My favorite pair of headphones, with a few things I’d improve

If you want to go straight to the review and skip how I chose to buy these headphones (which is a section I wrote because I’m a writer at heart), scroll down to the header, “Review”.

My Headphones Journey

So, I’ve always been an apple girl. Whether it was the societal pressure or the compatibility of their products, I don’t know, but I was pretty loyal, and still am when it comes to their other products. But it came to a point where I was not satisfied with Apple headphones.

I had the original AirPods and then upgraded to the AirPods Pro when they were released. And don’t get me wrong, I loved them. I thought I was so cool when I got them because I was in high school, and someone told me that all the college kids had them. I also thought that they were good earbuds. I liked the look and the sound, and I liked they connected seamlessly to my iPhone.

But that changed when their battery life slowly started depleting and they started cutting out. When I then switched to the Pros, they were even better. Until one started buzzing after about a year, and then I lost one. That’s one thing about earbuds. They are so easy to lose.

But, after this, I was on the hunt for a pair of great earbuds, because I still thought that the risk of losing one was better than having to wear big headphones. I had heard that headphones have better sound than earbuds, but I was willing to compromise on sound for the convenience of earbuds. I relentlessly searched and read reviews for all kinds of earbuds, until I found the Sony WF- 1000XM4 earbuds.

They had a really good sound, but I just couldn’t handle how they felt in my ears. They were so big that they always felt like they were on the edge of falling out. And they did, often. So, in my melodramatic way, I was like “I can’t live like this” and sold them on eBay.

I remembered that I liked the sound of the Sony earbuds, so I got over my aversion to headphones and bought the WH-1000XM4 headphones. And it was a great choice.

Review

The Sony WH-1000XM4 Headphones are a quality pair of headphones. Not only do they stay on my head, but they also have a really great sound. And listen, I’m no audiophile (as seen when I was going to compromise sound for looks and convenience for earbuds), but the difference when listening to bad headphones and then putting these on is astounding.

I was worried at first about how easy the connectivity would be with headphones that weren’t Apple. I was very pleased when I found out all you have to do is download an app and connect them. You don’t even have to open the app every time you want to use them. They connect automatically.

The comfort of these headphones is top-notch. I can wear them for hours and forget that they’re on. And I love the sensors on the side that I can tap to pause or change a song. It is crazy convenient when someone starts talking to you without giving you time to pause your music.

And when you want to ignore the person talking, the noise canceling is so convenient. You can block out talking, a running car, a TV, a dog barking, whatever you need it for. It works great.

These headphones also have ambient sound control, which lets you hear clearly without taking off your headphones. I don’t use this often, mainly because I just don’t find it useful to me. I can take them off faster than I can turn on the adaptive sound control.

There is a feature, though, that listens for speaking, called Speak-to-Chat, and it will turn off your music and turn on ambient sound control so you can hear. This is honestly my least favorite feature, though. It is very touchy and turns on sometimes when I don’t want it to. So, when this happens, if I sing along to a song or make any sound, my music turns off. I then have to go and turn off Speak-to-Chat in the app. It’s very annoying.

But for me, the sound, convenience, battery power, and comfort more than make up for the annoyance of the Speak-to-Chat feature.

Pros:

• Great sound
• Very comfortable
• Convenient sensors that let you pause, play, skip, etc.
• Easy & simple connectivity to devices
• Connects to multiple devices at a time
• Adaptive and noise-canceling control
• Ambient sound control
• Can connect with a wire to devices, and the wire is included
• Comes in three different colors
• 30-hour battery life (10 min charge for 5 hours of play)

Cons:

• The sensors are very sensitive
• Speak-to-Chat turns on when you don’t want it to
• You have to go into the app to turn Speak-to-Chat off.

And, FYI, there is a new version out called Sony WH-1000XM5 Headphones. I’ll link them below also, but I can’t attest to their performance as I haven’t tried them out.

Disclaimer: These are affiliate links, and if you buy the item, I will get a commission.

Sony WH-1000XM4 & Sony WH-1000XM5

Featured photo via Sony