The Sony XM4C prove we don't need a new headphone model every year

When I met with Sony in New York City earlier this summer to get a hands-on look at their upcoming wireless headphones, the company told me something I wasn’t surprised to know but was surprised to hear them say out loud: the WH-1000XM4 is still the company’s best-selling pair of headphones ever. Not the WH-1000XM5 or the WH-1000XM6 that came after it. The one from 2020.

That’s what I find so interesting about the “new” WH-1000XM4C: a headphone that looks and, mostly, performs like a lightly refreshed version of a five-year-old product. What might look like a strange throwback release at first glance is actually Sony listening to what customers had been telling it with their wallets all along.

Why the XM5 and XM6 didn’t take over

Sony’s follow-ups to the XM4 were far from failures, but they didn’t dethrone it either. The WH-1000XM5 swapped the XM4’s 40mm drivers for smaller 30mm drivers and dropped the folding hinge design in favor of a fixed one. That design change didn’t just draw complaints from people who liked being able to fold their headphones down for travel; it also kicked off a wave of hinge failures that’s become a running joke on Reddit at this point. The WH-1000XM6 brought the folding hinge back with some added reinforcement, but the damage to people’s trust in that part of the design was already done.

Prices crept up with each generation, too, while the XM4 only became cheaper as they got older. Most people probably looked at the XM4 and decided the newer options weren’t worth the jump in price. Headphones don’t usually get a feature gap dramatic enough to need an upgrade, especially after only a year. At some point, things like noise canceling are good enough that most people won’t notice a few more decibels of attenuation, and not when it costs $100 more.

This probably wasn’t the plan

I can’t imagine this is what Sony had hoped for when it launched the XM5 and XM6. You don’t normally dust off a two-generation-old product unless something in your lineup isn’t performing the way you’d like. Sony has also been pushing into higher-tier pricing with its 1000X The Collexion model, so the brand has been testing multiple price points at once, not just the middle of the market where the XM6 sits. If that middle tier hasn’t sold the way Sony wanted, leaning back into a popular, cheaper pair of headphones people already loved is a smart way to shore things up.

Some might say Sony should have just done this in the first place; that the XM4C is what we should have always gotten instead of the XM5 or XM6 headphones. Still, I can’t really fault the company for trying something new, and better late than never. The timing works out too, since new XM4 units have been getting harder to find as retailers sell through what’s left of them.

The lesson for other brands

The takeaway here is really just the age-old adage: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Apple basically operates this way with the AirPods Max. Don’t get me wrong, those headphones have some real flaws that Apple could have absolutely addressed with the AirPods Max 2, such as adding a power button or a better carrying case, but it didn’t bother to because the original still sells well as is. It’s a curiously diametrically opposite approach to the one Apple takes with its phones, where minute updates come every year regardless of how much change is actually needed.

The Sony WH-1000XM4s are a classic for a reason, and I’m glad Sony gave them a proper refresh with the XM4C. The pads are now easier to remove, the EQ jumped from 5 bands to 10, they have Bluetooth 6, and the battery is user-replaceable now, too, which lines up with upcoming EU requirements for devices like this.

I wonder whether Sony will even bother to make an XM7, or if they’ll happily ride the success of these fan favorites for the next few years. If they didn’t make an XM7 right away, I honestly wouldn’t be mad about it because the WH-1000XM4C are just right.