When was the last time Sony launched not one but two of its TWS earbuds in the same month in India? But, we really couldn't care as having launched the Sony WF-C500 as truly affordable earbuds a week ago, the Japanese tech giant has finally brought its crown jewel TWS earbuds - the Sony WF-1000XM4 to India.
The earbuds, which arrived in global markets last June, is the direct successor to the very successful Sony WF-1000XM3. The latest in this series doesn't disappoint, given that there are some quality upgrades that made our review team not only offer it the pride of place atop our global list of best true wireless earbuds of 2021 but also gave a full five stars in the review.
Sony WF-1000XM4 - price and availability
The Sony's WF-1000XM4 would be available in India in two color options - Silver and Black. And sales start on January 16 via the official Sony website as well as through other major e-commerce platforms. The earbuds would be available in India for a price of Rs.19,999.
Incidentally, for those who missed out the Sony WF-1000XM3, which too launched at a similar price, here is the chance to grab these pair of earbuds at a deep discount as is evident from the listing below.
Sony WF-1000XM4 - specifications, design and more
While the WF-1000XM3 model was highly recommendable, they were big and so was the charging case. Now with the Sony WF-1000XM4, the company has chosen to cut some of the bulk with a 40% smaller charging case and a 10% smaller earbuds.
The flagship earbuds also showcases some of the features that we saw in its over-the-ears counterpart carrying the same model number. The ANC ascertains what you are doing and where to adapt and there's fast pairing for Android and Windows devices.
The 'speak to chat' feature requires a user to make a noise to pause the music and continue a chat without removing the earbuds. Not to mention the noise cancelling itself, which is augmented by new polyurethane ear-tips (small, medium and large are all provided) designed to provide improved passive noise reduction.
There is a single-stop headphones app for controlling the Sony WF-1000XM4 where a user can play with all features that are partially duplicated on the capacitive touch surface on the earbuds. The app can be used to define what each of the left and right earbuds control - from volume to play or pause, forward or backward skip, ANC, on/off and summon voice assistant etc.
The device also offers multiple EQ adjustments and presets with a couple of presets for personal use. All three major voice assistants - Google Assistant, Siri and Alexa - can be summoned with their established 'wake' words
There are three mics on each earbud that takes care of active noise cancelling, call quality and interaction with voice assistants. A combination of feed-forward and feed-back mics capture the user's voice directionally with the former muting sounds when adverse conditions are detected.
The Sony WF-1000XM4 offers Bluetooth 5.2 which means simultaneous transmission to the left and right earbuds. This also translates into better battery life with Sony claiming a 32-hour non-stop listening span.
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