Sony appears to be bringing back its multiple-award winning WH-1000XM4 headphones, but, is it possible, in a new and more affordable incarnation?
As TechRadar reports, the new model, leaked via a data sheet seen by Winfuture-de, is designed to compete with affordable ANC headphones from the likes of Bose, Sennheiser and the growing number of impressive Chinese audio firms.
TechRadar gave the original Sony WH-1000XM4 ANC headphones five stars in their original review, calling them the best headphones ever made at the time, and they also topped the best noise cancelling headphones recommendations for many months after their successor, the Sony WH-1000XM5, launched.
The new model is seemingly designed to be more affordable — and while it looks almost identical, there are some key differences between the new WH-1000XM4C and the original. The price is expected to be around $290 / £215 / AU$410, which is significantly lower than the previous model: at launch it was $349 / £349 / AU$549, and even now it’s commanding prices of around $249 / £199 / AU$399.
The most important specifications appear to be unchanged: Winfuture reports that the new WH-1000XM4C headphones have the same frequency range of 4 to 40,000Hz and a similar weight of 253g (8.9oz). The looks are identical too, but if you look closely you’ll see that the NFC logo on the left earcup is no longer there. Presumably that’s one of the changes made to keep the cost down.
Battery life is seemingly shorter too, but not awfully so: the leaked spec sheet says 27 hours with ANC on and 34 hours with it off. That would be four hours less than the original, but it’d still be decent enough for commuting and casual listening.
The leak suggests the drivers will once again be 40mm, so the sound quality should be very similar to the originals. Bluetooth has apparently been upgraded to 6.0.
Those are all the details so far, but a previous leak suggested a planned retail price of €250, which is about $290 / £215 / AU$410.
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Photo Credit: Siti Rahmanah / Shutterstock.com
