Sony introduces the new WF-1000XM4

After many leaks, Sony has finally announced the new WF-1000MX4. Most of the details leaked, so rather than post the press release and specs again, I will go over some of the new things for me.

First the price and availability, €280/£250/$279 USD and a June 2021 availability. For Canada, it seems the price will be $399 CAD, which is quite high. I can understand an increase of maybe $50 dollars, but $100 is unjustifiable and they are not worth $399 CAD (+ tax) in my opinion from reading the various reviews. If you are in Canada, either wait, or import them from the US. 

Please post any other region pricing and availability below in the comments.

New Improved Driver but same size

Looking at the exploded view, looks like a lot of stuff is packed inside. The 6mm driver does look different to the WF-1000M3 one, and NC mics are MEMS type. It will be interesting to see the driver in a teardown to see how it looks like in real life and if the diaphragm can actually be seen.

Sony states the driver magnet volume is 20% larger along with a new high compliance diaphragm, both improving low frequency performance and helping with noise cancellation. I guess Sony settled on batter materials rather than a larger driver for better performance. Wonder if they experimented with a larger driver in some prototypes.

It will be a while before we see a proper teardown, 52Audio is my guess, but the FCC documents should be available shortly, so we will be able to see inside the device, even though it might not show much.

    

New NC microphones

The noise cancellation microphones are highlighted in this photo below. Not sure if these NC mics also are involved in voice pickup for calls but I suspect they might. There is another microphone, which might be solely dedicated to voice only since it is not highlighted as a NC mic (second photo).

This highlighted mic is only labeled as "Mic 2"in the file description, so maybe it is an additional mic for the "Beamforming microphone" setup. Perhaps this microphone along with the bone conduction pickup is what helps improve the voice call quality. All the mics are not MEMS type rather than electret type which was used in the WF-1000XM3.

Improved foam tips but only one type

The foam tips have also changed, rather than offer 2 types, only one type will be included in 3 different sizes. Sony describes the new tip as "a unique polyurethane foam material that is soft and elastic". The new tips are supposed to maximize the contact between the tips and the ear canal which is meant to eliminate the any gap insulating the sound and reducing outside noise. I do hope they will be easy to clean and Sony will offer (sell) replacement tips if anyone who is unfortunately loses one.

Smaller and lighter

Sony claims the new earbuds are 10% smaller and the charging case is 40% smaller when compared to the WF-1000XM3. Will be interesting to see the charging case battery size has also been decreased in capacity or has stayed the same. The weight of each earbud is now 7.4g versus 8.2g in the previous model, not sure if people will be able to tell the difference in weight, but the smaller case is a welcome design change. Likewise the addition of Qi wireless charging is also a big plus if you ask me.

Should be to scale based on the USB cable

New Packaging

Another new feature/aspect is the packaging. Sony has moved to a more sustainable, environmentally friendly choice for this generation. According to Sony, 99% of the paper packaging, excluding the labels, is from recycled and sustainable materials developed specially for Sony. While I applaud Sony moving to a more sustainable future, the packaging does look a bit, cheap, especially for a high end model. I feel a slightly more premium look could have been employed for an expensive headset like this but what are people's thoughts? Good idea or bad idea?

The look is best summarized by a tweet by mirai160525, tt looks like a bento-box Perhaps this was the goal of Sony's designers? I look forward to seeing any interviews on Sony Japan's website with the designers and engineers.

Maybe the packaging is not something important to most users and they just want a proper device, understandable, but I am sure there are customers out there that want a proper retail box especially for such an expensive wireless headset. You can see retail box from a photo Sony posted on Twitter.

Sony's new WF-1000XM4 or Bento box?

Here is an un-packaging video courtesy of CNET.

 

 

Absence of multi-point?

 

Finally there is no mention anywhere in the press release or the product pages of multi-point support. Likewise CNET, the Verge and What Hi-fi state in their reviews there is no multi-point support like that found in the WH-1000XM4. It is odd that the new Blueooth SoC, MT2822S cannot support multi-point when the previous MT2811S found in the WH-1000XM3 has multi-point support. Is the absence because of technical issues or just Sony opting to not include it? Odd.

Whether multi-point support can be added in the future with a firmware update remains to be seen. I know a lot of people were asking for this but the leaks never mentioned it, so I could not provide a definite answer back then. But now we know, true multi-point like in the WH-1000M4 is absent. I do believe you can pair the device to multiple devices like the WF-1000XM3 could but you cannot use said devices at the same time, ie listening to music on your PC, and answer a call on your phone.

Teardown

 

So looking at the FCC documents, it appears that the internal and external photos will now be available on the 10th of June, rather than tomorrow, the 9th, frustrating, but in a Sony engineer/designer interview there are some photos of some of the internals.  

 

Update, FCC filing documents are out and it looks like this V1 integrated processor is labelled as the Bluetooth IC, or Mediatek MT2822S. So it looks like this is not a standalone QN1 chip like before but the Bluetooth SoC. I have some information about the MT2822S in this post.

Photo courtesy of Sony.jp (updated)

 

This photo shows what I believe to be the main PCBs. They connect via the snap connectors, which will help with assembly and future repairs. With the FCC filing, it looks like the V1 chip is the Bluetooth SoC, note how Sony has labelled it "integrated processor", so part of something, and that part is the Bluetooth SoC. I am make out Mediatek ARM on the chip just barely, but it is there. The appearance of the chip silkscreen looked familiar, identical to the WH-1000XM4, like below.

Photo source: 52Audio.com

Here are both the right and left Bluetooth SoCs from the FCC filing. The silk-screened text on the chip is hard to make out but for certain it is a Mediatek chip.

Main PCB with Bluetooth IC

The other photo (below) shows the reverse side of this PCB, but only a MEMS microphone is visible and some small chip, unknown what it could be but I do not expect it to be anything like a QN1e.

reverse side of main PCB

Finally I am attaching the photo showing the Bluetooth antenna and the Bluetooth IC, labelled from the FCC documents and with the label removed to see the photo more clearly. Again you can make out Mediatek ARM on the chip.

Bluetooth Antenna and Bluetooth IC Sony WF-1000XM4

Going back to the rest of the interview teardown, looks like the plastic shield with the antenna in the real device does not have the extra little piece of plastic sticking out of it, so  not sure why it was included in the press photos.

The on-board contacts (labelled) look like the ones on the WF-1000XM3, but these are located deeper in the earbuds so do not connect to the antenna, most likely to the speaker assembly, but only a guess. In the Sony engineer interview, Sony states the Bluetooth antenna is together with the touch sensor section, and now looking closely at the main PCB, it does look like there are 2 contacts beside the Bluetooth SoC to connect to the antenna.

Comparison of Bluetooth antennas on Sony's TWS headsets

 

While the press photo does not show the yellow antenna, I would imagine it will be visible on the actual piece and this is confirmed in the FCC filing photos, which shows a bit of the antenna on the underside of the touch panel. The process of adding the antenna to resin parts is called Laser Direct Structuring, video here for those curious. The photo below shows the contacts and where they touch on the antenna on the WF-1000XM3.

 

Source: www.ifixit.com

In the second photo, we see the 2 PCB boards connected and inside the earbuds. There is a tiny chance we can see the new Bluetooth SoC, but it could be some other component/chip as well. The feed-forward NC mic and the additional voice mic are also visible. There is also what appears to be either driver casing/housing or something else, but not sure. We will need to see a full teardown to know what it is exactly.

Photo courtesy of Sony.jp

The third photo is the PCB of the charging case. In the photo, the case is upside down and we can see the rear with the USB type-C port. On the right top edge of the PCB is the battery connection and on the top left edge the soldering points for the Qi coil. The PCB is most likely double sided, so there will be other components on the underside. The good news is that the battery is no longer soldered to the PCB like in the WF-1000XM3, so replacing should be simpler, if you can find one.

Photo courtesy of Sony.jp

I am adding a comparison photo (below) of the WF-1000XM3 charging case PCB. As you can see the battery is soldered in the older model.

Photo source: 52audio.com

Final photo from the interview, the Qi coil and the battery (partially visible). Really curious if a larger capacity battery could be installed or if the battery takes up all the space on the plastic part.

Photo courtesy of Sony.jp

That is the end of all the photos from the interview of the teardown. So with the FCC photos out, it seems like there is no QN1e chip, only one main chip, the Bluetooth SoC. Likewise other chips are also absent, like no more power management chip, MTK MT6388P in the WF-1000XM3, and no more memory chip, Q128FWY. This might be because the new MT2822S/AB1568 has both of these features now integrated into it, 64Mb System in Package (SiP) flash memory and power management.

Having more functions in the Bluetooth SoC, would save on battery power, and with the new Bluetooth chip rumoured to be on a newer manufacturing process, further power savings can be achieved.

While we wait for a full teardown, it appears the V1 Integrated chip is just the Mediatek MT2822S rather than a new standalone QN1e like chip. I guess the integrated name was one of the major clues, combining NC, flash memory and power management into one.

Reviews

The preliminary reviews are out, no doubt once the WF-1000XM4 begin arriving in people's hands, I suspect a firmware update will be out shortly after. Hopefully multi-point can be added along with LE Audio in the future. 

 

I was not offered any review unit, will have to buy one myself if I want to test it. I would imagine Aaron is Loud and Wireless will soon get his review unit and get a video out. In the meantime, here are some reviews from various sites.

Engadget

CNET

Verge

SoundGuys 

Pocket-lint

What Hi-Fi

The press release can be found here, I will be updating the post with any other interesting information or features I find. Hopefully the FCC documents will be available tomorrow so we can finally see the inside of this new headset.

    

So what are people's thoughts? Home run for Sony, or are there other features which you would liked to have seen included? Post your comments below.