When ASC is disabled or switched off, you can listen to your surrounding voices in a much denser state, ie. much more clearly in comparison to when the ASC is enabled. This feature is much similar to the ASC ON, just a slight difference of pitch and volume of the surrounding entering your ears.
4. Head Phones Connect by Sony: Let's talk about the main functioning unit of these headphones, the app provided by Sony under the name of Head Phones Connect. You can download it from the App store if you are an iPhone user just like me, as well as from the play store for android users.
This app is highly functional as well as quite intact providing a list of various functions such as adaptive sound control which is highly recommended to lazy people just like me. Once all set up, the app detects your actions and locations frequently, and switches the headphones settings automatically.
In addition, if you are a daily user of these headphones just like me, the app tracks your daily attributes such as at what certain volume do you like listening you music, which mode do you mostly use, which location do you travel, and then adjusts the headphones as per your choice.
One feature which at first startled me a lot but i really got impressed by it which is the Speak-to-chat feature. It's always annoying to either pull your phone out of your pocket and pause the music or to just pull off your headsets every time you need to talk to someone. This feature enables your headphones to pause automatically the instant you start speaking, and shall remain pause for about 20 secs and resume on their own if they do not detect any speech.
For better sound quality, the app detects the size and shape of your ear through these headphones. This enables the device to perform better with distinct users.
5. Motion Gestures: The right ear piece of the headphones has all the motion gestures such as taps for music pause/play, attend a call, play next/previous song and remove the headsets and the song pauses. These controls are highly helpful and can be easily learnt through the guide book provided, hence i won't dive deeper into it.
6. Number of devices that can be paired at once: These headphones provide an option of connecting two devices simultaneously. You can connect these headphones to almost every device that has a latest and updated version of bluetooth/NFC. Devices that i've paired them with are iPhone, macbook, hp laptop, and android phones.
7. What's in the box: The box comes with an impressive in-shape carrying case to carry these bad boys where ever you go. Also they include a C-type data cable for charging, 3.5mm jack cable which is quite long (haven't measured it honestly, but it is as long as a regular data cable), and a dual port 3.5mm jack converter, which so far i haven't tested.
8. Battery Life: Well i must say that i am quite impressed with the battery backup these headphones provide. This device completely charges within 3 hours and trust me with an ON/OFF mode of playing music regularly, the battery stays up till 4-5 days, which is i bet a highly impressive feature which probably no other company audio equipment in this range might have.
9. Voice Assist Functions: These headphones can be connected to google assistant, SIRI and alexa and perform really well.
10. Easy access keys: The headphones are enable with two easy access keys on the left earphone. The custom key toggles between the 3 modes that i've already mentioned above which are guided by the in-built assistant voice. The power key pressed long enough, turns ON/OFF the device and pressed once, the in-built assist provides you with the current % of the battery left.
11. Comfort: I should had talked about it earlier, but never mind. With no questions asked these headphones are highly comfortable, the cushion provided is the softest pad your ears can get. Since i am regular spectacle user, i find it hard with headphones imposing excessive pressure over the ears, making it a painful experience, but these headphones give a feather touch to your ears, even if you are specy or even while wearing a face mask. These go good with everything.
12. Battery Saver: These headphones tend to power-off on their own if not in use for more than a minute which is a highly power efficient feature added by Sony to the device.
Cons:
1. If you are into running or any sort of longer workouts, be prepared for sweaty ears. Since the cushions on these headphones completely cover you ears, creating a vacuum sort of environment, no air flows in and out, and the sweat starts dripping down from the earphones, which i must state doesn't affect them at all, only can be slightly irritating sometimes.
2. ANC can be difficult to be kept enabled every time since it reduces the environment sounds to almost negligible, which can be dangerous while running or walking at a buss street. Be very careful while using this feature. Probably it is made for environments such as while travelling in a bus or a flight, and seems suitable for these environments.
3. Since these headphones can be simultaneously be connected to two devices at once, which is a boon, but is also a slight problem in disguise. Imagine your headphones are connected with your laptop as well as you phone. You are attending an important zoom call while on your laptop and the headphones are in action, your phone starts to ring, now abruptly you'll start hearing you phones ringtone, and the device gets a little startled to which device shall be entertained. i've personally faced this, but i tend not to connect them to two devices at once.
PS: One highly important thing is, you won't get an experience of the sound through reading review or watching Youtube videos. You might get a fair image of weather to invest in them or not, but you'll only get the sound experience when you'll listen the music through these bad boys.
| Wireless Communication Technology | Bluetooth |
|---|---|
| Special Feature | noise cancelling |
| Included Components | Operating Instruction, Instruction Manual, USB Cable, Carrying Case, In-Flight Adaptor |
| Age Range (Description) | Adult |
| Material | Plastic |
| Specific Uses For Product | Music |
| Headphones Jack | 3.5 mm Jack |
| Noise Control | Active Noise Cancellation |
| Charging Time | 30 Hours |
| Ear Placement | Over Ear |
| Compatible Devices | sony |
| Control Type | Voice Control |
| Microphone Form Factor | Built-In |
| Cable Feature | Without Cable |
| Item Weight | 9 Ounces |
| Water Resistance Level | Not Water Resistant |
| Net Quantity | 1 Unit |
| Control Method | Touch |
| Number of Items | 1 |
| Cable Length | 1.2 Metres |
| Battery Life | 30 Hours |
| Manufacturer | Sony, Sony Corporation, 1-7-1, Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 108-0075, Japan , For product related query call tollfree 18001037799 or email@ Sonyindia.care@sony.com |
| Model | WH1000XM4/B |
| Model Year | 2019 |
| Batteries | 1 Lithium Polymer batteries required. (included) |
| Item model number | WH1000XM4/B |
| Processor Count | 4 |
| Hardware Platform | Smartphone |
| Special Features | noise cancelling |
| Batteries Included | Yes |
| Batteries Required | Yes |
| Battery cell composition | Lithium Ion |
| Cable feature | Without Cable |
| Form Factor | Over_ear |
| Does it contain liquid? | No |
| Includes Rechargeable Battery | Yes |
| Is there a timer? | No |
| Manufacturer | Sony |
| Country of Origin | Malaysia |
| Item Weight | 255 g |
