With all the issues of battery drain and the new 1.6.1 firmware possibly decreasing battery life, here is a guide how to replace the battery in your WF-1000XM4. The video can be found here for those interested, I will also embed it at the end. Thanks to Yen Albert for the great video.
Sony Asia has finally released a new firmware update for the WF-1000XM4. This firmware supposedly fixes the battery drain, but we will have to wait and see what users say. Looking at other Sony support sites like Europe or Americas, no 1.6.1 update yet.
Good news everyone! We finally have a time frame for the expected firmware update to LE audio for the LinkBuds S, Spring 2023. Thanks to aborne25 from twitter for finding this on the product page.
That time of the year again, Black Friday. There are some great deals, some not so great, but it all depends what you have been waiting for to drop in price. If you order through the affiliate links, I do earn a small commission which I use to buy any new devices to test and post up a review.
Another wireless headset from Sony has passed through the FCC again, the YY2968. My first thought was, is this the WF-1000XM5? But looking at the company doing the testing, my thinking is no, this is not the WF-1000XM5. So what could it be? My bet is on a new WF-C500.
Sony has released the multipoint firmware for their LinkBuds line, LinkBuds and LinkBuds S. The firmware should be available via the Sony Headphone App.
Another Sony wireless headset has appeared on the FCC, the YY2978. The first thought that comes into my head is, this looks like the WS-Series Walkman, but this is a headset and not Walkman. So the next thought, could this the production model of the WI-EO600? The original WI-EO600 (YY2962) had a limited production run, so perhaps Sony has decided to have a larger global release.
Tucked in at the end of a recent press release for the new Blue LinkBuds S model, Sony announced that true mulitpoint support is finally coming to the WF-1000XM4 and LinkBuds S. While both models can connect to multiple devices currently, they cannot do it at the same time, like the WH-1000XM5.
A lot of users have complained that new firmware updates have worsened battery life or noise cancellation performance. Well there is now a way to reverse the update, using MrWalkman's MDR Proxy, the Firmware sidegrade tool.
Finally some good news for Walkman fans, Sony has 2 new models lined up, an A-Series and a ZX-Series. The two Walkmans just appeared on the FCC, YY1301B1 (A) and YY1302B2 (ZX).
Unfortunately this is not new news. but perhaps good news for current and future WF-1000XM4 owners. Recalling back to the WF-1000XM4 teardown post, we know the internal battery is a 3.85V coin cell. This normally would not be an issue except finding the Springpower 3.85V battery is near impossible right now. There may be some links on the web, but they seem sketchy and who knows what you will receive when you order it.
Another Sony wireless headset has appeared on Bluetooth SIG, code YY2966. The Bluetooth version is 5.2 but looking at the supported layers, there is no support for "Isochronous Adaptation Layer", which is indicative of LE Audio. So this might end up being either a low/mid level device or perhaps an over the ear headset where LE Audio is not as important versus in a small in-ear headset.
A new wireless headsets from Sony has appeared on the FCC, the YY2958. In an earlier post I wrote that this code was still unknown and could have been a new headset and it turned out this is the case. The new headset is the WH-CH520, replacing the older WH-CH510.
A week ago Sony released a firmware update for the WH-1000XM5, and reading through some reports and user experience it appears that the NC issues caused by the Auto NC Optimizer may have been solved.
Thanks to an anonymous comment on the previous post, we now know what the YY2962 are, the Sony Off-Ear headphones, or WI-OE600. The product post can be found on the Indiegogo page, but the campaign closed last year. Unfortunately it was only open to Japanese and US individuals only, so I could not have ordered one, even if I wanted to. Fortunately, the campaign was very successful, so perhaps Sony will put the model into mass production in the future.
Another wireless headset from Sony has appeared on the FCC. The design looks to be similar to the older WS-Series Walkman, but these are just headphones according to the filing. They are manufactured in Thailand, which is a change, as most of Sony's headphone came from Malaysia or Vietnam, and some in China. Perhaps this is a move by Sony to move away from Chinese manufacturing.
While, this is not a wireless headset, it might be quite important for Sony's wireless headsets. We are looking at another USB transceiver from Sony, like the YY2965 that ships with the Inzone headsets. The major difference appears to be size, with the YY2965 being much longer.
Another headset appeared on Canada's Certification body, the YY2969. This headset has not appeared on the FCC yet, so we can only use this certification for clues. The major piece of information is the YY2953 name, this is the internal code for the Sony LinkBuds.
52Audio have released their LinkBuds S teardown, and it does reveal a few things I was not able to show in my earlier teardown post which I made using the FCC documents. I only covered the headset in that teardown, but with the new teardown we have more details and the charging case as well.
In the main LinkBuds S post, Sony provided us a glimpse at the new System in Package (SiP) setup in the new earbuds, but we did not have any shots off the other components. So while we wait for a full teardown, the FCC filing does provide us with a teaser of what we can expect.
We finally have the full details for the new LinkBuds S after the image leak back in April. The new earbuds will be available in three colours, black, white, and cream. The price is 200 Euros ($199 USD, $299 CAD, 170 GBP) and they will be available at the end of May 2022.
While we wait for a full teardown by 52Audio, we can have a gander of the inside of the new WH-1000XM5 thanks to the FCC. There some new details that are revealed by the FCC, like the battery capacity, more ribbon cable use, and an unknown ring structure on the left side.
The Sony WH-1000XM5 are finally here. If people wish to read some early reviews, there quite a few out there from Gizmodo, Wired, the Verge, etc. If I end up buying a pair, I may post up a review but I do not have the WH-1000XM4, so I could not compare the two. I will go over some of the new things that were finally revealed today that caught my attention.
Sony Japan has teased the new LinkBuds S. For those curious how it looks like, check out the leaked press photos post here. We do not know many of the technical details but here is what we know so far.
Sony has put up a teaser page for the upcoming WH-1000XM5. While we have seen the photos, and the 30 hours of battery life, we still do not know many other details like price, retail availability and if the headphones bring any new features. Rumoured price is $399 USD.
Hmm what do we have here? Looks like the new Sony WH-1000XM5. Looks like it has leaked A LOT earlier than I expected. I received the leak last night but it was too late to make a proper post, with comparisons and analysis, so I apologize.
Here are the first photos of the upcoming Sony YY2950 I wrote about back in November 2021. Snoopytech on twitter is reporting these will be part of the LinkBuds line, LinkBuds S and carry the WF-LSN900 model name. I am inclined to believe them since they were correct on the LinkBuds name of the WF-L900 when that leaked.
I was hoping we would see a teardown of the WH-XB910N, and 52Audio delivers once again. I will try to go over anything interesting and do a quick comparison to the older WH-XB900N. Perhaps some of these new changes could make their way into the upcoming Sony WH-1000XM5.
When Sony introduced the WF-1000XM4, many people believed they would support multipoint like their larger brother, the WH-1000XM4, but that did not turn out to be the case. Yes the earbuds can have multiple devices connected but not simultaneously. Even I was told by one source that there would be multipoint support, but I suspect there was a mistranslation of supporting multiple devices versus true multipoint support.
The Sony LinkBuds were announced only last month and we already have a teardown by 52Audio. Check their article out for the full teardown which features a lot more detail than I will be posting.
Sony will be expanding their lineup of portable wireless speakers this year. There will be 3 new additional models coming, the SRS-XG300, SRS-XE300 and SRS-XE200. Two of the speakers were recently registered with Korea's FCC, the SRS-XE300 and SRS-XE200. I suspect these will be the more portable models.
Sony has released another firmware update for the WF-1000XM4. It includes the previous update (here) and some new changes.
It looks like Sony will have 3 new gaming headsets this year, the YY2961 (above), the WH-G700 (YY2960) and WH-G900N (YY2959). Very little information exists about them, I have a longer post about the WH-G900N here.
Sony unveiled their new Linkbuds last week, and as is the case from time to time, Sony Japan has released an interview with some of the designers and engineers. I will not be copy and pasting the entire interview here, having read through it, I will post some of the interesting bits and post my thoughts about what the interview reveals. The full interview can be found here, but it is in Japanese, so you will need to translate it.
Press Release
Sony Introduces LinkBuds, a new frontier for headphones
Press Release
Sony today introduced two new premium music players – the NW–WM1ZM2 & NW-WM1AM2, raising the bar to new heights in High-Resolution Audio listening, to satisfy the most demanding audiophiles.
Designed to immerse you in sublime, nuanced sound, the NW-WM1ZM2 has been fine-tuned from years of audio mastery and crafted from the very best materials. This new addition sets a new benchmark for Sony’s award-winning signature series, offering an exquisite listening experience in an ultra-premium design.
The NW-WM1AM2 allows you to completely lose yourself in high-quality audio with a richer, smoother and more expansive sound field compared to its predecessor.
Both music players let you download and stream from endless catalogues of music with Wi-Fi compatibility, taking your listening enjoyment to the next level.
Extraordinary sound begins with exceptional components
End of Press Release
So here they are, 2 new Walkmans to replace the WM1-Series. The prices are steep but expected. Unfortunately there are no high resolution photos yet, so once I find some, I will replace the smaller versions with full size ones.
The NW-WM1ZM2 will come with 128GB internal memory and the NW-WM1AM2 will have 256GB.
My question now is, will be see replacements for the A and ZX Walkmans this year? Personally I would love to see a non-Android A60 but doubtful. I would love to pick up the NW-WM1ZM2 but at 1400 euros, I think I will save that money for a new laptop instead. Unless Sony wishes to send me one :D
Finally, guess no Signature Series WF model. I was hopeful but guess the YY2950 is something else. Hopefully we will not have to wait that long for its debut or leak.
A new Sony model has shown up on the FCC, the YY2954. The FCC filing does not reveal much, but we are most likely looking at the new WH-1000XM5. The headset is labelled as "engineering prototype" rather than pre-production like in the WH-1000XM4 filing. The internal battery rating is now 3.8V compared to 3.7V on the WH-1000XM4.
Many thanks to TechInsiderBlog on Twitter for the leak, make sure to give them a follow and check out their twitter for larger size photos.
Here we go, a new Sony Signature Series is coming soon. The information/teaser can be found on Sony Japan's website here. So we are probably looking at the new WM1-Series, YY1298 and YY1299 or ICX-1298 and ICX-1299. The tagline "Walk to the new next level of sound" does not reveal much but perhaps the new level might be Signature Series and Android together perhaps? Or is it alluding to something else?
