Someone once asked on Reddit why Sony’s naming scheme is so weird, and the thread never produced a clean answer. Sony has now replied in its own fashion, with a headphone called the WH-1000XM4C. One extra letter, bolted onto a model that went on sale back in 2020, with no hint anywhere about what the letter is supposed to mean.
Two separate leaks have Sony putting that six-year-old design back into production, cheaper than before.
Sony’s catalog already asks a lot of a shopper. WH means over-ear, WF means earbuds, ULT means bass, and the 1000X family runs from the XM3 through the XM6, plus a limited ColleXion edition that sells for flagship money. Hanging a C off a six-year-old model number tells a buyer nothing whatsoever about what changed inside.
I think C is for cost, and yeah, the leaked sheet backs that up. Sony already has the XM6 at the top of the lineup, while the XM5 is still selling. Now the fourth-generation design is coming back with a C tacked onto the name, like someone found an old XM4 chassis and decided it still had one more run in it.
Sony charged €379 for the WH-1000XM4 at launch. €249.99 sounds like a steal in comparison—about €130 off—until you remember the XM4 hasn’t been sold new in ages. There’s no choice between a new XM4C and a new XM4 here, because the XM4 isn’t an option anymore.
The September 7 date comes from billbil-kun, who also notes that Sony hasn’t set an announcement date anyone can see yet. The first week of September puts the headphones on shelves well ahead of the holiday rush, and I read that as Sony wanting a cheap ANC option on the shelf before Bose and Soundcore start discounting theirs.
Quandt’s photos show the NFC logo missing from the left earcup, right where it sat on the XM4. Sony may have dropped NFC to trim the bill of materials, which would make tap-to-pair one of the casualties of the cheaper model. At least the basic hardware hasn’t moved much. It still weighs 253 grams, uses 40 mm drivers, and covers 4–40,000 Hz.
Then there’s the battery, which takes the bigger hit. Sony rates the XM4C for 34 hours without ANC and 27 hours with it on. The 2020 XM4 reached 38 and 30 hours, so the cheaper model gives up four hours with ANC off and three with it running.
I’d take the missing NFC over that trade. Charging headphones is easy to forget until you’re staring at 8% battery before a flight. The whole appeal of a big pair like the XM4 is not having to think about power every other day.
Everything else on the leaked sheet mirrors the XM4 almost line for line. LDAC, the QN1 processor, Adaptive Sound Control, Ambient Sound mode, Speak-to-Chat, multipoint across two devices, 360 Reality Audio, a 10-band EQ in Sony’s Sound Connect app, and three minutes of charging for an hour of playback. Bluetooth 6.0 is the single spec that moves ahead of 2020.
The leaks stay quiet on LE Audio and the LC3 codec, and that’s the part that’ll decide whether the WH-1000XM4C is worth buying. Get lower latency in there, and a €249.99 Sony becomes a decent option for anyone hooking headphones up to a TV or a Switch.
The two leaks don’t agree on colors either. billbil-kun listed Platinum Silver, Black, and Lavender back in July, while the pictures Quandt published in August show a black pair, a deep purple pair, and a white one. Either Sony changed its mind somewhere between the two leaks, or the finishes vary by region and both accounts are correct.
Lavender is the interesting choice regardless of the exact shade. The original XM4 shipped in sober, conservative finishes, and a purple over-ear headphone at €249.99 suggests Sony aiming at a younger, more design-driven buyer than the business traveler it usually courts. Fine by me. Another year of black, silver and beige would have been dull.
Sony’s own back catalog is the biggest problem for the XM4C. Shoppers in Europe have been picking up the XM6 for around €300 once coupons apply, and the XM5 has dropped as low as €190 during sales. A €60 gap between six-year-old internals and the current flagship isn’t a gap most people will take.
There’s a counterargument, and it’s about build quality, which makes the XM4’s return easier to understand. Owners have spent two years posting about cracked hinges on the XM5 and XM6, while the XM4 still gets praise in the same forums for holding up better. I don’t think nostalgia explains Sony’s decision. It looks more like Sony is stepping back from a design that has given it too many warranty headaches.
None of the above is official. Sony has neither announced the WH-1000XM4C nor confirmed the price, so everything here rests on billbil-kun’s pricing leak and the images and data Quandt obtained. The two accounts line up on the important points, which is reassuring, but they conflict on the finishes.
The WH-1000XM4 arrived in 2020 and stayed in production long enough to become the default recommendation for noise canceling under $350. Sony discontinued it, and buyers have been grumbling ever since about the XM5 and XM6 sound and hinge design.
A reissue answers that grumbling, though nobody outside Sony knows yet whether the ANC hardware matches the original or has been trimmed like the battery. Whether the finished product earns the C is a question for September 7.
