Long-term experience with Sony WH-1000XM4 and a look on Sony's replacement part offer in Germany

[MaxDroid42]

Hey all,

 

I have been using the XM4s since 2021 and have loved them for a very long time. I love the sound quality, they are the first over-ear headphones that actually fit well on my head and the battery life is great. They are comfortable, although my ears do touch the inner mesh of the cushions, which becomes noticeable after long sessions. I also think Sony has done a good job with the ANC, although I didn't use it as much as I thought I would. In terms of usability, they work well, for the most part intuitively and reliably. The app is also quite good, but I really have nothing to compare it with. The only thing I would have liked is the ability to change the default ambient sound configuration. I almost always use the headphones with ambient sound on and set to the highest level with voice pass through enabled. However, the headphones always start up in ANC mode, which you need to change by pressing the custom button.

 

That was the good part, now for the ugly. Sometimes, if you start them too quickly after disconnecting them from the charger, they will not start and appear to be completely dead until you connect them to the charger for a few seconds and wait a few seconds before turning them on. This is a very rare behaviour, but still happens from time to time with the current firmware and a battery charge above 50%. While it's a minor annoyance if you know it's happening, it's extremely frightening if you don't and think your €300 headphones are broken because you've been using a Samsung phone charger or Amazon charger, which are usually good enough for them. This behaviour started after two years of ownership, so if this annoyance develops into a serious problem, it would not be covered by the warranty.

One behavior that occurred for the first time today is a high pitched acoustic feedback loop in the right ear cup. I have not been able to reproduce this and do not think it is a defect as they have not been dropped or anything, but I will monitor this. Remark (18.09.2024): I noticed a loosened clip on the bottom of the right ear pad. Clicking this into place, also reduced a hiss on the right side. A hypothesis is, that the replacement pads due to their bigger size, cause a higher push force between the ear pad and the ear cup. This might make it easier to remove clips on accident compared to OEM pads.

 

The biggest downside to owning these headphones is Sony's supply of replacement ear cushions. Prices vary greatly depending on the region you live in. In Germany, for example, the official source for OEM replacement ear pads mentioned on the official Sony Germany spare parts website (not Sony directly, but the official contractor "Service Center Baumeister GmbH & Co KG") lists ear pads for over €50 per side, meaning you can easily pay over €100 for a replacement set [1]. This is absurdly high. Other markets, such as Korea, have offers of around €30 for the whole set [2], which is reasonable and a price I would be happy to pay. Since my ear pads are worn out and I wanted to replace them, I turned to Wicked Cushions, who offered a set that felt more comfortable in terms of the distance between my ears and the pads themselves, but the sound quality is drastically affected, although I got used to it after a few days. As I did not use the OEM pads much, I cannot judge how they affect ANC, but they do isolate quite well and according to [3] they had the least effect on ANC of a selection of popular ear pad manufacturers. The overall quality of the Wicked Cushions ear pads for this particular pair of headphones deserves a separate comment in the Sponsor Complaints section. While there seem to be positive reports from other users for other models of headphones [4], there are also reports of ear cushions falling apart [5], which is the same situation my ear cushions are in after four months of use. Pictures of where the seams have torn will follow in a separate comment under "Sponsor Complaints".

 

I am now looking for replacement ear pads that sound as close as possible to the OEM ones. While I have searched reddit, other sources and even looked into the possibility of importing OEM pads from another region, I think Sony is making it unnecessarily expensive for German customers to extend the life of their device at a reasonable price. The problem of these high prices does not seem to be exclusive to the German market [6]. I expect to pay and I am willing to pay for parts that wear out like batteries and ear pads, but I do not think it is reasonable or attractive for the average consumer to pay more than a third of the original price of the device to replace a set of ear pads.

 

My question to you now is, are there any replacement ear pads you can recommend for the XM4? I have looked at numerous manufacturers and reviews of their products, but I prefer to ask this community for advice. I also wonder if my next pair of headphones will be from Sony.

 

 

1. https://shop.scbaumeister.de/Sony/Kopfhoerer/?order=name-asc&p=2

2. https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyHeadphones/comments/14m8lxa/best_replacement_pads_for_wh1000xm4/

3. https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyHeadphones/comments/15oob17/comment/jvsx6o8/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

4. https://linustechtips.com/topic/1428939-lmg-sponsor-complaints/page/49/#comment-16286023

5. https://linustechtips.com/topic/1428939-lmg-sponsor-complaints/page/48/#comment-16281671

6. https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyHeadphones/comments/14m8lxa/comment/kwxiacq/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

 

Edited September 18 by MaxDroid42
Potential cause for acoustic feedback loop found + added date of remark + typo