Sony’s excellent wireless headphones deliver a sonic masterclass.” ’What Hi-Fi?’ 2022 award-winner. Sony’s still pushing its 360 Reality Audio offering too, which is its homegrown immersive audio format, putting you in the middle of a surround-sound mix, and it’s still impressive –even if actually accessing its library is limited to just a few streaming services, and the catalogue’s growth has been slow. Sony | Headphones Connect App is needed. Requires subscription to a music streaming service – subscription fees apply. Some services may not be available in certain countries/regions. We can’t forget the addition of Fast Pair, Android’s latest feature that instantly recognizes the headphones when Bluetooth is enabled and speeds up the pairing process. Even better is that it doubles as a Find My Headphones feature by playing a sound through the headphones, so you can easily locate them.

The 30 hours should be enough to get you through multiple international flights or a few days to the office, but it’s also good to know that the headphones can be charged in a matter of minutes thanks to fast-charging. According to Sony, you can get about five hours of charge from 10 minutes of power and a full charge after about three hours. Call quality is average. Note that unlike most rivals, the WF-1000XM4 are often available at a discount on their RRP, so it’s worth shopping around. Customers may need to update their Sony | Headphones Connect app for this software to be activated. Firmware update is needed. The Headphones Connect app has a full equaliser and options for customising noise-cancelling, controls and activating the DSEE Extreme sound enhancer. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

How does the Sony WH-1000XM4 sound?

They sound fantastic, have effective noise-cancelling and long battery life. They support multipoint Bluetooth 5 for connecting two devices at once, high-res music with the LDAC format and an instant ambient sound mode for listening for announcements, too.

Keep in mind my observations are based on the default signature, which can be customized in the Sony Headphones Connect app by adjusting the different frequency levels or by selecting one of many presets. However, I’m pretty confident you’ll love what you hear without touching the app. There have been changes to the ‘hangar’ section of the headphone (the hinged fork that hangs down and connects to the earcups). The gap between the hangar and the cups has been shrunk, creating a more seamless appearance, and the space where they connect to the earcups has been reduced to reduce the potential for any sound leakage. Speaking of earcups, the WH-1000XM4 are a thinner design, while the pads used are softer and actually 10 per cent larger than those used on the XM3. The head cushion is also slightly slimmer. Overall, the XM4 are lighter by one whole gram, too (254g vs 255g).The headphones last for up to 30 hours between charges with noise cancelling turned on, which is 10 hours longer than many competitors. Turn it off and they last up to 38 hours or 22 hours with the ambient sound mode active. They last up to 24 hours of voice calling, too.