New Sound Glory Sony WF-1000XM4

Sony rips up its template for in-ear headphones and comes up with its best true wireless buds yet

SPECIFICATIONS

Drivers 6mm

Frequency range 10Hz - 20kHz (44.1kHz sampling) / 20Hz - 40kHz (LDAC) Connectivity Bluetooth 5.2 with LDAC

Microphones 3 per bud (including bone conduction sensor) Weatherproofing IPX4

Battery life 8 hours buds; 24 hours total

Weight 7.3g per bud; 41g total

250 sony.co.uk

Excellent true wireless buds are coming thick and fast recently. Sony has long been a strong contender for the crown with its multiple award-winning WF-1000X line. And with the WF-1000XM4, the Japanese brand has knocked it out of the park.

Design-wise, things are a big step up from the previous generation. Sony could have been forgiven for taking its wildly successful WF-1000XM3 design and simply fiddling with it. Instead the WF-1000XM4 is an entirely new design that addresses their predecessor’s few shortcomings – specifically the rather bulky size of them.

These earbuds are lighter and 10% smaller than those they replace, while the new charging case is a full 40% smaller than the coffin-style outgoer. Sony has even developed new polyurethane ear tips to provide improved passive noise reduction. The standard of build and the quality of the finish is inarguable.

Despite being physically smaller than the model they replace, the WF-1000XM4 are more generously specified. Call quality, in particular, has had a lot of attention lavished on it. Sony has combined feed-forward and feed-back mics to capture your voice directionally, while a bone-conduction sensor registers vibration too. Should you find yourself attempting a call in unhelpful conditions like wind, the feed-forward mics automatically mute.