Sony WH-1000XM4 vs. WH-1000XM3: Is the Upgrade Worth the Extra Cash?

Put the Sony WH-1000XM4 and the WH-1000XM3 side by side, box or no box, and a reviewer at Tom's Guide says you would likely mistake one for the other. After three weeks with both pairs, the question the outlet set out to answer is whether the newer model justifies the extra money.

The price gap is the first thing to settle. Both headphones carry the same list price of $349. But at the time of writing the XM4 was selling for $284, while the XM3 could be had for $199 at Walmart. The review concedes that anyone who can afford to splurge should buy the XM4, yet on affordability alone it hands the XM3 a clear win. A limited-edition Silent White XM4 is due in May 2021, joining black and silver; the XM3 comes only in black and silver.

Design is where the newer model starts to pull ahead, though only slightly. Both weigh about 9 ounces. The XM4 has a slimmer headband that presses less on the skull and ears, and softer padding. Sony says it enlarged the ear cup surface by 10% for more contact with the head and better ventilation against moisture. The cups use a soft-touch rubber finish that resists scratches and scuffs better than the plasticky texture on the XM3. The reviewer still recommends limiting sessions to about three hours before fatigue sets in on either pair.

Smart controls are the XM4's most concrete advantage. Both have touch panels that take swipes, slides, and taps, and both keep Quick Attention, which pauses music when you cover the right earcup; the reviewer noticed slight latency with it on the XM3. The XM4 adds on-ear detection, which uses internal motion sensors to pause when you take the headphones off and resume when you put them back on. It also adds Speak-to-Chat, which pauses playback when it recognizes your voice, and the review says it works better than expected. Both support Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri. The XM4 also gains multipoint connection and the NC Optimizer in the Sony Headphones Connect app.

Where the two match, they match closely. Noise cancellation is, in the reviewer's words, nearly impossible to tell apart, though the XM4 felt slightly stronger. Both use the QN1 processor and Sony's dual noise sensor technology, and both handle everything from airplane engines to sirens. Each has 20 adjustable Ambient Sound levels; with it on in a shared office, the reviewer could hear everything their fiancée said on Zoom calls from several feet away. Battery life is identical: 30 hours with ANC on (about 28.5 in the reviewer's real-world conditions) and 38 off. Both take 3 hours to charge fully, and 10 minutes gives 5 hours of playback, despite the XM3 using micro-USB and the XM4 USB-C. That category was a tie.

Sound uses the same 40mm drivers and QN1 chip in both, so differences are small. The XM4 has slightly raised bass, most noticeable on hip-hop kicks and snares, while classical and jazz sound similar on each. Plugging in the included cable, the same for both models, slightly increases bass and volume. The review still gave the XM4 the win.

Call quality is the weak spot for the whole line. Precise Voice Pickup makes voices louder but not crisper, and listeners on the other end may hear muffling. The XM4 is the better of the two, mostly for indoor video calls. The reviewer says to avoid calls on the XM3, whose mics pick up wind and even a ceiling fan on its lowest setting as a harsh whoosh.

The XM4 won most categories: design, smart controls, noise cancellation, audio, app features, and call quality. The XM3 took price, and battery was a tie. Because audio hardware and battery are the same, the case for upgrading rests on comfort, touch controls, and multipoint. Sony has not confirmed whether future firmware features would reach both models.