Sony WF-1000XM4

Extremely Disappointing – Avoid These WF-1000XM4 Earbuds Used relatively lightly over the past couple of years, these earbuds have now become plagued with issues and are basically unusable. The right earbud barely lasts 20 minutes, and the left only slightly longer. Sony’s response has been extremely disappointing — they want to charge $167.40… Read more

just to inspect the fault, with parts (likely the batteries) costing extra. That means a total repair could easily exceed $200, despite this being a well-documented and widespread defect. A quick search online shows countless users reporting the same problem, yet Sony refuses to acknowledge or address it properly.

It’s clear they’re aware of the issue but would rather push customers toward buying the newer WF-1000XM5s instead. These WF-1000XM4s have turned into nothing more than an expensive paperweight.

Verdict: Pathetic reliability for a so-called “premium” product. I’ll never buy Sony earbuds again — and I strongly recommend others think twice before doing so.

Poor quality product with a serious safety issue - earbud explodes! Only used sporadically over 3-4 years. Suddenly one earbud exploded due to battery expanding, while in the charging cradle, that was not plugged into power. Multiple attempts to resolve with Sony customer service, only to be told that this was caused by environmental factors… Read more

(environment overheating the earbud). Even when I confirmed the incident happened inside temperature controlled home (max 25deg C); while earbuds where not connected to power source, and clear photos of battery split open, the customer service just ignored this clear evidence of malfunctioning product... Will not be purchasing Sony products again.

battery last 20mins after update. Worst purchase ever – 12 months after purchase battery now last 20mins. It happened after I update the software. I bought the earbuds from Kogan and they say it is not one of their authorized sellers. Horrible experience. Email Sony customer service about this. They just tell me to buy XM5 and give me a 20% discount. Shocking. Show details

Sony bricked my headset with software updates – The headset was my dream gadget until they updated the software, and Sony bricked all headsets of this model worldwide! Google it, and you will find it. I had to exchange many emails to get it sent for repair, which took about a month to return. Less than a year from repair, the headset is disappointing again, with the left side going out of… Read more

battery within 1 hour of use. Will I have to go through all the email exchanges with Sony to hear it's now out of warranty? I am pretty sure of that, but I am only sure I won't buy any more true wireless earbuds from Sony ever again.

More electronic waste after less than 2y – Good sound and noise cancelling, however as other have stated, the battery life is a total [Content Removed]how. I bought the same pairs for both my girlfriend and myself, and after less than 2 years, the battery life is averaging 10 to 30min which is really low for such a product. I won't be investing in any Sony future in the future, especially since their customer service is beyond poor. Show details

Substandard battery life – Noise cancelling properties are ok, but nothing amazing. Sound quality is pretty good and they’re relatively comfortable, although they will fall out if you’re exercising hard. The biggest flaw is the sudden drop in battery life that occurs after the first year. This renders them practically useless and I wouldn’t buy again. Show details

Awful Value For Money – Based on this experience - I will no longer invest in any Sony products in future. Paid premium price for these Earbuds in May 2022 and approximately eighteen months on the battery only lasts ten minutes. Used this on a daily basis to listen to music or podcasts whilst commuting. Noise canceling was okay and so was the sound quality - just the battery life needs improvement. Looks like I will be re-investing in a new set of Bose Earbuds. Show details

1 star for microphone quality, 5 stars for noise cancelling and audio – I'm conflicted in wishing I could give this 5 stars, but its 1 star for microphone quality on phone calls, 5 stars for noise cancelling and audio quality. I bought these primarily for phone calls which from reviews suggested it was good quality, I work a lot in customer service but my customers complained they couldn't hear me, or told me I… Read more

sounded like I am under water. I had to go back to my bulky $20 kmart headset for phone calls because the microphone always worked great without fail, probably because the microphone is so close to my mouth.

For $350 for Sony WF-1000XM4 I expected better for phone use but its just not possible. Also jogging or walking with them causes booming sounds in the ear.

The included earbud tips were also flawed. Whilst great for further blocking out sound and holding them stable inside the ears, they seemed to funnel my earwax directly into the earbud which caused the audio volume to drop from the increasing blockage. It required regular, disgusting cleaning to squeeze the ear wax out of both the ear tip and the foam inside the earbud.

I pulled off the rubber tip from an old pair of earbuds, and luckily they fitted onto this. I haven't needed to clean them since.

I still use them everyday for audio and noise cancelling, its like turning off my ears which has really changed my life for the better. I am very sensitive to loud sounds, and struggle to hear people if there is lots of background noise, but these seem to filter that out everything except for speech.

Waste of money – Paid nearly $400 for Sony WF-1000XM4 less than 2 years a go. After 18 months the battery holds maybe for 10 minutes. I wrote to Sony. Many other have the same problems. They don't seem to bother themselves addressing the concern. Eventually Sony got back to me and offered free repair! Show details

Practically useless after 18 months – After years of using Jabra wireless earbuds, I decided to try something different. I was initially happy with the sound quality, however they were never quite as comfortable as the Jabras I'd had before. I used them mostly at the gym and always felt like one might fall out, even though it never did. The memory foam eartips disintegrated after… Read more

about 6 months and I had to purchase more. After about 18 months of regular use, the battery life in the left earbud would only charge to 90% and would take about 12 hours to do so. Then it would be drained after 30 minutes of use. Very disappointed and will not buy again. I will be returning to Jabra earbuds as my previous sets lasted approx 5 years each, with daily sweaty use.

Disappointing performance for the price point – These were my exciting upgrade from the cheapest wireless earbuds on the market. However, since purchase there has been issue after issue with them. Immediately I had an issue where both earbuds would not connect to Bluetooth at the same time. A software update was supposed to fix this but required both buds to be connected at the same time.… Read more

Functionally, the sound out of just one was very good for podcasts, music etc. Once the software sort of fixed the issue, I could get sound out of both, but the left consistently stops working beyond a range of about 1-2 feet, so having my phone in my pocket while listening to something basically doesn't work unless I'm happy with just one ear hearing anything. The buds themselves work well in terms of tapping features for play/pause and noise cancelling toggling, and I really like the auto pausing feature. I have mixed success with them staying in during vigorous exercise (running or skipping). The noise cancelling and battery life have been terrific.

Not very good – Noise cancelling isn't great, the older models seemed better at this in my opinion. Fit is OK but I ended up getting new buds. Right ear randomly stops working until I take the headphone out and put back in. Disappointing in general. The XM3s were much more reliable and had better sound

Disappointed in durability – Bought these December 2021 for wearing during gym workouts. Sound quality was okay and initially I was quite happy with them. First disappointment was when the earbud tips started disintegrating after a month of use. Got these replaced only to have the new tips do the same thing after about the same period. Turns out Sony consider the tips a… Read more

consumable item with a life of only a month or two. Replacements are not only around $25 but only available from Sony.

I replaced with aftermarket tips which last well but the noise blocking is not as good as the Sony soft foam tips. Even though the earbuds are ANC, they still rely heavily on passive blocking from the tips.

The final straw was when a little plastic sensor window fell off one of the earbuds (comfortably within the warranty period). The earbuds were always carefully treated but Sony considered this “physical damage” and would not entertain repair of the device.

A little research revealed a number of people have experienced the same issue with the same outcome from Sony.

Given the plethora of alternatives available these days, I’d be inclined to spend my money elsewhere.

A very good product that falls out of your ears – I had always got the Bose quiet comfort ear buds because i love the way they secure in your ear with no pain. But they break easily... after the 3rd time returning the bose i got the sony wf-1000xm4 instead.. The sony connects to your phone almost instantly when answering a call (the bose take about 10 seconds which suxx!!!) So sony wins there..… Read more

Honestly didnt see a huge difference in noise cancelling between the bose and sony, mainly that the way the sony holds in your ear leaves spaces around the earbud and lets noise past.

They also fall out of your ear.

If you are going to exercise with these... forget it. You'll get angry with yourself for spending $400 on something that falls out.

Imagine walking down the street in the rain and they fall out of your ear into a puddle. They won't warrant them because they'll say they got water damage. Or if you're walking down the street and they fall out and someone stands on them.

Stupid design.

Also my earphones have a slight hum when I'm on the phone I will return them after 2 days of use. I haven't decided whether I will get another pair of the Sony or whether I will go back to the Bose again.

*An update* So there you go..took them back because of the hum and I could exchange for free and went back to the bose. The falling out of the ear thing was a deal breaker with the sony.. a shame.. very good otherwise. The audio quality from the sony is better, it really is... but they should adopt the same ear securing system as bose. If they did then hands down I'd get the sonys. No point having the best tech if they dont even stay in your ears properly.

WOFTAM – It's all about the sound and the sound is ok but worse than wired $30 Apple iPhone Headphones. Noise-canceling - poor I actually bought these accidentally after I wanted the WH1000MX4 which are the over-earphones so take another star off for poor marketing/naming WF1000MX4 vs WH1000MX4. Verdict - overpriced ++ These are so bad I will actually buy something else and suck it up as a loss. Show details

Sold as the premium model and I am extremely disappointed – Asked for assistance for a new pair of in ear noise cancelling head phones, told the sale person that I was a runner and had small ears and needed something to fit that didn’t fall out when I run. After 2 runs and having to catch the bulky ear phones before they fell out, I now have sores on my ears from pushing them in so they stayed. Worst… Read more

experience ever, now have a $400.00 pair of earphones I cant use. If you’re a runner don’t but these. Noise cancelling is not that great. I will now have to purchase another pair of earphones to suit and they certainly wont be Sony.