One month with the Sony WF-1000XM4 and AirPods Pro

Speaker 1: Apple and Sony make some of the best wireless noise canceling earbuds you can buy. But how do you choose between the airports pro and the w F 1000 X month, four S well, let's find out. So you've watched all the reviews. Now it's time for a longer term view of how both of these earbuds stuck up in everyday use. My name is Lexi, and I've listened to a ton of music. I've made a lot of calls and listened to podcasts to give you a full view of how these [00:00:30] two wireless earbuds compare. I've tested them on design, fit, comfort sound, and call quality battery life and overall features and performance. So let's get started. Speaker 1: The Sony's sell are around 280 us dollars, whereas the AirPods pro retail for 250 us dollars, although it's pretty easy to find them on discount at around $200 or less, what's in the box with the Sonys, you get the charging case three [00:01:00] EIP sizes and a USBC charging cable for the AirPods pro you get three Eart tip sizes, a charging case, and a lightning charging cable. Let's start with design and fit. Now, I wouldn't normally spend too much time on this particular category, but I actually think it's super important for both of these earbuds. And I'll get to you why in just a minute. So let's discuss the so's first. These ones are rounded in ear design, and I found that they are a little bit larger [00:01:30] and a little bit heavier than the AirPods pro to wear in my ears. So if you have larger ears, I don't think these will be a problem at all, but smaller ears might have. Speaker 1: You're gonna feel them. Let's put it this way. The AirPods pro the smaller ears don't feel as prominent. Now, Sony has redesigned the ear tips from previous wireless ear birds. And they're actually now this kind of hybrid foam design available in three sizes. I didn't find that the small tip was small enough for my ear canals. It felt like I was [00:02:00] jamming a round peg into an ear shape hole, I guess. So I've actually kind of done a little bit of, um, I guess a Frankenstein's monster earbud. I've used the tips from the old Sony earbuds, the XM three S and I found those Silicon ones actually fit my ears a lot better. So if you try these and you find that the ear tips that Sony includes in the box at work as well for you definitely change it up, try some, the third party ear tips. Speaker 1: You can also try some from [00:02:30] another pair of earbuds as well. If you have those lying around, I actually have done exactly the same thing with the ear tips on the AirPods pro to get an even tighter fit. These are memory foam Eart tips, and I found that they just work a little bit better with my ears than the apple included Silicon Eart tips. But again, your mileage will vary and everybody's ears are different. So what works for me might not necessarily work for you, but just letting you know that there are options out there if they don't necessarily fit or feel as comfortable first try straight out of the box. The airports [00:03:00] pro have a stem design. So the stem sticks down from your ear with a clickable stem, and you can customize that stem to do a number of different actions, same too, on the Sony earbuds, but it is not a stem. Speaker 1: It is a touch panel, and you can customize that to your heart's content with the Sony's though. I really like how one of those touch options is to be able to adjust the volume. You can't do that on the AirPods pro from the earbud itself, unless you use your voice. And one final note on the fit. This is actually one time where I highly recommend [00:03:30] you use the ear fit test that comes with the iOS settings for the AirPods pro or within the headphones connect app for Sony on iOS and Android, because that's really gonna give you a good idea of whether or not those Eart tips are sitting snuggly, and you're getting the best seal to deliver the best audio quality. And of course the best noise cancellation sound quality time. Now, both of these ear buds sound good, but the Sonys really take it [00:04:00] up a notch in terms of overall definition. Speaker 1: I have to say, if I had to pick one of these to listen to music all day with, I would choose the Sonys. They just sound super balanced, really beautiful, a lot of definition across vocals. Things like strings in the troubles sound beautiful, and the base is ice and punchy without being too overwhelming. So overall that default sound profile that comes on the Sonys is excellent across a range [00:04:30] of different genres. The airport's pro have a more neutral sound profile, and they sound really good as well across a range of different genres. But to me, the sound isn't at as punchy or as vibrant as that from the Sony, I think these work really well across a range of applications, podcasts, and calls as well. If you wanna adjust the sound further to your liking, you can do that in iOS, in your favorite music app, or you can also use the headphones accommodation menu within iOS [00:05:00] to change set based on things like your hearing quality and so on, which is actually really helpful. Speaker 1: Sony comes with an equalizer within the actual headphones connect out that works on iOS and Android, but I actually didn't find that I played with the equalizer at all when I was listening to music over the past month or so on these, I just think the profile was tuned. So L for all of the different types of music I was listening to from classical to rock to R and B and hiphop, it just was super balanced across [00:05:30] everything. Let's talk CodeDX if you're not interested in CodeDX and you dunno what I'm talking about, then feel free to skip to the next chapter down in the description. So Sony uses the LDAC coded on Android. You can turn this on within the settings of your phone if it supports it, whereas the AirPods pro use AAC. So can you actually hear a difference? I think most people probably won't notice too much of a difference, but I did have to say when I listened to say a title master with LDAC on [00:06:00] Android, on the so's, it was a little bit more broad than the same track that I listened to on iOS. But overall, I think unless you're really nitpicking and listening for that detail, and you're really concentrating, I don't know if you'll be able to hear that much difference. Basically what I'm saying is on iOS, the SOS still sound fantastic. Speaker 1: 360 audio versus spatial audio spatial audio on the AirPods pro is super [00:06:30] easy. It's plug and play. You put your pods pro in your ear. You turn on spatial audio in the iOS settings. If it's not already on, and you, you load up your favorite mood, TV show or music in a supported app and a where you go on the Sonys, the setup is a little bit more complicated. You actually have to do this weird kind of slightly creepy thing of taking photos of your ears. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt it does work. And it sounds pretty cool on both. Speaker 1: So both of these above do an excellent job of blocking out [00:07:00] sounds from the outside world. The a C on both, I think, works across a range of different frequencies, really, really well from low rumbling kind of commuting traffic kind of sounds through to slightly higher frequencies, maybe like an overhead fan or even a noisy air conditioning or heating unit. These will really make you feel cocooned in your own personal little Wonderland of silence. If I had to pick one, I would say [00:07:30] that the Sony just edges out the airports pro by like the tiniest amount, again, the seal will make all of the difference to you transparent mode, or Ammy, it sound less in sounds of the outside world and both of these work really well to me and my ears, the airport pro are still best in class for that transparency mode. It just sounds supernatural. Speaker 1: And like, I can have a conversation with you right now and not feel like I need to shout or anything like that. The so's have an adjustable Ammy it level from [00:08:00] one to 20. So you can actually change the amount of sound that is piped in to give you more awareness of your surroundings, which I really like. You can also make it to focus on voice. So if you're having a conversation like this, it will sound a little bit more natural than if you just have it turned off. And there's also a wind reduction toggle on the a and C at least when you have it in that setting on the SOS, which I really appreciated on a blustery San Francisco day in the middle of summer, which is actually actually our winter, if you know anything about San Francisco, and it was actually [00:08:30] very effective in blocking out a lot of that wind noise, the SOS can also automatically determine your location. If you have location services turned on in the app. And so it will no to toggle between a C and then ambient sound mode, depending on things like if you are sitting at your desk, say it will have a C on, or if you start to move around, it will automatically turn into that ambient sound mode. This is something that other Sony earbuds and headphones do have, but I think it's a nice touch if especially if you don't wanna constantly keep changing between those different [00:09:00] modes manually Speaker 2: It's microphone, sample time to give you an idea of what they sound like on calls. It's not exactly the same experience, but reporting the microphones is a good indication to see how they cope with things like the noise traffic there's, you know, a farmer's market going on over there. So these are the Sony on iOS, same conditions with the airs pro in filming pro recording. You think the microphones on the ear buzz, it was actually really interesting doing holes with both of these [00:09:30] earbuds to see the difference. It's actually a mark difference to my ears between Android, the iOS on Android. On the note 20 ultra, I actually did notice when I was making actual phone calls, as opposed to just recording on video. Like this was that the microphone quality, and also the sound quality for me as the recipient of the call was standing better on the, so when I was on Android, as opposed to iOS and finally ever pro on Android, I have to say overall that I found that the bots pro to be the most consistent [00:10:00] performer, the calls across things say like zoom attached to a computer and also on phone calls overall. Speaker 2: But hopefully these micro samples give you a bit of an idea of how they perform on both platforms. And you can listen to see which ones you prefer the most. Speaker 1: Let's dive into all of the other features on both of these gear buds. So for starters, they have both I P X four rated, which means that they are flash resistant. So you don't need to worry about wearing these in the gym, a sweaty session, or getting some [00:10:30] accidental rain on them. They should be totally fine. As long as you give them a wipe off afterwards, the efforts pro have quick switching, which means that if you're assigned into the same apple ID across a range of apple devices, these should automatically know where to route the audio accordingly. So you don't have to constantly be going into the Bluetooth settings, for example, and repairing your earbuds. The Sonys do not have any quick switching features. They don't have multipoint Bluetooth connectivity, which is a little bit disappointing considering the premium price of [00:11:00] these earbuds, not a deal breaker for me, but it's an annoyance. Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie to somewhat make up for this. Sony does offer a speak to chat feature, which we have seen on previous Sony headphones say like the XM four S if you're interested in that video, I've also review those two spoiler alert. I really like, and what this does is essentially it causes the music when it detects you are going to speak, or when you are speaking, I should say, so if you wanna have a conversation with someone and you don't wanna physically stop the music, [00:11:30] you are able to just talk and the music will pause automatically. I would advise though that you turn it off. If you are like me and you are in a situation where you like to sing to yourself, say it, it gets a little lonely and sad when you're listening to your favorite tunes and they suddenly stop. Cuz you've forgotten. You've turned on the speak to chat feature. As for voice assistant, you get Google assistant Alexa and Siri support. If you're using the SOS on iOS and you also get Google assistant and Alexa on Android two on [00:12:00] iOS, the AirPods pro give you access to hands free. Siri, if you're on Android, I'm sorry. No Siri for you. Speaker 1: The good news is battery life on both of these earbuds is excellent, but the Sony does kick it outta the park. Get this. I thought this eight hours written on the box was a bit of a joke. I was like, no way, but it's getting me eight hours in ANC. I did a full work day with these and I got eight hours and 10 minutes of [00:12:30] listening, time straight. I was very, but also incredibly pleased. The airports pro are no slouch, but they don't hit eight hours. They only hit a maximum of five hours with a and C on, but get this the SOS, get you up to 12 hours. If you turn off a and C, which is very impressive with transparency mode, the airports pro generally get you the same level of battery life. So consistency there is really good. It just won't get you as far as the Sony's. Speaker 1: However, one big catch [00:13:00] is if you are streaming LDAC on Android, of course your battery life is going to drop to around five hours of listening time. All up, both cases also offer an additional amount of charge in each and they both charge one. If you want that option or USBC on the Sony and lightning on the AirPods pro, but one side note, something that the other reviews might not tell you is that long term, the Sony case does not look so pretty. I've dropped this [00:13:30] a number of times, it's been in my puppy's mouth. Don't ask why one point AirPods zero point Sony for the looks of that case, let's cut to the chase and work out which one is the best buy for you. So for me, it's really hard to go past the all rounder package of the airports pro, but I'm actually gonna choose the of Sony as my overall pick because I listen to music a lot more than I [00:14:00] do listen to podcasts and make calls for example, and for me, the highest fidelity sound quality is my most important feature. Speaker 1: And the fact that I can listen to LDA Bluetooth, high-res audio on this on Android is excellent. And the sound profile is so, so good, but they don't fit as well for me as the airports pro. And I think if you have smaller ears, definitely see if you can try these before you make that outright commitment. [00:14:30] If you are an iOS, it's a no brainer to get the airports pro, especially if you wanna do a range of different tasks, if you wanna do things like jumping between calls and different devices, or if you wanna watch a lot of movies and TV shows with spatial audio, it makes sense to get the AirPods pro that 360 audio is good on the SOS. It just doesn't really match up to what apple can deliver on the AirPods. Pro and transparency mode is the most natural out [00:15:00] of all of the AirPods that I've tried. Hey, thanks so much for watching. I hope this was helpful. Give it a like, and of course hit the subscribe button. If you wanna see lots more content like this from CNET. I, and if you have any other questions, you can hit me up on Instagram. That's linked in the description below. See you later.