The Sony WH-1000XM4 is here, and the company brings AI technology to its latest noise-cancelling headset. Learn more about improved Bluetooth and ANC!
The Sony WH-1000XM4 active noise-cancelling (ANC) headphones are here to succeed the Sony WH-1000XM3, and have more competition than ever between Bose, Shure, and Microsoft. Its latest headphones make modest improvements over the previous generation, but that’s a good thing. Sony’s incremental upgrades add up to make a big difference. The Sony WH-1000XM4 may look indistinguishable from the Sony WH-1000XM3, but there are plenty adjustments the company made under the hood like battery life: the WH-1000XM4 now lasts 30 hours on a single charge, and supports fast charging. Just 10 minutes of charging via USB-C yields 5 hours of listening. Sony’s event stressed the new Speak-to-Chat feature. The headset uses five microphones and advanced AI to detect your voice. Speaking triggers the headset to automatically decreases volume without the need for you to physically intervene. This works by precisely detecting your voice and communication partner’s voice, which Sony was able to achieve via collection of human voice data. The headphones also automatically detect when the headphones are removed and automatically pauses playback. Quick Attention function is still around, so you can still lift your hand to the ear cup to allow ambient noise in. By retaining this feature, Sony lets its customers choose how to engage in conversation.
