A brief talk on Sony WF- 1000XM4, a Japanese noise reduction black technology.

Sony has always been known for its black technology, especially in the field of wireless audio. Headphones and in-ear 1000X series are definitely the protagonists in the market. However, in the real wireless headset product line, Sony actually had a blank period of two years after releasing its previous flagship WF- 1000XM3. During this period, many competitive products emerged at home and abroad. Although WF- 1000XM3 with its own noise reduction chip still has great differentiation and competitiveness in the market, it is still on the new flagship WF- 1000XM3.

In fact, from the historical process of the development of real wireless noise-reducing headphones, many products are actually constantly optimized in noise-reducing performance and battery life. For manufacturers who entered the market earlier like Sony, they actually have advantages in algorithm accumulation, including friends BOSE and Apple, all of which are software-oriented, and exploit the market with their own personalized design ID. Relatively speaking, the emergence of WF- 1000XM4 makes me think that Sony can really be a big player with a combination of hardware and software. After all, WF- 1000XM3 is a perfect product in terms of noise reduction performance, but relatively speaking, WF- 1000XM4 has been greatly improved. One of them is to upgrade the QN 1e noise reduction chip used in many product lines to the current V 1 processor, regardless of integration, noise reduction performance and Bluetooth performance. For people who need to commute or work quietly indoors, a quiet use environment seems to be a stronger practical need.

The most interesting thing about unpacking this time is that the style of the box has completely changed, which can be said to be a display of a brand-new design concept. Perhaps environmental protection is one of the most important global issues today, which is obviously a problem that large enterprises must consider. Sony officially claimed that WF- 1000XM4 had no traces of plastic materials from the inside out, so the overall volume was significantly reduced after being replaced by environmentally friendly materials, from simple to simple, and there was no previous practice of Sony products showing product parameters and performance. Secondly, the accessories contained in the previous products are embedded in them in a more ingenious way. Although there are fewer and fewer accessories such as kits and wires, they are absolutely sufficient from a practical point of view.

However, as mentioned above, Sony has not only greatly changed the packaging of WF- 1000XM4, but also upgraded the most important earphone body and earphone battery compartment, and even completely innovated it. As far as the earphone cavity is concerned, WF- 1000XM4 abandoned the oval design of the previous two generations. On the basis of reducing the volume, the panel is more post-modern, and the metal lead points that play the role of antenna are added in the design, which further enhances the overall face value. Friends who are familiar with WF- 1000XM3 and the series of true wireless headphones know that the three-point external ear bracket design of Sony in-ear headphones actually has the same embodiment on the smaller WF- 1000XM4, and the comfort and stethoscope effect during exercise have been almost completely eliminated due to the reduction of volume.

On the other hand, although I don't have the earphone battery compartment of WF- 1000XM3 as a comparison, there is no doubt that the WF- 1000XM4 with higher performance is moving in a smaller direction, and its weight and volume are almost reduced by 20%. With the increasing demand for convenience, WF- 1000XM4 is one of the flagship true wireless products. However, the battery life of WF- 1000XM4 is not actually reduced by the reduction of the battery box size. Compared with the battery life of 6+ 18 hours, the battery life of 8+1000xm4 can be described by black technology. If noise reduction is turned off, the battery life can reach 65,438 hours.

Of course, when I first learned about the release of WF- 1000XM4, I was not attracted by the earphone cavity and design upgrade. Sony's annual wireless noise reduction flagship, as mentioned at the beginning, is a comprehensive upgrade in configuration, including some configurations that have been used by flagship audio products in the past and are difficult to achieve in real wireless products. Now WF- 1000XM4 has been basically implemented. Among them, the brand-new processor V 1 is self-evident, but more importantly, the brand-new moving coil unit enables WF- 1000XM4 to meet the Hi-Res wireless audio performance on the premise of ensuring higher sensitivity and driving performance.

In addition, DSEE digital engine is actually used in many Sony audio products, including the ordinary version of DSEE HX and the flagship version of DSEE Exteeme, and its post-repair effect on wireless audio is particularly obvious. If you want to compare, it is like using X 1 series chips on Sony TV. With the blessing of different versions, you can clearly distinguish the external performance of flagship TV and entry-level TV. Therefore, WF- 1000XM4 is upgraded to DSEE Exteeme, and combined with Bluetooth 5.2+ true LDAC binaural transmission, with the blessing of V 1 chip, there should be no regrets and reservations in audio playback performance. At least in Sony's own audio technology, WF- 1000XM4 is a comprehensive embodiment.

As an intelligent product, WF- 1000XM4 continues to use the previous touch design, and the touch of the left and right panels can realize noise reduction and real-time control of songs respectively. If the phone is equipped with a dedicated Sony audio device application, you can customize the functions of the two touch buttons, including playback control and ambient sound control. Of course, in fact, Sony's control design for WF- 1000XM4 is more detailed and subtle. In addition to the more powerful 20-level noise reduction, it also has a better intelligent embodiment. For example, the previous generation wanted to listen to the outside sound, except setting the "ambient sound" function or taking off the headphones, you can't talk to friends outside with headphones on. The intelligent upgrade of WF- 1000XM4 is reflected in the fact that when listening to songs, headphones can automatically identify the dialogue needs and realize "intelligent dialogue on the hook". This upgrade is more black technology than when I started wearing WH- 1000XM4.

It can be said that the upgrade of WF- 1000XM4 is comprehensive. As a real wireless noise reduction earphone, the improvement of sound quality and noise reduction performance is extremely obvious. From my personal experience, WF- 1000XM3 is a perfect product, which is very comfortable for both active noise reduction experience and wearing. Relatively speaking, WF- 1000XM4 obviously has a better optimization in the naturalness of noise reduction, and the improvement of naturalness also brings about the improvement of sound playback level and overall comfort. With the help of LDAC coding and DSEE Exteeme, the audio playback effect of WF- 1000XM4 and even the overall roundness have far exceeded that of WF- 1000XM3. If WF- 1000XM3 is more obviously a product to improve the defects of old products, it is redefinition.

Personally speaking, Sony's upgrade to WF- 1000XM4 is a mature fruit to a greater extent through the combination of software and hardware, unique chip blessing and data accumulation of noise reduction algorithms for many years. And I remember that the wireless products of the previous 1000X series, although the audio hardware configuration was top-notch, still lacked waterproof performance compared with their own sports series products. Today, WF- 1000XM4 upgraded its waterproof performance to IPX4. It can be said that WF- 1000XM4 is the best choice from the concept of buying new things instead of buying old ones or in one step.

As far as my recent experience of using WF- 1000XM4 is concerned, besides the noise reduction performance of this earphone, it really brought me a surprise. As mentioned above, the improvement of naturalness is undoubtedly a new understanding of Sony's noise reduction experience. Judging from the horizontal comparison of true wireless noise-reducing headphones with a price of 2000 yuan, it is not a problem to reach a new height in noise-reducing experience alone.

Another surprise that WF- 1000XM4 brought me was undoubtedly the sound quality. Especially after DSEE Exteeme is turned on, the sound quality of WF- 1000XM4 is more full. It is hard to imagine that this pair of headphones with smaller cavities can have such low-frequency and overall clear playback performance. Low-frequency Q-bombs belong to the traditional characteristics of Sony audio products. Can be combined with excellent vocal density. Although there are not many high-frequency overtones, WF- 1000XM4 is a very comprehensive and balanced product in terms of overall sound balance. Moreover, from the current market point of view, the overall sound quality of real wireless headphones is obviously not as good as wired headphones, but with better units and LDAC blessing, Sony seems to be aiming at creating a better wireless playback level, and even if wireless headphones give up all-round performance, WF- 1000XM4 can play back most music from the perspective of HIFI appreciation, from the perspective of simple playing rhythm such as jazz, pop and folk songs.

As a Japanese earphone, to be honest, WF- 1000XM4 seems to have obvious bonus to Japanese ACG or Japanese dame. Including the symphonic version of some classic tracks such as Princess Ghost by Joe Hisaishi, or the female voice of Kuniko Inoguchi, WF- 1000XM4 can achieve a magnificent overall atmosphere to a certain extent, although as mentioned above, it pays attention to the unique Japanese female voice style, has enough high-frequency layering, and its melodious, euphemistic, sad and upward emotional demands are fully expressed, and you can even forget the simplicity.

Another acoustic function of WF- 1000XM4 worth playing is obviously its support for 360 REALITY AUDIO live sound effects. Of course, this function was actually used by many wireless players after Sony fully rolled out the year before last. But now the maturity of Sony's software and audio ecosystem is obviously better. Combined with WF- 1000XM4, which has the advantages of natural sound and balance, the real surround experience after getting started really has an indescribable sense of presence. On the whole, when playing 360 realistic audio files in Sony's own software, its sound field surround sense also pursues a kind of nature, instead of deliberately pursuing false positioning and left-right channel interleaving, it is more like immersive acoustic positioning surround, which always pays attention to the fluency of the track on the basis of improving positioning and sound effect.

Nowadays, the real wireless headset market has matured with the progress of technology. As a real market explorer of wireless noise-reducing headphones, Sony's goal of launching WF- 1000XM4 is very clear, aiming at better sound quality, more stable and low-delay connection and Excellence.