Sony's WH-1000XM4C: Six Years On, a Legend Gets a Comeback

Six years is a long time in consumer electronics. In 2020, the Sony WH-1000XM4 launched into a world that desperately needed good noise cancellation, given that working from home suddenly became everyone's default, and it promptly became one of the best-reviewed headphones ever made. The XM4 sold in enormous numbers, picked up practically every award going, and created a problem for Sony: how do you follow up something people still love in 2026?

Sony's answer, apparently, is to lean into the nostalgia rather than fight it. The new WH-1000XM4C is not a replacement for the existing XM5 line. It is Sony revisiting the XM4 design and specification with six years of additional engineering, while keeping what people actually loved about the original.

What the C Actually Stands For

Sony has not been entirely explicit about what the C suffix means, but the company's history with the letter suggests it signals a collaboration or a tuned variant rather than a ground-up new product. The XM4C appears to retain the XM4's iconic folding design, which was actually removed in the XM5 and upset a significant portion of the fanbase. If you wanted to fold your Sony headphones flat for a slim carry case, the XM5 took that away from you. The XM4C appears to bring it back.

The original XM4 featured 30 hours of battery life with noise cancellation active, and the XM4C is expected to push that to at least 36 hours, bringing it in line with what competitors like Bose and Apple have achieved in the intervening years. The noise cancellation itself has been updated with Sony's newer QN3 processor rather than the original QN1 chip, which should bring the adaptive sound control closer to the XM5's performance.

Why the XM5 Wasn't Enough

The WH-1000XM5 launched in 2022 and was genuinely excellent in terms of noise cancellation performance. But it made changes that polarised buyers. The new design did not fold flat. The ear cups were smaller and less comfortable for extended sessions for some users. The carrying case was larger despite the headphones being more rigid. And the sound signature shifted slightly, losing some of the warm bass that XM4 fans had loved.

As a result, the XM4 continued selling at high volumes long after the XM5 arrived, which is unusual for a consumer electronics product. Sony's own data reportedly showed the XM4 still accounting for a significant share of its premium headphone revenue two years into the XM5's lifecycle. Making an XM4C is, from one angle, Sony admitting that the XM5 did not fully succeed as a replacement.

The Competitive Landscape in 2026

Noise-cancelling headphones are a genuinely competitive market in late 2026. Apple's AirPods Max have carved out a premium tier. Bose's QuietComfort Ultra headphones are excellent. Samsung's Galaxy Buds series has pushed further into the over-ear space. And a wave of well-priced Chinese competitors from brands like Soundcore and EarFun have made genuinely impressive products at a fraction of the price of Sony's flagship tier.

The XM4C will likely retail around 349 dollars in the US and a similar sterling figure in the UK, positioning it as a premium product that needs to justify its price against both Apple's hardware and cheaper alternatives that close most of the performance gap at half the cost.

My Take

I have a soft spot for the original XM4. I reviewed a pair in 2021 and they were genuinely the best headphones I had used at the time. The news that Sony is revisiting that design rather than pushing everyone towards the XM5 feels like a company listening to its customers, which is not something you can always say about consumer electronics companies.

The key question is whether this is a genuine improvement or a limited nostalgia play. If the noise cancellation really does approach XM5 levels and the battery life is meaningfully better, the XM4C could be the headphone that sits comfortably at the top of the market without the compromises of either of its predecessors. Pricing will be everything.