I heard Sony "WF-1000XM4" immediately.What is the ability of sound and NC performance? (1)

Sony's latest complete wireless earphone "WF-1000XM4"

Sony has announced a completely wireless earphone "WF-1000XM4" as a new lineup to join the premium-class portable audio "1000X Series".

What kind of product is the "M4 (Mark For)" released for the first time in two years since the current model "WF-1000XM3" that appeared in the summer of 2019?We will try the actual machine a little earlier before the release on June 25, and explain the characteristics of the product along with the first impressions of sound and noise canceling (silence) performance.

Sony's first "LDAC" codec full wireless

WF-1000XM4 is a complete wireless earphone of the 1000X series "3rd generation".The wireless headphones of the same series and the neck band type wireless earphones have "M2 (Mark Two)", but there is no "M2" in the complete wireless, and one from the first "WF-1000X" is skipped and WF-1000XM3, WF-1000XM3.Because it appeared with WF-1000XM4, it is a numbering called "M4 but the third generation".

WF-1000XM4 has some notable points.Generally, I think that the ability of the noise canceling (NC) function that sings the "industry's best class" is more important than the current "M3" and how amazing is it compared to the current "M3" and other companies' earphones.I'm worried about the writer, but first let's focus on the birth of "Sony's first LDAC compatible wireless earphone".

LDAC is a Bluetooth audio codec technology developed by Sony and achieving a high -quality sound experience equivalent to high -resolution even during wireless playback.If both the music player (the device on the sending side) and the wireless headphones/earphones (the device on the receiving side) are compatible with the LDAC codecs, the amount of data is about 3 times the amount of data of SBC, which is the standard codec of Bluetooth audio.With a transfer speed of 990kbps, you can transmit up to 96kHz/24bit high -resolution content (linear PCM) with high sound quality.

Headphones (WH-1000XM4), the 1000X series brothers aircraft, and neckband type wireless earphones (Wi-1000XM2) have already been supported by LDAC.However, there were some "walls" to overcome to support LDAC in the left and right independent wireless style.Sony developers have explained that this has achieved LDAC support by achieving the following two points.

One is that it has been equipped with a proprietary "V1 chip", which allows the data amount about three times as much as SBC to be stable even on wireless.The V1 chip is an integrated processor (SOC) that is widely used, from noise canceling to Bluetooth audio signal control, and various chips including V1 chips are also improved.The transmission of the audio signal between the smartphone and the earphone has been stable, and the left and right signal synchronization performance ( *) has also been greatly improved from the conventional WF-1000XM3.

The second is that even if you continue to listen to music on LDAC, which has a very high power management (power saving) performance (power saving) of V1 chip (power saving) and more power consumption than when using other codecs, secure sufficient stamina as a recent wireless earphone.That's what I did.

The WF-1000XM4 is equipped with another technology related to high sound quality called "DSEE EXTREME".While the LDAC is a technology that can send the content of "High Resolution" wirelessly with high sound quality, DSEE EXTREME has a compressed sound source such as music streaming service and MP3 purchased downloaded, and upscaling based on machine learning.However, there is a difference between a good sound approaching high -resolution and making it easier to enjoy.

* Note: WF-1000XM4 has acquired the "High Resolution Audio Wireless" logo licensed by the Japan Audio Association.As one of the technical requirements for the use of logo, the association calls for the gap (phase difference) between the left and right independent earphones within ± 50 microseconds.

Listen to the sound of WF-1000XM4

This time, I had the opportunity to listen to Sony's Android smartphone "Xperia 1" and WF-1000XM4 sound connected by LDAC.From here, I will tell you my first impression.

If you play "Refore" (FLAC 96kHz/24bit) from the ZARD album "ZARD FOREVER BEST-25th Anniversary-"I can feel it.The vocals and lead guitar melodies are full of vitality, and the high range that rises smoothly is fine and rich.I realized once again that the richness of the amount of information that makes me feel the sense of unity is the real pleasure of wireless regeneration by LDAC.

The current WF-1000XM3 does not support LDAC, so it is difficult to compare simple, but the WF-1000XM4 is warm with a warm impression for WF-1000XM3, which has a cool sound trend.Compared to the WF-1000XM3, which features a clean and brilliant mid-high range, WF-1000XM4 has led to a more smooth bass and the balance of sound has improved.Even if you switch the mode from NC to the outer sound, the way you hear the sound will not collapse.I think this is also the charm of WF-1000XM4.