Sony WH-1000XM4 Wireless Noise Cancelling over-Ear Headphones $368.10 including delivery (with membership) at The Market.
These are supplied by Noel Leeming.
I'm in the market for a pair of these. This is not the best price ever, but seems fairly reasonable.
Waiting for the comments before pulling the trigger.
yeah this one is the best. When the 1000XM5 came out, I thought 1000XM4 would be on discounts phasing out the market like old iPhone models, the prices went up instead.
When I watched on this model a year ago, the price was $388 on Sony store and other shops.
I will just echo most likely what you have already heard and read on the internet:
Pros:
• Great sounding, plenty bass and volume
• Excellent sealing around the ears (passive noise cancellation)
• Small foot print seen as they are the last gen that folds, carry case is nice and firm / protective as well
• Battery life is good to great (USB-C charging helps)
• Pairs to 2 devices
Cons:
• Voice quality for phone call's is meh
• Can be uncomfortable for long uses (1hour +) - notably the head band and the squishing effect
• While there are profiles for noise cancellation (transport, walking, standing etc). I find anything but "ON" doesn't work nearly as well. I.e. either everything is going to be cancelled or not much
• Gesture controls are a bit hit and miss
This is the first pair I've owned so my recommendation would be: if you dont have them, get them. If you have the previous gen, don't worry.
Hope that helps!
Anybody who's owned both, how do these compare to the latest variant, the XM5s? Is it worth waiting until the XM5s come down a bit?
Thanks mate.
Does wearing noise cancelling headphones really make a difference for long-haul flights?
Domestic flights they are awesome :)
I own Sennheiser PXC 550-II. Yes, epic for flights.
I mostly use mine at work. I'm in food manufacturing and work with some fairly noisy equipment. They cut out most of the noise.
I personally used it dedicated to flights (both jets and turbo prob planes). Works wonders for that! Just might get a bit uncomfortable, but noise cancellation is great. Only ever had to go halfway to max volume.
Thanks everyone. Sounds like I now have to budget for something I didn't plan to buy before ;)
Lol! If it helps, just pay with Zip: 4 x $92.02 interest-free payment (4 weeks to pay it off \o/)
I wonder if I should wait to buy at Boxing Day sale in Australia, and claim GST refund though the TRS on the way out. ;)
Once you have decent noise canceling on flights, it changes how you see flying. I’ve had a pair of Bose QC35 for 5 years now and took probably 30 long haul flights with them for work, can’t fly without them anymore.
I personally found the Sony uncomfortable after and hour but the Bose I can wear all day.
Thanks for sharing your experience, you might have pushed me over the fence, lol ;)
EDIT: I might wait to get these from Australia, so much cheaper there than here https://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/bose-noise-cancelling-ove…
You'll regret not getting noise cancelling earlier, it's that much of a difference. I have the PXC-550 cans, but same will apply to any of the good ones.
Big time agree with all the points made here! First time I flew domestic with noise cancelling it changed my life, you'll wonder how you put up with all the racket in the first place haha. Especially on the smaller propeller planes.
I have the Audio Technica ATH-MSR7NC (had them for about 3 years I think) and their noise cancelling is by no means any good compared to these Sonys or the Bose Quiet Comfort range but they still make a massive difference.
Recently did my first long haul flight with my Audio Technicas and they were great. However, being a glasses wearer and wearing a mask on the plane made me get a little sore around the ears where my glasses and mask loops sat when watching movies (enough to make me take a break from them). So as GuybrushThreepwood mentioned, long term comfort is the only thing making me hesitant on the Sonys for now in the long haul flight department. May need to find a way to try them out for a day and see how they go for me.
I wonder if there are aftermarket muffs (if that's the right term for the parts that seal around your ears 😂) for the Sonys. That could be the difference for me to make the leap.
Have the XM3's terrific headphones, noise cancelling is great and battery life and charge time also great. Friend just got the xm5s and he has raved about all the same things. Only issue is no low latency Bluetooth for console/gaming use, I will upgrade from the xm3 soon as a new version of them includes low latency support. Excellent sound quality too, heaps of equaliser wiggle room
O haven’t found it uncomfortable after long use at all. I even ended up sleeping with it and it was fine. Amazing headphones.
Fyi. This BF promo runs until the 29th. I'm going to wait to see what cyber Monday has in store with codes etc. I'll go with what ever offers the best deal.
Unfortunately I'm not buying these for myself, but as a gift 😭😭
I bought an alternative to these a couple of dates ago - the Bose QuietComfort 45, currently $425.95 on the Bose online store plus 10% cashback from Kiwiwallet (so $383.36 all up). An advantage of buying from the Bose store is they have a 90 day no questions asked returns policy. I currently have the Sony WH-CH710N at home and Jabra 85H at work and the problem I have with both of these is they hurt my ears after 1-2 hours, something that's hard to test when trying them in the shop (I think I have a weird ear shape).
Wow, 10% cashback, that's quite a good net price then.
I'm pretty sure they sell off the ones returned during the 90 day period as refurbished headphones on their site, a while back they were selling refurbished 700 series for $390 down from $700.
I bought the QC45 for $425.95 ($370 excl GST), but the pending cashback is only $27.24. $100 shipping in this case??
I'm not sure unfortunately, my purchase hasn't tracked at all with Kiwiwallet, I'm going to log it as missing shortly.
I have these and are superb. Friends of mine compared with their high end ones and can’t fault it. The Sonys are a game changer. Just love them and I’d have a second pair just because. Thanks OP
I am considering the XM4 and the Airpods Pro 2. Does anyone have the experience that you can share between these products for the following scenarios?
- Work from home, including voice conference
- General day-to-day use
- When used in flights
Thanks!
Just throwing my 2¢ into the mix. If you haven't tried them out yet, you can do so at noel leeming along with the XM5s. When you try them on, make sure you bend your head forward and back to make sure they stay on your head (assuming you care about that!). I didn't do that. Got them home and found they have zero clamping force and just slipped straight off my head, and I don't have a particularly small head either. Luckily I was able to return them.
The noise cancelling on the XM4s was noticably better than the XM5s at lower frequencies, which is what some of the online reviews are saying too. I have the WF (earbud) XM4s which aren't quite as good as the headphones (noise cancelling-wise), but good enough trade-off for portability (and they don't fall out!).
Okay, I own a pair Sony WH-XB900N which I bought on Amazon for about $220, a pair of Sennheiser PXC 550-II I bought from PB Tech for $226, and a pair of Sony WH-1000XM4 which I also bought from PB Tech in Feb 2021 for $399.
Of the three pairs, the XM4's are the best overall and that's a good price compared to mine from last year. If you like your over-ear sounds then I don't think you're going to go wrong buying them.