Sony’s WF-1000XM4 are still on sale for $178 instead of $279.99, which is an all-time low. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
Whether you’re on the hunt for an excellent pair of noise-canceling earbuds to tune out fellow passengers while traveling or simply a good gift, you can’t go wrong with Sony’s WF-1000XM4 earbuds. The XM4s remain our favorite pair of noise-canceling wireless earbuds — even when pitted against standouts like Bose’s excellent QuietComfort Earbuds II — and are a particularly good buy today given they’re currently on sale for around $178 instead of $279.99 at Amazon, Target, and Best Buy. This Black Friday price isn’t unheard of, however, it does bring the wireless earbuds back down to their lowest price to date.
In terms of specs, the XM4s balance superb noise cancellation capabilities with excellent sound quality and long battery life. In fact, you can listen to them for eight hours with noise cancellation turned on before you’ll need to recharge them, making them perfect for long flights or road trips. They also carry an IPX4 rating for sweat and water resistance, so you don’t have to worry about them if they get a little wet.
Their drawbacks are few and far between. Their mic performance leaves something to be desired and they currently lack multipoint connectivity; however, they are set to receive the latter feature at some point this fall, meaning you’ll soon be able to pair them with two Bluetooth devices at the same time. And if you can live without all the bells and whistles found on Apple-centric earbuds like the AirPods Pro, well, it’s hard to go wrong with the XM4s at this price. Read our review.