Sony WH-1000XM4 Wireless Noise-Cancelling Over-Ear Headphones (Refurbished) Expired

Did not get them refurbed, but I got a new pair on eBay for ~$270. Here's my quick review.

First, the good:
They are comfortable and have excellent noise cancellation. They also have an "active listening" mode where they amplify outside noises (or even just voices) pretty well, so you can hear people talking around you easily. There's multiple levels of "amplification", you can choose if you want it to prioritize voices, etc. I previously had Galaxy Buds that had this function, and these headphones are head and shoulders better. The sound quality (for music) is also quite good; I'd say they're as good or maybe better than the Audio Technicas ATH-M40x's (which I switched from). The default is bassy, but if you select "Bright" on the equalizer the sound signature gets a lot more tolerable IMO.

Now, the bad. Connecting them to a computer for gaming is a total drag. You can either have good sound (and use them as just headphones), or abysmal sound + mic (and use them as a headset). No in-between. Turns out it's a limitation of Bluetooth. This was another bummer, I was planning to have a pair of wireless mic + headphones for hands-free gaming, and only found out when I was trying to set them up.

I got them for gaming and listening to music, so the "connects to two devices simultaneously" was pretty important. The idea was to use them for work meetings off my laptop, and listen to music off my phone interchangeably. This functionality is incredibly gimped; from their manuals, it looks like it it extends to answering phone calls when you're primarily connected to your PC; a far cry from what I expected. Big disappointment.

Both of these things were solid reasons as to why I got them (over something like bluetooth ATH-m40x's, or even the WH3's which can be found new for $150 on ebay), I feel like I would've bought a different, cheaper pair of bluetooth headphones. Are they necessarily /bad/? Not really, the sound is nice, battery life is good, the app has a lot of options, and I'll definitely find other use cases (in long travels, working in cafes after COVID lifts, etc). But, still kind of bummed out about those. Hope this was useful to anyone on the fence.

Check out reviews for the XM4 if you want to know whats different. They have some great quality of life improvements over the XM3. Got my XM4's from this seller a few months ago and condition was like new even the case. I was going to return them but given the features, nc and sound quality i could not. These have everything you need in a headphone.

You were going to return the XM3's or the XM4's? If the latter, why were you going to return them?

Did not get them refurbed, but I got a new pair on eBay for ~$270. Here's my quick review.

First, the good:
They are comfortable and have excellent noise cancellation. They also have an "active listening" mode where they amplify outside noises (or even just voices) pretty well, so you can hear people talking around you easily. There's multiple levels of "amplification", you can choose if you want it to prioritize voices, etc. I previously had Galaxy Buds that had this function, and these headphones are head and shoulders better. The sound quality (for music) is also quite good; I'd say they're as good or maybe better than the Audio Technicas ATH-M40x's (which I switched from). The default is bassy, but if you select "Bright" on the equalizer the sound signature gets a lot more tolerable IMO.

Now, the bad. Connecting them to a computer for gaming is a total drag. You can either have good sound (and use them as just headphones), or abysmal sound + mic (and use them as a headset). No in-between. Turns out it's a limitation of Bluetooth. This was another bummer, I was planning to have a pair of wireless mic + headphones for hands-free gaming, and only found out when I was trying to set them up.

I got them for gaming and listening to music, so the "connects to two devices simultaneously" was pretty important. The idea was to use them for work meetings off my laptop, and listen to music off my phone interchangeably. This functionality is incredibly gimped; from their manuals, it looks like it it extends to answering phone calls when you're primarily connected to your PC; a far cry from what I expected. Big disappointment.

Both of these things were solid reasons as to why I got them (over something like bluetooth ATH-m40x's, or even the WH3's which can be found new for $150 on ebay), I feel like I would've bought a different, cheaper pair of bluetooth headphones. Are they necessarily /bad/? Not really, the sound is nice, battery life is good, the app has a lot of options, and I'll definitely find other use cases (in long travels, working in cafes after COVID lifts, etc). But, still kind of bummed out about those. Hope this was useful to anyone on the fence.

XM4s cos they were not cheap even at 190ish before taxes. But I kept them because they are just that good. For context I have the QC35 and the beats solo Pro. Usually been a bose guy because of their noise cancelling but this has as good if not better.

Lol. I have the Solo Pro and QC35 also and considering these. Solo Pro isn't comfortable for long term use and wish transparency mode was better like AirPods Pro, do like the sound. QC35 is super comfortable, but I find the sound lacking and no transparency mode. Should I get the XM4 for the comfort and sound? I really hope the transparency mode isn't robotic sounding when people talk, but you're right $200 isn't cheap and considering it's my 3rd wireless headphones I should reconsider unless you can enlighten me. Thanks in advance.

How do you change from sound + mic, to sound only?
I agree the audio quality connected to windows computer is terrible. Not sure what codec is being used.

Anyone have any experience with the transparency/hear through mode? How do they compare to AirPods Pro? I have young kids so it'll be good for when I am at home I can hear them if they need. The AirPods Pro are great at transparency mode when I need to hear surrounding. I bought the Beats Solo Pro for transparency mode, but disappointed, however the ANC and sound quality best my expectations compare to other Beats I've had. Thanks.

Says 3,386 sold--- that's a lot of refurbishing. Quality ?