Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days event may be over, but great headphone deals on some of the world's most popular noise-canceling models can still be found if you know where to look.
Right now the Sony WH-1000XM4 are just $248 at Walmart. Although it's not the lowest price I've seen these at (they were $249 @ Amazon in the most recent sale and dropped to $228 in 2022's Cyber Monday sales), this is a very worthwhile $100 off the usual price for one of my favorite Sony over-ear headphones.
More than a year after being superseded by the current Sony WH-1000XM5 flagship, the WH-1000XM4 continue to be as popular as ever among discerning headphone buyers, and it's easy to understand why. The XM4 was a long running choice for the best headphones on the market, and our Sony WH-1000XM4 review had almost nothing but praise for these noise-canceling cans.
We found that the Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones produced a detailed and dynamic soundstage. High and middle-ranged frequencies were well-balanced and there was plenty of bass energy to carry beats. If you're like me though and love to tinker with EQ settings, there's plenty of flexibility in the Headphones app to adjust the output exactly to your liking and get even better sound. Support for 360 Reality Audio, LDAC and DSEE Extreme are all included, which makes them as well-equipped as the model that replaced them.
The Sony WH-1000XM4 don’t outclass the very best noise-cancelling headphones around right now, but they are still excellent when it comes to blocking outside noise. Travel noise, wind and other distractions were completely reduced in our tests. Plus, there are 20 levels of ambient sound to choose from if you prefer to stay aware of sounds around you while you listen to music.
The Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones also offer good battery life. We got 30 hours of playtime with ANC on, or 38 hours with ANC off. A 10-minute quick charge netted us 5 hours of listening time.
If you’re interested in the Sony WH-1000XM5, check out our Sony WH-1000XM5 vs WH-1000XM4 face-off to see how both these headphones stack up. In short, the XM5s offer slightly longer battery life, improved sound quality and ANC. But for $248, the XM4 headphones are a seriously good value.
Stay tuned to our early Black Friday deals coverage for all the biggest price drops on the best tech right now.
