Sony’s flagship WH-series wireless headphones are pretty great; their audio quality is excellent, as is their ANC, and they’re comfortable, to top it all off. With all of those great qualities, though, comes a price that not everyone is willing to pay, and for those people, there may be hope still. According to a leak from Dealabs (machine translated), Sony has a new pair of wireless headphones in the works, with a much more approachable price. The wireless headphones, according to the leak, are actually a variant of Sony’s former flagship WH-1000XM4 and will be dubbed the WH-1000XM4C. Dealabs reports that the WH-1000XM4C are slated to be almost identical to the WH-1000XM4, with the same chip for active noise cancellation (ANC), similar 40mm dynamic drivers, and a familiar feature set that includes Sony’s upscaling tech (DSEE Extreme), adaptive sound control, and support for LDAC, Sony’s hi-res streaming codec. Spec-wise, there’s one area where the WH-1000XM4C may differ: battery life. Dealabs says the WH-1000XM4C will have 27 hours of battery life with ANC enabled, while the WH-1000XM4 clock 30 hours with ANC on.
The biggest difference has nothing to do with the specs, though, and everything to do with the price. Where the WH-1000XM4 debuted at $350, Dealabs reports that the WH-1000XM4C may slot in around $100 cheaper. That’s still a not-insignificant sum to pay for a pair of wireless headphones, but in context it might be an enticing deal.
