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The Sony WH-1000XM4 noise-cancelling headphones were probably my favorite high-end cans from the company—from design to feature set. Sony is bringing back the beloved headphones as a refresh with minor upgrades in the form of the WH-1000XM4Cs. Sony is asking $300 for these, which is only $50 less than the XM4s and $150 less than the retail of the XM6s. The new or 2nd-gen XM4s will arrive in black, platinum silver, and lavender color options sometime this fall.
The XM4Cs retain the iconic collapsable design in addition to their renowned active noise-cancelling mics, QN1 chip, multipoint Bluetooth, touchpad controls, and LDAC high-quality audio. What’s new is a Sony sound profile, 10-band gaming EQs, and Quick Access for one-touch access to various streaming services. Unfortunately, the XM4Cs arrive with slightly less battery life than the original cans, with 27 hours in total vs. the XM4s’ 30 hours. The upside is that Sony boosted its fast charging feature to provide an hour of listening time with a three-minute charge.
Also, new from Sony are the $180 WH-CH730N, which is a mid-range ANC offering with up to 50-hour battery with ANC on and arrives in black, blue, tan, white, and pink colors; and the $70 WH-CH530, which doesn’t offer ANC but touts up to 55-hour battery life and arrives in black, purple, green, white, pink, and coral colors.
