Sony WH-1000XM4C review: The return of the king

The fact that it's been over six years since the launch of the five-star WH-1000XM4 from Sony is a little mind-bending, not least because they remain, anecdotally, the headphones I see on actual heads in public more than any other model in that time.

Their popularity has been huge, clearly, and Sony has been open about how successful they've proven – which explains why it's brought them back in a new guise.

The headphones' design never really went out of style, and while the 1000XM lineup has moved on to a new look, Sony is rolling the clock back with the new WH-1000XM4C, a revised version of the XM4.

The C doesn't change as much as you might think, though. It has some familiar, excellent features – but now at a mid-range asking price. Here's how it's held up to sustained use in my testing.

Price and Availability

The WH-1000XM4C arrived on the market in September 2026, fresh from Sony revealing them, and came in at a price of £219.99 in the UK, $299.99 in the US, and €249.99 in Europe.

That sees them land in the upper reaches of the mid-range market, at a time when headphone makers are pushing into more and more expensive territory for their flagship models (Sony included with its Collexion top-tier model).

For some added context, though, you can currently grab the next generation on from the original XM4, the Sony WH-1000XM5, for £199 on Amazon UK – so Sony's pricing lineup is likely to be a little confusing for the foreseeable future, with various generations of headphones getting different discounts during sales.

Design and Features

This isn't the first time I've tested headphones that really don't look at all different from the generation they're replacing, but it might just be the single most invisible set of changes I've ever encountered.

The WH-1000XM4C looks like the WH-1000XM4 in literally every way, from its dimensions, to how it folds, and where its various ports and buttons are located.

It's made from the sort of soft-touch recycled plastic that Sony has been using for years, and you can grab it in a few colours – black, beige and purplish-pink. Whichever you choose, you'll get a lightweight set of headphones (at 253g) made almost entirely from that plastic.

This gives them the feeling of robustness that can come from sticking to simpler materials, and they really don't feel in danger of breaking as you fold them, stick them in a bag, or treat them however you like.

That said, I shouldn't bury the lede here – they're actually not as durable as I'd hope for, still lacking any form of IP resistance rating, meaning there's no official weatherproofing.

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The headband is old-school style, meaning it only has cushioning in the centre, but the earcups themselves are pretty plush and feature a few controls – in addition to the brand's beloved touch controls, which I'll talk about further down.

On the right earcup, all you'll find is a USB-C charging port, but the left has a 3.5mm jack, a power button and a toggle for turning active noise-cancelling (ANC) on and off.

There's a lot to like about this design, though, and it bears repeating that it's already stood the test of time – and over 10 million sales – for a reason. It's super comfortable, and has enough flex to feel durable, even before you consider the hardshell case.

This case comes in the box and it's impressively small thanks to the folding mechanism. It makes it all the more mad in retrospect that the XM5 didn't fold down in the same way, honestly.

In terms of features, though, what's new? Well, possibly the biggest change comes in the battery department, and it might partly explain why this headphone is being launched at all.

To comply with EU regulations, this new model has a user-replaceable battery that's a little less capacious than the old one, so that sees battery life shrink a little to 27-ish hours with ANC turned on, down from 30 hours before. That makes the battery life "solid" rather than terrific, although you can boost it to 34 hours with ANC off.

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Sony isn't pointing at much else in terms of changes, though, which means crucially that you're getting basically the exact same headphones as you would have a few years ago.

That means the ANC is on the same level, and the hardware behind the sound is the same, although the tuning has been tweaked a little.

In terms of codec support, you do get LDAC, but not aptX, while Sony's in-house DSEE upscaler is also here if you want it. The Sound Connect app gives you access to an expanded 10-band EQ system, too.

All of this makes the WH-1000XM4C genuinely quite fascinating – are they a new set of headphones, or are they not? Either way, the feature set is simultaneously retro and entirely appropriate for their new price tag, so there aren't any objections on this front.

Sound and Performance

Slipping on the XM4Cs was a bit like stepping back a few years, which is no surprise, but it's worth remembering that back in 2020 these were rightly considered flagship-level headphones. This means that while their sound has been surpassed more recently, they're still extremely impressive and musical headphones.

As always, I listened to a variety of material in my testing, and found the XM4Cs handled all of it really capably. Justice's new track for GTA VI, Flower in a Hurricane, had all the 80s verve and depth I was looking for, for instance.

Django Django's recent single Cameos was, by contrast, delicate and acoustic, with the right amount of tonality and character.

Michael Kiwanuka's Small Changes underlined that latter point, with a lovely sense of presence and detail – although it's fair to point out that swapping back to the XM6s that I reviewed last year did provide a small boost on both fronts.

I also find the XM6s more comfortable, which perhaps isn't a surprise given their extra development time comparatively. The XM4Cs are still great to wear, but their design does centre some of their weight in the middle of the headband, where the cushioning is, making for more of a pressure point in that spot.

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They're still phenomenally usable, though, especially with how well they fold up – a feature that makes the hardshell case feel optional for plenty of outings, rather than an essential to keep them safe in a bag.

Much like the overall sound quality, I have no complaints about the noise cancellation in the XM4Cs, but I can also acknowledge that it's been improved on since their first release.

These headphones do a very solid job of blocking out background noise, especially the drones of engines or public transport, but swapping to the XM6 – which have three times the microphones – again makes the upgrade pretty clear.

The story here is really that a flagship does indeed start to feel like a fair mid-range option after a few years, and that's normally just a matter of discounts and price cuts, rather than a re-release like this one from Sony.

This is basically just a rubber-stamping of what we already knew about how the XM4 had aged, and in that light it's a pretty honest approach.

Verdict

So, what does the WH-1000XM4 look like in 2026? Well, like the WH-1000XM4C – a set of headphones that underline how changing very little can sometimes be the right play. I think that despite their superb success over the years, though, this new reissue does indicate that some things have changed since they came out.

Their design remains great, but refinements have made it more comfortable since, and it's a very similar situation where sound quality is concerned. For this price, they're a great buy, and I'm arguably most excited to see what sort of price they're listed for in six months' time and more – these could be a Black Friday classic for a few years.

Still, in the here and now I think the WH-1000XM4C are a great option for those looking to stick with Sony's most tried-and-tested choices, even if some of its more recent launches have actually raised the bar past what these headphones can now muster.

Also Consider

Well, there's one very obvious comparison to make here, and it's one that I've made a few times in my review – the current reigning Sony flagship is the WH-1000XM6, and in a straight shootout it wins on most points. Its sound is beefier, its ANC is more comprehensive, and it's more comfortable, while also being a whole heap more expensive. That makes it the best choice if your budget is actually a bit higher than the WH-1000XM4Cs' level.

If you're sticking in the mid-range, though, I'd point you towards Nothing's Headphone (1), which I think does things very differently – in a good way. Its noise-cancelling is pretty comparable to Sony's (despite being years newer), but its design and controls are polar opposites. It's a palate cleanser of a headphone, and won't be for everyone, but when the sales hit, it's a genuine bargain.