keyword: Audio

sony-wf-1000xm4-review:-class-leading-noise-cancelling-wireless-earbuds,-’nuff-said

Sony WF-1000XM4 review: Class-leading noise-cancelling wireless earbuds, ’nuff said

(Pocket-lint) – There’s no beating around the bush, the Sony WF-1000XM4 true wireless in-ears are exceptional for their price. And, while there are one or two competitors that offer slightly better sound quality, they are usually more expensive and cannot match these for adaptive noise-cancelling (ANC) tech.

Sony has taken an already excellent pair of ANC headphones – the WF-1000XM3 ‘buds, in this case – and improved almost every aspect, resulting in a class-leading product. Sure, some will likely bemoan Sony’s lack of support for Qualcomm’s aptX, but the XF-1000XM4 are still among the best all-round in-ears we’ve had through the test labs. Here’s why.

Design and comfort

  • Bluetooth 5.2 to each ear
  • Four NC microphones
  • Bone conduction sensor
  • Custom Polyurethane eartips

The first thing that’ll strikes you when unboxing the headphones from Sony’s new totally biodegradable packaging is just how much smaller the charging case is from the previous generation. It is, according to Sony, 40 per cent smaller – and it notices.

To be fair, the last model has one of the biggest charging cases in the business – especially when compared to its near competitors – so the latest brings the XM4s into line. However, its lightness and pocket-sized girth are both very welcome.

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As is the Qi charging and the matte plastic finish. The latter makes it nice to hold in the hand and will disguise minor scratches, we expect. The former wireless charging feature will make it much easier to just plonk the case onto a mat, ready to pick it up again when you are about to leave the house.

The ‘buds themselves are smaller than before – 10 per cent, it is claimed – with a familiar bulbous design, matte finish, some neat design touches such as small gold elements (rose gold on the black version we tested).

There are two noise-cancelling mics on each ‘bud, one behind the (almost) Mod symbol on the front, another behind a little slot facing rearwards. Both are accented by gold.

Three different sized eartips are included in the box, which are made from soft polyurethane rather than the usual silicone. This allows for a more comfortable, secure fit that also aids noise isolation greatly.

You do have to fiddle around with each ‘bud a bit more than with most brands in order to get it into the right position in your ear, but the audio quality merits it. The Sony Headphones Connect app even helps each ‘bud analyse the shape of your ears for even better audio personalisation.

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We were pleased to note that after a decent period of use these ‘buds were just as comfortable as they were at the start. That’s not something we could comparatively say about their predecessors.

They also stay in better during exercise. We haven’t worn them on a full run yet, but have aggressively used an exercise bike and jogged on the spot a few times to make sure they don’t wobble much. They are also IPX4 certified, so are sweat- and water-resistant.

Setup, controls and features

  • Adaptive noise cancelling (ANC) & ambient sound mode
  • Customisable touch controls on each ear
  • Alexa and Google Assistant control
  • DSEE Extreme upscaling
  • Fast pairing

Setting up the WF-1000XM4 earphones is a doddle. They support both Android and Windows’ easy pairing modes, while our iPhone found them instantly in the Bluetooth list. The Sony Headphones Connect app also found them straight away.

It is here that you get to customise just about every nuance, including the ANC modes, touch controls, and sound equaliser (EQ). Sony provides many more options than a lot of rivals we’ve tried, so you can spend a while tweaking all the options to suit you best. However, the defaults are generally decent too, if you don’t want to get bogged down in minutiae.



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The ‘buds themselves have touch options on each ear: noise cancelling/ambient sound controls on the left; play/pause on the right. Touch both at the same time for seven seconds and you can set them back into pairing mode.

These touch options can be changed in the app though, such as adding voice assistant activation or volume. Both Alexa and Google Assistant can be enabled by voice instead – with wake-word support – so you are probably best sticking to the original setup.

You will need to turn on Speak-to-Chat though, if you want to use it. This stops any playback as soon as you talk – handy for speaking to cabin crew on an aircraft, for example. And, you might want to adjust the Bluetooth connection too – if the priority on sound quality is causing too many dropouts.

DSSE Extreme is also available in the app on a slider. This is said to enhance standard audio – MP3/AAC – to a higher bitrate through artificial intelligence.

Sony’s tried and trusted ANCtech is on board too, of course, which is one of the last customisable options. Again, default will be perfect for most as it will assess the best sound mode based on your current location and circumstance – whether you are sitting, travelling, and so forth.

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We did find that we had to go into the app to force ANC on when we wanted to use it in the garden, for example, as it thought the ambience was tranquil enough – and we didn’t.

This generation of in-ears come with a new integrated V1 processor, which better handles ANC duties, you just have to make sure certain options are tuned to your own preferences first.

Sound performance and battery

  • Up to 24 hour battery life (8hr in buds, 16hrs in case)
  • Qi wireless charging
  • New integrated V1 processor
  • LDAN and Hi-Res Audio Wireless support

There are a number of reasons why the Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds outperform their predecessors. A new 6mm driver with increased magnet volume, plus enhanced amplifier is one. A high compliance diaphragm is another. The latter is more flexible, so can reduce latency and therefore more accurately reproduce certain frequencies.

In short, these ‘buds sound great. We tested them mainly on an iPhone 12 Pro Max, which means we couldn’t feed them with lossless audio that way. However, we also ran a few lossless tracks over LDAC (which is Sony’s own high-res streaming codec – but nobody has any idea what the acronym means) on a supporting Android handset, so feel we got a good grip on their capabilities.

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The ‘buds are Hi-Res Audio Wireless capable and support LDAC themselves, although they do not come with support for Qualcomm aptX or any of its guises. As we’ve said above, that might irk some, but many handsets are LDAC-enabled these days and we’d imagine these will be used with lower bitrate tracks for the vast majority of the time anyway.

To that end, DSEE Extreme is provided. This is a newer version of Sony’s own AI-driven software. It essentially upscales lower quality audio to around CD quality – filling in the gaps as it imagines. It’s a bit like watching a Blu-ray on a decent 4K TV – it will look better, but don’t expect miracles.

Still, unless you are an audio purist, you will likely love the richness and grunt of these ‘buds. Even basic AAC versions of The Beatles’ She’s Leaving Home and Liam’s Gallagher’s Once exhibited great detail and staging, especially with DSEE Extreme activated. While the thumping bass hits in Elbow’s Dexter & Sinister grab you by the nethers.

That’s in either noise cancelling and ambient sound modes. Speaking of the former, the improvements made to the tech are quite impressive. ANC on in-ears has been somewhat hit-and-miss in the past, but the new implementation here is jaw-dropping at times.

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Considering how the world is right now, flying anywhere to test its prowess, even taking a train have been difficult, but we wore the ‘buds with ANC on while mowing the lawn as part of our tests. We didn’t hear the mower. At all. Some might think that dangerous, but it’s certainly staggering.

What’s more, the Bluetooth connection held up well. We’d like to find out how it would act when thousands of wireless technologies are all bouncing around and competing – on a packed London Tube concourse, say – but that’s not really feasible right now.

Battery life might be tested a little more then too. As it stands, Sony quotes eight hours for the ‘buds, a further 16 in the case, and that seems reasonable based on our experiences – if a little stingy compared to some competitors. We do love that addition of Qi wireless charging though – it makes life so much simpler.

Verdict

Sony has sure hit its stride now, first with the superb WH-1000XM4 over-ears, now followed-up by these exemplary WF-1000XM4 in-ears. There are so many new features in these true wireless earbuds that they’re even worth considering as an upgrade over the last generation – something that we rarely recommend.

Above all it’s the excellent audio performance and, in particular, active noise-cancelling (ANC) talents. Yes, we couldn’t really try them out in as many real-world settings we would usually wear ANC ‘buds in, but in homelife equivalent tests they hold up superbly.

So sony has done it again: it’s truly taken every tiny quibble anybody had with the XM3s, tweaking and improving along the way to make a class-leading pair of in-ears that will take some beating. The WF-1000XM4 are fairly pricey, of course, but we think worth every penny.

Also consider

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Bose QuietComfort Earbuds

A very strong competitor in the active noise-cancelling game, offering similar sound isolation, comfort, and longevity for a very similar price. Talk about battle of the best!

  • Read our review

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Writing by Rik Henderson.

ratchet-&-clank-rift-apart-review:-peak-playstation-5

Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart review: Peak PlayStation 5

(Pocket-lint) – The Ratchet & Clank series has been a PlayStation stalwart for almost two decades. But we’ve not had an original outing since Into the Nexus in 2013 – and that was on the PlayStation 3.

Yes, developer Insomniac Games remade the first game for PS4 in the shape of 2016’s Ratchet & Clank, but it has rather focused its attention on Sunset Overdrive and the superb Marvel’s Spider-Man games instead.

That’s why we’re thrilled to see the return of everyone’s favourite Lombax and his robot chum. And, thanks to the leap to PlayStation 5 proper, they have never looked – or arguably played – better.

Next-gen necessity

Insomniac cut its next-gen teeth on Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, plus a dolled-up remaster of its predecessor, but Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is its first PS5 exclusive. That has given the studio free rein on a featureset of tools and talents only the latest in Sony’s kitbag can provide.

The entire premise of the game is only possible thanks to clever compression techniques and superfast SSD loading speeds. The graphics drip with ray-tracing and other wizardry from every pore. And the tricks afforded by the PS5’s DualSense controller are exploited to the max. In many respects, this is the first truly next-gen game on any console and has us salivating for what’s possible in the future.

We’re getting ahead of ourselves though. Technical bells and whistles aside, this is a Ratchet & Clank game through and through, so we’ll start there.

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Like most others in the series, this is essentially a shooter-meets-platformer with a keen sense of humour and stunning, Pixar-like visuals. It is split across a fair few planets and regions, each with their own puzzles, secrets, bosses and, in the case of some, open-world landscapes.

Favourite elements return, such as crazy, often hilarious weapons, hover boots, rail riding, the weapons shop (which is now in shape of Mrs Zurkon – an enemy in the 2016 remake), and plenty more besides – but there are some key differences too. Not least the fact you play as two Lombaxes this time around.

That’s because, after Dr Nefarious gets his hands on the oft-featured Dimensionator and accidentally opens up huge dimensional rifts, our eponymous heroes are split up. That leads Clank to meet with Rivet, a female Lombax who is new to the series, and Ratchet, to eventually hook-up with an alternative robot pal named Kit.

Sony Interactive Entertainment

This allows for missions to be split between them all – and provides variety in both gameplay and dialogue. You will often swap characters when choosing which mission to undertake from the navigation screen and likely not return until it is complete – certainly for the first part, anyway.

There are also other-dimensional versions of many recognisable friends and foes, to add extra weight and humour to the story. Certainly, as fans of the series, we loved the references and a few Easter Eggs. However, if you’re new to it, you’ll still get plenty from it – you might even end up seeking older outings elsewhere, such as on PlayStation Now.

Dimensionally speaking

Levels in the game will often require a lot of blasting, but are reasonably varied. Some are based on massive open areas that can be explored, a la the R&C remake, others tighter and largely on rails. One thing that ties them all together is the ability to jump through dimension portals to reach different areas in a zone.

Sony Interactive Entertainment

For example, a small rift might appear on an otherwise hard-to-reach patform, so you just focus at it, tap a button, then are instantly zipped over to that location. It certainly helps you get around a map during a battle, zipping through portals to keep ahead of enemies.

Traversing different dimensions is also used cleverly too, with one level in particular requiring you to hop between an existing, thriving world and a destroyed version in another dimension. By jumping between the two, you can get past barriers in one, or solve an otherwise impossible puzzle.

It is here where the PS5 exclusivity becomes obvious. Travelling through rifts or swapping between dimensions is instant – you certainy don’t notice any loading time, even when everything in the landscape has completely changed or you are on a totally new part of the map. Insomniac has previously said that this needs both the SSD and Sony’s clever loading shenanigans to work, and it’s easy to see why.

The DualSense controller is also a necessity for gunplay, as the game uses both haptic feedback and the adaptive triggers as effectively as Returnal (a very different game, but an amazing one – as we said in our review).

Not only do you feel every shot – with the gamepad’s speaker also utilised for some elements – you get different shot options on the right trigger. Press it down halfway and you get one weapon mode, pull it harder and the other activates. It takes a little getting used to, but is intuitive and immersive when you do.

So, so pretty

The last, obvious reason why this is a PS5-only game lies not in its gameplay but in its look. This is quite simply the most gorgeous next-gen game yet. Easily the best use of high dynamic range (HDR) that we’ve seen.

As with Miles Morales, the developer has provided three graphics modes: Performance, Performance RT, and Fidelity.

Sony Interactive Entertainment

The prettiest – Fidelity – runs at 30 frames-per-second (30fps) but is in 4K resolution with HDR and features ray-tracing, enhanced lighting, additional VFX, and increased scene density. This is the way we preferred to play, even with the lower frame rate. It looks incredible. The different worlds are bursting with details and creativity, so having the enhancements make it for us.

Performance RT keeps some of the options, such as ray-tracing, but drops the resolution and some of the effects in favour of 60fps. While, Performance mode offers 60fps with an increased resolution over the last, it ditches the ray-tracing entirely.

Whichever you opt for, the game is still a stunner. We played it on a 65-inch OLED telly, where the colours popped out of the screen so vividly, but we’d expect it’d look great whatever your TV or display tech. There are also so many instances of neon lighting in the game – not least cascading from your weapons – that it would even be a great reference test for a new HDR TV.

Sound is superb, too, especially the excellent voice acting. And the use of Sony’s 3D Audio tech is great if you have compatible headphones. The spacing in open-world segments is especially good.

Sony Interactive Entertainment

Indeed, our only minor quibbles with the game is that there is a fair amount of repetition in bog standard enemy types and, like with previous outings, it’s a little short.

Still, there are sub-quests on most of the worlds, and there is a decent enough challenge here, with some bosses that will take you multiple tries to defeat. Also, it’s refreshing to have a game that doesn’t take over your life for a month once in a while.



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Verdict

Rachet & Clank: Rift Apart is an excellent return for the franchise. It is steeped in invention and it wrings every ounce out of the PlayStation 5’s capabilities.

We’ll no doubt see more complex, even better-looking games over this generation of gaming, but considering we are still relatively at the beginning, this is highly impressive stuff.

Also, don’t be fooled into thinking that, because it looks like a cartoon, this is a kids game. Like previous R&C adventures, there’s plenty to enjoy here for young and old, with ample challenge too.

Throwing new playable characters into the mix is also inspired, because it both breaks up the narrative and gameplay a touch. There’s a fair amount of repetition, which is par for the course, but apart from that, this is top-level stuff.

Let’s just hope it doesn’t take Insomniac eight years and a new console generation to deliver another slice. But then when it’s this good, it’s worth the wait.

Writing by Rik Henderson.

no-new-hardware-at-wwdc,-but-minor-macos-updates

No New Hardware at WWDC, but Minor MacOS Updates

(Image credit: Apple)

Apple’s WWDC event always feels like roulette when it comes to whether or not the company will announce any new devices or big software updates. For the past few weeks, rumors have been swirling that Apple might announce new MacBooks or the follow-up to its successful M1 chip today, but that didn’t turn out to be the case. We did get news on the latest incarnation of MacOS, called Monterey, but the rest of today’s stream was mostly spent on new iOS and iPadOS features (many of which are already present in Android).

(Image credit: Apple)

Monterey, the latest version of MacOS, was today’s biggest announcement outside of the mobile space, although it’s not shaping up to be as major of an update as last year’s Big Sur. It mostly focuses on bringing continuity across your MacBook and other Apple devices, including the ability to control an iMac, iPad and iPhone all with your MacBook’s keyboard and touchpad (or vice versa, presumably). It’ll also introduce new features that are coming to iOS and iPadOS to MacOS devices, but these are the most concrete details we know for now.

Apple did discuss that it’s going to be moving away from Automator and towards interspersing manual task shortcuts throughout the OS. Sort of like Windows Tiles, these shortcuts will let you open different apps from panels, but they’ll also take the form of buttons that show up in other programs and let you easily perform certain tasks. For instance, you might be able to make a gif straight from a photo editing program with a shortcut. It’s unclear exactly how intrusive or useful these shortcuts will be, especially since Apple said Automator would still be supported.

Safari is also getting tab groups, similar to the latest versions of Chrome and Firefox, and will also add Chrome Sync-like features to allow you to browse more easily across your MacBook and your iPhone (which will also get a tab redesign).

(Image credit: Apple)

Speaking of iPhones, iOS 15 is adding a bunch of new features to the device, mostly focused around sharing content. These include spatial audio that tries to cancel ambient noise around you on video calls, plus grid and portrait mode options for FaceTime. FaceTime is also getting links you can send to participants that they can click on to join future calls, much like Zoom or Google Meet.

What’s more interesting are the new content-sharing features. Facetime will now let users watch content from a streaming app together, each having control of the play and pause functions for perfect, automatic syncing. This also applies to music, plus FaceTime will be adding screensharing support as well. While we don’t normally cover phones, these functions are worth nothing as they will be coming to MacOS, too. 

Aside from these features, there was a lot of talk about privacy promises, more niche updates like changes to iCloud (iCloud+) and the health app, and sections covering Apple Watch and smart home devices. Plus, iOS will be introducing translation features and other quality-of-life changes that are similar to what’s already on other platforms.

But if, like me, you were hoping for more substantial information on what’s next for Apple Hardware, you’re going to have to wait a little longer. Still, if you want to check out any of these OS changes, a limited developer beta starts today and a public beta starts next month.