Sony’s flagship WH-series wireless headphones are pretty great; their audio quality is excellent, as is their ANC, and they’re comfortable, to top it all off. With all of those great qualities, though, comes a price that not everyone is willing to pay, and for those people, there may be hope still.
According to a leak from Dealabs (machine translated), Sony has a new pair of wireless headphones in the works, with a much more approachable price. The wireless headphones, according to the leak, are actually a variant of Sony’s former flagship WH-1000XM4 and will be dubbed the WH-1000XM4C.
Dealabs reports that the WH-1000XM4C are slated to be almost identical to the WH-1000XM4, with the same chip for active noise cancellation (ANC), similar 40mm dynamic drivers, and a familiar feature set that includes Sony’s upscaling tech (DSEE Extreme), adaptive sound control, and support for LDAC, Sony’s hi-res streaming codec. Spec-wise, there’s one area where the WH-1000XM4C may differ: battery life. Dealabs says the WH-1000XM4C will have 27 hours of battery life with ANC enabled, while the WH-1000XM4 clock 30 hours with ANC on.
The biggest difference has nothing to do with the specs, though, and everything to do with the price. Where the WH-1000XM4 debuted at $350, Dealabs reports that the WH-1000XM4C may slot in around $100 cheaper. That’s still a not-insignificant sum to pay for a pair of wireless headphones, but in context it might be an enticing deal.
Sony’s WH-1000XM6, for example, cost $450, and its anniversary-edition 1000X The Collexion are even pricier at $650. Both of those pairs are excellent but cost-prohibitive for many people looking for a new pair of wireless headphones. If the WH-1000XM4C are indeed $250, that would slot them under the MSRP of pairs from competing brands like Nothing and its Headphone 1, for example, and the recently announced Bose QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen), which retail for $360.
Whether the leaked WH-1000XM4C can keep up with either of those aforementioned pairs in sound quality and ANC is anyone’s guess, but Sony has a stellar track record in the space, so even wireless headphones that are technically a couple generations behind might be enough to compete.
English (US) ·