I get to try all the latest headphones as a reviewer — but I’d still recommend the six-year-old Sony WH-1000XM4 for just AU$299 | Daily Reports Online
They say the old ones are the best ones, and in the case of the Sony WH-1000XM4 over-ear headphones, there’s certainly a case to be made. While the now-iconic cans are six years old and have spawned two successors, we still rate them very highly here at TechRadar, especially when they can be picked up at a discounted price, such as AU$299.99 right now at Amazon.
Yes, they have gone lower in price before, but this is the lowest I’ve personally seen in recent months — they tend to regularly hover around the AU$329 to AU$349 mark, so for them to now dip just below AU$300 is worth shouting about.
The Sony XM4s were, for a long time, sitting pretty atop my guide to the best headphones in Australia. They did eventually have to succumb to the sonic talents of their newer sibling, the Sony WH-1000XM6 but, make no mistake, the older XM4s still offer an awful lot to impress.
For starters, they’re much, much more affordable. While price drops on the XM6s are becoming more common, they’re still very much a premium set of cans that still cost north of AU$550. In fact, if you consider the XM6’s launch price of AU$699, you could get two pairs of the discounted XM4s with change instead.
With regard to all other aspects you’d want to consider when buying a pair of headphones, the Sony XM4s tick multiple boxes. Their active noise cancellation system still holds up, and is capable of blocking out all but the highest of frequencies.
As for sound, again there’s little to fault. As we said in our Sony WH-1000XM4 review when listening to Janelle Monae’s Make Me Feel, “From the bop of the percussion to the wall of sound that accompanies the pre-chorus, it sees the Sony WH-1000XM4s firing on all cylinders, with expressive dynamics and clear and distinct separation between each instrument.”
We also love their fold-flat, travel-friendly design — something Sony decided to ditch with the successor XM5s — and their 30-hour battery life. There’s even a Quick Charge feature that nets you five hours of playback time from just 10 minutes plugged into power.
As mentioned, this AU$299.99 deal is the lowest I’ve seen in a long time, and that means it might not last forever. At this price, your options for truly talented headphones are limited, however I have found a couple of alternatives:
