Sony WH-1000XM4 producing static noise with noise cancelling on

[Shreyas Tripathy]

I recently bought the Sony XM4's on account my upstairs neighbor using his floor as a drum set. Until today, I was quite happy with my purchase as it was cancelling out the constant noise. But suddenly I started facing an issue with it.

 

Now, whenever I turn noise cancellation on, I hear a static-y, low-frequency, wind-blowing-directly-into-the-ears sort of sound in the right earcup. I tested multiple times to verify that this wasn't being caused by any external source and also made sure to move to different areas in the house to eliminate any stray disturbances. But all that to no avail. Sony's customer care form is bugged and doesn't register the complaint while Amazon's customer care is doing their best to make sure that have "turned it off and on again".

 

Details about the noise:

• It is being produced by the headphones for sure and it is only limited to the right channel.
• If I factory reset the device, the noise goes away for a 30 mins or so and then comes back.
• None of the optimizations or calibrations have any effect.
• It is ONLY happening when noise cancellation is on. The moment I switch to ambient or default mode, it disappears. Also, while using the ambient control slider in the app, I get the noise only in the noise cancelling and wind noise reduction settings. However, on any setting, if I turn the "Focus on voice" setting on, the noise comes back.
• When playing music or any other sound, the noise disappears when the low and mid frequencies are played. And it pops-back in as soon as highs come in.

 

So, I turn to LTT forum to ask for help. Has anyone here faced a similar issue? The internet is pretty empty in terms of troubleshooting as this is a relatively new device. Any help would be appreciated

[MrgoldyMusic]

I have the downgraded model of yours, the WH-1000XM3s and never had any issue like this. Since you tried everything I could think of, the best bet would be to try to return your device or actually send an email or just call sony. Don't contact Amazon. The best option is to always contact the manufacturer.

[ShearMe]

4 hours ago, Shreyas Tripathy said:

So, I turn to LTT forum to ask for help. Has anyone here faced a similar issue? The internet is pretty empty in terms of troubleshooting as this is a relatively new device. Any help would be appreciated

 

Am Having this issue with a completely different noise cancelling set of headphones. I would guess it's something related to a bad microphone.

 

4 hours ago, MrgoldyMusic said:

Don't contact Amazon. The best option is to always contact the manufacturer.

Wrong.

[Shreyas Tripathy]

12 hours ago, ShearMe said:

 

Am Having this issue with a completely different noise cancelling set of headphones. I would guess it's something related to a bad microphone.

If that's the case, it is quite disappointing considering the 350USD price. I have a replacement being sent to me so I'll update the thread after a few days of use

[Ahoy Hoy]

The way noise cancelation works is a microphone on the outside listens to the background noises and plays the opposite in the headphones to cancel the noise out.

Since it only happens in the right ear and with noise cancelling on the Id say its probably a faulty microphone or something in the noise cancelation circuit.


Amazon will honour warranty faults and since you got a model which is only a few months old Id bet my life savings on them being in warranty so just message amazon saying I got a faulty pair of headphones the right ear cup is producing static sounds can I get a replacement. Amazon puts customers first by a mile and will post you a replacement within minuets of your complaint then they will get you to post those headphones back.

[Peter Fretter]

Hi! I'm having the same issues here. I have the headset for a month, and I started having these scratchy noises in the right ear cup only on noise cancelling modes. Pretty bummed about it...

[Peter Fretter]

Somebody made a video with the issue, and there are more people affected by this in the comments section.
 

 

[Shreyas Tripathy]

I just received my replacement XM4's. It's working fine atm. I'll test them for a week and hopefully won't have the same dumb issue.

Sony definitely needs better quality control if their flagship wireless headphones have such issues

[Peter Fretter]

Some people say that this issue appears due to humidity, that's why it can go away at times. For example right now my headset is back to normal...

[Ahoy Hoy]

Very strange as I have the last generation which is a very similar headphone and Ive travelled around the world with them from cold snowy climates to hot Mediterranean and never had a problem like that.

[Shreyas Tripathy]

Yeah, after scouring the web for answers, I found hundreds of comments and threads saying that humidity leads to this problem. It makes sense in my case as well because the 4th day (the day when I actually started facing this issue) was a pretty hot day.

 

@Ahoy Hoy I'd say you got lucky because a marquee issue with the XM3's was the cold weather one where the touch controls would register random touches.

 

3rd day of my replacement XM4's and I am already facing a DIFFERENT issue. The proximity sensor is highly inconsistent. It decides when it wants to work. I take off the headphones and the video/audio keeps playing so I use the keyboard or mouse to pause it. But that's when the headphones suddenly remember what they were supposed to do and unpause the video/audio. This is yet another example of Sony's shoddy work. I had been using JBL audio product for nearly 5 years and have never had any issues. These cost over 3x and have the EXACT same feature set but with additional headache.

 

I just wish JBL knew how to make good noise cancellation headphones or Bose and Microsoft decided to price their products competitively in India. The Bose QC's cost upwards of $400 while the Surface headphones cost over 560! Weirdly inflated prices has had me stuck with this junk that Sony calls the WH1000XM4 (Great name BTW!). Stay away from Sony headphones, I guess

[exus98]

On 10/5/2020 at 2:54 PM, Shreyas Tripathy said:

I recently bought the Sony XM4's on account my upstairs neighbor using his floor as a drum set. Until today, I was quite happy with my purchase as it was cancelling out the constant noise. But suddenly I started facing an issue with it.

 

Now, whenever I turn noise cancellation on, I hear a static-y, low-frequency, wind-blowing-directly-into-the-ears sort of sound in the right earcup. I tested multiple times to verify that this wasn't being caused by any external source and also made sure to move to different areas in the house to eliminate any stray disturbances. But all that to no avail. Sony's customer care form is bugged and doesn't register the complaint while Amazon's customer care is doing their best to make sure that have "turned it off and on again".

 

Details about the noise:

• It is being produced by the headphones for sure and it is only limited to the right channel.
• If I factory reset the device, the noise goes away for a 30 mins or so and then comes back.
• None of the optimizations or calibrations have any effect.
• It is ONLY happening when noise cancellation is on. The moment I switch to ambient or default mode, it disappears. Also, while using the ambient control slider in the app, I get the noise only in the noise cancelling and wind noise reduction settings. However, on any setting, if I turn the "Focus on voice" setting on, the noise comes back.
• When playing music or any other sound, the noise disappears when the low and mid frequencies are played. And it pops-back in as soon as highs come in.

 

So, I turn to LTT forum to ask for help. Has anyone here faced a similar issue? The internet is pretty empty in terms of troubleshooting as this is a relatively new device. Any help would be appreciated

What an exact description of the issue. My Sony WH-1000XM4 have the exact same problem. I am waiting for an replacement. I do live in a very humid hot area. I hope the replacement does not have that issue.

[exus98]

On 10/9/2020 at 11:29 AM, Shreyas Tripathy said:

Yeah, after scouring the web for answers, I found hundreds of comments and threads saying that humidity leads to this problem. It makes sense in my case as well because the 4th day (the day when I actually started facing this issue) was a pretty hot day.

 

@Ahoy Hoy I'd say you got lucky because a marquee issue with the XM3's was the cold weather one where the touch controls would register random touches.

 

3rd day of my replacement XM4's and I am already facing a DIFFERENT issue. The proximity sensor is highly inconsistent. It decides when it wants to work. I take off the headphones and the video/audio keeps playing so I use the keyboard or mouse to pause it. But that's when the headphones suddenly remember what they were supposed to do and unpause the video/audio. This is yet another example of Sony's shoddy work. I had been using JBL audio product for nearly 5 years and have never had any issues. These cost over 3x and have the EXACT same feature set but with additional headache.

 

I just wish JBL knew how to make good noise cancellation headphones or Bose and Microsoft decided to price their products competitively in India. The Bose QC's cost upwards of $400 while the Surface headphones cost over 560! Weirdly inflated prices has had me stuck with this junk that Sony calls the WH1000XM4 (Great name BTW!). Stay away from Sony headphones, I guess

Did your replacement unit did show the static noise again? And does your proximity sensor work again as it should? I live in Mexico on the Pacific where it is very hot and humid. If it had to do with humidity I think the Sony are not a good choice here.

[exus98]

On 10/8/2020 at 1:45 AM, Peter Fretter said:

Some people say that this issue appears due to humidity, that's why it can go away at times. For example right now my headset is back to normal...

Hello Peter, I have the same issue with my Sony WH-1000XM4. I do live in a very humid area. Did your get en replacement n or did your find a solution?

[imsuvesh]

Same problem but on left side. Tried soft / hard factory rest. I guess Sony had this problem in xm3s also but they didn't fixed it.
any wants to try this https://www.saintlad.com/wind-noise-with-sony-wh-1000xm3-headphones/ can tell if it helps.

Going to put my headphone under sun  to see if this solves humid problem.

[Majkel_sweden]

I wonder if your replacement headset have the same issue? I bought my headphones in February and had the same experience in the left earcup. I contacted Sony customerservice and they asked me to reset and update the firmeware but it didn't solve the problem. I got a replacement from Amazon and first two weeks I didn't hear any noise but then the same low frequency noise appeared in the right earcup. It usually appears after listening 30-40 mins. I live in Sweden so I find it hard to belive that hot temperatures or high humidity causes this error. I will return the headphones but don't know if I would dare to ask for a third replacement or choose another brand instead. I think XM4 have great sound quality but it's very disappointing to hear this disturbing "noise" when I listen to soft music or speaking. 

[Hackavist138]

I think i ma facing the same problem with my xm4, I first noticed it while i was on the road the wind was a little bit rough and it started popping like crazy so i took it off.

then whenever ANC is on and the headphones moves slightly (whether my head or my body moved) I hear a small pop sound in the right ear cup.

 

I tried it after Sony's 2.5.0 firmware update which came out today, but with no luck. I currently live in Egypt with no official Sony service provider here.

 

So Please if there is any possible fix for this annoying issue please add it as reply to this thread.

[tgbateria]

I think I have found out the core issue for this.

Moisture builds up on both ear-cups, but the noise always shows up in the right one or left one, VERY rarely on both, so I thought this might be a very small manufacturing issue that is being exposed by the moisture buildup.

I have pried the ear-cups open (removed cushions), and noticed that in my right ear-cup the wires that connect to the drive have longer exposed ends then in the left one.

I have moved then further apart VERY carefully, and now the issue is gone. Did not even try to dry them out before turning them back up to see if the issue was gone.

But the issue is indeed gone.

My guess is that the moisture was causing a very small short circuit or a very small capacitance short due to high frequencies on the noise cancelling.

One thing I also had to do was to re-optimize the noise cancelling after putting the cushions back in place.

I hope that also works for someone else around here.

Cheers.

[Juansanaguil]

These are the wires you mean?  That you put them further inside so that they were seen as little as possible?  Thank you very much because I have that problem and I don't know how to solve it.

[anusblack]

Hi I am facing similar issue from the left side of the headphones, I am very much upset as it is not a cheap product, I have registered a complain to sony service center.

[HNVVV]

Well I also encountered the same issue. Some time the withe noise appears in the left earbud, sometime in the right one, sometime both. And it was just used for 2 days. Turn off the ANC would help to solve the white noise but there still buzzing. 

[ibananti]

Thanks a lot for this advice! It helped me too. I just used a small pincette to take the two wires shown in Juansanaguil's photo apart, just a little tiny bit. Also removed a few hairs which got stuck in front of the membrane. Now the noise is gone. 

 

 

On 6/8/2021 at 3:27 AM, tgbateria said:

I think I have found out the core issue for this.

Moisture builds up on both ear-cups, but the noise always shows up in the right one or left one, VERY rarely on both, so I thought this might be a very small manufacturing issue that is being exposed by the moisture buildup.

I have pried the ear-cups open (removed cushions), and noticed that in my right ear-cup the wires that connect to the drive have longer exposed ends then in the left one.

I have moved then further apart VERY carefully, and now the issue is gone. Did not even try to dry them out before turning them back up to see if the issue was gone.

But the issue is indeed gone.

My guess is that the moisture was causing a very small short circuit or a very small capacitance short due to high frequencies on the noise cancelling.

One thing I also had to do was to re-optimize the noise cancelling after putting the cushions back in place.

I hope that also works for someone else around here.

Cheers.

 

[Uncle Peeps]

Ok so I just wanted to share my experience. I have now owned 4x different WH-1000XM4's. Reason being is that after a few weeks or even days of owning a unit, the ongoing static sound would play, typically in one ear. This occurs even when playing music or taking a call. I have read in multiple threads that this is due to humidity and moisture build-up, this is incorrect. As the units had warranty, I would just keep taking back the borked units, get a new one, same issue appeared again etc etc. I tried different noise-cancelling features, tuning the noise-cancelling, drying out the cups and nothing worked until I tried this new test permutation. I ordered another set via warranty, and DIDN'T install the Sony headphone app....after continuous use without the app, I can confirm that the static is non-existent. I have come to the conclusion that the issue is due to a FIRMWARE update that gets automagically installed after you install the headphones app. As soon as that firmware is deployed, the static will start. The only option is to NOT install that app at all, I simply use the touch controls to do the basic stuff and use the default out of the box firmware. If your device is already flashed, you would need to return the unit and simply not install the app. Trust me, after the 4th unit, I wasn't willing to experiment much more, been over a year now and the headphones work perfectly. Hope this helps someone, cheers..

[mandd]

I did disassemble mine, clean, blow dust, greased.  same beep.

my last sony product.

 

[EthanFish]

The Cable fix worked for me

 

The solution mentioned in tgbateria and Juansanaguil posts in this forum worked in my case. Although I had to additionally wrap one of the cables in electrical tape in order to prevent the issue from coming back the process worked just as described.