We review a lot of headphones, and there are some models that stick out as being truly excellent. Models that almost live on for being legendary that never should have been retired, but needed to because that’s how upgrades work.
The Focal Bathys are definitely memorable, as are the recent AirPods Max 2 and marginally newer Sennheiser Momentum 5 headphones, plus some old headphones no longer made anymore, including the Aedle VK-1 and Oppo’s PM-3, a pair from the company that now makes phones.
But another pair that genuinely sticks out was also retired years ago specifically because of an update: Sony’s WH-1000XM4.
Officially the fourth generation of its 1000X range, the 2000-era XM4 was replaced in 2022 by the WH-1000XM5, which updated the tech but also changed the design, and only really fixed things in last year’s WH-1000XM6. If all of these seem like bits of jargon and model names, hold on, we’re getting to the point.
Which is this: while Sony technically retired one of its best pairs when the XM5 was released, it did stick around until stocks dwindled. Until that happened, it remained as one of the better and more portable varieties of headphones, able to do both with ease.
It’s been a few years and Sony has decided to bring that pair back, launching a newly revived generation in the WH-1000XM4C, a variation on a theme which effectively allows Sony to return a model that everyone seemed to like, offering a new colour in the same foldable style, but with some tweaks to the tuning and sound settings.
Once a flagship but now just below that, the release is similar to how Bose offers a previous flagship style in the QuietComfort 2nd-generation sans-Ultra headphones, fitting below the price of the Ultra model. The $450 1000XM4C also sit under the $699 1000XM6, clearly beating them on recommended retail price, though a simple street price search can see the XM6 for $500, so the savings might be minimal.
By comparison, Sony’s proper mid-range noise cancelling headphones are definitely more competitive, with two new variations of those, as well.
The CH730N updates one of the nicer Sony mid-range offerings from the past, the CH720, with the new models seeing noise cancellation in a foldable design for $230, while the arrival of the CH530 skips noise cancellation for a $100 pair of headphones.
All three look set to arrive shortly, landing online and in stores across the country.
