Those who prioritise battery life in their AirPods alternatives should find the eight hours promised by the Sonys more than sufficient.
You can't help but be carried away by their sense of musicality. There's dynamics and detail in spades and it's a balanced performance, with taut, precise bass notes and refined, sophisticated vocals. With the new WF-1000XM4, Sony's managed to build on the huge success of the WF-1000XM3 (a few spots below) and produce a sensational pair of true wireless earbuds. There’s no denying that they cost a lot more than typical products in this class but, if sound quality is king, there’s equally no denying that they’re worth it. Their authenticity, detail, crispness and spaciousness elevate them so far above the previous best in the wireless noise-cancelling class that the comparison starts to become a little redundant and you instead begin to consider them alongside proper hi-fi products. They will work with non-Apple products using standard Bluetooth 5.0, but you’ll miss out on many of their unique features.Īssuming you are a keen Apple user, the AirPods Max are the best wireless headphones you can buy – and not by a small margin. You need an iPhone or iPad to get the most out of them. The unexpectedly huge price of the Apple AirPods Max makes them considerably dearer than the great majority of premium (if we can even still call them that) wireless noise-cancelling headphones but they really do justify that extra outlay.