Worth buying Sony WH-1000XM4 in 2024? 🤔 (vs WH-1000XM5, ULT Wear)
The Sony WH-1000XM4 has lasting appeal. Despite being launched years ago in 2020, people continue to buy it today as a cheaper alternative to the XM5 (because they’re often on promo), or rather, in parallel to the XM5. The XM4 represented Sony at its best. It wasn’t perfect, but better than anything else out there at the time.
Even now, four years later, some people still prefer it over the newer XM5. This preference might due to the smaller form factor, foldable earcups, and some may even prefer the sound. While the more demanding listeners will find it sounds too boomy, there are people who do enjoy that extra richness in the upper bass and vocals from the bigger 40mm drivers. (You can compare their sound samples on loudnwireless.com’s sound samples page.)
In terms of specs and features, you’re also going to find XM4 has lots of similarities to the XM5, including DSEE Extreme, LDAC codec and speak to chat passthrough. So, if you’re shopping for Sony headphones, it could still be an option for you. It’s a tried and proven model, very recognisable on public transport. However, it is now a pretty old product, and in terms of performance, sadly, it’s no longer at the forefront.
The current gen Sony products, like the XM5 and the newer ULT Wear perform better in very tangible ways. The XM5s have much better noise cancelling, transparency and more importantly, super clean mic pickup in noisy situations. The ULT Wear, on the other hand, cancels mid range noises better and better transparency. Both these newer models have more features like head tracking with spatial audio, Find Your Equalizer, Spotify Tap shortcuts, and more advanced Bluetooth connectivity.
The XM5’s improved Bluetooth connectivity is important for multipoint pairing. Although the XM4s do have multipoint, switching between devices are not seamless. This could be due to its older Bluetooth tech, especially when paired with my new devices. In contrast, the newer Sonys handle multipoint more smoothly.
The ULT Wear also has different bass boost modes if you want more bass, with the option to turn it off entirely if you don’t like that. Additionally, both the XM5 and ULT Wear are more comfortable to wear, with the earcups being more spacious and in the case of the XM5, much lighter.
As of now, you can still go for the XM4s, as long as you know what you’re getting, which is a product that’s really showing its age. Despite that, it still sounds great. It’s a classic premium model, and if Sony is smart, they should re-release it with updated features, perhaps call it the XM4S or something. It can be the cheaper alternative to the XM6, just like how the XM4 is the cheaper parallel now to the XM5.
Anyway, if you want to check the latest prices of these products, I’ve put their Amazon links below:
Check latest price:
Sony WH-1000XM4 - https://amzn.to/3UL9YID
Sony WH-1000XM5 - https://amzn.to/4bIqJtZ
Sony ULT WEAR - https://amzn.to/3xVBObU
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